Nava challenges Lindell for council
Former bar owner wants to focus on public safety, basic city services
Doug Nava, a former state tax examiner and business owner, said Thursday he will run for a seat on the Santa Fe City Council. He is the first announced challenger to incumbent Signe Lindell, who represents District 1, the northeast side.
A Santa Fe native, Nava, 42, worked for the state Taxation and Revenue Department for more than a decade and served for two years on the city Public Safety Committee. He has been active in the leadership of Santa Fe Pride, serving on its board for eight years.
He and his late partner operated The Blue Rooster, a downtown gay bar, for about a year before closing it in 2015.
Nava previously ran for a District 1 council seat in 2010, finishing third in a three-way race.
He said his top priority in this campaign will be improving public safety. Nava cited the six homicides in the city so far this year and what he said has become an unacceptable level of rowdiness in the Plaza area at night and on weekends as reasons for a “beefed up” police force and a higher level of accountability for police leadership.
“We talk about jobs in this town. We talk about economic development. But where’s the economic development going to be when we’re not making our public safety as strong as it should be?” he said.
Nava also plans to emphasize a return to basic municipal services, saying he wants cleaner streets, medians and parks. Drawing on his experience as a bar owner and
what he said he has heard from downtown merchants who are his friends, he said city services can become too bogged down in bureaucracy.
He said he wants to propose a streamlined committee process for legislation.
Lindell’s recent proposed ban on traveling wild animal acts, scheduled for a council hearing in September, was one example of a “personal agenda” item taking up valuable committee time, he said. Such a proposal, in addition to Mayor Javier Gonzales’ proposed tax on sugary beverages to expand early childhood education, can hinder effective city government, he said.
“With all these personal agendas and feelings, public safety, city government structure, basic city services, to me, have been placed on the back burner,” he said.
“We have over-restricted, and it’s hard to get things done,” Nava added. “We have restricted so much I think we’ve interfered with the daily lives of people in the city.”
Nava graduated from Capital High School and attended an arts college in Colorado for one year, but said he returned home when his grandfather fell ill. He took a leave from his work at the state after his longtime partner died last year. He works part time as a weekend manager at the Guadalupe Inn.
In the 2010 election, Nava received less than 16 percent of the District 1 vote, behind then-Councilor Chris Calvert and another challenger, Russell Simon.
Lindell, seeking her second four-year term, cruised onto the council in 2014, taking 70 percent of the vote in a race against Michael Segura.
Lindell said she welcomes a challenger and looks forward to a spirited campaign.
“Democracy works best when voters have a choice,” she wrote in an email.
The city election is in March.