Let’s use arts college campus to better Santa Fe
Thanks to The New Mexican for reporting about the use of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design campus after the tenants leave (“City open to uses beyond education for arts college,” Aug. 10). As not only a local New Mexican, Santa Fean and current resident of the area around the college, I feel our time, money and resources for this land could be used better than just trying to make it into a movie studio or an art gallery. Our city needs to thrive, not only on our history and art culture, but also by attracting new businesses and growing our economy.
Looking on the Facebook comments, many recommend keeping it as a higher education center and branching out to attract more universities and colleges to the area. Some recommend using it as a psychiatric and drug rehabilitation center; some recommend using it for city services, such as recreation, low-income housing and other county and local government services; some recommend using the whole property as a film studio to attract the city to the film industry. Why not do it all? Why are we limiting ourselves to just one use for the property? Why not make it a multifunctional property? Why not use the property for higher education; arts; a film studio; media; health care; business and development; a convention center; recreation center; farmers market; nightlife; government services; etc.?
If I am not mistaken, the Oliver La Farge Branch Library also is under city control (“La Farge library lease gets extension,” Aug. 12). Why not use all of that land, too? Let’s make La Farge a teen center (an idea that was shot down in years past). Let’s bring in a bowling alley that was promised at the Railyard. The dorms and apartments can be used for offices.
Let’s keep the library as the library; use the classrooms as classrooms to hold classes from universities around the state. Let’s expand the Higher Education Center to the campus and make it a center for locals to have opportunities to obtain higher education. Let’s keep the Garson Studios, using some buildings as the studio, but also offer work to students and locals (which would be something negotiated by our city officials if kept as a theater and studio). Let’s utilize some campus buildings for psychiatric services that can be used for university research to help people earn degrees and help our locals, too. Why not have some nightlife around this area? Why not have family-fun activities like they have in Albuquerque?
I see myself as a young man going to Albuquerque to have fun and neglecting the City Different. Shouldn’t the notion be that money earned in Santa Fe is spent in Santa Fe? We all should try to live by that notion.
Those are my 2 cents as to what that land should be used for. Maybe the city will explore broader uses for the property, as mentioned above, but only time will tell.