Kate Noble

Kate Noble, 42, first thought of running for mayor the day after Donald Trump was elected as president of the United States. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about all the things the next mayor needs to do,” Noble said. “I have a lot of privilege in life, and I just asked myself, ‘What am I doing with that?’ ” Noble graduated from Santa Fe High in 1993, and went on to receive a degree in film studies from Columbia University in New York City. She worked at the BBC for 10 years before returning to Santa Fe to work for the city as its economic development director. She was elected to the Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education in 2017.

Question: What sort of activities were you involved in as a teenager, and what sort of trouble did you get into?

Answer: I did a lot of theater in high school. I was more of a stage manager, director and producer than an actor. I did do plenty of misbehaving, so I liked what I said in a previous interview in The New Mexican about being a smart, theater-making, party girl. I just remember hanging out in parks a lot and talking about life.

Question: What are the issues impacting teens in Santa Fe today that you feel the city should address?

Answer: Having something to do that’s not partying or drug taking or what have you. We need to respect teens as the young adults that they are and work on providing opportunities for them to engage, interact and contribute to the community. We have this readily available talent pool that we should be developing into solutions for our community. We need to bridge the gap between teens and opportunities. One way of doing this would be entrepreneurship training, teacher training, etc. The more we can connect with our teens, the more successful our community will be. I really want to start by asking teens: “What can the city do to help you be engaged in this community?”

Question: What does Santa Fe’s public education system lack, and what can the city do to help?

Answer: What I see happening is that the schools are becoming a social safety net. We need to work on the social issues young people are having, so that the schools can do their job: teach. But you can’t teach a kid who is hungry or cold or has dealt with a huge amount of trauma at home moments before coming to school. I would really like to see the city supporting the schools in addressing these social and behavioral issues. I think the city can do a better job of supporting teachers as well. Sustainability is a big question, too. The city could be running sustainability programs through the schools that make kids apply themselves to the issues that we’re facing today, and come up with practical solutions that they themselves can implement.

Question: What reponsibility does the mayor have to the city’s youth, even those who are not old enough to vote?

Answer: A huge responsibility. First of all, the responsibility of shaping a prosperous future, but also engaging young people in shaping, deciding and taking responsibility for that future. To make sure that youth voices are heard, and make sure that there are opportunities for teens to engage in the community, that there’s pride and ownership among teens for that community.

Question: Do you think that being the only female candidate influences what you could bring to the office?

Answer: That … gets to what we’re seeing at the national level right now. I think we’re gaining more awareness of these underlying biases, like race and gender and sexual orientation, that can make it much harder to exist if you’re not among the privileged quotient. As a woman, I have had to be more creative in my approach to getting things done. I think my ability as a woman and a mother, to listen, to remove ego from the conversation, to really build consensus and bring different voices forward and to foster authentic communication and compromise is stronger because I have had to approach things differently in my life. It takes a great deal to just listen and hear where people are coming from. I truly try to listen to everybody, and not necessarily pre-judge, but just listen and be patient enough to see a compromise or even a consensus emerge.

Hannah Laga Abram is a junior at the Santa Fe Waldorf School. Contact her at ceciliasycamore@gmail.com.