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Plan’s proponents claim revision to how licenses are doled out puts fairness first
Proposed changes to the city of Santa Fe’s Plaza artisan program have aggrieved some of the long-tenured participants, who claim the adjustments would make it harder for them to keep their spots and sell their wares on the historic square.
The proposal’s backers, including the two District 1 city councilors who represent the downtown area, say changes are necessary to ensure the program is fair to all applicants while also protecting some of the advantages artisans enjoy when they reapply for the limited number of Plaza vending licenses, each good for five years.
Among other tweaks, the ordinance would modify the scoring system for artists seeking one of 19 Plaza park licenses available. Eleven of the vending licenses are individual and come with their own reserved space. Six of the licenses, under the proposed ordinance, are for rotating vendors, who share three spaces. Two other licenses are for artist collectives, which get one space each.
The primary point of contention voiced by artisans during a city Finance Committee hearing last week was a proposed change to a perk offered to returning artists when they are evaluated by a jury panel at the start of a new license period. Artists who previously participated in the Plaza vending program have been offered bonus points for longevity.
In the current ranking system, an
applicant for an individual or rotating license receives a 5 percent boost to their evaluation score for each year the artist has held such a license, though the bonus is capped at 50 percent. Those who hold a rotating license and want an individual license receive a 2.5 percent bonus for each year, up to 15 percent.
The new ordinance would excise those accumulated yearly bonuses and instead issue a single static point benefit. Vendors reapplying for an individual license would receive a 10 percent bonus. Vendors reapplying for a rotating license would receive a 5 percent bonus, and a vendor with a rotating license applying for an individual one would receive a 2.5 percent bonus.
The changes are needed, according to a city memo attached to the ordinance, because the existing bonus point allowance “makes it nearly impossible for a new applicant to score high enough to be awarded a license regardless if the jury panel scores their application very high.”
Responding to several vendors who voiced complaints this week, Sevastian Gurule, the city’s constituent services director, said the jury process was probably not a perfect system. “But it’s probably one of the best ones we’ve had,” Gurule said.
While Plaza artisans and members of the public raised concerns during the committee hearing that license fees would increase under the ordinance, Gurule said no such increases are included.
At least seven meetings took place between city staff and vendors about the proposed changes, according to Gurule’s memo. Vendors persuaded staff from eliminating the longevity points entirely.
Councilor Signe Lindell, a co-sponsor of the ordinance, said the changes would “encourage the use of the space in a fair manner” and ensure that “admittance to the program is based on merit and quality of work.” Her District 1 counterpart, Councilor Renee Villarreal, said the changes are part of a process that would help make the program “equitable across the board.”
Plaza artisans voiced opposition to the changes, nonetheless. Many said they felt unfairly targeted and expressed fear that the program’s changes would endanger their livelihoods.
Diane Martinez, who said she’s been a Plaza artisan for 27 years, said the vendors serve as “first-line ambassadors” for the city, directing visitors to restrooms, good restaurants, good margaritas and businesses in all weather. In some cases, she said, vendors have been doing this for decades. “We earned those [bonus] points,” she said. “They weren’t a gift.”
With changes hanging over her head, Martinez said, “I feel like the frog in the hot water. I’m just swimming for my life.”
Other proposed changes in the ordinance include a requirement that applicants submit a letter of good standing from the state Taxation and Revenue Department and sign a statement declaring under penalty of perjury that their art or craft is their own work or the work of their spouse, mother, brother, sibling or child.
The number of available rotating licenses will be cut from seven to six, and the number of spaces those vendors share will increase from two to three. That change would allow the rotating artists more time each in the shared spaces, Gurule said.
Another change would extend license terms for Plaza pushcart vendors from three to five years. A pair of pushcart vendors applauded that proposal at the hearing.
The proposed changes are scheduled to be heard Oct. 11 by the City Council.