Funds for a downtown litter cleanup.
The La Bajada visitors center, closed since 2016, might not reopen despite city money budgeted for that purpose.
Instead, the funds could be put toward litter cleanup efforts on the Santa Fe Plaza and areas immediately surrounding the downtown city center.
Randy Randall, executive director of Tourism Santa Fe, requested the shift after having discussed the potential reopening of the La Bajada center with tourism industry partners.
The city budgeted $61,300 for the reopening, and Randall sought a matching amount from industry operators. But the will wasn’t there, Randall said.
“Everyone thought it was a great idea until they had to pay for it,” he cracked.
The funds, under a request endorsed Monday by the Finance Committee, would instead be allocated to shore up a two-person litter-cleanup program Randall said he had launched earlier this year to great effect. The two-person litter crew focuses on an area including the Plaza and a twoblock radius all around, with the ability to go farther out if the need should arise. “We’ve made great strides with this program,” Randall said.
Councilor Carmichael Dominguez expressed frustration with the request, suggesting the Plaza area’s beautification shouldn’t take precedence over other areas of the city and questioning whether the employees would be included as full-time employees in next year’s budget. Randall said they would be.
Dominguez, unswayed, called for “more clarity and better justification” for the requested shift, saying downtown business owners ought to contribute to litter cleanup.
“My intent is to try and make the city look better in a high-focus area for tourism,” Randall said. “It’s most important to spend those funds where most tourists spend their time.”