Midtown
In 2009, the City of Santa Fe purchased the College of Santa Fe property off of St. Michaels and Siringo Road. Soon after, the Santa Fe University of Art and Design began leasing and operating the property but closed suddenly in 2018 leaving its students in peril as well as the property. Now, the City of Santa Fe resumed operation of the campus and assumed the entire loan debt. In 2018, the City of Santa Fe’s Department of Economic Development released a report and planning guidelines for the Midtown property, accessible HERE. The City’s outreach, through an online survey, resulted in 2,234 surveys. The results, however, made it clear that those who responded were primarily affluent, older, Anglo community members. Not at all representative of the property’s surrounding neighborhoods nor the City of Santa Fe. Community led organizations like Earth Care recognize the need to have the voices of our communities of color, families, youth, and working class communities represented in this HUGE investment of public lands & resources.
"In a report of the city’s 2018 engagement about midtown, nearly two-thirds of respondents had above-median incomes, a majority were over 55 and almost none were younger than 25. Only 17 percent of respondents were Hispanic and only 0.3 percent completed the survey in Spanish."
MY VIEW in the SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN BY DPAC & MAP TEAM
Join in on the planning process for midtown
Since the closure of SFUAD, the campus has hosted different organizations like Vital Spaces and Midtown Emergency Shelter, now known as Consuelo’s Place, a shelter operating at the start of the pandemic. Looking forward, we must take advantage of the opportunity our communities have with the Midtown property, an asset in the heart of Santa Fe. Since 2018-2019, we have been a part of Chainbreaker Collective’s Nuestro Corazón: Respecting the Land, Healing Our People, Transforming Our Future campaign, putting equity at the forefront of the conversations around Midtown. The campaign is a community engagement campaign that will engage thousands of community members who will be directly affected by the development of the former SFUAD property. The community engagement resulted in a “People’s Plan” for the property and surrounding areas. Our push back on the acceleration of the Midtown planning process has led to a more thoughtful process and deeper engagement. We are one of 5 Midtown Activation Partners (MAP) partnering with the University of New Mexico’s Design & Planning Assistance Center, along with Chainbreaker Collective, Littleglobe, Santa Fe Art Institute and YouthWorks. We have been leading outreach & engagement during this process in the Fall of 2021 and we will have results to share out towards the end of the year/beginning of 2022!
