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Council Approves Medians Ban

Under the just-approved measure, sitting in medians measuring less than three feet wide will subject violators to a $25 fine and a misdemeanor.
Rob Hochschild
/
KSFR
Under the just-approved measure, sitting in medians measuring less than three feet wide will subject violators to a $25 fine and a misdemeanor.

Santa Fe City Council last night passed a measure that will outlaw sitting, standing, or lying on road medians of less than three feet. 

Council voted 8 to 1 in favor of the bill with District One councilor Alma Castro being the one dissenting vote. 

The city’s Governing Body approved two amendments just before the final vote, one providing for an exception for disabled people, and the other that sets an implementation date for the law at February 1, 2025. 

The latter will allow council some time to hash out lingering questions about putting the new law into practice. Those issues included signage, cost, and the possible use of warnings before police write up the 25 dollar fines and misdemeanor charges.

Sixteen members of the community spoke during the comment phase, most of whom urged Council members to vote no.

Councilor Signe Lindell explained why she would vote to approve, and why she was frustrated with what she said was an overcomplication of the issues.

“It's pretty simple. It's medians that are 36 inches or less. I don't think it's safe to stand on those with traffic going around you. There's plenty of other medians in this town, folks.”

There are fifty medians out of 500 in Santa Fe that are less than 36 inches.

A need for more data around pedestrian accidents in the city was one reason why, at an earlier point in the evening, councilor Michael Garcia had, along with only Castro, voted to reject the measure.

One commenter from the public, Judith Gabriel, urged council to vote against because of a lack of evidence to back up the bill.

“I ask for data about pedestrian injuries and deaths or driver injuries and deaths that are directly related to people in the medians. The city has not demonstrated that those are the causes of the problems. I do think it is going to complicate things for people who are unhoused and get fined.”

Mayor Alan Webber pushed back against accusations that the measure would criminalize poverty or homelessness. He reminded the room that Santa Fe spends about 14 million dollars annually to help the unhoused find places to live.

According to a June 2024 report from the Governors Highway Safety Association, New Mexico, for the third year in a row, had the highest rate of pedestrian traffic fatalities in 2023.

Rob Hochschild first reported news for WCIB (Falmouth, MA) and WKVA (Lewistown, PA). He later worked for three public radio stations in Boston before joining KSFR as news reporter.