For the first time in three years Santa Fe Mayor Allen Webber presented his State of the City address in front of a live audience Thursday night at the Santa Fe Convention Center. The main themes of his presentation were Progress and Justice.
Webber began by going through a list of some of the many people who work in various departments of the city and praised how they function as a unit to serve the people of Santa Fe.
He also touched on some of the problems the city has been facing from its long delayed audit to continuing problems like homelessness and affordable and workforce housing.
Webber says there will be a focus on progress that will include climate change, housing, and public safety. He wants to improve the living wage ordinance and the after effects of the COVID pandemic.
Webber says he plans to call a summit of leaders from across Northern New Mexico to work on problems like homelessness and affordable housing, opioid addiction and fentanyl abuse and mental and behavioral health.
“A collaborative gathering to bring together our brother and sister communities across northern New Mexico to take on this three part crisis,” he said. “This is how we took on COVID. We pooled our resources. We joined forces to shelter and feed those in need. We erased old boundaries and drew a circle of inclusion that brought everyone together.”
Webber says he hasn’t contacted his fellow leaders from the region to discuss the summit but will when they are prepared to discuss more specifics.
He also says he wants to work on finding ways to bring Santa Fe together to find solutions to things that threaten to divide the city, a main example being the future of the obelisk in Santa Fe Plaza.