The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce held a forum on Wednesday for the candidates for City Council.
The meet and greet at La Fonda was attended by nine of the ten candidates who focused mostly on some of the major issues affecting businesses in Santa Fe, including crime issues, in particular retail crime, affordable and workforce housing and diversifying the city’s economy.
Chamber President and CEO Bridgette Dixson says she was happy with what the candidates were saying about improving business conditions in Santa Fe but wanted to hear more specifics regarding how they will achieve their goals.
“I would have liked to hear more actionable items like what they’re going to do because we all know these are the challenges but I would have loved to have heard more on a plan of what we can do to address these specific issues that we discussed today,” she said.
Dixson says the Chamber is doing what it can to help address some of the issues facing businesses in Santa Fe.
One is getting more store owners participating in the Retail Crime Bills passed last session that strengthened shoplifting laws in New Mexico and the creation of the Organized Retail Crime Task Force.
She says the Chamber wants to see more programs to advocate for workforce and affordable housing in Santa Fe.
Dixson many businesses are having a hard time finding and retaining employees due to the high cost of finding a place to live in Santa Fe. She says there are too many people who commute from places like Albuquerque to their jobs.