Youthful Impact: Ron Trujillo

SFR recently met with a trio of Santa Fe Prep students—Alex Mazur, Vickie Hsin and Oliver Lehman, all 16—who are working with the Convergence Project, a teen-run organization dedicated to creating opportunities for youth. Both they and we were curious about how a town famous for catering to older demographics might impact a younger generation from a cultural aspect and how an incoming mayor might support existent or new initiatives.

SFR has presented the teens' findings over the last several days as we lead to the March 6 election day in Santa Fe. Candidates are presented in no particular order.

Next up, and penultimate: City Councilor for District 4, Ron Trujillo.

Arts and culture seem to be directed towards an older demographic and tourists in Santa Fe, which leaves many teens saying that there is little for teens to do in Santa Fe. So, what do you see the city is doing to contribute to teen culture in Santa Fe, and would you support these programs?

I think the city has a lot of programs that we are doing for teens and children, but, can we do more? Most definitely. I have a teenage daughter and the same questions come up from her. I have been trying to get a teen center on the Southside of Santa Fe forever. I almost had it started at the La Farge library, but talks broke down between the city and the school board, and it hasn't moved since then. So, as mayor, I'm definitely going to try and create a teen center at Fogelson [Library on the Santa Fe University of Art and Design campus]. Fogelson has a lot of space, and the discussions I'm trying to have is, what can we possibly put in there? I want to have those dialogues between the city and teens about what they want to have. I want to invite them to come and talk with me because you all know what to do; you know what needs to be done and what you want to be done, better than I can. I want to have the city know what we are lacking for teens. It has always been my promise to have open dialogue with teens. I want to work with all kids in Santa Fe to find out what the city is doing well, what we are doing okay, and what the city is doing badly for kids and teenagers.

Besides the teen center that you mentioned, do you have any other programs or initiatives that you would like to create? How might you fund these programs?

That pertains to the college of art and design. We could put studios there for kids to do their art. We are doing a project on Siler Road that's a live/work space. We have so many buildings, maybe one of those buildings could maybe be dedicated to teens and their artwork and creativity. The campus [of SFUAD] lends itself to so many options and, as I said, this is a community issue, and you all are part of this community. And that's why I'm inviting everyone, teens included, to come and help us determine what's needed and what should be done with that campus. We could possibly put more classrooms or something else there that's dedicated to teens.

The funding still has to be there. We just had a discussion about how we're setting aside money for the design, and then we want the public to come weigh in on it. My thing is, it's not about raising money. I want to look within the city and see where we can "trim the fat." We are top heavy, and we know that, but I want to do an assessment of all the departments. Because taxing people isn't my way of doing things. We have private partnerships as well, and I want to look into those. We can go to businesses and discuss how they can become a partner with us to help fund this.

What did you do as a teenager in Santa Fe?

I played a lot of sports. My sport of choice has always been baseball. During the summer, I would play every day. At the same time, my senior year, it was all about arcade games. And we'd ride our bikes. I know every part of this city because I've rode my bike everywhere. It was a different time, not as much technology of course, but we found things to do. We'd go play baseball, kickball, we'd go to the park. I spent a lot of time at the park. We'd go fishing, we'd go to the Plaza, though I think a lot of people still do that. We'd meet friends at the Plaza. We also used to cruise up and down Alameda Street.

For Kate Noble's responses, click here.

For Joseph Maestas responses, click here.

For Alan Webber's responses, click here.