For the March 4 City of Santa Fe Municipal Elections, SFR will call up candidates in the CONTESTED races to test their knowledge.
The rules for Pop Quiz are as follows: No research allowed and if they call back later with the right answer, too bad. To see who answered correctly (or came closest), check out our answer key below.
QUESTIONS:
1. In the City of Santa Fe, what is the percentage of people on a given street that must approve paving a dirt road?
2. How many homicides were there in Santa Fe last year? What do you believe needs to be done to further reduce violent crime in the city?
3. How would ranked-choice voting work and do you think it's a good reform for local elections?
4. True or false: Last month, city officials instructed residents who had experienced frozen water pipes to let their faucets drip throughout the night to prevent further freezing.
5. Within the boundaries of District 3, at the intersection of Richards Avenue and Cerrillos Road, there is an adobe McDonald's, an adobe IHOP and an adobe Home Depot. Are these businesses tacky or do they embody Santa Fe charm?
6. In what year did the Santa Fe Trail begin linking Missouri-based traders with Mexican traders in Santa Fe?
7. What 2008 Academy Award-nominated film for best picture was, in part, filmed outside of Santa Fe and based on a novel written by a Santa Fe-area novelist?
8. Which two Santa Fe Trails bus routes run primarily through District 3?
9. When did the city's Solid Waste Division begin its weekly recycling pickup service?
10. Who won Santa Fe County on Feb. 5: Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Who did you vote for, if anyone, in the Democratic caucus?
11. Name at least two of the five prevention and intervention workshops offered by the city's Carlos Ortega Teen Center.
***image1***Miguel M Chavez, 53, is a self-employed furniture maker and incumbent councilor.
1. I believe it's similar to the traffic-calming provisions, and it would be about 60 percent of the residents would have to approve it, if I remember right.
2. Ah, murders. I'm guessing that homicides last year, I believe, if I remember right, there were three that come to mind. And to prevent this in the future, the effort to increase public safety and public safety awareness would have to address all violent crime, domestic violence, violence against women, public safety needs to address all of those areas, and we're only going to be able to do it if we continue to invest in our police department and recruit and retain officers in our department.
3. Well, I guess this cycle it probably would not help, especially if you have, you know, at least one incumbent with no opposition. I think in a mayoral race where you have multiple candidates, I think it would apply better there. So, at this time in the municipal races it doesn't seem to really have much benefit, but I think in the mayoral races it could play a better role.
4. Only in these extreme weather conditions we are suggesting that residents let the fixture furthest from the water heater drip at a very slow rate, but also if you can capture that water and water a plant or reuse in some other way. But it will prevent freezing.
5. I think they're doing their best effort to try to embody the Santa Fe architecture and maybe incorporate some of those components into their architecture, but it doesn't always get us there.
6. 1848? I'm really guessing on that one. I should know, but I'm going to say 1848.
7. I'm not much of a movie buff. I draw a blank on that one. I'm not even going to guess.
8. Let's see…route…let's see, the Cerrillos Road route, you want the numbers of the route right? I'm going to say Cerrillos Road is Route 5 and I believe Route 1.
9. Do you want the exact date? I know that it's been within the last, I'm going to say, two weeks. But I don't have the exact date. We implemented a pilot program and we're trying to refine that as we implement it.
10. If I'm following things correctly, I think it was pretty close, pretty even, each had about 48 percent in Santa Fe County based on what I remember last. And I personally voted for Obama. Now, because we still haven't counted, we're still waiting for some of the provisional ballots.
11. OK, let's see. Teen pregnancy workshops and then there's workforce development workshops and emphasis on career development and those kind of things.
***image2***
Martin G Lujan, 42, is assistant division director for the Genoveva Chavez Community Center and a Board of Education member.
1. Well, I would think probably the percentage is 50 to 60 or better. I would assume that 50 percent of the neighbors or better must agree to the pavement.
2. That's a good question. I believe that the number of homicides…Let me answer the second part first. I believe that…I have three steps that I would like to take as a city councilor to address crime in our community. One would be education and that means educating our community on which crimes and how to report crimes, you know, through neighborhood watch groups and formation of individuals working together and, you know, how they get that information across. The second step that I'd like to take would be the reallocation of funds so that we have the resources for the police department to address crime. The third piece would be accountability. Accountability for the councilors that we're making this our top priority, accountability for the police department chief to make sure that he gets the message out to the troops and accountability for the community that they're doing their part. So, education, appropriation of resources and accountability. And, the number of homicides…probably too many, one too many.
3. I think...that's a good question, that's a good question. Um, I'm going to pass on that question, other than to know that ranked-choice voting would be...I don't know.
4. True.
5. Well, I think it's Santa Fe style and I believe whatever works for the constituents of my district, so I wouldn't call them tacky, but it's a style that we have come to accept in our community.
6. A long time ago.
7. Is that
No Country for Old Men
? I believe it's
No Country for Old Men
.
8. I would say one and three.
9. A bunch of weeks ago.
10. I believe that ballots are still being counted, that it's a very tight race. [I voted for] the winner.
11. Well, just for a bit of history, I was one of the co-founders of the center before it became the Carlos Ortega Teen Center. I knew Carlos Ortega personally as well. I coached him and I knew the family. I believe two of the prevention programs would be, one is mediation and secondly probably in the area of suicide prevention and I'm sure there's a dozen more there that are offered.
ANSWER KEY
1. Eighty percent of the residents on a given street must approve paving a dirt road.
2. According to the Santa Fe Police Department, four murders were committed in 2007.
3. Voters would rank the candidates in order of preference. If none of the candidates receive a majority, the least popular candidates would be eliminated and the votes reallocated based on voters' second ratings. The process would repeat until one candidate receives a majority.
4. True. The suggested drip rate was eight drops per minute.
5. There is no correct answer.
6. The Santa Fe Trail began in 1821, the same year Mexico won its independence from Spain.
7. The Coen Brothers' Oscar-nominated film
No Country For Old Men
is based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, who lives in Tesuque.
8. Routes 1 (Agua Fria) and 2 (Cerrillos) both run primarily through District 3.
9. The city began its weekly recycling pickup program on Jan. 14, 2008.
10. Excluding provisional ballots, the New Mexico Democratic Party projected that Barack Obama won Santa Fe with 52.59 percent of the caucus vote.
11. The prevention and intervention workshops at the Carlos Ortega Teen Center include: Youth violence, teen pregnancy, teen suicide and drug and alcohol abuse.
Santa Fe Reporter