City Election Pop Quiz

District 1

SFR's time-honored tradition of pop quizzing candidates for public office is our way of testing their knowledge about the community they seek to represent. The March 6 city election includes four districted council seats with a total of nine candidates and five people who are running for mayor. For the next several weeks, we'll bring you a race or two in each print edition.

The rules of Pop Quiz are simple: We record each quiz call and report the answers verbatim. We asked candidates to promise up front that they won't use companions, smartphones, the Google, or any other research to help. To see who answered correctly, check the answer key below.  Don't forget to register to vote in the election before the Feb. 6 deadline!

DISTRICT 1

Questions:

  1. Does Santa Fe have any way to protect views and hillsides from unrestrained development?
  2. What authority does the city have over liquor licenses?
  3. Where are the places that people in your district can drop off glass to be recycled?
  4. True or False: Smoking, bicycles and busking are all banned on the Plaza
  5. Roughly how much land does the city own in the Northwest Quadrant and what is the plan for it?

SIGNE LINDELL

Lindell is seeking her second term on the council. She's volunteered for city ethics boards and the Planning Commission and is a retired professor and businesswoman.

1. Escarpment Ordinance

2. That's a little bit of a complicated question. We vote on every license, be it a beer and wine license for a restaurant or for a dispenser's license. We have state laws to follow with that [process], however we could vote in favor of a license and then the state could choose to deny it, or we could vote to deny a license and the state could overrule us and grant the license.

3. Marcy by the tennis courts. Just outside my district—because Siler Road is the divider—they can also drop glass at the Siler Road recycling. But that would be in District 4.

4. False, because busking is allowed on the Plaza.

5. I don't know the size of the parcel. Currently there is no plan for use of that parcel.

MARIE CAMPOS

An artist, activist and realtor, Campos has been involved in community politics for years. She's run for council three times before.

Reached by phone Monday night, she said she was too busy to talk and we agreed to call again Tuesday morning. We left three messages and did not receive a return call by press time.

Answer Key:

1.The Escarpment Overlay District governs how tall and large buildings can be in the foothills as well as other design standards based on terrain. It's section 14-5.6 in the city code.

2. Deputy City Attorney Alfred Walker explains there are limited situations in which the city can refuse a license. The state Alcohol and Gaming Division gives preliminary approval of a license or transfer and then it goes to local option district (the city). Those situations include: 1) It will adversely affect the health, welfare and morals of community; or 2) If the applicant wants to have an establishment within 300 feet (property line-to-building with license) of a church, school or military base, the applicant has to apply for a waiver.

3. Glass recycling in District 1 is offered at the Buckman Road Transfer Station and Recycling Center and 118 Murales Road (Fort Marcy Parking Area)

4. False. You can busk with a permit.

5. The city owns about 2,000 acres in the NW Quadrant, according to its the Land Use and Urban Design draft. La Tierra trails network is on this land. Ten years ago the city developed a plan to build up to 750 units of housing on 160 acres of master-planned land, but there's still space in Tierra Contenta and Las Soleras, so it's on hold for the next 10-15 years.

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