Zia Station Sees Zoning Approval

COVID-19 by the numbers

New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 266 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 193,247. The health department has designated 174,641 of them as recovered.

Bernalillo County had 94 new cases, followed by Doña Ana County with 42 and San Juan County with 26. Santa Fe County had nine new cases. The state also announced 11 additional deaths; there have now been 3,974 fatalities.

The state Public Education Department also announced yesterday that it will offer surveillance testing to New Mexico public school students as a further tool to enhance safety amid the continuing pandemic. The voluntary testing program aims to test 1% in the general pool weekly and 10% of individuals participating in sports and activities.

You can read all of SFR's COVID-19 coverage here. If you've had experiences with COVID-19, we would like to hear from you.

Project gets out of the station

The Santa Fe City Council has voted to amend the city's general plan and approved requests for zoning that pave the way for a proposed development on both sides of Zia Road near the train station. The council held a public hearing Tuesday night, then met again for more than seven hours Thursday into early this morning before a series of votes in the affirmative for the 21-acre project that envisions 384 residential units, including townhomes, 84,000 square feet of office space and 36,000 square feet of restaurant or retail space on the site. Short-term rentals are prohibited under a condition the council attached to the decision. The Planning Commission had green-lighted this early phase of the proposal in February. Galisteo Road will be re-oriented to intersect with Zia further west and a new pedestrian crossing is planned at the spot. All councilors who were present at the meeting and the mayor voted in favor of the agenda items except for Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth, who represents District 2, and voted no on three of the five items. (Councilors Chris Rivera and Sig Lindell were absent from the vote.)

Gov. signs aid in dying and paid sick day laws

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham kept her pen flying again yesterday with the signing of 10 more bills adopted during the lawmaking session that ended March 20. Among most celebrated were long-fought health measures: one to require employers to provide paid sick leave benefits and another to allow end-of-life options for people with terminal illness. The sick leave law, called the Healthy Workplaces Act, is not effective until July 1, 2022, but at that time, workers statewide will be able to accrue one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked and up to 64 hours annually. A statement from 13 organizations that supported the reform attributed its success to testimony from New Mexicans. "Workers have been fighting for this legislation for years, sharing personal stories with lawmakers about being forced to go to work sick or risk losing their paycheck….This big win illustrates how critical it is for legislators to hear from New Mexicans—the people who stock groceries, care for others' children, harvest and serve food and keep our communities going throughout the pandemic. New Mexico workers showed up and made their voices heard." When it comes to the medical aid in dying rule, Lujan Grisham issued a statement that read, in part: "Dignity in dying—making the clear-eyed choice to prevent suffering at the end of a terminal illness—is a self-evidently humane policy. "

School board narrows superintendent search to six

The Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education is working in overdrive to find a replacement for Superintendent Veronica García before she retires at the end of June. The board narrowed the pool of candidates from 17 to six during an executive session Thursday, then announced those people will join the board for interviews on Saturday, April 17. Four of the selected candidates are current leaders in SFPS: Associate Superintendents Vanessa Romero (Instruction and School Support) and Hilario Chavez (Athletics, Activities and School Support); and Deputy Superintendent Kristy Janda Wagner (Operations and School Support). Julie Lucero, the executive director for Exceptional Student Services, is also in the race. Gabriella Blakey is the chief operations officer with Albuquerque Public Schools, but previously worked as an associate superintendent with SFPS. Curtis Clough hails from Silver City, where he has worked as the associate superintendent for Silver Consolidated School District for the past three years. Read their resumes and letters of interest here.

Remember Bataan guardsmen

The New Mexico National Guard will host a ceremony honoring the 79th commemoration of the surrender of Bataan in the Pacific theater during World War II this morning at 10 am at the Bataan Memorial Building, 407 Galisteo St. Attendance is limited, however, so the commemoration will be streamed live via the New Mexico National Guard's Facebook page. "While being greatly outnumbered and poorly supplied, over 1,800 New Mexico National Guardsmen of the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery Regiments, who became known as 'the Battling Bastards of Bataan,' fought valiantly for four months and held back the Japanese Army….Their bravery and sacrifice was a pivotal point in the war," reads the invitation. On April 9, 1942, the US commander forced the men to surrender to the Japanese Army, then they endured a 65-mile forced walk to prison camps, which became known as the Bataan Death March.

Here all month

April is National Poetry Month, and SFR's annual Spring Poetry Search chips in a local perspective with selections in this week's cover story, including first place winner Katy Yanda's "How Brave Were We" on apprehension, wonder and love. The newspaper was thrilled to have inaugural New Mexico Poet Laureate Levi Romero as contest judge. Romero was appointed on Jan. 30, 2020, and intended to travel the state in his new post. Like everyone else, he shifted with the pandemic to a focus on virtual education, meetings and readings. He is also co-host Sunday of "Poetas del Sur" in collaboration with Southwest Word Fiesta. The free virtual reading by 20 poets from Southern New Mexico takes place via Zoom at 3 pm. Register here.

Pizza Party

While regulars to the SFR newsroom know that references to pizza often lead to recounting the former Gov. Susana Martinez at the Eldorado Hotel and a famous pizza party, we're also just huge fans of the cheesy culinary staple, especially from local chefs. This week's print edition featured two new pizza adventures that await Santa Feans. Back Road Pizza's Piper Kapin has developed her own version of Detroit-style pie. As culture editor Alex De Vore explains, "The dough also undergoes a 48-hour fermentation period, and it takes roughly 15 to 17 minutes to bake as opposed to the 8 to 10 minutes of a regular Back Road pizza. As it bakes, the edges caramelize and get crispy, and the flavor hiding in those edges is everything." You've got to order by Sunday for pickup the following Wednesday but then, it's fair game for breakfast if you have leftovers. Plus, De Vore reviews beginner Tender Fire Kitchen at the El Rey, where the weekly menu and orders go up on Tuesdays for pickup Thursday-Sunday, 6-9 pm.

Weekend weather

It's forecast to be a little colder today, but still sunny, with a high near 66. The National Weather Service says we should also get ready to feel "breezy," with a west wind 15 to 25 mph. Weekend temps and winds are predicted to be mild with a high of 65 degrees and a low of 40 Saturday in Santa Fe, warming a bit on Sunday.

Thanks for reading! The (substitute) Word loves it when the weekend comes. Part of this one will be spent watching this local concert she missed from the launch of the NEA Big Read for Into the Beautiful North. It's crazy to see bands playing inside the downtown library's Southwest Reading Room, where she's spent many a quiet hour. Catch the re-cut full set from Carlos Medina that just went up last night.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong district for Councilor Romero-Wirth and the wrong number of agenda items. We’ve corrected both.