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South Side residents press Santa Fe leaders for more services; volunteers ask for visible city support for cleanups
Summary
Multiple South Side residents and volunteer groups told the governing body that crime, homelessness and litter are harming small businesses and neighborhoods and urged more visible city services and leadership for community cleanups.
Several residents and volunteer leaders used the petitions-from-the-floor portion of Tuesday’s meeting to urge the governing body to step up public safety, services, and visible support for neighborhood cleanups in parts of the South Side.
John Paul Granio, identifying himself as representing a governor’s-office citizens council cleanup crew, said a recent two-block cleanup collected about 37 bags of trash — roughly 730 pounds — including tires and large metal items that volunteers could not remove. He said response times and lack of services contribute to broader neighborhood problems.
Kevin Rapp of the volunteer Trash Pandas group asked the governing body to be more visible in cleanup efforts and suggested a district-by-district challenge to motivate participation. “What's missing right now is visibility of the city of Santa Fe,” Rapp said, noting multiple groups already run cleanups and asking the city to lead and publicize events to increase youth and community participation.
Resident speakers from District 3 described ongoing crime, vandalism and homelessness that they said are hurting small businesses. Gina (last name not provided) said she had reported vandalism and insufficient Spanish-language translation on the city website when seeking help and that responses were slow. Maribel Caribeo, a small business owner, said police sometimes arrest people but those individuals return to the streets within a day, and called for dignified housing and services for people experiencing homelessness.
Several speakers said children are affected by conditions in neighborhood parks and streets; Maribel Caribeo noted the area serves multiple schools. Council members thanked volunteers and staff for cleanup work and asked staff to improve constituent-service routing so residents are not bounced between departments when reporting debris and similar issues.
City leaders praised volunteer efforts and staff response to specific constituent requests but also acknowledged lingering gaps in service coordination and translation. Multiple councilors urged city departments to make reporting and response pathways clearer on the city website and to continue outreach to support neighborhood cleanups.
