For far too long, The College of Santa Fe + SFUAD have existed on an island off St. Mikes, disconnected from the activities of our city. For many students who have lived on campus without a car, their Santa Fe experience has been Carls Jr and Burrito Spot. And whats worse? For far too long, the city has done nothing to address this. Those of us in the world of promotion and community development have often wondered how much more vibrant our city would be if we could build a bridge to the student body and have ways for them to be more involved. Convenient transportation is one of those straight-forward solutions. Tonight the city takes the first step in building that bridge. Tonight at 7:00pm, Santa Fes city council will vote on a free evening shuttle that runs from downtown to SFUAD and back. The shuttle will run on weekends from 6pm-11pm. Of course we all, including The Mayor and members of council, would love to see late-night shuttles that run past 2am. But theres no question here -- the proposal in front of council tonight is an obvious first step without downside. Coupled with SFUADs $5 cab ride program, the students will have a convenient and effective round trip option from their dorms to our cultural center. But what makes this proposal most valuable is the message that this sends. This is our city saying, unequivocally to the student body at SFUAD, that we want to connect, we want to include, and we want their presence in our city. This is an invitation to be a part of the larger community. This is an invitation that is long overdue. We will extend service hours, we will extend service to more areas of town, we will extend service to the southside, we will extend service to St. Johns. And over time, Santa Fe will become a leader in NM when it comes to tackling drunk driving. But tonight, this is the first cost-neutral step that will set that tone. Thank you to Mayor Gonzales and his staff for following through on this campaign idea. Thank you to George RR Martin for being a huge influence and support for this idea. And finally, thankyou to our councilors for taking on the proposal and sending this welcoming message to the students at SFUAD. With/ Ronald S. Trujillo, Signe Lindell, Carmichael Dominguez, Chris Rivera, Peter N Ives, Joseph Maestas, Patti Bushee, Bill Dimas, and Mayor Javier Gonzales.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 18:39:38 +0000