Mayor Announces Joint City/County Effort in Wake of Crash
UPDATE: The joint meeting will be in the Santa Fe City Council Chambers, City Hall, at 5 pm Wednesday, July 8.
City of Santa Fe Mayor David Coss urged caution and responsibility over the Fourth of July weekend and announced plans for a meeting next week between the City Council and the Santa Fe County Board of Commissioners to address education, enforcement and treatment related to drunk driving.
The date, time and location of the meeting will be posted as soon as it is confirmed. The text of the mayor’s announcement is below:
Message from Mayor David Coss Regarding Recent Tragedies
As we prepare for the 4th of July, Santa Feans are coping with great tragedy. I want to express my thoughts and discuss actions I believe we must take as a community. First, I want to express my deep condolences to the parents, families and friends of Rose Simmons, Kate Kline [sic], Julian Martinez and Alyssa Trouw. I pray for the speedy recovery of Avree Koffman. I also want to express my condolences to the parents, family and friends of Pedro Maldonado.
Only weeks ago, I was expressing condolences to the Lovato family after a horrific domestic violence incident that affected all of us. There have been too many senseless and tragic losses. Domestic violence, gang violence and drunk driving affect us all. Santa Fe can not tolerate this, no community can.
In attending memorials and funerals this week, I have been moved by the depth of suffering and by the strength and character of our people. I ask all Santa Feans to decide that they will be safe and to see to the safety of their fellow community members this 4th of July weekend. I am humbled to be with our community in its bereavement. There has been great wisdom in the sentiments and insights expressed by people young and old. Yet, the healing will take a long time. Please continue to reach out and support one another in these painful times.
Out of the tragedy, the Santa Fe community must continue to work for change. Elected leaders shoulder a special responsibility to make solutions happen. Local government leaders will hold a joint City Council/Board of County Commissioners meeting next week to respond to these incidents, especially to the role that abuse of alcohol plays in our community.
We have to do more and working together, we will. We will support dialogue but we will also move for action. We know what programs work in education, enforcement and treatment. We have to improve our ability to implement these programs and practices. Change must occur quickly.
I have tremendous faith in the people of Santa Fe. It’s important that every individual makes personal decisions to look after the safety and well-being of their fellow community members. This weekend please make that decision. Be safe on the 4th of July. Make sure your actions show respect for yourself and for the safety of your family, friends and neighbors.
In closing, I want to again express my deepest condolences to those in our community who are most directly affected by the tragedies of this past week.
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July 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 am
Mayor Coss,
So glad to know that our elected officials are responding to this tragedy in a proactive way. Education can play a huge role in prevention and I hope that our state and local legislators can really begin seriously working on effective policy change in enforcement and consequences for DWI.
Mayor Coss, you know that Rose Simmons was a kindred spirit in terms of the passions you hold for the environment, water issues and sustainability. Avree will probably continue to carry on this work. I knew them both through Earth Care and Monte del Sol. I appreciate seeing you present at various memorials and hope that we can all begin the kind of real, healing and proactive work that will transform these tragedies into positive, lasting solutions in order to prevent any more occurring. I hope that we can also rally youth around designing alternatives to going out and driving late at night. We need to keep kids off the road and in safe places. Parents in the community are already discussing the possibility of sponsoring safe houses for students to stay put after 10 pm. Will you consider having a community forum with a possible outcome of forming a committee of parents, teachers, city officials and students that could formulate ideas and implement programs that will offer alternatives? We need to address all this from so many angles. There are already a lot of programs across the nation that are successful.
As a teacher at Monte and Santa Fe High, I would love to start programs this Fall. I appreciate your efforts and humility in all this and I have every confidence that you will support and assist those of us who want to create these solutions so those lives we have lost, will not be in vain and our future children will remain safe.
Tammy Harkins
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:10 am
Like many Santa Feans, I’ve been thinking a lot about caused Saturday’s accident and what can be done to prevent it. Here’s one of my suggestions.
Today, Jason Auslander reported in the New Mexican that Mark Kiffin, owner of the high-end The Compound restaurant, was also involved in a serious, allegedly DWI-related accident on his way home to Eldorado on Saturday night.
We actually learned about this last night from a source, who forwarded us the narrative from the blotter:
Unlike Scott Owens, the driver accused of four counts of vehicular homicide, Kiffin did not hit another car and only injured himself. Unlike Owens, Kiffin isn’t behind bars and seemingly back to making the commute.
Here’s the thing to consider. Both SUV drivers were on the roads to and from Eldorado, Owens on Old Las Vegas Highway and Kiffin on the I-25. This means that even if the convoy of teenagers had taken the highway route, there was still the potential of a fatal accident.
What’s up with Eldorado? Santa Fe’s “white ghetto” is notoriously underpoliced. If anything changes as a result of this tragedy, it needs to be the various routes to Eldorado. Maybe residents need to pony up some cash for a proper transit service…or for a dedicated public safety officer to check everyone coming in and out.