SFReeper.com » City Hall

What Taxpayers’ 400th Anniversary Money Is Buying

Corey Pein — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:08:20 +0000

Santa Fe City Councilor Matt Ortiz gave SFR a look at a binder showing the expenses and revenues of Santa Fe 400th Anniversary, Inc, the largely public-funded non-profit organization that’s staging events for the celebration. In SFR’s earlier reporting on the anniversary budget, 400th Executive Director Libby Dover declined to share such details. But now that the non-profit, aka “the committee,” is asking the city for another $750,000—see the New Mex story today—they didn’t have much choice but to open their books.

Some highlights:

Dover makes $10,000 a month!

The other five employees average $4,000 a month. Not bad considering the local average.

Salaries aside, it’s a pretty bare-bones operation.

The chair of the committee (Maurice Bonal) has his own office at $300 a month. For what? Meeting with all those corporate sponsors they don’t have?

Whoever manages the committee’s decent-looking but content-free website (the registered administrative and technical contact is Bonal) is pulling $2,100 a month. Hmm… (Their graphic designer has a pretty good gig, too.)

The committee expects to bring in under $200,000 in revenue from events.

One more after the cut.

Calvert Will Face Challenger For City Hall Seat

Corey Pein — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:06:20 +0000

Former Journal North City Hall reporter Russell Simon filed papers today to run for Santa Fe Councilor Chris Calvert’s District 1 seat.

Running is “something I’ve been thinking about for a while,” Simon, 27, tells SFR. “This is my city; I want to make it better.”

Simon left the Journal in 2007. He now works as a community manager for the family business, WestGate Properties, and under temporary contract for Repower New Mexico, the state outpost for Al Gore’s “climate protection” campaign.

Simon, pictured, says a campaign website and platform will be rolled out in the next couple of weeks.

Mystery Powder At City Hall: ‘Yellowish’ With ‘Mustard’-Like Consistency (Updated With Thrilling Anti-Climax)

Corey Pein — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:02:46 +0000

City of Santa Fe spokesperson Laura Banish, currently outside, “freezing her you-know-what-off,” says the mystery powder that turned up in City Hall’s mailroom today is “yellowish” with the “consistency of mustard.”

The powder apparently came in a package from the US Postal Service itself—that is, USPS didn’t just deliver the package, it was the return addressee.

A Hazmat team is inside City Hall right now, Banish says, but “the sample is so small they’re having trouble testing what it is.” Most City Hall employees are still in the building, “sheltering in place.”

Update: Well, gee. Never mind. It’s nothing. Really.