For what my opinion is worth.
This is a very Hispanic town. As an Anglo (and for what it's worth all four grandparents came from Ireland, so I may as well have a giant A tattooed on my forehead) I'm constantly amazed that I don't run into more hostility to people like me. But I don't. I'm a senior citizen, 71, with the gray hair to prove it. The local culture is deferential and supportive of its seniors. Especially its older women. In the grocery store, in a line anywhere, I've learned NOT to chat up the young people in front of me, as friendly as I naturally am, because they will very quickly offer to let me go ahead of them. I look like Mom or more likely Grandma to them, and they would NEVER go ahead of Mom or Grandma. But I don't want to take advantage.
The rare times I get a traffic stop, I never get a ticket. I think it's because the cops aren't at all inclined to ticket Mom or Grandma. And I can think of some egregious stops. Like the time in western New Mexico, just outside Deming, when I ratcheted up the speed because I knew the road and knew the speed limit would rise to 55mph in a quarter mile. Big mistake As soon as I reached that speed I saw a cop car behind me, lights flashing. Darn. I pulled over, and when the cop got out I figured I'd get a ticket for sure. He was a man about my age, so I doubt I looked like Mom, much less Grandma. Plus, he was obviously Hispanic and in case I haven't already mentioned, I'm obviously Anglo. But nope. He looked at my license, noted I was headed to Santa Fe ("Yes, sir, I'm returning home after spending Thanksgiving with my brother and sister in Tucson" which was true) and gave me a warning rather than the ticket he could readily have justified.
And that's only one of several stories.
As an older woman, the deference accorded to me is both unexpected and wonderful. I go back to Kansas a couple of times a year, and travel to other parts of the country once or twice a year. And while people are nice everywhere, I simply don't get the Old Lady deference anywhere else. It's very noticeable in places like the grocery store, but elsewhere also.
As for gang activity, I'm not aware of what may be happening here, which may say more about my obliviousness than anything else.
People are rude. Huh? I have no idea what's being referenced. It's my personal experience that most people are nice, so the "people are rude" statement may say a whole lot more about the person saying it than any reality of rudeness. It's my experience here that people are quite nice, nicer than anywhere I've ever lived. And I've lived in several parts of the country, traveled to many more, and I'll hasten to say that people are nice everywhere. They really are. Perhaps that statement says a whole lot more about the person making it than any objective reality.
I'm sure Santa Fe is not the "nice small town it used to be" but I honestly have never had anyone express that sentiment to me. Least of all the locals who truly ought to say that. On occasion I've brought the topic up, but in my experience the locals are just fine with the changes in the last few decades.
The wealthy have ruined things in a lot of places, I'm sure. In Santa Fe the wealthy have impacted housing prices, but not at the lower end. I lived in Boulder, CO, at exactly the time when people from California came in and drove prices up. We sold our house there in June, 1990. Six months later we'd have gotten double the price. The last time I checked the value of that place it was more than 6 times what we sold it for. Which is vastly more than the price increases in Santa Fe in comparable housing. So, no, the wealthy have not ruined this place.
There is poverty here. Unlike everywhere else, she said sarcastically. The real problem is that, despite what I've said about home prices, affordable housing is lacking. Especially in the rental market. Not sure to what extent this is connected, but I've never lived in a place where there are so many mobile homes/manufactured housing. When I was first here I worked for a time in the office of a mobile home park, and I was completely appalled by what they charged for the spaces they rented out. Most of the people there, who probably earned less money than I did, were paying much more between the cost of the space and the cost of the unit, than I was for my rental apartment. So basically, like in a lot of places, there are structures in place to keep people in poverty.
But I will say this. When I first moved here in 2008, I rented a two bedroom, two bath (and three skylights!) apartment for about the same amount of money I'd have paid for a comparable place in Overland Park, KS (where I moved from), which is considered to be a relatively low cost of living place. So why is Santa Fe considered so expensive? I will add that Johnson County Kansas, which includes Overland Park, has long had a reputation in that area as being too expensive for normal people to live in. I never quite got that.
To say it's boring is mind-boggling. There are museums. Several colleges. Quite a few theaters. Did I mention museums? For someone who is a member of a faith group, there are endless and wonderful opportunities. Better yet, there's an inter-faith community that is fabulous. I myself am not religious, but I have friends who belong to a faith group and with them I volunteer at the Interfaith Community Shelter, which is to say one of the homeless shelters. We serve meals a couple of times a year. I work in the kitchen, cooking and serving food to our guests, the homeless. It is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Anyone who is bored here needs to look in the mirror. Earlier this evening I was at Geeks Who Drink, which is fabulous. Check it out.
No place is perfect. I've lived in more places than many people, and for what my opinion is worth, I love it here. That does have a lot to do with my specific circumstances, that I came here after a divorce, re-invented myself and started a new life. I can tell you that this is a great place for an older woman (I turned 60 right after I got here) to re-invent herself. I have no idea what it's like for a man (hopefully as good) although I wouldn't want to be a young person here. They basically roll up the sidewalks at 9pm. I got to have my dissipated youth in the Washington DC area. After the Pill and before Aids. It really was great.
In a similar conversation a while back, a local friend said, "No one winds up in Santa Fe by accident." She was, of course, referring to those who moved here, not those who grew up here. Although I will say that many who grew up here do their best to say. But for everyone else, if you move here and don't like it, go somewhere else. Life is too short to stay in a place you don't love. I really, really mean that.
I feel incredibly fortunate to live here. Despite my above statement, I recognize that most people don't really get to choose where they live. They're there because of things they have little control over, such as the job. I love it here. I love the climate. I love the people. I especially love the ethnic mix, the Hispanics and the Native Americans, who I haven't even mentioned before this. There are 19 Pueblos in Northern New Mexico, what would elsewhere be called Reservations. I see Native Americans all the time. When I worked at the information desk at the local hospital I saw them every day, and often heard them speaking in their native languages. I thought that if I stayed there long enough I'd learn to recognize the different accents (Navajo, Taos, Santo Domingo, etc) of the different tribes. I am reasonably sensitive to my being Anglo (and it's possible I miss a lot, for which I apologize) and appreciate the contact I get to have with these other people.
Oh, here's something else. All of the Pueblos have times/days when they are open to outsiders visiting. I have never taken advantage of that, mainly because my personal sensibility about privacy is such that I can't imagine walking into someone's home. And yet, they are happy for that to happen.
To summarize, those who don't like Santa Fe can simply go elsewhere. I'm reminded of the "Best Places to Retire" that you see in certain magazines. What's best makes certain assumptions that we might all not necessarily buy into.
So, to summarize: Santa Fe has an amazing climate. Not too cold in the winter, little snow and what snow there is melts very quickly, not very hot in the summer to the point you can easily live without a/c. No bugs. No mosquitoes. No roaches. No ticks or fleas on your cats or dogs. Very low humidity. Which means both hot and cold weather, such as it is, can be very bearable.
Here's a story about relative humidity and cold. In January, 1970, I lived in Washington, DC and worked at National Airport as a ticket agent, meaning I essentially got free flights everywhere. One time I was planning to fly to Utica, NY to visit friends. When I left my apartment to wait for the bus to the airport, I was nearly in tears because it was so cold. They were having record temperatures, in the low single digits. And, as I heard on the radio right before I headed out to the bus stop, the wind chill was minus 20. Shiver.
I got on the plane, flew up to Utica, about an hour flight, and when I got off the plane I laughed out loud. Keep in mind, this was in the days before jetways, especially in places like Utica. So I walked down the stairway attached to the plane, out in the open. Anyway, I could tell immediately that the air temperature was 20 below, but because of vastly lower humidity, it simply didn't feel that bad. And sure enough, the giant thermometer on the outside of the terminal building registered -20.
So yeah, where you live and the relative humidity does matter. Me? I've lived in a lot of places, and I've come to really dislike high humidity. We are all different, and that might not bother you.
But more to the point, I'm totally gobsmacked by those criticisms. None of them ring true. I have lived here since July, 2008. My decision to move here after my divorce was perhaps the best decision I could have made. I looked at several other parts of the country, and as I'm fond of saying, Santa Fe kept calling my name. If it doesn't call yours, if somewhere else does, then don't come here, go elsewhere. Life if too short to be in a place you don't love.
= new reply since forum marked as read
