Santa Fe mayoral candidate Michael Garcia seeks community-based solutions for the city's big issues

Michael Garcia has been a vocal critic of Mayor Alan Webber in his time serving as a city councilor and is now seeking to succeed Webber in office and push to achieve his vision for his hometown of Santa Fe.

In the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse,” Santa Fe New Mexican politics reporter Daniel J. Chacón speaks with Garcia in the second of a series of interviews with Santa Fe’s seven mayoral candidates.

Garcia shares some of his background, including his Santa Fe roots and his work for Americorps VISTA, a federal service program focused on fighting poverty.

Chacón asks Garcia to discuss his campaign priorities and his plans for some of the hot-button issues facing the city, including homelessness and the future of the Soldiers’ Monument. Garcia expresses his aim of coming to community-based solutions with Santa Fe residents to tackle these issues. He also talks about his preference to move away from the city-owned homeless shelter known as Pete's Place in favor of a campus-based location that would offer services to address the needs of the homeless community.

Garcia also shares his opinion of Webber’s time in office, his desire to reduce the powers of the mayor, his take on criticisms coming from the pseudonymous Facebook poster “Jay Baker,” and his thoughts on housing in the city.

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