Quality of Life Committee Wed, Apr 22, 2026 · Quality of Life Committee https://santafeminutes.space/meeting/986 == Executive Summary == The Quality of Life Committee meeting focused on a proposed ordinance for free public expression and discussed various community events and initiatives. Public commenters, including a legal scholar, presented a draft ordinance to ensure the city's compliance with constitutional law regarding free expression and public assembly, stemming from issues encountered during a past march permit application. Staff was directed to follow up with these commenters regarding the proposal. The committee also heard updates on several community initiatives, such as an event supporting women business owners, an Earth Day celebration, a fundraiser for the Children's Museum, and a grant program for businesses affected by crime. Other topics included local business support, volunteer recognition, community clean-up efforts, an upcoming homelessness summit, and affordable housing RFPs. The agenda and consent agenda were both approved unanimously. == Key Decisions == - The Quality of Life Committee approved the meeting agenda. - The Quality of Life Committee approved the consent agenda. == Motions & Votes == - Approval of Agenda — Passed unanimously (5-0) - Approval of Consent Agenda — Passed unanimously (5-0) == Public Comment == Barbara Norris from District 4 and Heidi Lee Feldman, a county resident and legal scholar, presented a proposed ordinance for free public expression. They highlighted issues with constitutional compliance during a past march permit application as the reason for their proposal. Susie Weaver from District 2 also spoke, expressing her support for the proposed ordinance and emphasizing the importance of protecting First Amendment rights. == Topics == - Free Public Expression Ordinance - Community Events & Activities - Economic Development Initiatives - Homelessness & Affordable Housing - International Workers' Day - Keep Santa Fe Beautiful == Full Transcript == Are we live? We are live. Just going to wait a couple more minutes. Oh no, Councilor Chavis is online, so we have a quorum. I would like to call this meeting of the Quality of Life Committee to order. If we could get a roll call, please. Councilor Fagali. Here. Councilor Barrett. Here. Councilor Chavez. Here. Here. Okay. Councilor Castro, I'm sorry, Councilor Cassett. Here. Madam Chair, you have a quorum. Madam Chair, thank you so much. I'm just going to pull up my agenda because for some reason I can't connect on my device. And the next item is going to be approval of the agenda. I would entertain a motion. Move to approve. Second. Second. We will need a roll call vote. Councilor Fagali. Yes. Councilor Barrett. Yes. Councilor Chavez. Yes. Councilor Cassett. Yes. Councilor Castro. Yes. Madam Chair, the motion passes. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It's okay. We had took a week off. We needed some practice. So, nothing was pulled off the consent agenda, but I do want to offer opportunity for anyone to pull something at this point. If not, I will entertain a motion. Move to approve. Second. And we will have a roll call, please. Councilor Fagali. Yes. Councilor Barrett. Yes. Councilor Chavis. Yes. Councilor Cassett. Yes. Councilor Castro. Yes. Madam Chair, the motion does pass. Thank you so much. So, we have, thank you so much, consent agenda is passed. We have no presentations today. This would be the opportunity for anyone in the public to come speak to us. We do generally take two minutes. If you could just come up to the podium. And generally, we ask what district or what part of town you live in just so we know who should be paying the most attention. Thank you. And your name so we can address you if we need to send you an email or give you any information. Thank you. Hello. My name is Barbara Norris and I live in District 4. And I've lived in Santa Fe like three years and moved down from Taos. And I'm here with Sue Weaver, who's a lifelong Santa Fean, and we're here to talk about an ordinance for free public expression that arises out of the problems that came out of trying to do a city march during No Kings. And so during that time we started working with Heidi Feldman, who is a legal scholar and a retired emeritus professor at Georgetown University Law Center. And so she knows a lot about this area. And I would like to have her come up and talk about this proposed ordinance that we would like to have. Sure. And everybody gets the two minutes. So whenever you're finished, she's more than welcome to come up for her two minutes. If you're finished, thank you so much. Hello. I don't like to stand behind the lectern because then I'm looming over you because I'm very tall. Just your name and maybe if you'd like to share with us what district you're part of. So, my name is Heidi Lee Feldman. I actually live in the county, so I don't have a city district. And we're really here just to introduce the ordinance to you. I've brought a little introductory memorandum and copies of the draft ordinance. And so first, just very quickly, I have a number of specialties in law, but one of them is civil rights. And I taught the law of constitutional torts, which is a civil rights related area of law for about 30 years. And so that's what gives me a lot of information about First Amendment law. And when First Invisible Santa Fe, thank you. And then a group I founded for 1A Santa Fe sought to get a permit for our No Kings march. We encountered a set of problems that I frankly have demonstrated that the city is just out of compliance with constitutional law with regard to free expression and public assembly. And we'd like to help the city get into compliance because we think that benefits everyone. The first thing I want to say is repeatedly when we talked to people about the city march, which involved wanting to use the streets for thousands of people who were coming to Santa Fe for No Kings 3. We were told repeatedly, "Oh, you don't have to get a permit." The thing is that we can't just make a plan to have thousands of people in the street and not communicate with the city. And we make a commitment to the national organizers. We make a commitment to the national organizers that we will comply with the law. Well, I can tell you the law requires, New Mexico state law requires that if you're going to plan a public demonstration of that size, you have to communicate with the city. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. We have the information. We aren't allowed to respond from here, but we will respond to you in other forms, most likely email and by phone. Okay. Am I at two minutes? Two minutes. I'm so sorry. Thank you. Anyone can come up. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please. Susie Weaver, lived in District 2. Thank you. I'm just here to support Heidi and all the people from Santa Fe. And absolutely, I know that the council and the city believes in the First Amendment. And so we just need to find a resolution for it. And if her ordinance is the key to doing that, that's great. But otherwise, we just want to be able to express our First Amendment rights. Thank you. Thank you so much. Anyone else in the chambers? We're going to go ahead and move on to matters from staff. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening, councilors. We have a very busy week in community events supporting economic development. I just was at an Invest event. I want to let you know that this is an initiative that we have at the Office of Economic Development supporting women business owners as well as women investors, and that was at the Kitchen Table. And this weekend, I want to make sure folks are aware that Earth Day celebration that's happening in the Railyard will have a table along with sustainability and Christine Chavez. And then on Sunday, we'll be tabling at the Museum on the Move, which is a race. And as well, just want to bring your attention that the SAFE Grant, Security Assistance for Enterprises, the grant that's available to support business owners that have had experienced some type of crime is available. And if you have constituents that would like to apply, please point them in our direction. We can help them with the application. And Go Local, Go Different, our initiative supporting local businesses is open and happy to chat with your businesses and your districts to get them to participate and reap all the benefits that that comes with too. And that concludes my update. Thanks. Chair, I don't have very much this week. We do have, it is Volunteer Month, and this week we are recognizing our volunteers at the Senior Center with a recognition event tomorrow. So, I just want to say thank you to all the volunteers that help us out with seniors and all throughout the city government. Thank you. Thank you so much, Director. Anything from you, Marcella? Right. Then we will go on. Anything from the committee? Just to go off what Director Nelson said, there is an Earth Day celebration on Saturday. Councilor Barrett and I and Bike Santa Fe are doing a bike ride, 10:00 a.m. It will be very child-friendly. It's about a mile each way entirely on the trail. There will be one tiny street we need to cross. So, we encourage anyone who has a bike or any anything that rolls really, wheelchair, scooter, you know, if you want to, yeah, skateboard, unicycle. Yeah, unicycles definitely count. To come out and hang out with us for maybe half an hour and then experience the rest of Earth Day at the park. It should be very fun. I'm very excited about Grace Days. Anything to add, Councilor Barrett? I'll be there too with my bike. Councilor Chavez. Councilor Cassett. Thank you, Madam Chair. The only thing I would reiterate, the Sunday, the race is moved for the museum. It's a fundraiser for the Children's Museum. It starts early. I don't remember exactly what time. But it's a lot of fun. And you know, if you want to go and race and get a lot of activity in or walk, all the proceeds are going to supporting our kids at the Children's Museum. And there's a lot of fun activities as well. Sometimes there's donuts, but I think those disappear pretty quickly. So, hope to see people there. Thank you so much. And I just want to thank everyone. I was actually out of town this weekend, which is unfortunate because it was Keep Santa Fe Beautiful. There was so many cleanups as cleanup. So we are fortunate to have a beautiful day to go explore the outdoors, which is now have cleaned by our community. And also, I'm very excited to talk about some of the new efforts that are going on. We have a homelessness summit happening. We've been releasing the RFPs for affordable housing. If there's any questions, please reach out to us. And with that, oh, one last thing, we will not see you before International Workers' Day. So, happy International Workers' Day on May 1st. If you are around for the AFSCME picnic on May 2nd, we will be at the park over in District 2. I am so sorry, I don't remember the name of the park. Young Park. There you go. So, with that, we are adjourned until May 6th. Thank you all.