On Thursday, Oct. 21, the Santa Fe STRA held a virtual candidate Q&A with Mayor Alan Webber (i), Candidate for Mayor Alexis Martinez Johnson and District 4 City Council Candidate Amanda Chavez. Below are the candidates’ responses to the questions asked during the event. You can also find a recording of the event here.
Q: Tell us about your personal experience with STRs. Have you stayed in STRs when you travel, and what is your stance on permitted and legal short-term rentals in Santa Fe?
Mayor Webber: I have stayed in short-term rentals, obviously not in Santa Fe, but on the road and in other communities. And I think it’s become a very fun global way for people to travel and do interesting things, enjoy a different line of sight, a different way of experiencing a community. So I have a lot of personal experience and support for the way short-term rentals can enhance the trip, a vacation and an engagement. I have a degree, one degree of separation from the leadership at Airbnb, I’m familiar with their philosophy, their policies and how they too are encouraging responsible short-term rental conduct. It’s an organization that really has grown since I remember it being a startup, just a little baby idea to have a blow up mat air mattress on the floor to having more rooms under their management than any hotel in the world. So I think it’s an augmented experience. It responds to the changing nature travel and community and engagement in a community. It’s a constantly evolving business. When Santa Fe, Before the web, a short-term rental was a casita that was available for the opera or somebody coming to town on a regular basis, it’s now literally become a global industry with web platforms proliferating. And so that change in and of itself is something that governments around the country and cities and communities have tried to keep up with. I think we’re still trying to find a good compromise so that people can enjoy it, but it doesn’t really do damage to our neighborhoods.
Candidate Alexis Martinez Johnson: Well, yes, I have seen the short-term home rentals. You know, of course, I live here in Santa Fe. So when I’ve traveled to other places, I think it’s a great opportunity for people to get together as a family. I am a mother of four children and my spouse of almost 10 years here. And we like to get together with grandma, grandpa and all visit together. So, I think that it promotes a positive experience here in Santa Fe. And I love short-term home rentals. They provide a personal experience and a great economic boom for Santa Fe and small business owners. I come from a small business family and I 110% support small business. And when you’re talking about legalities, I really look to remove red tape and roadblocks for small businesses which I would consider the short-term housing environment. You’re running a business. And so I would look to remove anything that is blocking you, I look to promote less taxation for these startup businesses, what I would consider startup, you know, you’re not conglomerations of apartment complexes, and or hotels. And I think that we should really be cognizant of the small business effort and work that needs to be done on the small scale. And in order for these businesses to continue, we need to promote that. So I’m all for making sure that everybody is compliant, but not so much to where we’re road blocking people from actually having a business, you know, we don’t want to do anything to where you can’t get off the ground. And then you have complaints filed against you, and you’re just trying to start your business.
Candidate Amanda Chavez (City Council District 4): I came in very transparent in my knowledge base is education, community, mental health awareness and leadership. And I have learned so much on this journey. And just with the conversations we had earlier, I’ve learned so much. So I want to thank you. And I want to thank Mayor Weber and Alexa Martinuz Johnson for sharing their information. I also have a family. And we love to stay at short-term rentals when we travel. I was joking with some of the individuals I was talking with earlier. And I said, you know, when your parents and I’m sure Miss Martinez Johnson can understand this, you want to enjoy the family together. But it’s nice when the kids can go play in the other room for a short moment. So you as mom and dad could also have a little bit of a vacation. And so what I think is really important about short-term rentals is it allows you to take a vacation away from home, but still bring part of home with you. So you’re able to experience something new, but then kind of make the experience your own whether it’s having a home or getting the family together. It kind of lets you individualize the experience, which I think is really important. I am completely eager to learn more. And I want to. I find it very important for our economy. I think that we see large groups. I know one of you told me, it’s like those sorority sisters that get together 20 years later, and come to Santa Fe and I think our short-term rentals allow those kinds of experiences. And Santa Fe, to experience it as a group, is really beautiful. So, I think it’s essential for tourism. And so like I said, I’m really excited to learn more. I’m really excited to see how we can collaborate to make all stakeholders involved in the process, those neighborhoods along with all of you and our tourists.
Q: The responsible STR community wants to be compliant. However, the 7 Day Rule is unnecessarily challenging on both the reservation management side and the city side in reporting to the Land Use department. We think this is a missed opportunity for the city to create a better and more effective STR management solution. What alternative approaches might you consider?
Mayor Webber: What we are trying to do is arrive at a balance. This compromise that I mentioned in my prior answer, where people who are the good guys, as you said, in your first slide, have the benefit of a well-regulated business where you get the benefit of the doubt. And people who are rule breakers or not playing by the rules are caught, and warned and then punished, we did change the seven day rule for the November 15 to January 15 period, recognizing that that’s a serious window of opportunity for people and needs a different set of rules, and commercially zoned areas are completely exempt. So we’ve tried to find middle ground wherever we could. And the main way we’ve shifted to our enforcement is through web scraping and web-based compliance, the old model, people thought you could drive around in the car and see people are out of compliance. That’s just not the way the world works. If you have as we move forward, if there are adjustments or adaptations that experience suggests would be the next way to adjust the changes we made a year and a half or so ago I’m open to your suggestions. I’ve checked with our land use department and our land use director. We haven’t been getting a serious number of complaints about the current operation. What we’ve heard is that for the most part, people find it works okay. And it does limit the revolving door phenomenon.
Candidate Alexis Martinez Johnson: Well, definitely, you know, you always want to resort to technology when you can use electronic means. And we’ve seen some movements here at City Hall utilizing some advanced technology measures to record databases and process various permitting. So I would continue with making sure that compliance is as easy as possible, you know, we don’t want anybody to have any type of compliance issues, because they’re not able to get through any red tape. So I think electronic management is the key. And as far as enforcement, I think that we really need to provide some leeway for people that are getting involved in the business or have perhaps one short term rental, you know, we want to make sure that everything is on the up and up. And I think everybody does a really great job of doing that. So I would promote electronic means, and understanding that, you know, during the ski season, and a lot of times when people are traveling to Santa Fe to experience our beautiful cultures during November through January, that we understand that it is difficult to turn around a seven day rule in that time. So I’m glad to hear that we will be taking that into account and if you choose me as mayor, I would definitely work with you and make sure that we are doing the best that we can to promote your economy and our economy. It’s a mutual collaboration.
Candidate Amanda Chavez (City Council District 4): I feel like I agreed with a lot of what I heard, I think that this is, it’s a balance. And I think we need to get the right people at the table. I know that I’ve talked to you all about that. And we really need to get you doing the groundwork, see your knowledge in this. I really love that idea about utilizing technology in regards to compliance. But I think it’s having the right policy in place, but also making sure we’re not interfering with your success or limiting our tourists from enjoying STRs. So I think we just need to have a conversation with the key stakeholders really leaning on your expertise. I know I stressed that a lot earlier. But I’m sure you could bring great ideas to the table, in collaboration with city leadership and land use department. So we could do something that actually works for everybody. Thank you.
Q: Enforcement has been a challenge for the city and was a hot topic in the ordinance process this past year. What plans does the City have (or would you suggest for the City) to pursue unregistered hosts and non-compliant operators?
Mayor Webber: Yeah, great question. And it was, you guys, are all veterans of this debate. So you remember what we talked about when we were trying to update our short term rental ordinances and the enforcement. The first thing that we’ve done obviously, is to move to this technology based web scraping approach which gives us both the host compliance and portal air from Airbnb as our vehicles are partners in finding non-compliant or violating organizations or somebody who is simply not abiding by the rules. The second thing I would encourage and we haven’t seen too much of this, which I think is a good thing, is folks like you, when you spot, when you see something say something. If you’re the good guys, and you’re aware of people who aren’t playing by the rules, while you are–those kinds of experience based and professional management, individuals or organizations, you can help us find the people who are the rule breakers, because that is important. We want people to be respectful of the neighborhoods they’re nested in. And we want people to be respectful of the other people who are part of the short-term rental community. So, between technology and complaints based on experience, I think we have a two sided approach toward finding people who are the violators and issuing complaints against them. Again, if you’ve got better solutions or ideas to augment that, please let me know. You’re closer to the ground than I am. And if you’ve got ideas, I’m open to them.
Candidate Alexis Martinez Johnson: Well, again, you know, like what was mentioned, we need to resort to any type of technology or electronic means, so that we can make sure that people are registered. So there’s various methods of doing that. But I think old school boots on the ground can be needed, but for the most part, we need to rely on technology in regard to enforcement. And I’m in favor of giving warnings so that people can do business. You know, we all want to do business and make money for our families. And so we need to make sure that we are not penalizing people that are trying to contribute to this economy. They want to contribute to their family, they want to contribute in taxes to the community which we utilize to increase the quality of life. So this is a situation where we work together. And if there’s any issues that are holding you up from doing business, then those need to be addressed. But right now, the personnel that is required to go door-to- door may be lacking in and around this pandemic, as we tried to get more employees into City Hall–you know, we are faced with that issue right now is attracting employees. So, whatever technological means that we can use, we will use going forward. But also knowing that we will need to do some type of audit or an actual physical person is going out there and checking and, you know, giving people some leeway. If they have a violation, give them a warning and then move from there. This shouldn’t be a parent coming out and telling people what to do, but it should be more of working together to see how we can both come to the table to promote both of our quality of lives as an individual and as a community.
Candidate Amanda Chavez (City Council District 4): I think it would be interesting to see how other cities are regulating that. I think that would be good. I’m all about collecting data and learning from other people. I think technology is huge. And I think there’s importance in having uniform regulations and statutes between local county and state entities. I think that could go a long way with enforcement. So really looking at all of those options and possibilities or you know, maybe all of them will work and contribute to that. Word of mouth is also huge. I know that along with my experience so far on this journey, I have really seen everyone that I’ve spoken to us thought partners. And so you would be the thought partners in this process, and making sure that you’re reporting to us, those that are in compliance, you’re sharing your ideas of how we could improve the process, make sure that we have everybody, we’re enforcing what we’re supposed to be enforcing. We would be leaning on you for that process. That would be the best because you’re here in Santa Fe, you’re working along individuals, you’re seeing what we don’t see. So I think word of mouth is really important, especially to have immediate action at a local level.
Q: STR hosts are contributing to city taxes on par with other lodging accommodation types and bringing in guests who may not otherwise visit the city without STRs as an option. How would you like to see STRs included in Santa Fe’s overall tourism promotion and development over the next 4 years?
Mayor Webber: I think that’s a very good, optimistic and forward looking question. I think there’s no doubt that the studies that were done on the short-term rental business showed that we were not doing a good enough job recognizing it as an emerging economic engine. And that we were leaving money on the table. And so were you. And so I think there’s an opportunity as we see this continue to evolve as a preferred way for a whole group of people to travel and experience a tourism based city like Santa Fe, to say to people, there’s lots of different ways to come and enjoy our community. And for a whole group of people, a short-term rental experience is more fun and more personal than something that feels like a stay at a hotel. And I think we can tell that story through our tourism and promotions. I think we can do video of people who have come here and stayed in a short-term rental and enjoyed it enormously. The Marketing of short-term rentals is so much more creative than most of the marketing for traditional hotels because of social media. And people love to promote the cool place they stayed and the special personal experience they had. So I think the best customers, of course, are word of mouth marketing, who say to the rest of the world, I went to Santa Fe and had a great personal experience. It was unique. I stayed in a neat adobe house, it was great. But I do you think the city needs to approach this as an evolving part of our tourism package, and make more out of it than we have, Historically, there is a undoubtedly a whole group of travelers and tourists for whom that is the preferred way to visit a city and we need to cater to them and give them more reasons to come to Santa Fe and enjoy our community. So moving forward in the second term, I think we will work with our tourism department to make that part.
Candidate Alexis Martinez Johnson: Well, I have not seen any promotion as of yet for our short-term rental community. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. But I personally have not seen it. I would like to see an innovative solution such as perhaps a lottery system whereby we can collaborate in marketing. So the city of Santa Fe market Santa Fe,, not only through New Mexico, but throughout the entire United States. And I’d like to see through a lottery system for those people that are compliant, and working together collaboratively,have their featured home in a promotion for Santa Fe, so that way, everybody can get a chance to promote their home, not only here in New Mexico, but nationwide. I think a lottery system whereby we pick a particular home, perhaps monthly, that would be 12 homes a year. And then we could put that in our marketing circuit to advocate as a personal and advocate for your personal situation, but advocate for our community, bring them into Santa Fe. Not only will they be staying at your facility providing money, but the rest of the community will benefit. They’ll visit our restaurants, they’ll go to some of the opera and some of our festivals, and they’ll be spending money there. And that will contribute to gross receipts tax, which in turn further the quality of life here in Santa Fe. I definitely would look to collaborate with this tourism. And also I look to reduce taxation on the small business owner.
Candidate Amanda Chavez (City Council District 4): I really feel like we need to do a study of other cities that have a similar tourism population, and just the similar local population to really get effective ideas for that. Social media, I think, is huge. And if the city can support a large social media movement, to build and get more people here and really sell and support, our short-term rental business would be great. You know, I find short-term rentals via social media. And that’s for others out of state,, that’s what I see, I see someone that went there, or I’m scrolling through because you look on Google one time that you want to go to Denver and on Facebook, there’s nothing but short-term rentals on Facebook. So really having us, you know, city leadership, support you and making sure that we’re reaching out that way as well. Are we setting you up? Are we supporting you in that process to really sell what Santa Fe has to offer? And you know, short-term rental, like I said, really allows people to bring or make their experience to our city theirs. It also allows people to see all of our city, which often doesn’t occur with a lot of the hotels that are sought out downtown. And one of you brought that point up and I think that’s so important because there’s other businesses in Santa Fe that aren’t included in the downtown area. And usually they’re the ones that need the most support. So if we sell for short-term rentals,we can be rebuilding all of our beautiful Santa Fe including my district, district 4. And we could give some of those businesses some support as well.
Q: If you were to be elected, what is your commitment to compliance with short-term rental operators and hosts?
Mayor Webber: Well, my commitment is–that I everything you’ve said, and everything we’ve talked about tonight is a representation of the role you play in our community and in our economy. And I think it is clear that there are folks who want the short-term rental business to operate within our regulations, within our ordinances, and be a custom experience for visitors. So I’m very eager to pick up where we left off when we last looked at the ordinance and the ways in which we are enforcing rules and making them good for people who are the good guys, like you say. It is a very important balance, we’re trying to strike. If you go back to where we started, four years ago, there really was a concern that things were not being well regulated. And I do feel like we’ve made big progress toward that in compromising on issues that were seriously important to you all, like the period of time in November and December, January, when there’s a peak population coming to town. And at the same time recognizing as you all do, that we don’t want the neighborhoods that are the most attractive neighborhoods for short-term rentals to become really unattractive to the people for whom that’s a home. So I continue to work with you on how we can adjust and fine tune what is an evolving industry and an evolving balance with our neighborhoods.
Candidate Alexis Martinez Johnson: This is a rank choice voting. So you’re going to be ranking your candidates. And I would like to ask for your vote, either the number one or the number two position. And this is a unique voting system that is not typically used in the entire state of New Mexico. So, you know, you can choose a few candidates here. And I would hope that you would consider me I’m a very fair and balanced individual. And what I mean by that, when I’m talking about your rankings is that you know, I’m going to be someone that’s going to work with you. I definitely understand small business, coming from a small business family. I definitely believe in providing pathways for individuals to have an income. So your consortium that you have here would definitely be considered a stakeholder, and you would have a voice in a policy. So the one reason why I’m a part of this race is to provide voices to individuals in the community who are not represented. So if at any time you feel you’re not represented, that’s where we would work together. So my commitment is that you would be a stakeholder and a voice in the community promoting short-term home rentals and you would be collaborated with.
Candidate Amanda Chavez (City Council District 4): I’d strive to support a policy that would balance initiatives to keep Santa Fe neighborhoods welcoming to our local residents and also welcoming to tourists and visitors that contribute to our economy. I also think that in regards to neighborhoods and our residents and our community, I think we could do a better job. I just want to touch base on this a little bit, a better job of informing the community, how you contribute to our economy, the positives that you bring from having your short-term rentals. I think that we could build a policy that will better meet the needs if we collaborate and we listen to each other. I know I’ve said a lot that I’d want to rest on you all as the experts because you’re the ones that are bringing the knowledge, the experience, you are the ones that are going to be educating us so that we make best decisions for all stakeholders involved. And I feel like I could bring that collaboration on.
Q: In your mind, what is the #1 benefit STRs provide to homeowners and to the community at large?
Mayor Webber: I think what’s different about travel and tourism today is the idea that you can customize your experience to your own family, your own trip expectations. Prior to you know, the Airbnb world,everything was pretty much pre packaged by a hotel or a travel agency. And the internet and web has changed everything so that the traveler is in charge of their own experience. That’s really why Airbnb has grown to be such a powerful corporation in the travel world. And as I said earlier, statistically it has more rooms under management than the largest hotel business in the world. It is responding to a felt desire by people who want to travel to have their own control, choose their own adventure, kind of experience. And nobody benefits from that more than Santa Fe. Because we are such a unique place. People want to experience, on their own terms, what it means to come to Santa Fe. So being a good partner with that customized relationship, that customized experience. That to me is really the sweet spot, as long as we maintain the balance with our residential neighborhoods. So they don’t feel that we’ve made them a commercial district where they are still placed, where families want to live, send their kids to school, and have a sense of neighborhood. That’s the sweet spot we’re working for.
Candidate Alexis Martinez Johnson: I think you all provide a unique benefit. It’s not only income for you, but you’re sharing a very important relationship with the people that come to your home and rent it, you are providing them a product. And I know that each and every one of you are proud of that product. And that product is your home, the amount of effort and love that you put into it. And you share that and provide joy into this community. And I know a lot of people don’t talk about that. It’s just all about money and this and that. But there’s something more that makes Santa Fe bright. And that is providing this, this love for what you do and for this community. And as a candidate and as the potential next mayor of the city, I’d love to promote that here in Santa Fe and unify this community. So I ask that you please consider me your number one and your number two position. Thank you so much for your time and your presence here.
Candidate Amanda Chavez (City Council District 4): Short term rentals provide a service that is congruent with the tourism economy in Santa Fe. With proper regulation enforcement STRs can continue to help Santa Fe thrive. Like I said, you provide the individualized experience. People can travel and experience a new city but you provide that extra individualizing their vacation, their trip–and I think that’s really special.