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Wednesday, August 27, 2025Bad Vibes About Santa Fe Crime Turn More Real; Businessman Rings The Bell, Plus: Quantum Computing Meets Fentanyl That's because we've been discussing the bad vibes we've been getting about City Different crime with thought leaders like radio's Richard Eeds and others. It reminds us of the early days of the ABQ crime wave that eventually overtook the city. The stats are still mixed but anecdotal evidence should be enough for the leading Santa Fe mayoral and city council candidates to start pondering a sterner intervention: Salazar said he is closing his business at 110 W. San Francisco St. at the end of August. He said his sales are down about 30% from the same point last year, adding he no longer feels like it is safe for him to operate a business downtown....“I’m hearing from folks who are used to visiting Santa Fe often that they don’t feel safe coming here, going out for dinner on the Plaza after dark. The nightmare scenario for Santa Fe, one of the leading tourist attractions in the USA, is frightened visitors. Salazar's take may or may not be hyperbole but the vibes we started to get months ago are showing up in the numbers: City crime statistics show Santa Fe police responded to significantly more calls for service in July than they did in November — a difference of 1,800 calls. While numbers fluctuated from month to month, the overall trend in that period was a steady increase. No one rings a bell at the start of a crime wave that then becomes permanent. That's why anecdotal evidence and bad vibes have to be taken seriously. It's also why we have elections. A LASTING SCOURGE Of course, it's the long-lasting and hideously dangerous fentanyl scourge that is sucking the life blood from so many neighborhoods across the state. We get this from Las Cruces: Las Cruces and Doña Ana County have been put under an alert for high amounts of drug overdoses in the area. The Las Cruces Police Department and drug intelligence officers working for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) for New Mexico issued the alert after 21 overdoses happened over the course of three weeks in the region. Most of those took place in Las Cruces. Two of those overdoses were fatal.This high rate of overdoses began with the beginning of August. Early last week, there were seven overdoses in just three days. Meanwhile, the new buzzword in state economic circles is quantum computing and developing a "quantum workforce." This while the state waits for a quantum leap in getting kids to stop skipping classes at historic rates, treating rampant drug addiction and interrupting nonstop gun violence. Hmm. Wonder what Oppenheimer would think? This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.
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