The Board met last night, February 25, 2020, to take the appeal of Guthrie Miller, who wanted to keep the murals and sign up on his property. The Municipal Code of laws is clear that permits must be obtained, and the murals did not conform with the City Code.
At the same time, Miller and his attorney Jeffrey Haas, leader of the misnamed Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), tried to make this into a Native American artist discussion and Israel-Palestine issue, bringing in a number of Natives declaring how they and Palestinians have shared a similar fate, or how Santa Fe is on native land, and therefore the Board needs Native representation.
Other public speakers (we each had 2 minutes to make a statement) from Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine (SFJP) or JVP declared the first amendment right to put up any kind of mural they wanted anywhere, or simply spent their 2 minutes declaiming the Palestinian “situation.” Most of these statements were devoid of context or simply stating lies or propaganda. One woman who writes periodically in the New Mexican (My View or letter to the editor), Kathleen Christison, tried to claim speciously that the blood libel was not an accurate portrayal of the murals.
While the SFMEW position that these murals should be removed was upheld by the Board, it was a sad day for Santa Fe to have such bigotry and hatred toward Israel and Jews demonstrated by so many who spoke, including a couple of self-identified Jews.
Yashar koach to those from the Jewish community who spoke to the only object of the Board – the architectural and aesthetic issues, not the political issues: Ed Borins, Brian Yapko, Kristina Harrigan, Phil Goldstone, Keith Schneider, Teresa Roybal, Rabbi Berel Levetov, Pen LaFarge, and Halley Faust. Here is a link to read the City Code analysis and background, including the scofflaw nature of the appellant, Guthrie Miller, provided to the Board by Halley Faust and Brian Yapko (with editing help from Phil Goldstone and Ed Borins) and signed onto by 13 other residents: 2-25-20 Final Letter to the Historic Review District Board .
Click here to get a little more flavor to the hearing from the New Mexican‘s coverage. Clearly what arose from the Board’s meeting shows how the City Code is ambiguous about how to define and treat a “mural” vs. a sign, and how to determine “art” vs. political expression (one artist who testified to keep the mural claimed that all art is political). Though the City treated the violations as a mural and seemed to think that clearly they were not a sign, we argued that the Code does include murals as signs in some places, and further that this was not one mural but actually 7 separate murals/signs; the Code only permits at most 2 per property. This needs clarification in the Code.
While the Board was correct in its decision, the matter may not be settled in the long-term. We ask members to monitor the wall along Old Pecos Trail for violations of the Board’s decree and to inform city attorney Sally Paez (sapaez@santafenm.gov), enforcement division head Elias Isaacson (esisaacson@santafenm.gov), and SFMEW (info@sfmew.org) if you find new or re-painted murals arising on the wall.
SFMEW is a beneficiary of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico.