Around the Roundhouse

Letitia Montoya says collecting stray shopping carts dispersed throughout a city is a great way to understand a community and its issues.

That’s what she’s been doing with her husband, Michael Segura, since June of 2023 through their company, Nebula Advisers LLC. The company is contracted by the city to collect and return stray carts to grocers and retailers. In the process, Montoya says she interacts with people from all walks of life, from members of the homeless population to business owners and shoppers. The experience, Montoya says, has greatly informed her campaign for mayor and her plan for the city.

In the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse,” she discusses what she’s learned from her work and what she hopes to accomplish if elected mayor. Her priorities, she said, include increasing affordable housing, helping the homeless population and increasing wages for city employees.

During the interview, Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Daniel J. Chacón questions Montoya on a wide range of topics. He asks her to explain the two bankruptcy filings she and her husband have made in the last 16 years, and what she would say to voters who may have concerns about electing someone who has filed for bankruptcy. He also asks her to explain her plans for increasing the amount of affordable housing in the city, how she would address homelessness and how the city could afford to increase wages for its employees to the degree she hopes. Montoya also shares her thoughts on what should happen with the Soldiers’ Monument on the Plaza.

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Jeanne O’Dean was the last candidate to enter the race for Santa Fe mayor and lacks the name recognition of others who are running, but she hopes her background in “disruptive innovation” resonates with voters enough to send her to City Hall.

In the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse,” host Daniel J. Chacón speaks with O’Dean about her plans for the city and asks her why she feels the electorate should choose her.

O’Dean talks about initiatives she hopes to accomplish, including building 1,000 affordable adobe homes, through the backing of significant philanthropic funding. Chacón presses O’Dean about the sources of the funding, which she says she is unable to reveal.

O’Dean discusses the struggles she had with black mold prior to the time she announced her candidacy for mayor and says the city needs to do more to address black mold and fungus through inspections. She also talks about her own struggles with finding housing in Santa Fe and her experiences with Casa Familia and Consuelo’s Place.

Born and raised in Iowa, O’Dean talks about her upbringing in the Hawkeye State. She also discusses her work in consulting and education that she says has taken her around the world.

O’Dean ends the episode by addressing issues she has with some businesses around the Santa Fe Plaza and shares her plans for the Soldiers’ Monument.

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Tarin Nix has had a taste of winning in New Mexico as a political consultant, including guiding Stephanie Garcia Richard to successful campaigns for the state House and, later, for state land commissioner. Now serving as the deputy commissioner of public affairs for the State Land Office, Nix is vying to win her own race in a crowded field of candidates running to be Santa Fe’s next mayor.

Nix joins Santa Fe New Mexican state politics reporter Daniel J. Chacón on the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse” to share her vision for the city and discuss what she feels sets her apart from the other candidates.

Nix said she’s spent many hours combing through city records and understanding ordinances and statues. In her research, she said she has found that the city is not following many of its own laws and ordinances. While she said she wants to cut red tape to help the city accomplish key objectives such as building more affordable housing, she said she is also committed to making sure the city is following its own laws.

Nix shares some of the top priories that she has outlined for the first 30 days if she is elected mayor. She also offers her thoughts on addressing the city’s housing shortage, fixing problems at City Hall, tackling wastewater issues, and more.

The daughter of two teachers, Nix discusses her background, what drew her to New Mexico and why she loves Santa Fe. She also talks about her experience building coalitions and the accomplishments she's most proud of in her time at the State Land Office.

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Oscar Rodriguez is a former finance director for the city of Santa Fe who has spent 30 years of his career in the public sector. He says his experiences serving in city management in communities large and small have given him the skills needed to be mayor of Santa Fe. 

Rodriguez joins Santa Fe New Mexican politics reporter Daniel J. Chacón to speak about his background and share his views on issues impacting the city in the latest of a series of interviews with Santa Fe mayoral candidates on the “Around the Roundhouse” podcast.

An enrolled member of the Lipan Apache tribe, Rodriguez grew up in the Permian Basin and was the first in his family to go to college, earning a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a master’s degree with a specialization in city management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 2016, he has served as the CFO for the New Mexico Finance Authority, where he said he manages $3.5 billion in assets. 

Chacón asks Rodriguez how he plans to compete in a mayoral race while lacking the name recognition and visibility of some of the other candidates. Rodriguez also speaks on how he’s been balancing his job as New Mexico Finance Authority CFO with campaigning for mayor. 

Rodriguez shares how the city’s shortcomings in basic services spurred him to run for office. He lists improving the quality of the city’s services among his top priorities, along with addressing the lack of affordable housing in Santa Fe. Rodriguez also discusses his plans to improve public safety and how he would address homelessness in the city. 

As former finance director in the Javier Gonzalez administration, Rodriguez shares how how would handle annual audits if elected mayor. He also discusses what he would like to do with the Soldiers’ Monument on the Santa Fe Plaza, offering a plan that he admits has its critics.

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JoAnne Vigil Coppler has served for two Santa Fe mayors and two New Mexico governors during her career and has worked in every branch of government. In the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse” she touts her decades of experience as what will give her the edge in her second campaign to be Santa Fe’s mayor. 

Vigil Coppler finished runner-up to Alan Webber in the 2021 election and said she gained a lot from the experience that she can lean on in her current campaign. She said she feels more comfortable being herself, sharing her message and handling the demands that come with running for mayor. 

The former Santa Fe city councilor said she is disappointed in the job Webber has done in office, and the state of the city prompted her to want to run again. 

Vigil Coppler said the city needs to get tougher on crime, which she noted as the most important issue facing Santa Fe. She also discussed her plans for creating more affordable housing in Santa Fe and mentioned the need to streamline the permitting process that has been plagued by backlogs.

When asked what needs to be done about the toppled Soldiers’ Monument in the center of the Plaza, Vigil Coppler said there needs to be action instead of continuing to delay a decision that has been drawn out for years. 

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A chaotic first day as a foster parent dealing with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department led Maralyn Beck to have a panic attack after thinking a baby had been lost due to a failure of communication by the department. Things didn’t get better from there, and the serious issues she witnessed and learned of in the months to follow led her to found a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in foster care and empowering those who serve them. Beck, who is the executive director of the New Mexico Child First Network, has been working as an advocate to hold CYFD and New Mexico’s leaders to account over the past several years. She joins Santa Fe New Mexican senior politics reporter Daniel J. Chacón in the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse” to share her perspective on the state of CYFD, which she says is broken and “worse than it’s ever been” in her time dealing with the department. Beck expresses her frustration with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in what Beck considers a further degradation of the long-troubled department in the governor’s two terms in office. She also shares her thoughts on how Teresa Casados has performed in her time as CYFD Cabinet secretary. She recounts several instances of fatalities and near fatalities of children who have been in CYFD custody. She also discusses large-scale issues that are leading to last-in-the-nation outcomes for New Mexico’s children in need, and what she thinks needs to be done to lead to improvements in child welfare services in the state.

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Former Santa Fe City Councilor Ron Trujillo had an unsuccessful run for mayor in 2018, finishing second to Alan Webber. Trujillo has been a vocal critic of Webber during his two terms in office, especially concerning cultural issues and what he feels is a degradation of basic services. 

Trujillo is back on the campaign trail as one of eight candidates who are looking to succeed Webber as Santa Fe’s top leader. He joined Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Daniel J. Chacón for the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse” to discuss his background and his stance on some of the big issues facing the city.

Chacón asks Trujillo about his motivation for running for mayor a second time, and the large field of candidates who he’s competing against in the ranked-choice race. He later asks about Trujillo’s plans for affordable housing and his thoughts on initiatives to scale back the power of Santa Fe’s mayor. Trujillo also discusses what he would do as mayor regarding the toppled Plaza obelisk.  

This is the third interview in Around the Roundhouse’s series of interviews with Santa Fe’s mayoral candidates, following interviews with Justin Green and Michael Garcia. 

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Alisha Tafoya Lucero was appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to be the secretary of the New Mexico Department of Corrections in 2019 and has served in that role for more than six years. In the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse,” she joins Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Daniel J. Chacón to speak on her path to becoming Corrections Department secretary and the work she has done during her time in the role. 

Tafoya Lucero speaks about her focus on reentry programs to help give inmates the skills and education to enter the workforce after their time in prison. She also discusses the department’s efforts to reduce recidivism and her goals moving forward. 

Chacón asks Tafoya Lucero questions about the state’s work to phase out private prisons. They also touch on the topics of restricted housing in corrections facilities, providing health care to the inmate population, and efforts the department can take to reduce its liabilities.

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Ray Sandoval has been involved with Burning of Zozobra since he was 6 years old and took over as event chairman for the Santa Fe spectacle in 2012. He’s been involved in a firestorm ahead of the 2025 burning due to the recent removal of 12 Siberian elm trees for safety concerns, an action that has drawn sharp criticism from some members of the community.

Sandoval joined Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Daniel J. Chacón on Wednesday in the latest episode of “Around the Roundhouse” to discuss the reasoning and process behind the removal. He talks about the timeline of events that led up to the felling of the trees and the safety issues that he says necessitated their removal for the large-scale event, which drew an estimated 65,000 people for the 100th burning last year.

Chacón questions Sandoval about the messaging of the need to remove the trees, and what he may have done differently in communicating to the public. Sandoval says that he’ll live with the criticism because he believes the tree removal will make the event safer.

The discussion turns to Zozobra’s budget and the attendance required to have the event make sense financially. Sandoval mentions that an endowment was started last year to help set the event up for the future.

Sandoval also discusses how much longer he plans to serve as event chair, and gives some hints about what to expect for the August 29 burning.

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Sam LeDoux has worked on the campaigns and political teams of some big names in New Mexico and the nation, including former Gov. Susana Martinez, the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. LeDoux was elected to serve on the city council of his hometown of Española in March of 2024, and he says he’s seen a lot of dysfunction in his relatively short time in local politics, particularly in the past couple of months. 

LeDoux joined “Around the Roundhouse” this week to share his view on the chaos and confusion that’s taken a grip on city government. 

John Ramon Vigil, the city’s mayor, has been accused of sexually assaulting a city worker and has been asked to step down or resign by several city councilors, including LeDoux. Former City Manager Eric Lujan left his position at the end of May, after Española city councilors voted 5-3 to approve a settlement that allowed him to resign but continue working in a newly created position of “special projects coordinator.” Vigil’s choice for a replacement city manager was rejected by the city council, and LeDoux says Vigil has not attended several meetings to discuss a path forward. 

“Basically, there is no leadership at the city right now. Employees are very confused,” LeDoux said. “Morale is at an all-time low. The city has basically had difficulty functioning because no one knows who is calling the shots.”

Amid the latest round dysfunction in Española, “Around the Roundhouse” host Daniel J. Chacón asks what it will take to turn around the city government. 

Chacón then chats with LeDoux about the governor’s race and who he thinks will come out of the Democratic primary. 

LeDoux, a moderate Republican, talks about what he thinks of the MAGA movement under President Donald Trump. He is also asked if he has aspirations for higher office. 

Chacón closes the episode by asking LeDoux about his proposal — he popped the question during a Washington Nationals game — and upcoming wedding. 

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