Debbie Jaramillo

Who is Debbie Jaramillo?

Debbie Jaramillo was mayor of Santa Fe, New Mexico from 1994 to 1998.

Jaramillo was elected mayor after serving six years on the city council. She was Santa Fe's first female mayor. As a city councilor she had expressed concern about the gentrification of Santa Fe, which was forcing the primarily Hispanic local population to move out of its historical neighborhoods: "We painted our downtown brown and moved the brown people out", she said in 1991. She ran on a platform promising to place the interests of local residents above those of Santa Fe's booming tourist industry, in contrast to the more pro-development policies of the incumbent mayor, Sam Pick. Her campaign slogans included "Take back Santa Fe!", and in her victory speech she said, "This town is not for sale. It belongs to the community."

Jaramillo had previously run against Pick for mayor, unsuccessfully, and her 1994 election was viewed as something of an upset, since she had been outspent by her opponents and she had trailed in pre-election polls.

Jaramillo's administration was marked by controversy. She pushed through a plan for the city, assisted by The Trust for Public Land, to acquire the 50-acre Santa Fe Railyard property and begin its conversion into a public mixed-use development. A new police chief, Donald Grady 2d, was hired in an effort to modernize and bring a community policing philosophy to the Santa Fe Police Department, whose previous chief had been a target of Jaramillo's criticism. However, Grady's efforts met strong opposition and he resigned in 1996. Grady was replaced by Jaramillo's brother-in-law. Since Jaramillo's brother, Ike Pino, was already the city manager, this appointment led to charges of nepotism, although Jaramillo defended her relatives, pointing out that Santa Fe had "always been a community that was related to one another." Shortly thereafter, Pino was removed from his city manager position by the city council.