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Let me introduce myself. I am Tabitha and I have been lurking here for a while now. I have lived in Santa Fe with my sisters for 10 years and feel that it has a reputation it does not deserve. We live in a great family neighborhood that is quite safe. We shop at Trader Joe's and Wild Oats, eat at great restaurants like Tomasitas and Maria"s and enjoy a four season climate. We are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not sure how Santa Fe got it's reputation for being so expensive , but I just don't see it.
There are those here that locals would just like to ignore. They usually come from Texas, buy multi-million dollar homes , that they visit occasionally, shop and eat in the places locals never go. Santa Fe is a VERY laid back place with lots of great things and great people. Check it out for yourself and dont take others word for it.
No offense intended . . . but in another post you stated that you paid your household help $20/hr. By NM standards this is expensive, so you lose some credibility on your opinion of whether or not SF is expensive. I also think that if you price out Maria's with comparable (or better) food elsewhere in NM, you will come to my conclusion that Maria's is outrageously expensive for what you get. I think consumer surveys support the fact that by NM standards, SF is expensive. If you are comparing it to LA or NY, then it's fairly cheap.
Don't get me wrong, I love to visit SF and blow some cash, but living there in the lifestyle to which I have become accustomed would be difficult.
i live 40 minutes north of santa fe because for 325,000.00 we could get a 2 bedroom/1 bath, 1500 sf. house w/ no speakable yard on a busy street, like w. alameda. i find that the "local" retailers that are set up for locals are exorbinantly expensive, e.g. 40.00 for a child's shirt, and the small cafes and restaurants are too. for example, mission cafe charges 6.00 for 12 bite sized peanut butter cookies. this is all understandable with the commercial rents in sf. and the fact that all businesses have to pay a minimum of 9.50/hour to all employees. these same employees have the attitude that they're doing you a favor by being in business. however, i don't find most people at large to be unfriendly. unless you want to live in south santa fe, you're looking at a minimum of 300K for a house and a high cost if you want to shop or eat out of the big box. there are a lot of people who find that this is a good trade off in exchange for living in a community of ultraliberalism and lots of open space areas to play in near to town.
I am sure if you search there are places that are not as expensive but probably not as accesible as most places. Although I do like Santa Fe I try to spend as little money there because of the price. I paid $9 for a 12oz bottle of beer there. The miniumum wage is above the rest of the state, and since that went up the price of everything went up. I used to eat breakfast there and the cost of that jumped up $3, and I since havent eaten at that restaurant.
I have been on this board for a short while and have decided against further efforts to save Santa Fe's reputation.
Those of us who live here or visit here frequently know what we like about this place and a big part of is Santa Fe's amazingly low population and low density and slow growth for all that it offers -- a world class city that is little bigger than a town.
So let people bash Santa Fe to their hearts' content. Let them direct future residents to Albuquerque, Farmington, Las Cruces, etc. They are helping us keep Santa Fe the way we love it.
I have been on this board for a short while and have decided against further efforts to save Santa Fe's reputation.
Those of us who live here or visit here frequently know what we like about this place and a big part of is Santa Fe's amazingly low population and low density and slow growth for all that it offers -- a world class city that is little bigger than a town.
So let people bash Santa Fe to their hearts' content. Let them direct future residents to Albuquerque, Farmington, Las Cruces, etc. They are helping us keep Santa Fe the way we love it.
I find most tourist destinations to be expensive so that should be no surprise when dining and shopping in the plaza. Deven is 100% accurate when stating "a world class city that is a little bigger than a town." This is so true and many places around the country try to duplicate it (ie Sedona). I love Santa Fe (expensive or not) and I'm glad its only a 45 minute drive north. Can't wait for the Rail Runner to make my commute a little more relaxing!
I think you are being overly sensitive. Most everybody enjoys the uniqueness of Santa Fe, the culture, the arts, etc. It just happens to be on the expensive side, as most tourist destinations are. Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Farmington are cheaper, but conversely have less to offer from a tourist perspective. No place has it all, choices have to be made.
Exactly. I like Santa Fe, but it cannot be denied that it's fairly expensive for NM. I don't hold that against it. That's just the way it is. Probably people who live there know where to shop as locals, not as tourists, and don't have to spemd as much. It's a lovely place, albeit full of tourists, like a big version of Taos in that respect. I like more out of the way places, as a general rule. I don't like crowds and traffic much.
Last edited by catman; 02-02-2008 at 01:13 AM..
Reason: typo
Thank you for your positive comments about Santa Fe.
As a future resident who absolutely loves the city, it was very nice to read.
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Great
