SANTA FE, August 11 – The City, in collaboration with Veteran leaders in the community, has identified a solution that will allow the Hometown Heroes banner program to be safely reinstated and the banners to be hung in several locations throughout the City of Santa Fe this year. To expedite hanging the banners, the Governing Body will hold a special meeting on Monday, August 15, at 4 p.m. to vote on an amended Resolution to hang the Hometown Heroes banners in additional locations through November 11, 2022. Once the resolution addressing 2022 is approved, the Governing Body will begin drafting plans for future years. The additional locations for the banners in the amended resolution include on Cerrillos Road from I-25 to St. Francis Drive; on St. Francis Drive from I-25 to Alamo Drive; on N. Guadalupe Street from Paseo de Peralta to US-285; and in the Railyard and the greater downtown area. City staff worked closely with representatives of light pole manufacturer Hapco, which designed and manufactured the light poles located along Cerrillos Road and on other streets throughout the City, to analyze all options and find a solution to hang the banners. To ensure the safety of the public and the integrity of the banners themselves, the City will expand the locations of the banner program while limiting the number of banners per light pole to one, hanging thirteen (13) feet off the ground with new brackets. No additional attachments will be placed on the light pole. City leadership would like to thank Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for allowing the use of poles on NM state roads, as this was instrumental in the solution to safely display the veteran banners. |
“Thanks to the hard work of our City team and the cooperation of the American Legion and our community of veterans, we have an outcome that will allow us to put up the banners honoring our heroes in a safe way. It required a lot of patience from the veterans and their families and we worked behind the scenes to find a way to continue this program. Now, with the right kinds of brackets and a clear understanding of the safety factors, we’re poised to move ahead this year, and to begin planning for the future,” said Mayor Alan Webber. “I am excited to see the first of many veterans banners being raised today. I am thankful for Governor Lujan Grisham and her leadership which helped us to develop a solution to continue the Hometown Heroes program. I and many others remain committed and persevered to find a solution to honor our local veterans. Honoring our veterans is always a priority of mine,” said Councilor Michael Garcia. “I would like to thank all those involved in making the veterans banner program a reality for this year; especially Governor Lujan Grisham, Councilor Garcia, Mayor Webber and City Manager Blair as well as veterans advocates like Don Christy and the American Legion,” said Councilor Christoph Rivera. To arrive at this solution, City staff worked with Hapco to get additional information specific to the size of the banners used in the Hometown Heroes program, the structure of the light poles, and methods of hanging the banners, including brackets and height placement of the banners. This situation-specific dat was used to determine if the banners could safely be hung on the existing light poles and if so, how many banners could be placed on each one. Hapco’s engineering team provided the following information back to the City:
The City is purchasing the required new wind-shedding brackets, and PNM will hang the banners upon the receipt of the new equipment. |