City Councilor Michael Garcia to hold town hall Thursday on public safety

Aug. 20—Santa Fe City Councilor Michael Garcia will host a community town hall Thursday evening on the topic of public safety.

Garcia said the meeting, the first in a series of public conversations he plans to hold on the topic, will offer an opportunity for residents to speak about their main concerns when it comes to crime in Santa Fe.

Representatives from the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce and potentially the Santa Fe Police Department will be at the event, he said, but he intends to focus most of the discussion on community concerns.

"I'm more interested in hearing from folks about what their concerns are and where we can be doing better," he said.

The town hall is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the community room of the Genoveva Chavez Community Center.

Garcia announced the event after the Aug. 6 fatal shooting and carjacking of a Santa Fe man in the parking lot of a busy shopping center on Zafarano Drive.

The suspect, who was arrested Aug. 10 in Las Cruces, had been released from prison in March after serving about five years of a 10-year sentence.