Good on the Santa Fe City Council for approving the Banking Fiscal Impact Study, which explores the feasibility of a public bank in Santa Fe. Last week, the City Council heard an update on how the study is progressing. The potential for our city is exciting.
Contrary to the opinion of some, a public bank is not “instead of” established banks or Santa Fe’s beloved credit unions (of which this writer is a member and will continue to be), but works in tandem with them, often assuming parts of loans borrowers could not manage otherwise.
Even if using a different model, public banking has potential to do for Santa Fe what it has done for North Dakota: address the fundamental issue of access to capital, affording real opportunities for entrepreneurship, homeownership and self-sustainability for those across socioeconomic strata — for us rank-and-file folks who deserve a chance to better our lives — not just for the moneyed of Santa Fe. This could plausibly help to foster citywide solvency amid future economic downturns, just as it has done in North Dakota, as well as in countries like Germany. (Facts show North Dakota’s solvency has not been just because of the discovery of the Parshall Oil Field.)
Local investment and belief in the potential of all people of Santa Fe is what’s needed in these uncertain economic times. And a public bank is just the thing to spearhead those efforts.
Carol Norris – Santa Fe
