The Las Cruces City Council held a work session on Monday, August 24, 2026, at approximately 1:00 PM, presided over by Mayor Eric Enriquez. The session included presentations from Main Street Las Cruces, the Farmers and Craft Market, an update on the city's strategic plan, and a joint presentation on traffic calming involving Public Works and the Las Cruces Police Department. Council discussed resource allocation, community feedback, and potential policy changes.
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the city work session. Today is Monday, August twenty-fourth, two thousand twenty six. It's approximately one PM. I'm Mayor Eric Enriquez. We will start with a moment of silence for the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces as they protect our interests around the globe, as well as our courageous men and women of the Las Cruces Police Department and Las Cruces Fire Department as they keep our city safe. One nation undergoing into this with liberty and justice for all. A little bit about me. I am a wife. I am a mother, a small business owner, a personal trainer, a native New Yorker, a resident of Las Cruces, and I am the executive director of Main Street Las Cruces, or formerly known as Downtown Las Cruces Partnership. I've been in this role a little over a year now, and needless to say, it has been nothing short of a busy year. Our priorities have been rebuilding our image and strengthening our relationship with the downtown community and the city overall. Since moving here, I have watched downtown Las Cruces and Las Cruces as a city change and grow. I'm proud to be part of that evolution, and I'm excited to share with you today what we've been working on as an organization. So in the last year, Main Street Las Cruces not only hired me, but six new board members with various backgrounds and expertise. So lots of transition in the last year, but as a team, we all share the same vision of what downtown can be. Downtown communities are truly the heartbeat of a city. They bring together businesses, residents, visitors, arts and culture, and community life. And as an accredited Main Street organization, it is our goal to strengthen that environment. Downtown Las Cruces is more than just a destination. It's a launch pad for dreams where artists, business, and residents unite in a collaborative environment to experiment, grow, and push the boundaries of what is possible. So since we are a Main Street America accredited organization, we follow a four-point approach. So design, organization, promotion, economic vitality. These work in synergy to create meaningful and lasting change in communities. Oops. So for the state of downtown, there is a lot happening. We adopted the role of Main Street Las Cruces as the front door of the business ecosystem. More than 6,000 people working in the district, but as I was informed a couple weeks ago, it's probably closer to 10,000. We have millions of dollars in the TID with a strong calendar of events and activities go on downtown, including the weekly farmers and crafts market that happens on Wednesdays and Saturdays, that Karen has carefully curated over the years, a monthly fine arts flea market that happens on Fridays once a month that is indigenous and women-owned and operated. Visit Las Cruces puts on Mita. We have Zombie Walk and Chili Drop, and we've also seen capital improvements, including the Arts and Cultural District Lighting and Gateway Project and other city projects. We do have the largest arts and cultural district in New Mexico, and that gives us a real opportunity to use arts and culture as part of our economic development strategy. Our job is to help connect those creative assets with the broader downtown business ecosystem. Aside from our annual budget of 125,000, one of the many ways we support downtown businesses is by connecting them with funding and free technical assistance through Main Street New Mexico Revitalization Specialists. We received a 10,000 dollar grant from tourism event growth and sustainability from the state for Chili Drop. We received a grant for New Mexico Resiliency Alliance for facade improvements for a restaurant of that house that is housed in a historic building downtown. We assisted two businesses in the renovate Main Street grant process, and the amount that we were able to receive for them was totaling around 40,000. And we also took the time to educate these business owners on the unique and business incentives the city has to offer. We were also awarded 100,000 through the Creative Industries Arts and Cultural District pilot grant. This funding supports the El Camino Real Heritage and Art Trail in the historic mesquite neighborhood. We've been working in tandem with Las Esperanzas, Film Las Cruces, Economic Development and Historical Preservation. We've hosted community engagement sessions, uh, three stakeholders three stakeholder networking events and focus groups to find out what the district residents and business owners hope for for the grant. We received 14 submissions for mural concepts by four different artists. We cross-promoted a business, a recently opened gallery in the Mesquite neighborhood, and local artist mural concepts we printed and we presented them in the gallery, and we had people from the community come in and they were able to see the concepts. The funds will also be used for murals and public art, wayfinding signage, historic plaques, cultural storytelling and marketing, and GIS mapping. And this is a great example about how art, history, and economic development can work together, and we're hoping to drive more foot traffic to the historic mesquite neighborhood. Now I'd like to ask permission to have a testimonial from Martha Cruz from Las As Bronces. Thank you. Mayor and City Council. By the way, my name is Martha Rodriguez.