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The Defouri Street Bridge has been identified for replacement by the state Department of Transportation since 1990. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
City seeks exception to demolish, replace bridge
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Experts says costs next year for those who pick the cheapest plans could be surprising. PAGE A-5
Bienvenidos Outreach battles food insecurity
Group’s volunteers have distributed meals to those in need for 25 years
Engineers to present request concerning decaying Defouri span to historic review board By Daniel J. Chacón The New Mexican
City of Santa Fe engineers will seek an exception under historic preservation rules to demolish and replace a decades-old, deteriorating bridge in the downtown historic district. The request will be presented to the Historic Districts Review Board, which voted 3-2 Dec. 10 to designate the Defouri Street Bridge as a “contributing structure,” despite recommendations from city staff that it doesn’t qualify. The designation applies to a structure 50 years or older in a historic district that helps “establish and maintain” the district’s character. Because of the designation, the city, as the project applicant, must ask for an exception to demolish the bridge and avoid a requirement to replace it with material of a like kind. “What is there would not meet today’s standards,” project engineer Desirae Lujan said Friday. The bridge over the Santa Fe River, just north of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was originally built in the late 1930s and then reconstructed in 1959. The narrow span is the lowest-rated structure in the city and has been identified for replacement in state Department of Transportation bridge inspection reports since 1990. “The bridge is in such bad shape, it’s so far deteriorated, that we can’t rehab it or do any kind of cosmetic work to it to give it a longer life,” Lujan said. “It has to be replaced. With a rating as low as it has, it’s becoming unsafe.”
Please see BRIDGE, Page A-4
CREDIT CARD FRAUD
Weak security makes U.S. cardholders easy targets
Skip and Lois Tucker load their pickup with crates of bread donated from Lowe’s Super Save on Thursday. Bienvenidos Outreach volunteers like the Tuckers pick up donated goods from businesses around town, and the organization distributes boxes of food from its offices. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
By Uriel J. Garcia The New Mexican
n a chilly Thursday morning, Skip Tucker and his wife, Lois, drove their Ford pickup to the Lowe’s Super Save on St. Michael’s Drive to collect about 400 loaves of bread the store had donated to one of the city’s oldest programs aimed at easing hunger. “Sometimes we even fill up the back seat of the truck,” said Skip Tucker, who retired from the manufacturing industry. For the past year, he and Lois, a retired teacher, have been volunteering with Bienvenidos Outreach, a 25-yearold nonprofit that helps feed the homeless and needy in Santa Fe. The Tuckers collect donated food from local businesses year-round for the
O
Today A full day of sunshine. High 39, low 20.
By Jonathan Fahey The Associated Press
PAGE A-12
NEW YORK — The U.S. is the juiciest target for hackers hunting credit card information. And experts say incidents like the recent data theft at Target stores will get worse before they get better. That’s in part because U.S. credit and debit cards rely on an easy-to-copy magnetic strip on the back of the card, which stores account information using the same technology as cassette tapes. “We are using 20th century cards against 21st century hackers,” says Mallory Duncan, general counsel at the National Retail Federation. “The thieves have moved on but the cards have not.” In most countries outside the U.S., people carry cards that use digital chips to hold account information. The chip generates a unique code every time it’s used. That makes the cards more difficult for criminals to replicate. So difficult that they generally don’t bother.
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-6
Comics B-12
who experience food insecurity, which means they don’t know where their next meal will come from. About 15 percent of New Mexicans fall into that category, and about a third of those are children, the website says. Bienvenidos distributes food four days a week, Monday through Thursday. Executive Director Susan Tarver said the nonprofit averages about 125 boxes a day, filled with bread, fruits, milk, eggs and canned goods. The group also distributes bagged lunches to homeless people. And around the Christmas season, families are invited to apply for gifts for their children. Tarver said the organization got its start 25 years ago, distributing bag lunches for the
Please see FOOD, Page A-4
Museum’s annual open house entertains young, young at heart By Chris Quintana The New Mexican
Bob Fries is not a child, but he played with a marionette version of Santa Claus on Sunday as a kid might. Fries flicked the tiny Saint Nick’s legs and said, “I just love his shoes.” Fries even sang “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” with the marionette’s puppeteer. Fries was among hundreds of adults and children who flocked to the New Mexico Museum of Art for its annual holiday open house and presentation of famed artist Gustave Baumann’s marionettes. Originally made in the 1920s by the printmaker to
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Santa Fe Desert Chorale The 2013 Winter Festival continues with Carols and Lullabies, 8 p.m., Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, 131 Cathedral Place, $15-$65; student discounts available, desertchorale.org, 988-2282. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
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organization, which also collects toys for lowincome children during the holiday season. Not long after the Tuckers moved to Santa Fe from Connecticut, a neighbor asked Skip Tucker if the couple would like to help Bienvenidos. “He took one look at the truck and said, ‘You know, I could use some folks like you to haul some food,’ ” Skip Tucker recalled. As the couple loaded their pickup with crates of bread at Lowe’s, a Santa Fe Tortilla Co. truck arrived to deliver its order to the store. The driver had extra tortillas for the Tuckers. By the time the couple arrived at the Bienvenidos office, 1511 Fifth St., to drop off the goods, dozens of people had already lined up outside, waiting for boxes of food. According to Bienvenidos’ website, New Mexico ranks fourth in the nation for people
Please see YOUNG, Page A-10
Family A-9
El Nuevo A-7
Opinions A-11
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Police notes A-10
Sports B-1
Marionettes designed by Santa Fe artist Gustave Baumann perform for visitors to the New Mexico Museum of Art on Sunday. The event also featured arts and crafts, a scavenger hunt and photo ops with a tiny Santa. KATHARINE EGLI/FOR THE NEW MEXICAN
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Time Out B-11
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