Governing Santa Fe won't be anyone's idea of enjoyable — for the next couple of years, and maybe longer: The national economy's in the doldrums, and so, to no one's surprise, is the local one. Tourism is down. Revenue is down. City Hall morale, ni hablar. It's enough to make you wonder why anyone's running in the March 2 municipal election — and in Districts 3 and 4 no one is bothering to oppose the re-election of Carmichael Domínguez and Ron Trujillo.

The mayoral race, which has been known to attract mobs, has only three contestants. Two candidates are running in City Council District 2, and three in District 1. Citywide turnout might be scant indeed. Early and absentee voters might have decided all three races already.

But who knows? Maybe this year's winners will be glad they were chosen to the largely thankless jobs of mayor and city councilor; indeed, they might have something to do with the economic turnaround — if there is one ...

It's been a spirited race during the last several weeks, and Santa Feans can thank mayoral challengers Asenath Kepler and Miguel Chávez, as well as council contestants Russell Simon, Doug Nava and Stefanie Beninato for holding the feet of Mayor David Coss and councilors Chris Calvert and Rebecca Wurzburger to the fire. Whether it was prompted by stark revenue projections or opposition to their re-election, the mayor and council — belatedly — have faced up to the need for re-structuring; for getting more productivity from a city government overloaded with employees, many of them mismanaged.

Coss for mayor

That better-late-than-never attention to the city's organization chart is one reason whyThe New Mexican recommends re-election of Mayor Coss, although he and Kepler have much to recommend them, while Chávez would remain on the council for two more years even if he's not elected mayor. In giving the nod to Coss, we're acknowledging the need for caution at a time when frustration could bring a meat-axe approach to a city government that isn't all that bad.

He's a bureaucrat, as he cheerfully admits — but he's a skilled one. And as the politician he's been since running successfully for a District 3 council seat in 2002, he spends lots of time out in the community. He listens carefully to his fellow Santa Feans — yet he avoids the by-golly-you're-right backslapping done by so many politicians, instead taking what he's learned back to the office for analysis before passing it on to the city-manager side of government where he also has served.

Simon, Wurzburger for City Council

Russell Simon, Santa Fe-born and raised, would to some degree represent the many educated-but-restless young people longing to live here on a professional level, yet thwarted by the economic-development limitations of this small-townish city.

His notion of a city-owned, green-powered electrical utility might be today's wishful thinking, but it's also forward thinking. More realistic might be his advocacy of a City Council with only half its members representing districts — and the other half elected citywide. Simon isn't alone on that plank; it's an idea whose time soon could come.

Rebecca Wurzburger, in eight years on the council, has put her public-administration and -planning background at our community's service. She's been active in seeking new, long-term sources of tourism, especially overseas visitors — the ones who still seem to have money while Americans are watching their pennies.

Wurzburger, more than most of her council colleagues, seems willing to re-think such missteps as Railyard-area parking and City Hall's role in economic development.