Bob Sarr knows business. He has a formal business education and has worked for large corporations with recognizable names such as Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble.

Many people in Santa Fe know him as the train man.

Sarr in 1992 acquired partial interest in the Santa Fe Southern Railway, the short line between downtown Santa Fe and Lamy, and served as its president until his retirement several years ago. He was one of the organizers of a community development plan for city purchase of property in the Santa Fe Railyard.

But the story of the railroad also relates to an ax Sarr has to grind with city government.

The Santa Fe Southern, which offered tourists and locals slow rides for sightseeing and also delivered freight such as lumber and beer to businesses in the city, operated for nearly two decades out of the historic Santa Fe Depot in the Railyard.

Last year, city property managers, the mayor and the councilor whose seat he is now vying to fill backed a plan to boot the business from the city-owned depot by not renewing its lease on the space. Despite objections from Sarr and supporters, they succeeded. The depot is now an ancillary office for the city Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

Sarr's wife, Carol Raymond, also tussled with Councilor Rosemary Romero when Romero tried to get rid of the city's Transit Advisory Board, on which Raymond served. Romero isn't seeking re-election to the District 2 seat.

Sarr insists the recent conflicts aren't his sole motivation for seeking a position on the local governing body.

"In modern work settings, good work settings, you find examples of people actually listening," he said. "There are a set of tools to actually listen to people. If you go to a City Hall meeting where people are invited to come and speak, none of those tools are being used."

As former director of the Land Use Resource Center, Sarr was one of the key players in a series of public meetings that resulted in a master plan for the development of the Santa Fe Railyard in the early 1990s. He said "long and drawn-out processes" like that one are important for people because they need to feel like their opinions are both solicited and incorporated into decision-making.

At the local government level now, he said, those processes are gone.

"People are not listened to, so why would you go there twice?" he said. "When you line up along the wall [of the council chamber] and you get up and you say your piece, you get no sense whatsoever that they are listening."

District 2 resident Barbara Gay says she's in Sarr's corner because he's realistic and impressive, yet humble.

"I want a very strong city councilor for our district, and someone who sees the big picture," she said. "He has a very good sense about what needs to happen. ... He's not making promises that he will make huge changes."

The race is Sarr's first stab at elected office. So, politics is his new hobby, he said in an interview.

"Talking to people about politics is fun," he said. "That is my new fun. I didn't used to do that."

Sarr also runs what he calls a "a modest little business." He drives around in a white cargo van and collects refuse. He enjoys dismantling things that he picks up, he said, and separating usable, recyclable parts from those that are trash.

"I like getting out. I like getting out to the college and picking up their stuff. I like going to the scrap yard," he said. "I have a lot of fun at the scrap yard."

A tall figure, Sarr is hard to miss, with salt-and-pepper eyebrows arching toward his forehead like exclamation points and a short, white ponytail.

He says he doesn't want to sound like he has the answers to city problems in his pocket.

"I have not studied the budget, and so what I know is what I have read in the press. One of the reasons I am running is because of the belief that I have about groups and groups working together," he said. "I think that the best budget decisions are going to come out of a process that involves the management of the city and the council and maybe some citizens."

Among his priorities, Sarr says, is beefing up the city's public transportation and trails network.

"Our toughest thing is changing our culture and public transit," he said. "We have to get people out of the cars and stop believing that they have to have their cars or that they have to go everywhere in a car."


Bob Sarr

Age: 69

Education: Bachelor's degree in economics from Drew University, master's in business administration from Stanford University.

Occupation: Runs BSarradventures, a small business that hauls and sorts recyclables for institutions such as Santa Fe Community College.

Experience: Retired president of Santa Fe Southern Railway, an excursion and freight service between Santa Fe and Lamy; U.S. Army Medical Service Corps officer, 1967-70; labor relations specialist for Procter & Gamble; personnel manager for Buckeye Cellulose; consultant for Colgate-Palmolive Europe.

Personal: Born in Ellenville, N.Y.; moved to Santa Fe in 1990; married to Carol Raymond; two adult children.

Campaign info: Publicly financed campaign; http://facebook.com/sarrbob.