So I wasted time reading the entire link to discover what was controversial about it. It seems it was a Civil War victory monument with a plaque which made a passing reference to "savage" Indians and the word "savage" had been chiseled away decades ago.
So for that, the entire monument had to go? Now, that might actually make sense if some southerner's tender feelings were hurt because New Mexico was once a slave territory and a Union monument could be seen as gloating. But I somehow do not think this is the case here.
Santa Fe has a lot of Indians that make a sell very expensive jewelry. I am sure this will help their businesses /sarc