On June 6, the City Council enacted legislation that amended the Integrated Development (IDO) to allow for city sanctioned “Safe Outdoor Spaces” encampments for the homeless. The council passed the legislation on a 5 to 4 vote.

SAFE OUTDOOR SPACES EXPLAINED

The “Safe Outdoor Spaces” amendment passed will permit 2 homeless encampments in all 9 city council districts with 40 designated spaces for tents. They will allow upwards of 50 people, require hand washing stations, toilets and showers, require a management plan, 6 foot fencing and social services offered. Although the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) amendment sets a limit of two in each of the city’s 9 council districts, the cap would not apply to those hosted by religious institutions.

A map prepared by the city detailing where “Safe Outdoor Space” zoning would be allowed for encampments revealed numerous areas in each of the 9 City Council districts that abut to or are in walking distance to many residential areas. Upwards of 15% of the city would allow for “Safe Outdoor Spaces” as a “permissive use” or “conditional use”.

Under the law, once such permissive uses are approved and granted by the city, they become vested property rights and cannot be rescinded by the city council. There is no requirement of land ownership, meaning someone could seek a special use for a safe outdoor space and then turn around and lease their undeveloped open space property to whoever can afford to pay.

The map reveals a large concentration of eligible open space area that lies between San Pedro and the railroad tracks, north of Menaul to the city’s northern boundary. The map reveals that the encampments could be put at next to the Big-I, the northeast heights, and on the west side not far from homes. The map does not account for religious institutions that may want to use their properties for living lots or safe outdoor spaces.

The link to the map prepared by the City entitled “Map 1 Council Districts Selected IDO Zoning” is here:

https://documents.cabq.gov/planning/IDO/2021_IDO_AnnualUpdate/Council/Map1_SafeOutdoorSpaces-A12-Option3.pdf

REPEAL BEING SOUGHT

On June 22, after tremendous public outcry and objections, two bills were introduced at City Council by Brook Bassan that would eventually repeal safe outdoor spaces. One bill introduced would stop the city from accepting or approving safe outdoor space applications and the other will eliminate Safe Outdoor Spaces from the zoning code altogether.

The Keller Administration was quick to react and condemned the introduction of both bills and Bassan’s reversal. Mayor Tim Keller spokeswoman Ava Montoya criticized Bassan’s reversal in a statement by saying this:

“Vacillating by passing legislation and then immediately repealing it doesn’t help anyone. … Council is the land use authority for our city and we need them to put forward solutions.”

The link to quoted news article is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2510096/bassan-pulls-back-support-for-safe-outdoor-spaces.html

During the June 22 meeting, as a result of the introduction of the repeal legislation, the council failed to enact the legislation that was to provide for rules and regulations promulged by the Keller Administration as requested by the City Council for Safe Outdoor Spaces. That failure prompted City Councilor President to warn that applications and approvals of Safe Outdoor Space as a permissive use or conditional use could take effect and there would be no rules nor regulations as was envisioned for Safe Outdoor Spaces. June 22 was the last meeting of the City Council before it went on “summer break” until August 1 with the next city council meeting scheduled for August 15.

The city council’s failure to take action on either the bills stopping the application process or repealing the land use resolution until August 15, results in Safe Outdoor Spaces becoming a permissible land use on July 28 and people can apply for the land use. On July 28, landowners and operators who want to establish Safe Outdoor Spaces can legally submit applications to the city. The applications need not earn full city approval from July 28 until the day the City Council returns from summer break on August 15 and votes in the repeal, but the applications must be considered complete, according to the Planning Department. Approval of Safe Outdoor Spaces “conditional use” or “permissive use” must be made after a hearing where surrounding landowners must be notified and be given an opportunity to be heard and then there is a right to appeal.

Planning Department spokesman Tim Walsh had this to say:

“An application for [the safe outdoor space zoning] locks into the existing zoning laws when it is deemed complete. … Therefore, if an application was completed in the interim between when the [Integrated Development Ordinance] (IDO) goes into effect and when a provision was rescinded, the application can still be processed and approved.”

The link to the quoted news source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2514439/safe-outdoor-spaces-may-be-possible-even-with-repeal.html

What Walsh said was somewhat misleading in that he failed to disclose that the application is only the first step in a long process. A Zoning Hearing Examiner must review and decides special exceptions to the Integrated Development Ordinance, which includes “conditional uses” and “permissive uses” such as Safe Outdoor Spaces, variances, and expansions of nonconforming uses and structures. Public notice must be given to surrounding property owners and the general public and they must be given the opportunity to be heard. There is also the Environmental Planning Commission that is responsible for reviewing requests to amend the City’s Official Zoning Map, the Integrated Development Ordinance, and the ABC Comprehensive Plan.

https://www.cabq.gov/planning/boards-commissions

Appeals of land use decisions are to the City Council. This includes Appeals in the Integrated Development Ordinance. Safe Outdoor Spaces are part of the Integrated Development Ordinance and if granted, an appeal could be made to the City Council.

Complicating the matter is the fact that the council failed to enact rules and regulations for the encampments delineating a screening process for use by the homeless and providing rules and regulations for use by the homeless including prohibiting illicit drugs.

NEW MEXICO SUN REPORTS APPLICATIONS FILED, FUNDING BEING SOUGHT FOR 6 ENAMPEMENTS

On July 19, the online news agency the New Mexico Sun broke the story that applications for “safe outdoor spaces” have been filed with the city Planning Department and that private funding is being sought for at least 6 encampments. The article was written by New Mexico Sun reporter W.J. Kennedy and the article is entitled “Funding for proposed homeless camps up in the air”. Below is the unedited article followed by the link:

“The backers of a controversial plan to establish tent sites for the city’s widespread and growing homeless problem have yet to secure a funding source to underwrite the “safe outdoor spaces” plan.

Retired for 20 years from the insurance business, Day now refers to himself as a “private citizen and volunteer.”

The link to the New Mexico Sun news article is here:

https://newmexicosun.com/stories/628944623-funding-for-proposed-homeless-camps-up-in-the-air

MAYOR KELLER ANNOUNCES ADMINISTRATION IS “REVISITING” HOMELESS POLICIES

It was Mayor Tim Keller who initially proposed the idea of “Safe Outdoor Spaces” in his 2022-2023 city budget. The 2022-2023 proposed budget released on April 1 provides major funding to deal with the homeless. The budget approved includes the following line item funding:

“$750,000 for proposed “safe outdoor spaces. … If approved by Council, will enable ultra-low barrier encampments to set up in vacant dirt lots across the City. There is an additional $200,000 for developing other sanctioned encampment programs.”

On Saturday, June 25, Mayor Tim Keller gave his “State of The City” address. Keller bought up the city’s homeless crisis. Keller noted that homelessness is “on display in so many areas in our city”. Keller had this to say:

“We have to open new ways, new pathways, to longstanding problems and try new approaches. We’ve got to be agile, we’ve got to learn and we’ve got to keep creating pathways to stability. That is why we are revisiting our approach to homelessness and encampments.”

On July 6, after intense public outcry and objections over “safe outdoor spaces” Mayor Tim Keller again announced that his administration is “revisiting” its policies on how it addresses homeless encampments that are increasing in number throughout the city. Keller wants to initiate major changes by the end of July on how to deal legally with homeless encampments and in particular Coronado Park.

The links to quoted news sources are here:

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/city-of-albuquerque-revisits-policy-in-hopes-to-combat-homelessness/

https://www.abqjournal.com/2513915/keller-to-revisit-citys-encampment-strategy.html

HOUSING FIRST POLICY

The city has adopted what is called a “housing first” policy to deal with the homeless crisis. The 2022-2023 adopted city contains $4 million in recurring funding and $2 million in one-time funding for supportive housing programs in the City’s Housing First model and $24 million in Emergency Rental Assistance from the federal government

The link to the enacted 2022-2023 proposed budget is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy23-proposed-final-web-version.pdf

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty research clearly shows that housing is the most effective approach to end homelessness with a much larger return on investment than offering government sanctioned encampments and “tent cities”. There is nothing temporary about “city sanctioned” encampments which is what Safe Outdoor Spaces represents.

The city is making a huge financial commitment to help the homeless. Last year, it spent upwards of $40 million to benefit the homeless in housing and services. The 2023 proposed budget significantly increases funding for the homeless by going from $35,145,851 to $59,498,915. The city contracts with 10 separate homeless service providers throughout the city and it funds the Westside 24-7 homeless shelter. The housing first policy provides for city voucher programs, low-income housing, building shelter space and making beds available for its homeless population.

CORONADO PARK

Coronado Park, located at third and Interstate 40, is considered by many as the epicenter of Albuquerque’s homeless crisis. Over the last 10 years, Coronado Park has become the “de facto” city sanctioned homeless encampment with the city repeatedly cleaning it up only for the homeless to return the next day. Residents and businesses located near the park have complained to the city repeatedly about the city’s unwritten policy to allow the park to be used as an encampment and its use as a drop off by law enforcement for those who are transported from the westside jail.

At any given time, Coronado Park will have 70 to 80 tents crammed into the park with homeless wondering the area. It comes with and extensive history lawlessness including drug use, violence, murder, rape and mental health issues. In 2020, there were 3 homicides at Coronado Park. In 2019, a disabled woman was raped, and in 2018 there was a murder.

City officials have said Coronado Park is the subject of daily responses from the encampment team because of the number of tent’s set up there. They say the encampment team, along with Parks and Recreation Department and Solid Waste go out every morning, during the week, to give campers notice and clean up the park. They also work on getting them connected to resources and services they may need.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Brad Day’s actions and the applications and not disclosing operators is what you call being a sneak and taking advantage of a loophole and refusing to take no for an answer. Day said he’s been talking to nonprofits and churches about operating the sites, but he declined to give names for fear of backlash before the applications are submitted making the insulting remark “If the names got out, who knows what Bassan and others might do to stop them.” Sooner, rather than later there must be full disclosure, especially seeing that he says funding could come from city or county taxpayers. It’s also more likely than not some of those same nonprofits and churches are already benefiting from the millions spent each year by the city to deal with the homeless.

Brad Day seems to think that getting the approval the planning department for the permissive use and conditional use is a slam dunk with the filing of the applications. It is not. The truth is the application is only the first major step. The public has a right to be heard and there must be public hearing with notices given to adjoining property owners and the public afforded to the opportunity to be heard to either support of oppose Safe Outdoor Spaces. Day also still thinks funding could still come from the City or County.

Day insisting that safe outdoor spaces will not result in more Coronado Parks is playing fast and loose with the facts given that no rules nor regulations were adopted. Simply put, no one knows for sure. What the city should have learned from Coronado Park, and all the violent crime that has occurred there, is that government sanctioned homeless encampments that “Safe Outdoor Spaces” embody simply do not work. They are magnets for crime and will likely become a public nuisance that is injurious to public health, safety and welfare and will interfere with the exercise and enjoyment of public rights, including the right to use public property. The practical effect of the Safe Outdoor Spaces will be to create “mini” Coronado Parks in all 9 city council districts, especially give the fact that the City Council has failed to enact proposed rules and regulations.

The homeless crisis will not be solved by the city, but it can and must be managed. Providing a very temporary place to pitch a tent, relieve themselves, bathe and sleep at night with rules they do not want nor will likely follow is not the answer to the homeless crisis and is what safe outdoor spaces represent. The answer is to provide the support services, including food and lodging, and mental health care needed to allow the homeless to turn their lives around, become productive self-sufficient citizens, no longer dependent on relatives or others.

KELLER CAN ISSUE EXECUTIVE ORDER TO PLANNING DEPARTMENT SUSPENDING SAFE OUTDOOR SPACES APPLICATION PROCESS

Mayor Tim Keller has said his Administration is revisiting its homeless policy. It’s more likely that Keller’s announcement to revisit policies was nothing more than a ruse to buy time to let things cool off and let the public forget and to fend off the city council from repealing “safe outdoor spaces”. After all, Mayor Tim Keller asked for and was given $750,000 for safe outdoor spaces and its likely he still supports them a part of his “all the above” approach to the homeless crisis.

If Mayor Tim Keller is truly committed to “revisiting” his policies on the homeless, then he can and should issue and executive order suspending or placing a “moratorium” on the application process for Safe Outdoor Spaces. He has the authority to give such an order to his Director of the Planning and Zoning Department.

The moratorium should be in place until the City Council has that opportunity to vote one way or the other on August 15 to repeal the legislation authorizing Safe Outdoor Spaces and also enact the rules and regulations on managing safe outdoor spaces if there is a failure to repeal. Mayor Keller has only 3 days left to issue such and order or until July 28 when the amendments to Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) become law.

“Safe Outdoor Spaces” will be a disaster for the city as a whole. They will destroy neighborhoods, make the city a magnet for the homeless and destroy the city efforts to manage the homeless through housing. If the City allows the 6 applications for “safe outdoor spaces” to proceed and approves them, it will be a major setback for the city and its current policy of seeking permanent shelter and housing as the solution to the homeless crisis.

The public needs to make their opinions known and tell Mayor Tim Keller to issue an executive order suspending or placing a moratorium on the application process and tell city councillors to demand that he issue such an order so that they can vote on the repeal.

The email addresses and phone numbers to contact Mayor Keller and Interim Chief Administrative Officer Lawrence Rael and each City Councilor and the Director of Counsel services are as follows:

MAYOR’S OFFICE PHONE: (505) 768-3000
CITY COUNCIL PHONE: (505) 768-3100

EMAIL ADDRESSES

tkeller@cabq.gov
lrael@cabq.gov

lesanchez@cabq.gov
louiesanchez@allstate.com
ibenton@cabq.gov
kpena@cabq.gov
bbassan@cabq.gov
danlewis@cabq.gov
LEWISABQ@GMAIL.COM
patdavis@cabq.gov
tfiebelkorn@cabq.gov
trudyjones@cabq.gov
rgrout@cabq.gov
cmelendrez@cabq.gov

On July 21 the United States House Select Committee held its 8th hearing during television prime time on the January 6, 2021 insurrection attack on the US Capitol. The hearing concentrated almost exclusive on the events that occurred on January 6 and 7 and what former President Trump did and did not do, his failures to act as well as communications Trump had with others.

CNN REPORT

On July 22, the national news agency CNN posted on it web page an article entitled “Takeaways from the January 6 hearing day 7” written by CNN staff reporters Marshall Cohen, Jeremy Herb, Zachary Cohen, and Annie Graye. Following is edited article deleting played videos footage with the link to the full article at the end:

1. TRUMP CHOSE NOT TO ACT

The committee used Thursday’s hearing to show how Trump not only failed to act, but chose not to as he watched the violent assault on the US Capitol unfold.

“You know, you’re the Commander in Chief. You’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America and there’s nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?” he said in the clip.

2. “STARTING TO FEAR FOR THEIR OWN LIVES”’; AUDIO AND VIDEO SHOWS DANGER FELT BY PENCE SECURITY DETAIL

Thursday’s hearing featured new and disturbing video and audio showing how endangered Pence’s security detail felt he was as they tried to evacuate the vice president from the Capitol.

The video played Thursday spliced together the surveillance tapes with the security footage and sound of Pence’s detail, bringing into focus how near a miss Pence and his detail experienced.

3. COMMITTEE CONTRASTS PENCE’S PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS WITH TRUMP’S INACTION

One focus of the select committee’s hearing was the presidential actions that were taken on January 6, not by Trump but by Pence.

The committee also included in its hearing Thursday a clip of Joe Biden on January 6 condemning the violence — in what was a subtle nod to Biden acting presidential before in comparison to Trump before he was inaugurated as president.

4. COMMITTEE GOES AFTER CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS (AGAIN)

The committee threw several sharp elbows at congressional Republicans during Thursday’s hearing, taking on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other allies of Trump.

The committee has previously gone after congressional Republicans for their role aiding Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, including seeking pardons after January 6. And the committee’s clashes with McCarthy run far beyond the hearings: The committee has subpoenaed five Republicans, including McCarthy, in an unprecedented move.

5. COMMITTEE ADDS CORROBORATION OF HUTCHINSON TESTIMONY

The January 6 committee on Thursday provided new evidence to back up the explosive testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who publicly described Trump’s angry interactions with his Secret Service detail after Trump was told he could not go to the Capitol.

California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the committee, told CNN that Ornato and Engel have both retained private counsel to engage with the panel.

6. NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN VIDEOS, PHOTOS, AUDIO BRING 187 MINUTES TO LIFE

The hearing was peppered with never-before-seen videos, photos and audio that reanimated the horrors of January 6 and — amazingly, 18 months later — broke new ground about what happened that day. In this respect, the panel delivered on its promise to bring new material.

Taken together, these clips created a compelling multimedia experience, which the committee hopes will capture the public’s attention and drive home their message. After all, the panel hired a prominent former TV executive to produce the hearings, and has worked aggressively with subpoenas and court battles to obtain mountains of new material. It’s all now coming together.

7. SECRET SERVICE IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Thursday’s hearing came after a whirlwind week for the US Secret Service. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general who conducts oversight of the agency publicly accused the Secret Service of deleting text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, which are critical to multiple inquiries about the insurrection. That inspector general probe is now a criminal investigation, CNN has reported.

Any additional cooperation from Secret Service officials could help the committee figure out what happened with the potentially missing text messages, which has emerged over the last few days as a key flashpoint in the investigation, with lawmakers increasingly upset at the agency.

PUBLIC HEARINGS TO RESUME IN SEPTEMBER

“The committee will take a summer break in August and resume public hearings in September.

Committee members have said they intend to issue an interim report around that time as well.”

The link to the full CNN report with videos presented is here:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/politics/january-6-hearing-day-8-takeaways/index.html

On May 19, 2022 and then again on July 9, 2022, the Albuquerque Journal reported that the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) is doing a better job of solving the city’s homicides in 2022 than in the past several years, even as murders and violent crime around the city are on pace to match last year’s record high. That may be true, but APD has skewed the statistics to embellish its results for public relations purposes.

This blog article is an analysis of APD’s clearance rates along with review of the city’s homicide per capita rate with murders having spiked dramatically with more murders than ever before and breaking all-time records.

MAY 19 JOURNAL REPORT

On May 19, in a Albuquerque Journal report, APD officials proclaimed they had a 97% clearance rate for the time period of January 1 to May 19, 2022, with 47 suspects arrested, charged or identified in 40 recent and past homicide cases. The 97% figure is very misleading with the actual clearance rate being 18.5% which is calculated below.

What the 97% represents are murder investigations done and completed during the 5-month period from January 1, 2022 to May 19, 2022. It involves those murder cases that were actively being investigated by APD during that time period. It does not include all pending murder investigations that must be investigated and are classified as still pending or unsolved.

The 47 arrests actually represent only 20% of the total 186 homicides that occurred between January 1, 2021 and May 19, 2022. The 97% simply does not track with the clearance rates delineated in APD performance budget measures nor with the manner and method used by the FBI.

Each year since 1995, the FBI releases annually its Crime In The United States Report.

“At the national level, the FBI uses blunt math to calculate a clearance rate, dividing the number of crimes that were cleared, no matter which year the crime occurred, by the number of new crimes in the calendar year. By clearing old and new cases, a department’s rate in any given year could exceed 100%. This leaves the numbers prone to statistical “noise,” but they can be useful for examining trends over the long term.”

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/12/as-murders-spiked-police-solved-about-half-in-2020

The APD annual clearance rate since 2017 has been between 53% and 65%, and actually dropped to 37% in 2021. On April 19, APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the clearance rate of 97% included cases forwarded to the district attorney for possible charges. Of the 47 suspects arrested, charged or identified as of May 19, 23 were suspected in 2022 homicides and 24 in previous year homicides. 17 were from 2021, two from 2020 and five from 2019. Four suspects are dead and 3 are fugitives.

On May 19, Police Chief Harold Medina for his part said in his decades with the department he has never seen so many cases solved in such a short time. Medina gave credit to the leadership of the Homicide Unit and the detectives. Medina said this:

“They have worked hard, they’ve made changes, and they’re working as a team to solve these cases. … Great coaches and great leaders push their teams to do extraordinary things. … These investigations take months … sometimes there’s a misconception, people watch TV and, in one hour, they solved the homicide case and somebody’s in custody. … Our cases take a whole lot longer but they’re a whole lot stronger because of this … because the last thing we want is to build a case that fails in the homestretch.”

Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock said advances in technology, better investigative training and working with prosecutors have all played a part in the unit’s development. Hartsock had this to say:

“This is one of the rare times we are arresting more people than new cases are coming our way. … This is a significant achievement.”

Mayor Tim Keller for his part had this to say about the improved clearance rates:

“[This sends a] powerful signal to criminals in our city. … You will be held accountable; we will catch you and we are demonstrating that right now. That also means for victims and for the justice system, we’re going to do our part. We’ve got a lot of holes and a lot more work to do. But we’re showing that we actually can do this.”

The link to quoted news source material:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2500912/apd-homicide-unit-solving-more-cases-faster.html

JULY 9, 2022 JOURNAL REPORT

According to a July 9, 2022 Albuquerque Journal report, the Albuquerque Police Department is solving nearly twice as many homicide cases despite dramatic increases in homicides. APD credited the success to more detectives and a victim-oriented approach based on teamwork, oversight and training.

APD Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock, who oversees the homicide unit, said although the cases, victims and suspects change, the trends and the causes if the homicides remain largely the same. According to Hartsock, “individual disrespect”, which he defined as a dispute for one reason or another, is one of the biggest motives for homicides and account for 50 of this year’s homicides.

Hartsock said many of the disputes that result in a homicide start over social media but end “in the street.” According to Hartstock:

“We see people go on Instagram Live and start talking trash and people they’re talking about get on the comments like ‘let’s meet up. … If there wasn’t a gun with one of these two people, it just wouldn’t have been a homicide, it would have been something else. A fistfight. … I think it’s pretty astonishing that we’re on the same pace we were last year right now for murders – and we’ve more than doubled the clearance rate. … We can’t keep at this pace without lots of stress and strain on the unit. … So we’re still hoping that number comes back down to closer to what it was over the past five, six years.”

The link to the quotes full Albuquerque Journal report is here

https://www.abqjournal.com/2515026/violence-in-abq-wont-let-up.html

LOCATION AND AGES

Most homicides in Albuquerque happened in the Southeast, the Valley and Southwest area commands. The Southeast Area command had 24 homicides, the Valley Area Command had 14 and the Southwest had 12 homicides.

APD also reported that 2022 has seen more young victims and suspects. There have been 10 people killed and seven arrested who are 17 and under. Last year there were only 4 killed and three arrested, numbers similar to previous years. The youngest person killed in 2022 was 5-month-old baby, Trinity Garcia, and the oldest was 69-year-old Abelito Rivera Sr., allegedly beaten to death by his son.

APD Chief Harold Medina for his part said that in 2022, there have been homicides involving mental illness something he believes is connected to a national trend of rising violence. Medina also said APD is seeing suspects with “zero criminal history” and explained it this way:

“It’s important to recognize that each year, a new generation grows into this group of individuals that are potentially violent … And it seems that during the pandemic … more and more individuals are entering that realm of becoming violent and possibly killing people.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/2515026/violence-in-abq-wont-let-up.html

APD’S CLEARANCE RATES

The July 19 Albuquerque Journal reported APD’s clearance rate in mid-July last year was 47%. However, in its budget performance measures for 2021, APD reported its clearance rate was 37% in mid-2021.

APD Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock repeated the claim that in 2022, the clearance rate sits at 97%. Hartsock claimed the clearance rate includes cases solved in 2022 from this and previous years and is calculated by arrests made, charges filed or other means of solving a homicide. APD includes closed justified homicide cases toward the department’s clearance rate. As noted above, this is simply not how the FBI calculates homicide clearance rates.

According to APD records reviewed by the Journal, APD has made an arrest, filed charges or otherwise cleared 34 of the 2022 homicide cases which as of July 19, there were 67. What this means is that APD has thus far cleared 50% of the 2022 homicide cases. (34 cleared cases is 50% of 67 homicides in 2022.) According to APD, the unit has also cleared 19 cases from previous years in 2022. Thus far in 2022, there have been 67 homicides and last year there were 117 homicides for a grand total of 184.

Using the FBI method of calculating murder clearance rates, clearing 34 cases out of 184 total cases for 2021 and 2022 is actually an 18.2 % clearance rate, not the 97% APD is claiming. The 18.5% is calculated as follows: 117 total homicides for 2021 + 69 homicides thus far in 2022 = 186 homicides DIVIDED into 34 cases claimed cleared by APD = 18.2% clearance rate for the time period of January 1, 2021 to July 19, 2022.

Some cases have multiple arrests, multiple victims or are cleared by the suspect’s death. Hartsock said this:

“To me, that’s the biggest measurement we can give, everything else is kind of a feeling on how it’s working. … But at the end of the day, we’re solving more cases, when we apply this formula … it just works.”

APD leaders said they have increased the number of detectives but are basically using the same resources, just in a different way, to get results. The unit currently has 16 detectives, some who are still in training, which is the highest number the department has ever had.

APD made a push to add several new detectives over the past year to match the pace of homicides. According to Criminal Investigations Division Commander George Vega, they are using teamwork and an emphasis on assistance from the Digital Intelligence Unit, District Attorney’s Office and others to solve cases faster.

Hartsock said a new review process has detectives meet with a supervisor at the two-day and 60-day mark following a homicide, to go over where the case stands and what it needs to be solved. Hartsock said this:

“A lot of these meetings have turned out arrest warrants within days, because when you’re the detective, there’s so much information … it’s a lot to process and you kind of lose sight. … When we force the other experienced eyes to get on it. We come up with a clear plan almost every time.”

APD Chief Medina for his part said the detective academy is also making a difference and he had this to say:

“We’re finding that [new detectives are] hitting the ground running faster, and actually producing very good quality work and getting results quicker.”

Medina also said there has been pushback from the unit because of extra oversight of the unit and that has been a “culture change” for the unit.

Criminal Investigations Division Commander George Vega said for those detectives who are resistant to change, they need to see and appreciate the results and said:

“Once we show them the success and the new resources that are in the building – everybody likes to be a part of something that’s successful,” he said. “That’s where we’re at now is we’re showing them – we’re giving them a path to take – and we feel like they’re starting to really grab onto it.”

The link to the full unedited and quoted Journal report is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2515026/violence-in-abq-wont-let-up.html

THE RISING RED TIDE OF MURDERS

In August 2017, then New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller, candidate for Albuquerque Mayor, had this to say about the city’s high crime rates:

“It’s unfortunate, but crime is absolutely out of control. It’s the mayor’s job to actually address crime in Albuquerque, and that’s what I want to do as the next mayor.”

Tim Keller ran on the platform promising to reduce the city’s crime rates, increase the number of sworn police and return to community-based policing. It was in 2019 that Mayor Tim Keller reacting to the spiking violent crime rates, announced 4 programs in 9 months to deal with and bring down the city’s high violent crime rates. Those APD programs are: the Shield Unit, Declaring Violent Crime a “public health” issue, the Metro 15 Operation, “Violence Intervention Plan” (VIP Program). Based on the city’s high murder rates, it appears Keller’s programs have been a failure.

During each year of Mayor Tim Keller’s years in office, the city’s murder rates rose, dropped one year, and then rose to a historical high. Following is the breakdown of homicide by year:

2017: 72 homicides
2018: 69 homicides.
2019: 82 homicides
2020: 76 homicides
2021: 117 homicides (Per capita murder rate of 20.8 per 100,000.)
2022: 69 homicides as of July 19 (By July 2020, there were 65.)

The link to quoted source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1534762/homicide-numbers-high-despite-pandemic.html?amp=1

https://www.abqjournal.com/2458296/remembering-some-of-2021s-homicide-victims-in-abq-ex-total-

NATIONAL CLEARANCE RATES

Following are the national clearance rates for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 as reported by the FBI:

In 2016, the national clearance rate for murder offenses was 59.4%.
In 2017, the national clearance rate for murder was 61.6%
In 2018, the national clearance rate for murder was 62.3%
In 2019, the national clearance rate for murder was 61.4%

The links to retrieve and review the above clearance rates are here:

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-pages/clearances

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/topic-pages/clearances

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/clearances

From 2019 to 2020, police across the country solved 1,200 more murders, a 14% increase. But murders rose twice as quickly by 30%.

As a result, the homicide clearance rate, the percentage of crimes cleared, dropped to a historic low to about 1 of every 2 murders solved or by 50%.

In 2021, the national clearance rate for 2021 stands at 50%

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/12/as-murders-spiked-police-solved-about-half-in-2020

CITY’S HISTORICAL HOMICIDE CLEARANCE RATE HALF NATIONAL AVERAGE

The city of Albuquerque is a performance-based budget. Each year, city departments must submit statistics to substantiate their accomplishments and justify their budgets. The clearance rates for the Albuquerque Police Department can be found in the annual APD city budgets.

For the years 2019 to 2021, the city’s homicide clearance percentage rate have been in the 50%-60% range but have in fact dropped dramatically to less than 40%.

According to the 2020, 2021 and 2021 APD approved city budget, following are APD’s homicide clearance rates for the years 2016 to 2021:

FISCAL YEAR 2019 APD APPROVED BUDGET PERFORMANCE MEASURES

2016: APD homicide clearance rate 80%

Fiscal year 2019 APD approved budget, Page 212:

https://documents.cabq.gov/budget/fy-19-approved-budget.pdf

FISCAL YEAR 2020 APD APPROVED BUDGET PERFORMANCE MEASURES

2017: APD homicide clearance rate 70%.
2018: APD homicide clearance rate 47%.

Fiscal year 2020, approved budget, Page 213:

https://documents.cabq.gov/budget/fy-20-approved-budget.pdf

FISCAL YEAR 2021 APD APPROVED BUDGET PERFORMANCE MEASURES

2018: APD homicide clearance rate 47%.

2019: APD homicide clearance rate 57%

Fiscal year 2021 approved budget, Page 227:

https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy21-adjusted-approved-numbered-w-hyperlinks-final.pdf

FISCAL YEAR 2022 APPROVED BUDGET PERFORMANCE MEASURES

2020: APD’s homicide clearance rate 53%.
2021: APD’ clearance rate 37% (reported as estimated actual)

Fiscal year 2022 approved budget, Page 231:

https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy22-approved-budget-numbered-w-hyperlinks-final.pdf

The link to review all city budgets from Fiscal years 2007 to 2023 is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/budget/annual-budget

APD Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock oversees the homicide unit. On January 20, 2022, Hartsock said APD is investigating 115 homicides from last year and of that number, only about 30% had been closed, which was an all-time record low for APD.

Links to news source material are here:

https://www.koat.com/article/abq-crime-homicide-arrests/38820745

https://www.kob.com/news/albuquerque-homicide-map-2022/6350373/

https://www.abqjournal.com/2463551/apd-investigates-death-in-sw-albuquerque.html

https://www.abqjournal.com/2460901/apd-investigating-homicide-in-southwest-albuquerque-2.html

CITY’S HOMICIDE RATES

Homicides in Albuquerque rose dramatically from 2015 to 2017 and as a result so did the city’s yearly homicide rates per capita at 100,000 population:

2015: 7.68 per 100,000 people. This was a 43.02% increase from 2014
2016: 10.86 per 100,000 people. This was a 41.41% increases from 2015.
2017: 12.47 per 100,000 people. This was a 14.83% increase from 2016.
2018: 12.32% per 100,000 people. This was a decline of 1.2% from 2017.

MEDINA’S ACTS OF INSUBORDINATION TO BECOME CHIEF RECALLED

What Chief Harold Medina said in part about the recent homicide clearance rates merits repeating and compels scrutiny:

“They have worked hard, they’ve made changes, and they’re working as a team to solve these cases. … Great coaches and great leaders push their teams to do extraordinary things.”

It is very difficult not to laugh out loud at Medina’s remarks about teamwork given the manner and method he used to become APD Chief.

It was on December 1, 2017 that Mayor Tim Keller was elected Mayor the first time and he appointed Michael Geier as APD Chief. As gun violence continued to increase, many plans were formulated to address it.

In 2019, in response to the continuing increase in violent crime rates, Mayor Keller scrambled to implement 4 major crime fighting programs to reduce violent crime: the Shield Unit, Declaring Violent Crime “Public Health” issue, the “Violence Intervention Plan” (VIP program) and the Metro 15 Operation Program. Based upon the statistics, the Keller programs have had very little effect on reducing violent crime.

Chief Geier and a commander created a “violence reduction plan” that included scheduling regular meetings and brainstorming sessions for officers to talk with their supervisors about patterns in fatal shootings and shootings with injury in their area commands and come up with plans to address it. Geier doubled the size of the homicide unit and further instituted APD initiatives to reduce gun violence. It was these measures instituted by Geier that explains in part the reduction in the homicide rate in 2018.

One of those Geier placed in charge of intuiting “the violence reduction plan” was then Deputy Chief Harold Medina. It turns out Medina deliberately did not implement one program but instead orchestrated the termination of Geier in order to replace him. In 2020, Medina was appointed to replace Geier and homicides skyrocketed to 117 in 2021 during Medina’s first year as Chief. In 2020 homicides had in fact gone down from 82 homicides in 2019 to 76 under Chief Geier.

Geier has said Medina never embraced the “violence reduction plan” went so far as to not instruct his officers to follow it through. Geier said Medina delayed launching the program was by six weeks, and those under Medina’s command had to undergo remedial training on the project again because they still didn’t understand it. Medina told Geier it was too confusing.

Geier wrote in a memo to Medina dated August 31, 2020:

“We had a number of discussions over the next several months and it appeared that you made little effort to bring your people on board. … On May 19, 2020, I had to issue Special Order 20-40 in an effort to make up for lost time in our efforts to reduce gun violence. Rather than reductions, APD saw significant increases for over 4 months in this regard.”

In his memo to Medina, Geier wrote the startling comment that he felt like it’s “almost as if you made an effort to make this program fail … [and your] behavior has “bordered on insubordination.”

Geier wrote Medina that he intended to move him from the field services bureau. “I plan on discussing this with [CAO] Sarita [Nair] at our weekly update meeting this coming Friday, September 4th. I expect you to handle your new position as a professional so as to renew my faith and trust in you.”

Geier made the very serious mistake of giving Medina a heads up that he would be talking to Nair because what Medina did was to run to Nair where they orchestrated Geier’s departure. What is pathetic is Medina initiated his own version of “violence reduction plan” where regular meetings and brainstorming sessions for officers to talk with their supervisors about patterns in fatal shootings occurs.

https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/ucr/publications

https://www.abqjournal.com/2500912/apd-homicide-unit-solving-more-cases-faster.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

APD and its homicide unit needs to be recognized and commended for doing their jobs and doubling the number of the cases it is solving. However, Chief Harold Medina and APD loses credibility with the public when the command staff skews the numbers proclaiming a 97% clearance rate by simply including in its calculations only those cases they are actually investigating during a period of time while others remain pending. This is not how the FBI calculates murder clearance rates and its not how APD reports them in their performance measures. It is this type of sneaky and misleading conduct that results in APD losing credibility with the public.

The city is on track to break the all-time record of 117 homicides this year. The city’s per capita homicide rate will likely end up being upwards of 15% another all-time record. APD’s clearance rate last year for 2021 was a miserable 37% and when it’s all said and done for 2022, it’s likely it will not improve that much more because of the staggering increase in homicides. The clearance rate will likely be around 40% for the year 2022.

City residents can only take limited comfort with APD being able to increase solving the number of homicide cases. City residents should not be lulled into a sense of safety simply because APD proclaims it has a 97% clearance rate when in fact it is actually upwards of 40%. The blunt truth is the solving of murder cases does not and will not make the city any safer.

“A Stronger New Mexico”, a political action committee linked to the Democratic Governors Association, released a TV ad which asserts Republican candidate for Governor Mark Ronchetti “opposed a woman’s right to control her own body ‘at all stages’ and praised” the U.S. Supreme Court “for giving that power over women to politicians like him.” The ad claims “governors get power over abortion rights” with Roe v. Wade overturned.

The TV ad also links Ronchetti to a 2020 endorsement for US Senate from “National Right to Life”, the nation’s largest anti-abortion group, when it says “Extremists who’d outlaw abortion even in cases of rape and incest said he’s their choice for New Mexico, which makes Ronchetti the wrong choice for governor.”

Ronchetti first responded to the TV ad in a statement. In his statement, he called himself “pro-life”. He said after the Supreme Court ruling reversing Roe v. Wade and striking down a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, New Mexico should allow abortions up to 15 weeks of pregnancy and in cases involving rape, incest and when a mother’s life is at risk. Ronchetti called his updated stance on abortion “a very reasonable position” that most in New Mexico will support regardless of party affiliation. Ronchetti said this:

“While I am pro-life, governors cannot act alone and any changes to our laws will require collaboration and agreement with the Legislature. … As governor, I would seek a middle ground.”

https://news.yahoo.com/ad-pac-hits-ronchetti-abortion-150700498.html

RONCHETTI RELEASES TV AD

In response to the “A Stronger New Mexico” TV ad, Ronchetti doubled downed and released his own rebuttal TV ad on abortion. The ad is entitled “You Deserve the Truth”. It has Ronchetti sitting on a leather couch, ostensibly in his home, wearing an open collar shirt and blue gens, as he speaks directly into the camera and “over articulating” his words, as he tends to do, and exposing his TV weatherman “bleached” white teeth. Ronchetti says this in the ad:

“You deserve to know where candidates stand and not be scared by false ads. … The governor supports abortion up to birth. … That’s extreme. … I’m personally pro-life, but I believe we can all come together on a policy that reflects our shared values. … We can end late-term abortion while protecting access to contraception and health care.”

The on-screen graphics say first that the governor supports abortion “up to moment of birth” and that she made New Mexico the “late-term abortion capital of U.S.” The ad goes on to say Ronchetti proposes banning abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, with exceptions for rape, incest, and to preserve the life of the mother.”

Interesting that Ronchetti did not have his two daughters sitting beside him as props as he has in previous commercials. It would be interesting to know what the Ronchetti daughters feel about having one of their constitutional rights taken away by the Supreme Court and if they agree with thier dad.

A fact check done by Channel News 4 of the ad revealed that the phrase “late-term” is not a medical designation. The CDC and New Mexico’s latest category for abortions is 21 weeks. Typical gestation for women is 40 weeks. Laurie Sobel of the Kaiser Family Foundation told Politifact in a recent abortion fact check “People cannot opt for an abortion instead of childbirth when they are full term”.

Numbers from the CDC and New Mexico Department of Health show abortions after 21 weeks account for 1% to 2% of such procedures. Reported data in 2019 differs for New Mexico when considering both sources. The CDC data, which puts New Mexico’s percentage at 11.6%, does not include about 12% of the abortions in New Mexico.

Links to quoted news sources are here:

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/4-investigates-fact-check-the-truth-on-abortion-stances/

https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2022/07/16/pastor-says-republican-guv-candidate-mark-ronchetti-will-ban-abortion/

LEGACY CHURCH PASTOR EXPOSES MARK RONCHETTI AS HYPOCRITE

Legacy Church located in Albuquerque is the a largest ecumenical congregation church in the state that has 6 campuses in Albuquerque. Very conservative Republican Pastor Reverend Steven Smothermon is its founder and its head pastor. Smothermon is a strong supporter of Mark Ronchetti and all things Republican. Smothermon is also outspoken critic of Governor Lujan Grisham, whom he has called “wicked and evil” and “demonic”. He got cross ways with Lujan Grisham during the pandemic when she ordered the closure of businesses and churches and imposed masked restrictions. Smothermon went so far as to defy the Governor and held church services in violation of the health care orders to the point that he and his church were cited and fined upwards of $10,000.

On Sunday, July 10, the very conservative Republican pastor Reverend Steven Smothermon of Legacy Church during his Sunday church service, exposed Mark Ronchetti’s new moderate as nothing more than ruse to get elected. Ronchetti’s new stance on abortion is approving abortion for up to 15 weeks of pregnancy and in cases involving rape, incest and when a mother’s life is at risk. This is what Smothermon preached and said from his pulpit:

I know Mark Ronchetti came out, and some people are very upset, because he said I think [abortion] is reasonable up to 15 weeks. . . I know a lot of us got mad. I did too. I had a long talk with him for hours. I said, dude right out of the gate you blew it and he said here’s what I was trying to do. I know what you were trying to do but you didn’t do it and here’s what he said.

How do I know that? Because I talked to him for hours and I said I won’t support anybody that believes in killing a baby ever. I don’t care how much you are right on other issues. That one issue is enough for me because if you don’t believe in life, something’s wrong.

The full video of the Smothemon sermon can be viewed with comments on Ronchetti starting at 27:10.

https://subsplash.com/legacynm/media/mi/+d3rwjh2

In an interview with the Santa Fe New Mexican, Smothermon tried to backtrack and placed a positive spin on what he said from the pulpit about Ronchetti. Smothermon said this:

“Mark was clear with me that he is personally pro-life and what he intends to do as governor, which is identical to what he says in his campaign commercial. … My comments were not intended to convey his strategy as governor. … I believe Mark is committed to ending the terrible practice of late-term abortion in our state, a practice that the current governor sadly embraces.”

Ronchetti’s campaign spokesman Enrique Knell, while declining an interview with Ronchetti, was quick to respond with a statement in an attempt to explain Ronchetti’s position and distance Ronchetti from Smotherman. According to the statement:

“[Mark Ronchetti told Smothermon] exactly what he has told everyone else. … He wants to end late-term abortion in New Mexico by limiting abortion to the first 15 weeks. … His position has been clear and consistent. [Smothermon] is free to express his position on these issues”.

Knell also took a shot at Lujan Grisham, calling her an extremist who is “pushing abortion up to the moment of birth.”

The link to the quoted news source material is here:

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/conservative-pastor-knocks-ronchetti-on-abortion-moderate-stance/article_925e9254-0471-11ed-949a-63b8453bc24b.html

GOVERNOR LUJAN GRISHAM’S REACTION AND HER ABORTION STAND

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham campaign was quick to seize upon Smothermon’s revelations and called Ronchetti a liar who is trying to trick voters to get elected. Kendall Witmer, a spokeswoman for Lujan Grisham’s campaign had this to say:

[“Ronchetti is] dangerous for women who depend on abortion health care. The rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies in New Mexico depends on reelecting Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.”

“Lujan Grisham told CNN recently New Mexico doesn’t have any restrictions on abortion, which she supports. There are no restrictions, she told CNN’s Jake Tapper, because “this is a privacy right and a personal decision between a woman and her doctor, and to interfere in any of these medical decisions creates … unknown, untold reductions in civil liberties for any number of individuals, including women’s access to contraceptives.”

The link to the quoted news source material is here:

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/new-ad-by-pac-hits-ronchetti-on-abortion/article_33ffe662-01f2-11ed-917e-237f98db4b09.html

In 2021, in anticipation of Roe v. Wade being overturned, Governor Lujan Grisham worked and lobbied the New Mexico legislature to repeal the state’s 1969 criminal law that made abortion a crime so that the state law could not become enforceable. In June, Lujan Grisham issued an executive order aimed at protecting patients and providers from lawsuits and arrest warrants filed in other states.

SMOTHERMON RECALLS 2013 CITY LATE TERM ABORTION INITIATIVE

Pastor Steven Smothermon of Legacy Church has an extensive history of being extremely political and attempting to sway his congregation to vote for Republican candidates at all levels of government, city, county and state, and conservative causes. His opposition to any and all abortions is well known.

During his July 10, 2022 sermon Smotherman told his congregation about his battle with former Albuquerque Republican Mayor Richard Berry over placing an anti-abortion late term abortion initiative on the 2013 city election ballot when Berry was running for a second term against Republican Paul Heh and Democrat Pete Dinelli. Smothermon said this about what happened in 2013:

“This church helped get petitions. We worked with groups to stop partial birth abortion in Albuquerque, and we lost the vote. . .We lost for two reasons. Number one–RJ Berry. You don’t ever hear his name anymore. Because I told him long after people forgot who you are, we will still be here loving our city. Because he was arrogant, and he’ll be known for two things–the (ART transit) debacle on Central because no one rides it. They ruined businesses. And then he’ll be known for this. We had all the signatures, we were going to get on the ballot when he was running for mayor, and he made sure it did not get on the ballot. It gave the opposition eight more weeks to spend millions of dollars and we lose.”

Republican political operative and campaign consultant Jay McCleskey is Mark Ronchetti’s political consultant for his race for Governor as was the case for his US Senate 2020 bid. McClesky is known for his negative slash-and-burn tactics to disparage and viciously malign Democrats and Republicans who get in his way. Jay McClesky has managed the successful campaigns of Republicans running for Governor, the state legislator, Mayor, and Alburquerque City Council.

McClesky is not above slandering people in order to win at any cost. A case in point is where Southern New Mexico rancher Scott Chandler settled a defamation lawsuit he filed against McCleskey for circulating two mailers about Chandler damaging his chances of winning a primary election for House District 32. The fliers referred to a 2013 New Mexico State Police investigation of Chandler’s Tierra Blanca High Country Youth Program in Hillsboro, north of Deming. No criminal charges were ever filed as a result of the investigation. Chandler received legal settlements approaching $1 million from the state related to the investigation

Jay McClesky was Mayor Berry’s political consultant and ran his bid for a second term in 2013. Republican Richard Berry and Paul Heh, both made it known that they supported the late term abortion issue and would vote for it while lone Democrat Pete Dinelli opposed it. McClesky and Mayor Berry were fearful that an anti-abortion vote at the same time as the mayoral election would hurt Berry in the 2013 Mayor’s, and city hall political observers felt that was highly likely and that Dinelli would benefit.

In 2013, Republicans held the majority on the city council. The City Council, at Republican Berry’s insistence, voted to schedule the anti-abortion, late term abortion imitative in a separate election a month after the October 7 Mayor’s race election so it would not have any influence over the mayor’s race. The strategy worked. The late term abortion initiative failed six weeks later on a 55% to 45% vote with a heavy Democrat vote.

Republican Mayor Berry was elected to a second term in 2013 by a landslide in the lowest voter turnout election in the city’s history with only 19% of eligible voters voting with a higher Republican Party vote over the Democrat Party vote. Berry spent $1.1 million in private financing that included donations from Republican heavy weights such as the National Republican Party that donated $10,000 to Berry. Dinelli was seriously out spent having qualified for $330,000 in public fiancé.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

This whole story about Ronchetti and his changing stand on abortion can only be described as the epitome of “political hypocrisy”. This coming from a candidate who runs for office as an “outsider” an describes himself as an “anti-politician” who fights the “political elites”, but who confesses in private that he says one thing and intends to another once he is elected.

There is very little doubt that both Mark Ronchetti and Jay McClesky know the extent of political damage that has occurred because of Pastor Steven Smothermon’s attempt to influence the election. Mark Wrongchetti has been exposed by one of his very own supporters for the true hypocrite he is. Smothermon’s disclosures are proof that Ronchetti and McClesky are prepared to do anything to win an election at any cost, including lying to the general public on such thorny issues as abortion.

Governor Lujan Grisham can give her nemesis Steve Smothermon a big thank you as her campaign uses Smotherman’s so-called sermon in future ad campaigns. Lujan Grisham should also make Jay McClesky an issue in the campaign seeing as he will likely return as a strong arm and “shadow governor” as he was under Governor Susana Martinez should Ronchetti win.

As Media would say “Please give me a “HALLELUJER” and an “AMEN” for Legacy Church Pastor Steve Smothermon!

On May 16, the Albuquerque City Council voted 7 to 2 to approve the 2022-2023 city budget. The council approved the budget on a 7-2 vote with Democrat City Councilors Pat Davis, Isaac Benton, Klarisa Pena, Tammy Fiebelkorn and Louie Sanchez and Republicans Brook Basaan and Trudy Jones voting YES and Republicans Dan Lewis and Renee Grout voting NO. The fiscal year begins on July 1, 2022 and will end on June 30, 2023. By law, the city budget must be a balance budget with deficit spending strictly prohibited.

BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

The overall budget approved by the Albuquerque City council is for $1.4 Billion and with $857 million in general fund Appropriations. The budget approved by the council was increased by 20% over the current year’s budget which ends June 10, 2022.

The general fund appropriation for the 2022-2023 fiscal year is more than the present year’s $714.5 million. It is also $15 million more than the fiscal year 2023 proposed by Mayor Tim Keller and sent to the Council on April 1. The total city budget of $1.4 Bullion includes “enterprise fund” Departments, such as Aviation, that are funded by their own revenues.

The general fund provides funding for city essential and basic services such as police protection, fire protection, the bus system, solid waste collection and disposal, the zoo, aquarium, the city’s museums maintenance, city libraries, the bus system, senior and community centers, swimming pools and parks and road maintenance. According to the proposed 2022-2023 budget, in 2021 the city had 6,536 full time employees and under the approved budget will have 6,916 for an increase of 380 full time positions or a 5.8% increase.

The increase includes $107.8 million in Gross Receipts Tax (GRT), $3.5 million in property tax, $7.2 million in other taxes, $3.1 million in enterprise revenue, and $57.8 million in inter-fund and fund balances. Gross Receipts Tax (GRT), enterprise revenues, and property taxes together make up 61% of the City’s total revenues. GRT is the City’s major source of revenue and is estimated at $529.7 million or 38% of total resources for fiscal year 2023. Property Tax comprises 12.4% of total revenue.

The various enterprises operated by the City are estimated to generate 10.6% of total revenue in fiscal year 2023. The Keller administration projected that the city will have over $100 million more in gross receipts tax to spend in 2023 than it budgeted for this year. Gross Receipts Tax is the tax assessed on the sale of most goods and services and GRT revenues have been much stronger than expected creating a balance of funding that can be applied to the 2022- 2023 budget cycle.

The approved budget includes 5% pay hikes for city workers plus additional one-time incentives of up to $2,000 per employee. The 5% pay raise for city workers and one-time incentive pay of between $500 and $2,000 dollars is for employees making under $100,000 a year. The Keller Administration had proposed a city-wide 2% cost-of-living increase for the city workforce. The City of Albuquerque employs upwards of 6,259 full time employees.

The link to the proposed and enacted 2022-2023 proposed budget is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy23-proposed-final-web-version.pdf

$110 CITY BONDS FOR FACILITIES

On June 2, it was reported that the Albuquerque City Council will once again consider a major bonding package for infra structure and facilities that was rejected last year. The original bonding package rejected was sponsored by Republican City Councilor Brook Bassan and Democrat Klarisa Peña and it was for $110 million for various building and infrastructure improvements.

The 2021 Bassan/Peña proposal failed last December when it failed to secure support from a council super-majority. The original plan was to sell the bonds without getting voter approval, a method that requires agreement from seven councilors. The legislation failed on a 5-4 vote.

Controversy surrounded the proposal last year because 4 of the 9 councilors in office at the time of the vote were going to be replaced less than a month later. The biggest dust up occurred when incoming City Councilor Elect Louie Sanchez, who beat city councilor Lan Sena in the December election, made the false claim that he was the elected city councilor for the district and demanded to be sworn in and Lan Sena be removed before her term ended on January 1. Sanchez wanted to vote NO on the bonds while Sena voted yes on the measure.

Benton had voted with the opposition back in December proclaiming the timeline bothered him because there were several “lame duck” councilors making the decision. Benton also argued that the city should focus on operating costs rather than building projects, specifically by putting more money into ongoing rental assistance vouchers.

Council President Isaac Benton, who voted down the bonding last year, has joined with Republicans Dan Lewis and Brook Bassan to sponsor similar legislation to borrow $110 million for building and infrastructure improvements. The new bonding for $100 million will be used to complete, or put money toward, 16 projects throughout Albuquerque.

The biggest portion or $20 million, would fund affordable housing. Funding will also go toward the North Domingo Baca swimming pool, widening Paseo del Norte and Unser, and creating a new West Side public safety facility. Each of those facilities would get $15 million under the new bonding resolution.

The approved 2022-2023 city budget passed on May 16 includes an operating budget that will significantly increase rental voucher spending next year. As a result Benton said he is more comfortable with the large infrastructure investments. Benton had this to say:

“I received [council] support for the vouchers [in the recently enacted budget] so that makes me more amenable to this deal.

PROJECTS FUNDED

Review of the bond measure reveals funding for the following projects:

• Affordable housing: $20 million
• North Domingo Baca Aquatic Center: $15 million
• Paseo del Norte/Unser expansion: $15 million
• West Side public safety facility: $15 million
• Rail Trail: $10 million
• Los Altos Park renovation completion: $5.5 million
• Fire Station 12: $4 million
• Albuquerque Police Department main police station: $4 million
• Loma Linda Community Center gym: $3 million
• West Mesa Aquatic Center updates: $3 million
• Shooting Range Park improvements: $1.5 million
• Ken Sanchez indoor sports complex: $1 million
• Poole Property open space: $1 million
• Manzano Mesa pickleball courts: $1 million
• Ouray Boulevard: $500,000
• McKinley bike shop completion: $500,000

EXCLUDED AND INCLUDED PROJECTS OUTLINED

Some of the original projects contained in the rejected 2021 bonding resolution are included in the new resolution. Those include affordable housing and the North Domingo Baca pool.

The new bonding legislation contains projects from the 4 councilors who took office January 1, 2022, including Republican Councilor Dan Lewis and Democrat Councilor Louie Sanchez.

Republican Councilor Lewis in the new resolution prioritizes the Paseo del Norte and Unser project in his district rather than the Cibola Loop Multigenerational Center. The city already has $10 million available for the road work and the $15 million infusion will complete the needed funding. Lewis said the road widening would serve a “massive part of our city that’s in desperate need of more infrastructure,” and that he’d pursue funding for the multigenerational center from other sources next year.

Councilor Louie Sanchez was able to secure projects he wanted funded on the new bond list. Sanchez sought $1 million for trail development and planning at the new Poole property acquired open space property in his district and $1.5 million to upgrade the city’s Shooting Range Park. Sanchez’s West side district will also get $3 million for West Mesa Aquatic Center updates and $500,000 for Ouray Boulevard improvements.

The city would repay the bonds with gross receipts taxes — the tax assessed on the sale of most goods and services. It will take 20 years and the city will owe $5.7 million annually to start and $12.95 million per year toward the end, according to the city’s chief financial officer. It would not raise taxes because the city has existing borrowing capacity after paying off some old bonds last year.
https://www.abqjournal.com/2504663/council-to-consider-bonds-for-facilities.html

FUNDING TO DEAL WITH THE HOMELESS IN 2022-2023 BUDET

The 2022-2023 approved city budget provides major funding to deal with the homeless including the following approved funding:

• $24 million in Emergency Rental Assistance from the federal government, which the City will make available in partnership with the State.

• $4 million in recurring funding and $2 million in one-time funding for supportive housing programs in the City’s Housing First model. In addition, as recommended by the Mayor’s Domestic Violence Task Force, the budget includes $100 thousand for emergency housing vouchers for victims of intimate partner violence.

• $4.7 million net to operate the City’s first Gateway Center at the Gibson Medical Facility, including revenue and expenses for facility and program operations.

• $500 thousand to fund Albuquerque Street Connect, a highly effective program that focuses on people experiencing homelessness who use the most emergency services and care, to establish ongoing relationships that result in permanent supportive housing.

• $214 thousand to adequately staff the senior meal home delivery program, which delivered over 390,000 meals to seniors since the pandemic started.

• $750,000 for proposed “safe outdoor spaces,” often called government sanctioned encampments for the homeless. If approved by Council, will enable ultra-low barrier encampments to set up in vacant dirt lots across the City. There is an additional $200,000 for developing other sanctioned encampment programs.

• $1.3 million for a Medical Respite facility at Gibson Health Hub, which will provide acute and post-acute care for persons experiencing homelessness who are too ill or frail to recover from a physical illness or injury on the streets but are not sick enough to be in a hospital.

• Full funding for the Westside Emergency Housing Center which is operated close to full occupancy for much of the year.

• $500 thousand to fund the development of a technology system that enables the City and providers to coordinate on the provision of social services to people experiencing homelessness and behavioral health challenges.

• $500 thousand to fund Albuquerque Street Connect, a highly effective program that focuses on people experiencing homelessness who use the most emergency services and care, to establish ongoing relationships that result in permanent supportive housing.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Because of the volatility of the economy, including rising inflation and gas prices as well as fluctuating gross receipts tax revenues, the 2022-2023 approved city budget contains significantly more onetime expenses in the fiscal year. Nearly 11% of all general fund spending is line itemed for one-time expenditures which means once the projects are completed there will be no recurring budget expenses.

One-time money expenditures included in the approved budget are the following:

$10 million in nonrecurring money for city buildings, including potential upgrades to City Hall, the police headquarters and other city facilities.
$10 million for a “cost escalation fund” that will help complete existing construction projects amid soaring prices.
$5 million for future Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) grants,
$5 million for city vehicles.
$3 million for housing vouchers.
$2.6 million for a police use-of-force review consultant.
$2 million for dog parks.
$1.8 million for events sponsored by the Department of Arts and Culture.
$1.5 million to subsidize the free city bus service.

It is very difficult to understand City Councilor Issaac Benton wanting to include $20 million in the new bonding package for Affordable Housing given the millions that have been earmarked in funding in the recently enacted 2022- 2023 city budget. The $20 for Affordable housing is debt that will take $20 years to pay off. Given the fact that the city just enacted a $2 Billion budget, you would think the sponsors could have found that $20 million in the budget without relying on bonds which is being done with other infrastructure projects and one-time expenditures.

The links to quoted news sources material are here

https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/albuquerque-city-council-passes-1-4-billion-budget-for-2023/

https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-city-council-addresses-homelessness/40015752

https://www.abqjournal.com/2499990/councilapproved-budget-would-up-spending-by-20.html

On July 12, the United States House Select Committee held its 7th hearing on the
January 6, 2021 insurrection attack on the US Capitol. The hearing concentrated on the loose affiliations between Trump, his informal political advisers, and members of far-right militia groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys committee concentrated on making the case that Trump overtly courted militants to pressure Congress to overturn the 2020 election and stop the certification of Joe Biden as President. The committee also concentrated on the testimony given by Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

CNN REPORT

On July 7, the national news agency CNN posted on it web page an article entitled “Takeaways from the January 6 hearing day 7” written by CNN staff reporters Jeremy Herb, Marshall Cohen and Zachary Cohen. Following is the unedited article in full:

1. PANEL HIGHLIGHTS TRUMP’S ‘CALL TO ARMS’ TWEET]

“The panel repeatedly highlighted a Trump tweet from December 2020, which they said was a galvanizing call-to-arms that motivated his supporters to come to Washington and disrupt the transition of power.

“There is going to be a red wedding going down January 6,” a person identified as Salty Cracker said in another clip, referring to a massacre from the television show “Game of Thrones.”

2. DETAILS UNCOVERED FOR THE PLANNING BEHIND TRUMP’S ‘UNEXPECTED’ CALL TO MARCH TO THE CAPITOL

“The committee unveiled evidence Tuesday showing how Trump’s call for his supporters to march to the Capitol on January 6 had been planned in advance.

Alexander, another organizer, sent a text message on January 5, 2021, that was obtained by the committee: “Tomorrow: Ellipse then US capitol. Trump is supposed to order us to capitol at the end of his speech but we will see.”

3. ROLE OF GOP LAWMAKERS IN TRUMP’S ELECTION SCHEME ONCE AGAIN FEATURED

“Tuesday’s hearing focused yet again on the role that Republican members of Congress played helping Trump’s efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election.

“I’m actually very concerned about this, because we have who knows how many hundreds of thousands of people coming here. We have Antifa. We also have, quite honestly, Trump supporters, who actually believe that we are going to overturn the election. And when that doesn’t happen — most likely will not happen — they are going to go nuts,” Lesko said.”

4. INTERVIEW PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN TUESDAY’S HEARING

“Tuesday’s hearing was the select committee’s first chance to show video clips from former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who was interviewed by the committee in a video deposition on Friday.

There were numerous clips of Cipollone’s interview played Tuesday, but he could play an even larger role in next week’s hearing that’s expected to focus on what was going on inside the West Wing while the Capitol attack occurred on January 6.”

5. IN-PERSON WITNESSES LAMENT THEIR RIGHT-WING RADICALIZATION

“The two in-person witnesses at Tuesday’s hearing described how they were radicalized by right-wing groups and Trump himself, and how it destroyed their lives and continues to pose a threat to American society.

“It could end up being down the same path we are right now,” Ayers said. “I felt like I had horse blinders on. Take the blinders off, and make sure you step back and see what’s going on, before it’s too late.” “

6. SIX WITNESSES DETAIL ‘UNHINGED’ OVAL OFFICE MEETING IN DECEMBER 2020

“The committee revealed during Tuesday’s hearing testimony from six participants of a December 18, 2020, Oval Office meeting that devolved into chaos as Trump allies clashed with White House lawyers over various plans for overturning the presidential election — with Trump looking on.

The committee was able to illuminate this extraordinary meeting — and another meeting on January 5, while a “stop the steal” rally was underway blocks from the White House — thanks to testimony from multiple White House aides, lawyers, even an official photographer. This strong level of cooperation from Trump insiders made it possible for the panel to bring these details to light.”

7. TRUMP’S RHETORIC ‘KILLED SOMEONE,’ FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER PRIVATELY ACKNOWLEDGED

“A series of text messages presented during Tuesday’s hearing are perhaps the most significant and stark piece of evidence yet about how those closest to Trump felt about what he was doing on January 6.

While Parscale’s messages offer a rare window into the minds of those most loyal to Trump on January 6, they also underscore how even those who were most disgusted by the former President’s actions that day were willing to meet with him after declaring they had lost faith.”

8. COMMITTEE FOLLOWS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S LEAD ON EXTREMISTS

“Many of the previous hearings featured shocking new revelations that even seemed to catch the Justice Department off-guard, especially with the recent bombshell testimony of Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. The panel has also used its hearings to disclose the fruits of its own investigation, and to publicly prod federal prosecutors to ramp up its criminal investigation.

This all shows how the various investigations — by the January 6 committee, other congressional panels, the Justice Department, and state prosecutors in Georgia — are overlapping and criss-crossing.”

The link to the full unedited CNN story is here:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/12/politics/january-6-hearing-day-7-takeaways/index.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Any and all doubts that Donald Trump is a fascist who was hell bent on overthrowing the United State Government should be laid to rest by the congressional hearings. Trump is a fascist that has been enabled by the Republican Party.

The testimony presented during the 7th hearing established that Trump and his associates conspired for weeks, planned and orchestrated an armed crowd to disrupt and stop the peaceful transfer of power and to stop the government function of certifying the election. What is alarming is the extent of help he got from Republican members of congress.

Der Führer Trump’s connection via Roger Stone with the “Proud Boys” and “the Oath Keepers” was clear evidence that Trump engaged in a call to arms to overthrow our democracy. Both violent, white supremist racists groups marched on the capitol on January 6 fully armed with the intent to engaged in violence to overthrow our democracy.

Some of the most incriminating evidence reflected just how corrupt Republican members of congress are and how they too conspired with Trump to overthrow our democracy. On December 21, 2020 Trump met with Republican members to discuss efforts to object to the election in Congress. Evidence was presented that highlighted how members of Congress tried to help Trump provide bogus evidence of voter fraud and connect the White House with a Justice Department official who was supportive of Trump’s baseless claims of fraud. The panel provided new evidence showing how multiple members of Congress sought pardons from Trump after January 6. No one seeks a pardon unless they know they have committed a crime.

What is clear is that Trump was the one who came up with the idea of the January 6 event, announced it in a tweet after an unhinged meeting in the White House and he orchestrated the event and he knew the crowd would show up. Trump was warned repeatedly of the potential violence. Once the crowd was assembled, Trump inflamed them to storm the capital to stop the congress from certifying the election. The angry mob Trump inflamed did his bidding and stormed and vandalized the United States Capitol.

There is little doubt that the testimony presented by loyal members of Trump’s own administration revealed a man, and in a real sense the Republican Party, so desperate to hold onto power that they attempted to interfere with the peaceful transition of power and to overthrow the United States democracy.

It could and will happen again if Der Führer Trump runs for President in 2024, unless of course he is indicted and convicted for the crimes he committed with his failed attempt to overthrow our democracy.