On July 6 Mayor Tim Keller 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.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/city-looking-to-clear-homeless-camp-at-coronado-park/

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

Keller’s announcement was made almost a month after a fourth murder in the last two years occurred at Coronado Park, located at third and Interstate 40. Over the last 10 years, Coronado Park has essentially 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 has 70 to 80 tents crammed into the park with homeless wondering the area. The city park has an 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 it is costing the city $27,154 ever two weeks or $54,308 a month to clean up the park only to allow the homeless encampment to return.

The link to news source material is here:

https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/apd-man-dead-after-coronado-park-shooting/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR1oETVJuIwdpb0pfMVxFbAH2gWY26NRPdXbcOrhCtByZEMwXbVSUerBhAE

https://www.abqjournal.com/2508302/man-fatally-shot-at-abq-park.html

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/police-records-depict-pattern-of-problems-violence-at-coronado-park/5891961/

REPEAL OF “SAFE OUTDOOR SPACES” NOT A DONE DEAL

Keller’s announcement seeking a change in policy to deal with illegal homeless encampments also comes after tremendous public outcry and objections to the City Council enacting legislation that amended the Integrated Development Ordinance to allow for city sanctioned “safe outdoor spaces”. On June 6, the legislation passed on a 5 to 4 vote.

“Safe outdoor spaces” are city sanctioned managed campsites where the homeless can sleep in tents or cars and access toilets and showers. The designated open space areas would accommodate upwards of 50 people, require hand washing stations, toilets and showers, require a management plan, and would require 6 foot fencing and with social services offered.

On June 22, two bills were introduced at City Council by Brook Bassan that could 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 problem is that the city council will not take action on either resolution until August. Safe outdoor spaces will become legal in Albuquerque on July 28 and people can apply for the land use.

Until the two bills are enacted, land owners or operators can submit applications for the land use. The applications need not earn full city approval but must be considered complete. Planning Department spokesman Tim Walsh had this to say:

“An application for [the safe outdoor space zoning] locks in to the existing zoning laws when it is deemed complete. … Therefore, if an application was completed in the interim between when the 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

KELLER’S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

On Saturday, June 25, Mayor Tim Keller gave his “State of The City” address. Not at all surprising, 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.”

Keller also said in his state of the city address that the city needs “an all-of-the-above approach” to deal with the homeless crisis explaining that includes rental-assistance vouchers, affordable housing development, hotel-to-apartment conversions, and the Gateway Center Homeless Shelter that will be Located in the old Lovelace hospital on Gibson.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/city-looking-to-clear-homeless-camp-at-coronado-park/

KELLER PROCLAIMS “REVISITING” POLICY

In announcing his decision of “revisiting” how the city addresses homeless encampments and in particular Coronado Park, Keller said the current situation is unacceptable and said “it’s not going to stand.”

In a meeting with Albuquerque Journal, Keller had this to say:

“We know we need to get our ducks in a row. It is extremely dangerous for our officers, for our civilians, for the unsheltered and for taxpayer funding because of litigation, to make a rash decision about how we handle Coronado … [I have issued] marching orders … But I want to make sure we do the best job we can in terms of getting it right, and not just creating 1,000 other fires all around it.”

According to an Albuquerque Journal report, Keller said developing a new policy to deal with illegal homeless encampments “will require assessing what alternatives are available, determining what resources the city has for cleaning encampments and perhaps how it can do more within existing legal parameters.” Those options include the city’s 2015 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), signed after the DOJ found a “culture of aggression” within APD and finding APD had a pattern and practice of unconstitutional policing and its 2017 settlement in the federal McClendon lawsuit over jail conditions and overcrowding.

Mayor Keller said he has ordered the city’s legal department to do further “interpretation” of what the city can and cannot do. Keller said this:

“Historically, we have not [interpreted the case]. … We have just said, ‘Well, McClendon’… Well, now we [will] interpret McClendon.”

According to Assistant City Attorney Kevin Morrow, there have been lawsuits around the country about encampments, vagrancy, trespassing in public places and similar issues but few definitive answers.

Morrow said this:

“There hasn’t been clear, clear guidance anywhere [about] the ways in which we can clearly and constitutionally clean up the community while respecting the rights of those experiencing homelessness.”

Mayor Keller also said some solutions could be converting old hotels into apartments, investing in affordable housing, and getting zoning approval for the new Gateway Center Homeless Shelter. Keller’s office did confirm the changes about its homeless camp approach could be coming by the end of July.

The link to the entire quoted Journal article is here:

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

TAKING ANOTHER LOOK AT MC CLENDON

The case of McClendon v. City of Albuquerque is a class-action lawsuit filed on January 10, 1995 in the United States Federal District Court by detainees at the Bernalillo County Detention Center (BCDC) in Albuquerque. The 1995 class-action lawsuit alleged that gross overcrowding and racial discrimination at the jail violated the constitutional rights of inmates.

The federal class action lawsuit sought injunctive and declaratory relief enjoining the operation of the jail exceeding its capacity and operating it with deplorable living conditions.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, the downtown 8 story Bernalillo County detention center, torn down late 2021, had a maximum capacity of 800, but the jail was repeatedly overcrowded with as many as 1,400 inmates who were often doubled up and living conditions were abhorrent. The overcrowding became so bad that the federal court would hold weekly and monthly status conferences and order the release of nonviolent defendants to reduce the overcrowding at the jail.

In 2017 the city entered into a stipulated settlement agreement in the McClendon federal case where the city agreed that people accused of nonviolent misdemeanors will not be arrested where there is no circumstances requiring an arrest. The primary reason for the settlement was to prevent jail overcrowding and it had absolutely nothing to do with or how the homeless are treated.

When it comes to “homeless crimes”, meaning illegal camping, criminal trespassing and loitering, those offenders are not to be arrested as the “primary intervention”. Under the settlement terms, police still have the option to issue citations and still have the discretionary authority to make felony and misdemeanor arrests as they deemed appropriate and where the circumstances warrant.

The city confirmed it’s taking another legal look at the McClendon v. City of Albuquerque settlement agreement from 2017 limiting police officers’ ability to make arrests for non-violent crimes and what kind of discretion the agreement provides officers to make arrests.

The agreement states “…whether a person has a permanent address may not be the sole factor in determining whether to arrest rather than issue a citation.”

The link to quoted news source material is here:

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

POLICE UNION REACTS

The Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association was quick to react to Mayor Keller’s announcement to revisiting city policy on how to deal with the homeless. The police union was just as quick to mislead the general public once again by saying police have been “handcuffed” from doing their job. Shaun Willoughby, president of the Albuquerque Police Officers said police officers have been wanting to enforce the laws but a settlement has prevented that for years. Willoughby had this to say:

“I pray that it means a more aggressive approach from the Albuquerque Police Department. … It’s because of policies like McClendon that have handcuffed police officers. … The police department has kind of strayed away from making misdemeanor arrests in certain criteria in certain circumstances. … Officers had been told through special order and communication not to go into these homeless encampments and enforce the law.”

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/apd-union-calls-for-aggressive-approach-to-homeless-enforcement/#:~:text=APD%20union%20calls%20for%20’aggressive%20approach’%20to%20homeless%20enforcement,-Chase%20Golightly%20%7C%20KOB&text=ALBUQUERQUE%2C%20N.M.,says%20it%20needs%20to%20happen.

SPECIAL ORDER WITHDRAWN

Ostensibly what Willougby was referring to when he said officers have been told through “special order” not to go into homeless encampments was “Department Special Order 22-46” issued on April 26, 2022 but it was abruptly withdrawn on June 2, 2022. The special order outlined the process APD police were to use for responding to “unlawful encampments on public property.”

The special order was 3 pages and provided in part that “Sworn personnel shall make all reasonable efforts to pursue non­ punitive, services-based approaches and shall not attempt to enforce littering, trespassing, obstruction of sidewalk, and other laws and ordinances … unless [the Family Community Services Department] FCS personnel request such enforcement.” The special order was in effect for mere 5 weeks and was ordered withdrawn on June 2, 2022 by the APD Chief’s office “effective immediately” when it was deemed untenable and too restrictive. It is no longer APD Department policy, yet Willougby falsely proclaims APD cannot go into homeless encampments.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2022/06/05/dinelli-abq-journal-guest-column-why-wont-mayor-apd-chief-get-homeless-out-of-parks-news-update-apd-rescinds-special-orders-not-to-enforce-laws-against-homeless-in-city-parks/

SPECIAL ORDER 17-53 AND SOP 2-80

What has been a common public relations ploy of the APD police union for the past 3 years is to falsely argue that police officers’ hands are tied or they are afraid to do their job for fear of being disciplined. It is not that their hands are tied. The blunt truth is that APD police officer’s failure to do their jobs and enforce the law is more out of fear as opposed to the reality. If an APD officer adheres to their training in constitutional policing practices and APD standard operating procedures, the likelihood of any lawsuit being filed against them, or discipline being imposed, is not at all likely and is remote at best.

It was on May 10, 2018 in a memo addressed by then APD Chief Gorden Eden to all sworn APD personnel that Department Special Order 17-53 was issued. Special Order 17-53 and 2-80 were the result of the settlement of the 20-plus year McClendon Lawsuit. The lawsuit primarily focused on civil rights violations and the conditions within the City/County lockup.

Special Order 17-53 states:

“[A]ll officers shall issue citations when appropriate in lieu of arrests on non-violent misdemeanor offenses. … officers shall issue citations when appropriate in lieu of arrest on non-violent misdemeanor offenses when there are no circumstances necessitating an arrest.”

The misdemeanor offenses affected by Special Order 17-53 include criminal trespass, loitering, criminal damage to property under $1,000, shoplifting under $500, shoplifting under $250, prostitution, receiving or possessing stolen property under $100. Note that the homeless are not mentioned. When a citation is issued for trespass or loitering, the officer can instruct the nonviolent offender to move on under the threat of arrest. The policy remains in place to this day.

The memo makes it clear that officers may make an arrest if it is necessary, and if they do, an incident report must be prepared, and the incident report must include the reasons why an arrest was made. At the time the special order was issued, then Assistant Chief Robert Huntsman issued the following statement:

“This order in no way restricts officers’ discretion to make arrests when necessary to protect the public. Citations have always been an available option for certain non-violent misdemeanor offenses. This special order … [is to]remind officers to issue citations ‘when appropriate’ and ‘when there are no circumstances necessitating an arrest.’ We are still aggressively pursuing repeat offenders, and this order does not change an officer’s ability to arrest.”

The fact that police are required to file offense reports with nonviolent misdemeanor arrests justifying the arrest more likely than not contributes to an officer’s reluctance to act given the high volume of calls for service police are dispatched to on any given day. The time it takes to write and offense report detailing the facts and circumstances of a nonviolent crime can be time consuming with time better spent dealing with more urgent emergency 911 calls.

CYNICAL REACTION TO KELLER’S REVISITING HOW TO DEAL WITH ENCAMPMENTS

Doreen McKnight is the president of the Wells Park Neighborhood Association. Coronado Park is located within the Wells Park Neighborhood. According to McKnight, Coronado Park is much more than just an eyesore, it’s a dangerous place. McKnight had this to say:

“We have a lot of drug use. There’s a lot of crimes there, numerous people have been murdered there. Some years ago there was a woman that was sexually assaulted there. I’m sure there’s probably been unreported sexual assaults there and it’s really, really dangerous. … I think that the issues with the city to address homeless encampments have been the same issues that have been going on for years. So, I’m not exactly sure what they intend to change. I’m glad they’re revisiting this, but I think they do this every couple years when there’s a lot of complaints about it.”

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

On June 22, Democrat City Councilor Louie Sanchez during a lengthy discussion about illegal encampments had this to say:

“The [Keller] administration is 100% ignoring what we’re talking about here and what is going on and what the citizens of Albuquerque are demanding. … Why is the administration, [and police] afraid of taking care of business at Coronado Park? It’s a crime-infested, illegal, de facto sanctioned-by-the-city park, and we are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on it.”

City Councilor Pat Davis said he was pleased to hear about the Keller Administration’s policy review after he complained during the June 22 council meeting that the city lacks a “comprehensive homelessness strategy” and having asked city attorneys to look at how other cities in the region are legally tackling the situation. Davis said the administration has too often “leaned on” the fear of lawsuits and he said this:

“We’ve heard a lot of hand-wringing and ‘I’m worried we’ll get sued.” … But we don’t know how other cities address it. … I’m excited [the policies are being revisited] and they’re taking the lead and trying to answer some of those questions.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico cautioned that any potential policy change that emerges from the Keller Administration review must account for the rights of the unhoused. ACLU of New Mexico legal director Maria Martinez Sanchez said in a statement:

“We cannot comment on a policy we have not yet seen, however, any decision the City makes with respect to Coronado Park or other issues regarding our unhoused population must not further criminalize poverty or homelessness and must respect the civil and constitutional rights of those living in encampments … The solutions to these problems are not sweeping people under the rug or throwing them in jail.”

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

CLEANING OUT THE ILLEGAL ENCAMPMENTS

According to city officials, the city is clearing out close to 100 encampments a month, with 732 camps cleared since the beginning of the year. According to city officials, the reason for Coronado Park becoming such a large homeless encampment is the pandemic. The city did not clear out the park to minimize the spread of COVID-19. City officials are now saying they are trying to find a way to clear the park but have nowhere to send those staying there.

Dave Simon, Director of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department had this to say about Coronado Park:

“We thoroughly clean it once every two weeks; what we have here is a temporary situation that’s better than the alternative, which is to have many homeless encampments throughout the neighborhood. ”

The link to quoted news source material is here:

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/city-looking-to-clear-homeless-camp-at-coronado-park/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

There is little doubt that Coronado Park has now become a symbol of Mayor Tim Keller’s failure as Mayor to deal with the homeless crisis. Whatever changes in policy Keller comes up with now to deal with the homeless encampments will likely fall short given his propensity to be only concerned about the superficial, public relations and the sound bite.

What Keller now comes up with will be viewed as his acknowledgement of his failure to deal with the crisis over the last 4 years. What Keller has shown is just how insensitive he has been to the needs of the general public and to public safety in order to push his own personal agenda.

Keller has allowed a once beautiful and pristine park dedicated to public use to become a festering blight on the community. Simply put, it has become an embarrassment with the city violating its own ordinances and nuisance laws by allowing overnight camping and criminal conduct in the park thus creating a public nuisance both under state law and city ordinance.

Below is a guest opinion column published by the New Mexico Sun entitled “The ‘political movida’: Albuquerque city council redistricting map” that was published on July 5:

“Every 10 years, the Albuquerque City Charter requires that the Council appoint a committee composed of an equal number of representatives from each Council District to review and make recommendations redistricting each City Council Districts based on information from the Federal Census. Seven maps have been submitted to the citizen-led redistricting committee.

Six of the maps make adjustments that are minor and essentially “tweak” the existing Districts, respecting the existing borders and neighborhoods. One map submitted by Democrat City Councilors Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn they came up with by themselves is the most radical map of all the 7 maps under consideration. The map divides and guts both their council districts.

It is not at all difficult to figure out what progressive Democrats Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn want. The Davis/Fiebelkorn redistricting map can only be considered an abomination. It is a prime example of gerrymandering at its very worst designed to protect incumbent Tammy Fiebelkorn while the departing city councilor Pat Davis thumbs his nose at his own City Council District 6.

If Fiebelkorn wants to represent the Nob Hill area by excluding a large portion of her own existing district, or for that matter wants to represent the International District and speak for the marginalized, she had no business running for City Council District 7 a few months ago. She now wants to gut the district she represents, jettison a large portion of the district and raid another council district for supporters.

City Councilor Fiebelkorn said of the Davis/ Fiebelkorn concept map submitted would give the International District’s “large, culturally significant population” a more united voice on the council, yet she does not represent them. She said she thinks International District residents may have more in common with residents just north of Lomas than with the current district that includes Nob Hill, which she called a “completely different demographic.”

Fiebelkorn said this:

“One of the baselines of redistricting is that we find ways to make marginalized communities have a voice. … I want … what would be the best to make sure everybody is represented in a fair and equitable way. … we [must] find ways to make marginalized communities have a voice. … [and give] large, culturally significant populations [a more united voice on the council].”

Fiebelkorn is not talking about her own district when she says she wants to help the marginalized. She is referring to the International District, a minority area she does not want to be included in her own new district. Fiebelkorn does not currently represent the Nob Hill area, yet she is now advocating just that by cutting it out and placing it in District 7 ignoring those she currently is supposed to be representing. Simply put, Fiebelkorn wants to “raid” District 6 and absorb the highly progressive Nob Hill area, knowing full well it will increase her own reelection chances.

City Councilor Pat Davis for his part had this to say about the proposed Davis/ Fiebelkorn map:

“I think we should have some different voices on the City Council. … If you look at it now, the entire east side of the city is represented by white folks, and I think that shows the current districting is leaving some people out of the process.”

Pat Davis needs to look into a mirror and while he is at it tell Tammy Fiebelkorn that she is not a woman of color. They are both one of those “white folks” that Davis complains about. Both pretend to know “marginalized communities” and stick their noses into minority issues when they both can be considered “white privilege”. Councilor Davis has said he is not likely running for a third term and inclined to honor his commitment to only run for two terms.”

Both City Councilors Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn act like the city council districts they represent are their personal property they can carve up and pick and choose who they want to represent. They show a definite lack of respect for the constituents who put them in office reflecting a lack of understanding what public service is all about.

Fiebelkorn should resign now from the City Council so she can move into District 6 and run next year to replace Pat Davis. As far as Pat Davis is concerned, he should also resign so that a person who really wants to represent the district can be appointed, perhaps a person of color and not some “white folk” or some self-righteous “white privilege dude”.

https://newmexicosun.com/stories/628017005-the-political-movida-albuquerque-city-council-redistricting-map

POSTSCRIPT

ABOUT THE NEW MEXICO SUN

The New Mexico Sun is part of the Sun Publishing group which is a nonprofit. The New Mexico Sun “mission statement” states in part:

“The New Mexico Sun was established to bring fresh light to issues that matter most to New Mexicans. It will cover the people, events, and wonders of our state. … The New Mexico Sun is non-partisan and fact-based, and we don’t maintain paywalls that lead to uneven information sharing. We don’t publish quotes from anonymous sources that lead to skepticism about our intentions, and we don’t bother our readers with annoying ads about products and services from non-locals that they will never buy. … Many New Mexico media outlets minimize or justify problematic issues based on the individuals involved or the power of their positions. Often reporters fail to ask hard questions, avoid making public officials uncomfortable, and then include only one side of a story. This approach doesn’t provide everything readers need to fully understand what is happening, why it matters, and how it will impact them or their families.”

The home page link to the New Mexico Sun is here:

https://newmexicosun.com/

The link to a related blog article is here:

2022 City Council Redistricting Committee Ranks 8 Recommendations; Potential For Swing Districts; Davis/Fiebelkorn Citizen Map 4 Is “Political Abomination”; Gerrymandering Guts Stable Districts; Voters Urged To Contact Counselors To Voice Concerns

On July 6 Mayor Tim Keller announced that his administration is “revisiting” its policies on how it addresses homeless encampments that are an increasing problem throughout the city. Keller wants to initiate major changes by the end of July on how to deal legally with homeless encampments. Keller’s announcement came about a month after a fourth murder in the last two years occurred at Coronado Park, located at third and Interstate 40. Over the last 10 years, Coronado Park has become the “de facto” city sanctioned homeless encampment where upwards of 70 to 80 homeless tents can be found at any given time.

Keller’s announcement also came after tremendous public outcry and objections to the City Council enacting legislation to create 18 city sanctioned homeless encampment known as “safe outdoor spaces”, with two encampments in each of the 9 city council districts. A city council resolution has now been introduced repealing the “safe outdoor spaces” authorization.

Writer and commentator Rudolpho Carrillo, who was a news editor at the Weekly Alibi where he used the pen name “August March” to write about Albuquerque culture, history and politics, submitted the following guest column for publication in www.PeteDinelli.com:

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this guest column written by Rudolfo Carrillo are those of Mr. Carrillo and do not necessarily reflect those of the www.petedinelli.com blog. Mr. Carillo has not been paid any compensation to publish the guest column and has given his consent to publish on www.PeteDinelli.com. The postscript to this blog article contains more on Mr. Carillo.

THE MYTH OF THE FUTURE OR SHELTER FROM THE STORM
By Rudolfo Carrillo

TOIL AND BLOOD

When it suddenly dawned on the inhabitants of Northeast Heights, New Mexico that there were literally thousands of humans without homes wandering the periphery of their humble desert outpost, living off the fat of the land, smoking stuff and further, carrying on in plastic tents and under tarps while bereft of toilets and other hygienic machinery, a cry rose up through that land.
And the cry was one of horror and of shame, and it told those disenfranchised masses to go to hell, to stay away from the green lawns and Pueblo Revival architecture, the award-winning schools and the clean grocery stores that were stuffed full of fresh fruit and bread and meat and beer.

Somewhere near the real action, on the edge of all things, in a small public green space named after a hyper-violent soldier of Charles IV and the Holy Church—a conquistador whose other notable engagements included murderous sieges at Zuni and Acoma—a motley collection of campsites arose and grew and a city within the city erupted from the mud after a long-needed rain drenched Albuquerque.

Much as Coronado the Conquistador might have imagined it, as his glory would have wanted it, there was indeed much frothy human intercourse taking place on that half-acre that bore his name. And that stuff, born upon human backs and twisted by human hands was of the same material as occurrences happening on a larger scale in this city or that city, anywhere on the globe. Here was just another place where the hairless apes lived in all their glory, accompanied by angels, drowning in their own filth.

For some reason unknown to mystics and scientists alike, the people of the Northeast Heights thought themselves to be better, to be composed of a different substance than their fellows out there wandering the Earth, sleeping under the stars, eating from a dumpster, in need of adequate healthcare and perhaps pondering the downfall of the human conscience in the face of hyper capitalism, in the age of the spectacle, where celebrity status or its simulacra meant much more than hunger or frailty.

A WORLD OF STEEL-EYED DEATH

Meanwhile, the state of affairs on the planet supporting all of this selfish nonsense was nearing a crisis point. It was a hot summer alright, and a brutal war was still being waged in Europe. All sorts of thousands of humans and the constructs of their culture were being destroyed in the name of nationalism. Don’t even ask about the animals or the paintings.

And it came to pass that summer that the forces of the patriarchy rose from the sepulcher built by your grandparents to last 1000 years. They were as dark as anything Saruman could muster and wanted control of the flesh, especially over those tingling forms that were not theirs.

After all this and the pandemic too, our hearts did not grow larger. In fact, we put that part of the flesh away in a pretty, bejeweled box a long time ago, maybe on that very morning Trump’s minions stormed the capitol building while we helplessly watched it go down on our big-screen, streaming teevees. That vasty space we have encountered this week—on television, at the City Council meeting, on our favorite news sites—is our own emptiness.

Formless and infinite, the thing we’ve poisoned ourselves with is everywhere and nowhere at once. Allatonceness, formerly a vaporous cultural characteristic bound to save us from postmodernism, has instead rendered us faithless and immobile in the face of a growing number of existential threats.

A WALL BETWEEN US

If the homeless have no place to go—except away from our vision of what a community of humans really looks like—then what’s next?

If the traitorous are allowed to disperse themselves peacefully into the body politic, what then?

If those who seek control of the minds and bodies of free citizens come to power, how will we survive?

At home, the prices of gasoline and milk climb exorbitantly and the divide between rich and poor grows geometrically while the settlers circle the wagons and the family you know from church or work or shopping intervals had to give up their apartment for the luxury of a 1997 Chevy Suburban that was always on the road, trundling toward an unknown and unacceptable fate.

Meanwhile some member of some neighborhood association in Northeast Heights, New Mexico is going on and on, nearly screaming at their government representative about the crime, the drugs … the feces. The feces. And the councilwoman is listening because the thing she fears most is not institutional racism, is not endemic poverty, is not the empty bellies of her children, is not the end of the world or even unflushed human sewage, but rather the next election day in her district.

My only advice on how to escape from the dangerously ridiculous situation we’ve engendered and thereby save the planet Earth comes from the internetz, from the imaginary world of movies, from a fictional speech given by a mythically fictional newsman. It’s a perfect way to end this column, given the absurdity we’ve descended into. If language got us where we are now, maybe it can get us out.

HOWARD BEALE REVISITED

“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.

We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be!

We all know things are bad—worse than bad—they’re crazy.

It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we’re living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’

Well, I’m not going to leave you alone.

I want you to get mad!

I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your congressman, because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.

All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad.

You’ve gotta say, ‘I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!’

So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,

‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’”

BOUND TO CROSS THE LINE

In that sunny, summery and only occasionally rainy interregnum that follows that suggested outburst and upon the relief of your very soul, if you all have any ideas about this year’s world series—saying we do make it through early November before Putin deploys the RS-28 Sarmat missile—email me here. I’ll tell you right now as I take my exit, though: I’m a big Dodgers fan and will always believe in miracles.

That about says it, and I’d wish all you humans the best of luck with the coming global crisis we’ve created through our own mismanagement and greed, but I’ll be right there with you the whole time, so I’m sure we’ll talk again, right? Why, maybe my tent will be next to yours! Be careful and keep your distance for now, though: the poodle bites.

_________________

POSTSCRIPT

Rudolfo Carrillo is a native New Mexican and was the news and music editor at Weekly Alibi from August 2015 until March 2020, where he used the pen name “August March” to write about Albuquerque culture, history and politics. He is a graduate of the University of New Mexico’s fine arts program. As well as being an award-winning writer, Carrillo is a painter and sculptor. His recent work was currently on exhibit at Six O Six Gallery at 606 Broadway Blvd. SW. Carrillo’s award-winning writing and analysis have been featured at international academic conferences and in notable literary journals as well as local media outlets like the Albuquerque Journal. In late February he will present work written for this site at the 43rd convocation of the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association. His latest creative writing can be read at Infinity Report with the link here: http://infinityreport.blogspot.com

Every 10 years, the City Charter requires that the Council appoint a committee composed of an equal number of representatives from each of the 9 Council District to review and make recommendations regarding redistricting the 9 Council Districts based on information from the Federal Census. The Committee was tasked with using the population data from the official 2020 U.S. Census along with any other pertinent information to make a report recommending changes in the Council District boundaries that the Committee decides are necessary based on constitutional principles governing voting rights, population, compactness and other related factors.

The Committee was made up of 18 members, one voting member and one alternate member from each of the 9 City Council Districts. Research & Polling, the most reliable and accurate polling company in New Mexico and for decades has been help with congressional and legislative redistricting. The firm was hired as consultants and provided the committee with 5 initial Concept Maps, titled Map A through E. In addition, the City and Research & Polling contracted with DistrictR, an online mapping tool that allows the public to submit their own maps with 5 maps submitted by citizens.

CURRENT CITY COUNCIL MAKE UP

After the December 7, 2021 City Council runoff election, the city council is split 5 Democrats to 4 Republicans, but ideology split 5 conservatives to 3 progressives and one moderate. The breakdown by name is as follows:

DEMOCRATS

District 1 Conservative Democrat Louie Sanchez
District 2 Progressive Democrat Isaac Benton
District 3 Moderate Democrat Klarissa Peña
District 6 Progressive Democrat Pat Davis
District 7 Progressive Democrat Tammy Fiebelkorn

REPUBLICANS

District 5 Conservative Republican Dan Lewis
District 4 Conservative Republican Brook Bassan
District 8 Conservative Republican Trudy Jones
District 9 Conservative Republican Renee Grout

EIGHT MAPS RATED AND RECOMMENDED

On June 29, the Redistricting Committee held its very last meeting and voted to select 8 maps they would rate and recommend to the City Council. The committee voted on a 5 – 4 vote to send all 8 maps to the city council with their recommendation. A final written report was released on July 1. Ultimately, the city council will decide maps it will adopt or reject and for that matter come up with their own map ignoring the recommendations of the committee. The 8 maps are labelled as follows:

Research & Polling Concept Map A,
Research & Polling Concept Map D,
Research & Polling Concept Map E,
Citizen Map 1,
Citizen Map 2,
Citizen Map 3,
Citizen Map 4, and
Citizen Map 5.

On June 29th the Redistricting Committee met for the final time. The committee decided not to settle on a single map but rated and ranked each of the 8 maps. After rating each map, the committee voted to send all 8 maps to the City Council for their consideration and final selection. the Committee rated each of the 8 maps on a 5-point scale, ranging from 0 to 4. The rating scale was:

4 – Strongly recommend
3 – Recommend
2 – Neutral/ mixed feelings
1 – Do not recommend
0 – Strongly do not recommend 3

The link to review all 8 redistricting maps is here:

https://documents.cabq.gov/council/2022%20Redistricting%20Report.pdf

On June 29 the Redistricting Committee voted to rate and ranked the maps as follows:

1. Concept Map A scored the highest with a total rating of 24 and an average rating of 2.7.
2. Citizen Map 2 scored the second highest with a total rating of 19 and an average rating of 2.1.
3. Concept Map D scored the third highest with a total rating of 16 and an average rating of 1.8.
4. Citizen Map 1 scored fourth highest with a total rating of 13 and an average rating of 1.4
5. Citizen Map 5 scored fifth highest with a total rating of 12 and an average rating of 1.3
6. Citizen Map 3 scored sixth highest with a total rating of 9 and an average rating of 1.0
7. Concept E map and Citizens Map 4 tied for seventh highest place each with a total rating of 7 and an average rating of 0.8

THE REDISTRICTING MAPS

Following is a detailed description of the 8 redistricting maps, identifying current city councilors, that have been forwarded to the City Council for their review and final selection.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the interest of clarity, each one of the city council district numbers are followed by the last name of the incumbent city councilor, i.e. District 2 (Benton)

1. Concept Map A

Concept Map A scored the highest with a total rating of 24 and an average rating of 2.7. The objective of this map was a minimal change map to account for population changes and minimize voter confusion. No incumbents are displaced nor paired against each other. The city council districts are identical to current districts with respect to Districts 3 (Peña), 4 (Bassan) and District 9 (Grout). However, District 5 (Lewis) lost population. Its boundary with District 1 (Sanchez) moves north to the bluff south of the Petroglyph Estates. District 2 (Benton) crosses the river between Central and I-40 to Coors taking the West Mesa and Pat Hurley neighborhoods from District 1 (Louie Sanchez). District 6 (Davis) moves west into District 2, (Benton) from Buena Vista to I-25 between Gibson and Lomas. District 6 (Davis) also takes the University West area (including Carrie Tingley Hospital) from District 2 (Benton). District 7 (Fiebelkorn) moves south into District 2 (Benton) from I-40 to Lomas between I-25 and Carlisle not including the University West area. District 8 (Trudy Jones) moves into District 7 (Tammy Fiebelkorn) from Montgomery to Comanche between Wyoming and Eubank.

2. Citizen Map 2

Citizen Map 2 scored the second highest with a total rating of 19 and an average rating of 2.1. Citizen Map 2 stated objective was to decrease the population deviation in District 8. No incumbents are displaced nor paired against each other. Citizen Map 2 is identical to Concept Map A with respect to Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 9. However, District 8 (Jones) moves further south into District 7 (Fiebelkorn) than in Concept A to Candelaria between Wyoming and Eubank.

3. Concept Map D

Concept Map D scored the third highest with a total rating of 16 and an average rating of 1.8. The objective of this map is to provide a different orientation of the eastside districts by creating a foothills district and a far NE Heights district. Two incumbents are paired against each other with incumbents from District 4 (Bassan) and District 8 (Jones) paired in District 8 (Jones). The Concept D map is identical to Concept A with respect to Districts 1, 3, and 5. District 9 (Grout) becomes a Four Hills/foothills district, it follows Juan Tabo to Montgomery and basically goes from Four Hills to El Dorado High School. District 8 (Jones) becomes a far NE Heights district. From the east side of the city, the southern boundary follows Montgomery to Juan Tabo, then follows Spain to Wyoming, up to San Antonio, then follows San Antonio to I-25 then crosses I-25 along Paseo del Norte. District 4 (Bassan) takes everything south of District 8 (Jones) and north of Candelaria between Juan Tabo and I-25 except for the neighborhoods between Comanche and Candelaria and Carlisle and I-25 which go into District 7 (Fiebelkorn). District 7 (Fiebelkorn) mostly takes everything between I-25 and Juan Tabo south of District 4 (Bassan) and north of Lomas. District 7 (Fiebelkorn) does not include University West, which is in District 6 (Davis) and does go south of Lomas to Central between Wyoming and Juan Tabo. District 6 stays mostly south of Lomas except for University West and runs from I-25 in the west to Wyoming in the east. South of Central, District 6 goes to Eubank. District 2 (Benton) crosses the river to Coors between Central and I-40 and stays west of I25. Moves north into District 4 (Bassan) to Paseo del Norte.

4. Citizen Map 1

Citizen Map 1 scored 4th highest with a total rating of 13 and an average rating of 1.4. This map was originally submitted by Scotti Romberg. The stated objective of the map was to achieve city council districts that were more equal in population. No incumbents are displaced nor paired against each other. Citizen map 1 is identical to Concept A map with respect to Districts 3 (Peña), 4 (Bassan), 5 (Lewis), and 6 (Davis). In contrast to Concept A, the West Bluff area north of I-40 and east of Coors moves from District 1 (Sanchez) into District 2 (Benton). Compared to Concept A, District 9 (Grout) moves west into District 7 (Fiebelkorn) moving from Eubank to Easterday Dr between Constitution and I-40. District 8 (Jones) takes two precincts additional from District 7 (Fiebelkorn) between Eubank and Moon and Comanche and Candelaria compared to Concept A

5. CITIZEN MAP 5

Citizen Map 5 scored 5th highest with a total rating of 12 and an average rating of 1.3. Citizen Map 5 was originally “the Fairness for Our Future” map plan. The stated objective of the map is to increase representation for the west side and create an additional majority Hispanic district. Incumbent from District 6 (Davis) and District 7 (Fiebelkorn) are paired against each other in District 7. The incumbent from District 2 is moved to District 6 (Davis). Both City Council Districts 2 (Benton) and 6 (Davis) cross the river to Unser between Central and I-40. District 6 (Davis) takes in Barelas. The other districts are similar to the current alignments.

District 5 (Lewis) is very similar to Concept A. District 1 (Sanchez) moves a little further north into District 5 (Lewis), keeping District 5 (Lewis) on the negative side of the allowable population deviations. District 2 (Benton) crosses the river to Unser between Los Volcanes and I-40 and takes the two West Bluff precincts north of I-40 and east of Coors. District 2 (Benton) stays north of Bell between 2nd and Buena Vista and keeps the Huning Castle neighborhood,but loses the Albuquerque Country Club to District 6 (Davis). District 2 (Benton) crosses I-25 to Carlisle into District 7 (Fiebelcorn) between I-40 and Montgomery. District 6 (Davis) crosses the river to Unser between Central and Los Volcanes. District 6 (Davis) also crosses the river south of Central to the Arenal Main Canal. District 6 (Davis) stays south of Central between Buena Vista and San Mateo and then moves to Lomas between San Mateo and Wyoming. District 9 (Grout) moves west from Eubank to Wyoming south of Menaul. District 9 (Grout) also stays south of Indian School as District 8 moves south. District 8 moves south from Menaul to south of Indian School and east from Eubank to Morris. The boundary between Districts 4 and 8 changes slightly with District 8 moving north into District 4 from San Antonio to San Franciso east of Ventura and District 4 moving east into District 8 from Wyoming to Moon between Academy and Spain. District 4 (Bassan) moves south into District 7 (Fiebelkorn) from Montgomery to Comanche between Carlisle and San Mateo. District 7 (Fiebelkorn) takes UNM and the north campus area from District 6 (Davis). District 7 (Fiebelkorn) moves south of Lomas to Central between UNM and San Mateo. District 7 (Fiebelkorn) curves around District 9 (Grout) to Indian School between Eubank and Morris.

6. CITIZEN MAP 3

Citizen Map 3 scored sixth highest with a total rating of 9 and an average rating of 1.0. This map was originally the Historic COI Revised map. The stated objective of Citizens Map 3 Citizen’s is to place the historic core of Albuquerque into a single district, District 2 (Benton). No incumbents are displaced nor paired against each other. Citizen Map 3 is identical to Concept A with respect to City Council Districts 1 (Sanchez) and 5 (Lewis). Citizen Map 3 is also identical to Citizen Map 1 with respect to Districts 8 (Jones) and 9 (Grout).

Two districts crossing the river – one north of Central to Coors and one south of Central to Atrisco ditch. District 2 (Benton) crosses the river to Coors between Central and I-40 and retains the core of Downtown. District 2 (Benton) crosses I-25 to Girard between Avenida Cesar Chavez and Lomas. Crosses Lomas to take in University West. District 3 (Peña) stays west of the Atrisco ditch south of Central. District 6 (Davis) takes the Huning Castle neighborhood and the part of Barelas south of Anderson. The northern and eastern boundaries of District 6 (Davis) are the same as current boundaries. District 4 (Bassan) moves south into District 2 (Benton) from Montaño to Comanche west of I-25.

Citizen Map 3 is identical to Concept A with respect to Districts 1 (Sanchez) and 5 (Lewis). Citizen Map 3 is also identical to Citizen Map 1 with respect to Districts 8 (Jones) and 9 Grout). Two districts cross the river one north of Central to Coors and one south of Central to Atrisco ditch. District 2 (Benton) crosses the river to Coors between Central and I-40 and retains the core of Downtown. District 2 (Benton) crosses I-25 to Girard between Avenida Cesar Chavez and Lomas. Crosses Lomas to take in University West. District 3 (Peña) stays west of the Atrisco ditch south of Central. District 6 (Davis) takes the Huning Castle neighborhood and the part of Barelas south of Anderson. The northern and eastern boundaries of District 6 (Davis) are the same as current boundaries. District 4 (Bassan) moves south into District 2 (Benton) from Montaño to Comanche west of I-25.

7. CONCEPT E MAP AND CITIZENS MAP 4 TIED FOR SEVENTH

Research and Polling Concept E map and Citizens Map 4 tied for seventh highest place each with a total rating of 7 and an average rating of 0.8. Both these maps have a dramatic effect on splitting up two districts. The Concept E map splits up the downtown area between Districts 2 (Benton) and 6 (Davis). The citizens Map 4 concept map splits up the two mid-heights Districts 6 (Davis) and 7 (Fiebelkorn).

THE CONCEPT E MAP

The Concept E map objective was to redistribute the downtown area between Districts 2 (Benton) and 6 (Davis) . This map has the incumbents from District 2 (Benton) and District 6 (Davis) paired off in District 2 (Benton). The Concept E map is identical to Concept A with respect to Districts 1 (Sanchez) and 5 (Lewis). On the east side of the city, the districts all move a little clockwise so that District 6 (Davis) can come into Barelas and the southern part of downtown. District 2 (Benton) crosses the river to Coors between I-40 and Central and to the ditch south of Central. The southern boundary of District 2 (Benton) stays mostly along Central east of the river. District 2 (Benton) stays west of I-25 north of I-40 and west of Carlisle between I-40 and Central. District 2 (Benton) moves north into District 4 (Bassan) from Montaño to Osuna west of I-25. District 6 (Davis) stays south of Central west of Carlisle and south of Lomas between Carlisle and Wyoming. District 9 (Grout) moves west from Eubank to Wyoming, staying south of Indian School. District 8 (Jones) moves south from Menaul to Indian School and west from Eubank to Wyoming. District 4 (Bassan) moves into District 8 (Jones) taking everything north of Montgomery west of Eubank and Juan Tabo. District 7 (Fiebelkorn) stays west of Wyoming and moves north into District 4 from Montgomery to Academy. District 3 (Peña) stays west of the ditch south of Central.

CITIZEN MAP 4

Citizen Map 4 was originally the citizens map prepared and submitted by Democrats City Councilors Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn. The stated objective of Citizens Map 4 was to “rethink the orientation of the two mid-heights districts 6 (Davis) and 7 (Fieblekorn) without adjusting the other districts. The incumbents from District 6 (Davis) and District 7 (Fiebelkorn) are paired in District 7 (Fiebelcorn). Citizen Map 4 is identical to Citizen Map 2 with respect to Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9. City Counsil District 2 (Benton) takes the two precincts north of the Kirtland Addition. Districts 6 (Davis) and 7 (Fiebelkorn) take on a vertical rather than horizontal orientation. District 6 (Davis) takes everything south of Menaul between San Mateo and Eubank as well as the neighborhoods between Candelaria and Menaul between Louisiana and Eubank. District 7 (Feibelcorn) stays south of Montgomery, east of I-25 and mostly west of San Mateo.

PRINCIPLES OF REDISTRICTING OUTLINED

The City Council Resolution creating the 2022 Redistricting Committee gave specific guideline rules the committee was to follow when considering district boundaries. According to the Council Resolution, City council Districts are to be contiguous, relatively compact with as few geographic extremes as possible, attempt to preserve communities of interest, adhere to existing precinct lines, except where divided by municipal boundaries, and follow Constitutional principles governing voting rights. Further, the City Council redistricting committee were allowed to preserve the core of existing districts and consider the residence of incumbents. However, the committee was not to use partisan election data or registration data in designing redistricting maps.

The City Council Redistricting Committee was required to follow 5 major principles for redistricting. Those principles were as follows:

1. Population Equality

Districts shall be substantially equal in population accordance with the principle of “one person – one vote” as defined by law and case law. For the City of Albuquerque, districts shall not deviate from the ideal population by more than 5 percent. The ideal population of each city council district is defined by dividing the total population of the City by nine city council districts.

2. Minority Voting Rights

Districts will be designed to provide appropriate participation in the electoral process for protected racial and ethnic groups in accordance with the U.S. Constitution, federal voting rights legislation and case law. It is important to avoid diluting minority voting strength, however, pursuant to United States Supreme Court decisions, race shall not be the predominant consideration in the creation of election districts.

3. Compactness

Districts will be created which are not bizarre in shape. Compactness of a district is sometimes affected by irregular outer boundaries of a jurisdiction. While there are many measures of compactness, no single measure has been accepted as the most appropriate to use.

4. Contiguity:

Each district will be contiguous, that is, each district will be made up of one district part, not two or more separated from the rest of the district by another.

5. Communities of Interest

Districts will be designed, if possible, to respect communities of interest. Communities of interest which may be considered include but are not limited to maintaining the core of existing districts; location of incumbents (i.e. keeping current elected officials unpaired in the new districts); physical features; neighborhoods; cultural/historical traditions; and precincts. However, accounting for communities of interest is subordinate to maintaining population equality, contiguity, and preserving minority voting rights.

2020 CENSUS AND DEMOGRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS

From the 2010 Census to the 2020 Census, the City of Albuquerque grew by 3.4%. However, this growth was not distributed evenly through the City, resulting in the population deviation of some districts exceeding the ideal population by more than +/- 5%, the maximum allowable by state law.

The districts that had a population deviation of greater than +/-5% are District 5 (Lewis) (+15.9%), District 6 (Davis) (-7.1%), and District 8 (Jones) (-8.2%). Therefore, at a minimum, District 5 (Lewis) needs to lose population, and both Districts 6 (Davis) and 8 (Jones) need to gain population.

While some districts currently fall within the allowable deviation range, they could be impacted by the ripple effect of modifying the districts that do need to change. Additionally, there are currently three wholly contained city council districts west of the Rio Grande. Combined, these three westside districts exceed the ideal population by approximately 14,500 people. This is about a quarter of a district. Thus, the westside districts need to shed a significant amount of population to a district crossing over from east of the Rio Grande.

The link to the final 2022 City Council redistricting report that also contains current and proposed City Council District Maps is here:

https://documents.cabq.gov/council/2022%20Redistricting%20Report.pdf

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Now that the redistricting committee has done its work, it is up to the City Council to decide what to do and what concept map to adopt or for that matter draw their own concept map if they want. The council is on summer break for the month of July and will likely decide in September what to do with redistricting. The City Council is under no legal obligation to adopt any one of the 8 maps and conceivably reject all 8 maps and start from scratch and ignore the rankings.

It is easy to see how the redistricting of all 9 City Council Districts could affect the balance of power on the City Council with one or more District becoming a swing District. With that point in mind, Concept Map A, appears the one concept map that will maintain the status quo.

Two others have the potential of creating more than one swing district, with one on the west side or one in the southeast area of the city. Concept Map 3 has two districts crossing the river, one North of Central to Coors and one South of Central to Atrisco ditch. Citizen Map 5 also makes a great effort to create a Hispanic majority district.

Citizen Map 4 was originally the citizens map prepared and submitted by city Councilors Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn. There is little doubt that Davis/Fiebelkorn concept map is the most radical map of all the 7 maps under consideration. All 7 other maps make adjustments that are very minor in comparison and essentially “tweaks” the existing Districts, respecting the existing borders and neighborhoods and communities.

The one map that should be rejected without question is the Davis/Fiebelkorn Citizen redistricting Map 4 and it can only be considered an abomination. It is a prime example of gerrymandering at its very worse designed to protect newly elected incumbent Tammy Fiebelkorn while the departing city councilor Pat Davis thumbs his nose at his own City Council District 6.

City Councilor Pat Davis is nothing but the hypocrite he is when he says:

“I think we should have some different voices on the City Council. … If you look at it now, the entire east side of the city is represented by white folks, and I think that shows the current districting is leaving some people out of the process.”

Tammy Fiebelkorn is also being a hypocrite and opportunistic to say after a mere 5 months in office:

“One of the baselines of redistricting is that we find ways to make marginalized communities have a voice. … [and give] large, culturally significant populations [a more united voice on the council].”

Pat Davis may want to look into a mirror at himself and while he is at it tell Tammy Fiebelkorn that she is not a woman of color. They are both one of those “white folks” that Davis complains about. Both pretend to know what “marginalized communities” are as they essentially stick their noses into minority issues when they both can be considered “white privilege”.

Fiebelkorn is not talking about her own district when she says she wants to help the marginalized, ostensibly meaning minorities. She is referring to the International District, an area of the city she thinks she knows what is needed as far as representation on the city council is concerned, but an area she does not want to be included in her new, realigned district.

City Councilor Fiebelkorn does not currently represent the Nob Hill area, yet she is now advocating just that by cutting out a large portion of her existing district while ignoring those she currently is supposed to be representing. Fiebelkorn wants to “raid” District 6 and absorb the highly progressive Nob Hill area, knowing full well it will increase her own reelection chances.

It is not at all difficult to figure out what progressive Democrats Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn are up to. It is more likely than not that Pat Davis has already decided not to run for another term and he now sees the opportunity to help his progressive ally on the city council Tammy Fiebelkorn. Given her performance on the City Council thus far, it is hoped she will be a one term city councilor.

On June 3, Tammy Fiebelkorn said in an email:

“I have active dialogue with D7 constituents all the time and work with them on a variety of projects.”

Fiebelkorn has been in office a mere 5 months. Confidential sources have said what she has actually done since taking office 5 months ago is meet with her progressive supporters, especially those who are animal rights activists, has attended one Neighborhood Association meeting and meets with and listens to and takes direction from progressive Democrat City Councilor Pat Davis.

The dynamic duo of Fiebelkorn and Davis have come up with a City Council redistricting map that amounts to nothing more than a “political movida” to increase Fiebelkorn’s progressive base. The dramatic border revisions proposed by Councilors Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn will have a direct and negative impact on the International District and Nob Hill and the entire District 7 she represents.

The City Council is currently on summer break and will not reconvene until the August 1 or August 8. Registered voters are encouraged to go to the city web page and review all 8 City

CONTACT YOUR CITY COUNCILOR

The voting public needs review all the redistricting maps make their opinions known about the proposed redistricting maps. Otherwise, the council will vote and it will be 10 years before the public can make thier opinions known.

The email address to each City Councilor and the Director of Counsel services are as follows:

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 1, it was reported that APD Lieutenant Jim Edison who was fired in November 2021 for overtime pay abuse has been reinstated by the city at the same rank pursuant to a settlement reach between Edison and the City. Edison had been with the department for 14 years. He was terminated after an Internal Affairs investigations found he had claimed more overtime hours than he had worked, that he lied to investigators and that he retaliated against the supervisor who initiated the investigation into his conduct. Edison appealed his termination by APD alleging he did nothing wrong and that he was entitled to the overtime claimed and paid.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2513251/apd-lieutenant-fired-in-scandal-reinstated-ex-accusations-of-overtim.html

EDISON’S TRANSFER

Lieutenant Jim Edison’s alleged overtime pay abuse dates back to early 2020 during the first days of the pandemic. At the time, he was transferred to the Chief’s Office to head up APD’s COVID-19 response. Edison was responsible for coordinating testing, contact tracing, pandemic-related stats, emails and phone calls. Edison’s job in the Chief’s Office was primarily administrative desk work. When he was transferred to the Homeland Security Division, his new commander raised questions about the hours he was claiming.

KRQE NEWS 13 INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

According to a March 14, 2021, KRQE 13 Investigative Report, over the course of one year, Lieutenant Jim Edison was paid $242,758 which consisted of a base pay and overtime pay. To put this staggering amount into perspective, hourly based pay for APD Lieutenants in 2020 and 2021 was $40 an hour or $83,200 a year. In other words, Edison was paid $159,558 in overtime in addition to his $83,200 base pay resulting in $242,758 paid in the one year reviewed. Edison was paid $186,944 in 2020 and $173,672 in 2021. In 2020, more than $95,000 was paid in overtime.

Edison was paid upwards of 3 times his base pay all because of overtime which is paid at the rate of time and a half. KRQE reported that in order for Lieutenant Jim Edison to be paid $242,758 yearly figure in 2021, Edison “cheated” on his overtime pay claims every day for a full year. Even though Edison’s overtime pay claims violated APD personnel rules and regulations, APD’s top command staff in the chief’s office failed to oversee it and approved it without any questions.

APD CALL OUT TIME

According to payroll records reviewed by KRQ, on a daily basis, including weekends, Edison claimed thousands of hours in “call-out overtime”. APD policy on “call-out overtime” is that it is paid to off-duty officers who are called back to work outside their regular shift. For example, if there is homicide call out, the Homicide Detective who goes to the crime scene is paid time and a half for reporting to duty in the middle of the night.

Whenever Edison was off-duty and forwarded a voicemail to someone else, Lieutenant Jim Edison claimed two hours of call-out overtime. Records reflect that it was not uncommon for Lieutenant Jim Edison to send emails at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. and then claim call-out overtime.

Examples of Edison’s overtime pay claims that were found by reviewing payroll records are as follows:

January 8, 2021: Edison went to Lowes to “pick up supplies” and claimed an hour call-out overtime.

January 13, 2021: Edison put in for a half-hour of overtime to investigate who parked in a deputy chief’s parking place.

January 16, 2021: Edison claimed 12 hours in time and a half call-back overtime for making phone calls and sending emails from his home on his day off.

January 22, 2021: Edison documented 7 minutes of off-duty work and claimed 8 hours overtime.

January 31, 2021: On his day off, Edison accounted for 22 minutes of work and then claimed 10 hours and 30 minutes call-out overtime.

February 2, 2021: Before work, Edison emailed a routine spreadsheet to a Deputy Chief and put in for two hours call-out overtime.

From April 2020 to April 2021, Edison claimed $132,964 in questionable overtime payments. Whenever Edison was off-duty and forwarded a voicemail to someone else, he claimed 2 hours of call-out overtime. It was not uncommon for Edison to send an email at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. and then claim call-out overtime.

The link to the entire KRQE investigative report is here:

https://www.krqe.com/news/larry-barker/worst-ive-seen-apd-overtime-scandal-uncovered/?fbclid=IwAR2TIlXiLXq-846jXOXDUDGq5Yi59yUVGkaiGMJWrc4A0eRKVX6acvV__Qg

A link to a related blog article is here:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2022/03/21/another-day-another-apd-overtime-dollar-scandal-apd-lieutenant-paid-159558-in-overtime-in-2021-400000-overtime-paid-to-4-sworn-in-2020-initiate-civil-collections-criminal-time-card-fraud-act/

WHAT THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS INVESTIGATION FOUND

The Internal Affairs investigation found that Lieutenant Jim Edison was frequently claiming 2 hours or more of overtime for any task he did outside of work hours. An example given is that he would send a master spreadsheet of COVID-19 numbers to his supervisor every morning around 3 a.m. and claim two hours of overtime when the actual time worked was routinely under half an hour. The Internal Affairs investigator concluded that “overall, Lt. Edison could have combined work or completed [his work] during his shift to cut down on overtime.”

The Internal Affairs investigation found that:

“the department failed to adequately re-address and supervise Lt. Edison’s behavior in January 2021 and February 2021, which allowed Lt. Edison to continue to violate the same and additional policy violations.”

Internal Affairs also found that Deputy Chief Michael Smathers failed to ensure Edison was correctly coding his overtime hours and failed to identify that what he was claiming was not within department policy. Smathers received an 8-hour suspension and a letter of reprimand.

CITY SETTLEMENT TERMS WITH EDISON

Edison appealed his termination and reached a settlement agreement with the city in May. Edison’s private Attorney Tim White said Edison was reinstated and has been assigned to the Aviation Department.

Edison threatened to file a lawsuit against the city for wrongful discharge and retaliation based on alleged violations of his civil rights and the New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act.

The major terms of the settlement agreement negotiated with the city include the following:

1. The city agreed to withdrew its decision to terminate Edison and removed the discipline from his record.

2. Although Edison returned to the department as a lieutenant, he agreed to “self-demote” in the next several months and undergo an audit of his previous pay records to determine whether he was overpaid. No later than November 18 Edison will “voluntarily and irrevocably demote to the rank of sergeant or to patrol officer” and he will not be eligible for any promotions.

3. Instead of the 120-hour and 80-hour suspension he was initially handed, Edison will serve a 96-hour suspension with 16 hours held in abeyance for six months as long as he isn’t subject to further discipline.

4. The city agreed to pay all of Edison’s his back pay since the date of his termination and will pay Edison an additional $20,000. At the time of his termination Edison was paid $40 an hour or $83,200 a year. According to the city’s transparency portal, Edison is now making $43.20 per hour and has earned more than $50,000 so far this year which includes his back pay.

5. The city will conduct an independent audit of Edison’s pay records from February 2020 through May 21, 2021, and “determine whether his claims for overtime were consistent with the law.” If the audit determines Edison was overpaid “the city will first confer with employee for reimbursement and may thereafter pursue collection of overpaid amounts through appropriate judicial process.” If the audit finds that Edison was underpaid, he will be paid as required by the CBA.

6. Edison “retains all rights to deny audit findings and to oppose reimbursement for any reason.”

7. Edison denies he committed any misconduct, and the city denies all allegations he had raised against it.

The link to the quoted news source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2513251/apd-lieutenant-fired-in-scandal-reinstated-ex-accusations-of-overtim.html

TWO SEPRATE COMPLAINTS INVESTIGATED

An anonymous complaint to Albuquerque’s Civilian Police Oversight Agency (CPOA) launched an Internal Affairs investigation into Lieutenant Jim Edison’s overtime pay abuse. The CPOA investigator concluded Lieutenant Jim Edison violated rules, regulations and codes of conduct by cheating on his overtime. He was handed a two-week suspension.

Despite APD’s investigation, Edison continued to misrepresent overtime on his timesheets which led to a second Internal Affairs investigation. Edison’s supervisor was Deputy Chief Mike Smathers. Even though Edison’s daily overtime clearly violated APD policy, Deputy Chief Smathers never questioned the overtime work claimed by Edison on his timesheet and routinely approved his time on the department’s payroll system.

The Internal Affairs Investigator concluded Deputy Chief Smathers violated multiple rules and regulations by failing to review Edison’s timesheets. Smathers received a one-day suspension for his conduct as a result of the civilian police oversight agency investigation.

In a second Internal Affairs probe, the Investigator concluded Smathers violated APD rules and policy a second time by failing to review Lt. Edison’s timesheets. According to internal affairs Detective Anastacio Zamora:

“There is no evidence Deputy Chief Smathers conducted any follow-up with anyone [except Lt. Edison] to ensure things were done correctly.”

Deputy Chief Smathers was given a written reprimand for his role in the Internal Affairs case. Albuquerque’s Superintendent for Police Reform, Sylvester Stanley, who retired after 8 months on the job, made the final decision to discipline Deputy Chief Smathers.
APD Police Chief Harold Medina bent over backwards to defend Deputy Chief Smathers saying the one-day suspension was appropriate. Medina had this to say:

“Up here on the fifth floor of the Police Department, the executive staff, we’re so busy that to go through the fine details of looking through somebody’s timesheets is not something that we’re going to be carving out time for. … Jim Edison deceived Deputy Chief Smathers and Deputy Chief Smathers took accountability for that and was disciplined.

The biggest thing that Deputy Chief Smathers did wrong is he had faith and belief in Jim Edison. Jim Edison betrayed that trust. And it’s very difficult for me to paint a negative brush on Deputy Chief Smathers for being a good leader, respecting his people, listening to his people and believing in his people.”

https://www.krqe.com/news/larry-barker/worst-ive-seen-apd-overtime-scandal-uncovered/?fbclid=IwAR2TIlXiLXq-846jXOXDUDGq5Yi59yUVGkaiGMJWrc4A0eRKVX6acvV__Qg

POLICE UNION CONTRACT PROVISIONS OF OVERTIME PAY

In October 2021 Lieutenant Jim Edison was fired, not for overtime pay abuse, but for retaliation against the supervisor who had turned him in for his overtime pay abuse. After Edison was terminated for retaliation against a supervisor, Chief Harold Medina said that Edison “wasn’t exactly breaking the law” when it came to the overtime claimed and paid and that he was taking advantage of the union collective bargaining contract.

Under the police union contract, sworn police are entitled to overtime compensation at the rate of time-and-one-half of their regular straight-time rate when they perform work in excess of forty (40) hours in any one workweek. Time worked over 40 hours per week is compensated at time and a half of the officer’s regular rate of pay or in the form of “compensatory time.” Compensatory time is the award of hours as already worked to be paid and is calculated at the rate of 1-1/2 times the hours actually worked. The maximum accrual of comp time for any officer is 150 hours.

Following is the exact language of the police union contract:

“3.2 Overtime
…

3.2.1 Employees shall be entitled to overtime compensation at the rate of time-and-one-half their regular straight-time rate when they perform work in excess of forty (40) hours in any one workweek.

3.2.1.1 The workweek shall consist of seven (7) consecutive days beginning at 0001 each Saturday, or the tour starting the nearest to that time.

3.2.1.2 The workday will be any regularly scheduled, consecutive twenty-four-hour period beginning at the start of the employees regularly assigned shift.

3.2.1.3 In accordance with Subsection 2.5 (FLSA) of this Agreement, the workdays, days off and start times of the shifts will be fixed and will not vary from week to week. The bid will include a variety of work schedules for the four (4) day workweek. A number of work schedules will include a schedule of one (1) start time for two (2) days and another start time for the other two (2) days. Additionally, a number of the schedules will include a schedule of one start time for three (3) days and another time for the other day.
…

3.3.1 Time worked over 40 hours per week will be compensated at 1-1/2 times the officer’s regular rate of pay, or in the form of compensatory time. Compensatory time will be computed at the rate of 1-1/2 times the hours actually worked. The maximum accrual of comp time for any officer, including Aviation Police, is 150 hours.

3.3.2 Upon separation of employment from the Albuquerque Police Department and Aviation, an officer is limited to cash-out of no more than forty (40) hours of unused comp time at straight time pay. Any accrual of comp time over forty (40) hours must be used 6 months prior to separation.

… .”

The 48 page APOA police “Collective Bargaining Agreement” (CBA) with a 3 page addendum can be down loaded as a PDF file at this link:

https://www.cabq.gov/humanresources/documents/apoa-jul-9-2016.pdf/view

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNIT UNDER POLICE UNION CONTRACT

On December 30, 2021, the Mayor Tim Keller Administration signed off on a collective bargaining agreement with the Albuquerque Police Officers Association (APOA) for the time period of effective January 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023. The collective bargaining agreement is identical in terms and conditions to the expired contract except as to pay rates.

Three sections of the police union contract are worth noting. Those sections are:

1.3. Recognition

“ 1.3.1 The APOA is recognized as the Exclusive Representative for regular full time, non-probationary police officers through the rank of Lieutenants in the APD … .

1.3.2. The City of Albuquerque extends to the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association representing such unit of employees the following rights:

1.3.2.1 To represent the employees in negotiations and in the settlement of grievances.

1.3.2.3 To exclusive representation status during the term of this agreement as provided in the Employee Relations Ordinance.
… .

Term of the Agreement, This Agreement shall become effective on the first full pay period following ratification by the rank-and-file membership, approval by the Mayor, and signature by the parties, and shall remain in full force and effect through June 30, 2020.”

The link to the “Collective Bargaining Agreement” can be downloaded as a PDF file at this link:

https://www.cabq.gov/humanresources/documents/apoa-jul-9-2016.pdf/view

Note that paragraph 1.3.1 of the union contract provides that APD sergeants and lieutenants, although management, are allowed to be members of the police union. Under the police union contract, they are required to work a 40-hour work week and are then paid time and a half for all time reportedly worked over their 40-hour work week hours. Overtime pay must be approved in writing by supervising personnel and in advance where possible.

The collective bargaining agreement between the city and the police union includes patrol officers, detectives, sergeants and lieutenants provides that when officers are called into work outside of regular hours they are guaranteed pay for a minimum of two hours at the rate of time and a half.

POLICE UNION CONTRACT VIOLATES NEW MEXICO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES BARGAINING ACT

The New Mexico Public Employees Bargaining Act, Sections 10-7E-1 to 10-7E-26 H (NMSA 1978), governs the enforcement of the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the APD police union. Section 10-7E-5 provides for the rights of public employees and states in part:

“Public employees, other than management employees and confidential employees, may form, join or assist a labor organization for the purpose of collective bargaining … .”

The link to the statute is here:

https://www.pelrb.state.nm.us/statute.php

Simply put, the provision of the APD police union contract that provides that the Albuquerque Police Officers association is the exclusive representative for regular full time, non-probationary police officers through the rank of Lieutenants in the APD violates the provision of New Mexico Collective Bargaining Act that provides that public employee, other than management employees … may form, join or assist a labor organization. APD Sergeants and Lieutenants by their very definitions, duties and responsibilities are management positions, yet they are allowed to be part of the police union that represents them during union contract negotiation and in the settlement of grievances meaning personnel disciplinary actions.

Approximately 16 years ago, then APD police captains were allowed to join the police union and that was deemed as unacceptable in that they were management. The positions of Captain were reclassified and re named Commanders and were excluded from union membership and further made at will positions. The biggest rational for no longer allowing Captains nor Commanders from being members of the union is that they are management, and inherent conflict of interests exists when management is allowed to be part of the union.

SPECIAL AUDIT REPORT RELEASED

On Friday, August 6, 2021, a long-awaited special audit report on overtime abuse by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was released by the New Mexico State Auditor. The 64-page audit covered the time period of January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020. According to the audit, it was the 7th audit performed on APD overtime practices since 2014. The prior 6 audits resulted in 17 findings and recommendation made.

The audit reported that there was an absolute failure to carry out and implement the changes needed to solve the overtime problem. The audits further identify that certain APD police union contract terms and conditions violated the Federal Labor Fair Standards act and that the union contract has contributed significantly to the overtime pay abuse by rank-and-file police officers.

The link to the entire 64-page audit report is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sIsbWAGpIC2mDFs8bsbQ1BhYDOSXH8Ig/view

LIETENANT JIM EDISON FOLLOWS IN THE FOOTSTEPS APD SPOKESMAN SIMON DROBIK AND MANY OTHERS

The overtime pay scandal involving Lieutenant Jim Edison is a repeat of what happened a mere two years ago, except then it involved APD Public Information Officer Simon Drobik. On Friday, April 12, 2019, it was reported that the APD Civilian Police Oversight (CPO) Agency recommended the dismissal of APD Master Police Officer 1st Class and Public Information Officer Simon Drobik as well as his former supervisor for overtime pay abuse.

The CPO Agency investigation found that in 2018, Drobik was paid $192,973 making him Albuquerque’s highest-paid employee in 2018. The investigation also found that his supervisor was one of the city’s top 11 paid wage earners. The investigation found that throughout 2018 Drobik violated overtime and pay policies more than 50 times by getting paid simultaneously for being on call as a spokesman for APD and working “chief’s overtime” and paid time and a half stationed at local businesses.

On May 2, 2019 it was reported that State Auditor Brian Colon announced that his office had begun an investigation of Drobick.

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/2019/05/02/BREAKING-State-Auditor-Investigating-Human-Robot-Simon-Drobiks-Overtime-Claims

For successive years, as APD Spokesman, Drobik was routinely among the highest earners in the city. Drobik ranked No. 1 among all city employees in 2018 by being paid $192,973. In 2019, Drobik was ranked as the 7th highest wage earner in 2019. When Drobik retired in July 2020, he had already collected $106,607 for the year when his base pay rate was listed as $31.50 per hour, or $65,520 a year according city records ($31.50 per hour X 2,080 hours a year= $65,520).

Excessive overtime billing has been a persistent problem at APD. Since 2014, seven audits or investigations have examined the issue and found deficiencies in the way the city tracks overtime and corrects officers who may be taking advantage of the system.

LISTING OF 250 TOP PAID CITY HALL EMPLOYEES

Edison and Dolbrik are not the only one who have learned to double and even triple their yearly pay with time and a half overtime. At the beginning of each calendar year, City Hall releases the top 250 wage earners for the previous year. The list of 250 top city hall wages earners is what is paid for the full calendar year of January 1, to December 31 of any given year.

Review of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 city hall 250 highest paid wage earnings reveals the extent of the staggering amount of overtime paid to APD Sergeants and Lieutenants. The lopsided number of APD sworn police officers listed in the top 250 paid city hall employees is directly attributed to the excessive amount of overtime paid to sworn police officers.

For the past 3 years in a row, over half of the top 250 wages earners at Albuquerque City Hall are APD sworn police officers in the ranks of police officer first class, senior police officer 1st class, master police officer 1st class, sergeant and lieutenant. All earned between $113,126.08 to $199,414.69 a year. All were paid hourly wages for 40-hour work week, and all were paid time and a half for overtime pay.

Police officers first class, senior police officer’s 1st class, master police officers 1st class, sergeants and lieutenant are all members of the APD police union. They are classified employees and can only be terminated for cause. The amounts paid are two and a half times and at times 3 times more than their base yearly hourly pay primarily because of overtime pay which has been the subject of abuse and scandal in the past, including timecard fraud.

All patrol officer positions, and the positions of sergeant and lieutenants are classified employees, meaning not at will employees, and are permitted to be part of the police union and as such are paid time and a half for overtime worked under the union contract.

For both the years of 2019 and 2020, 160 of 250 top paid city hall employees were police who were paid between $107,885.47 to $199,666.40.

2019

In 2019, there were 70 APD patrol officers first class, master, senior in the list of 250 top paid employees in 2019 earning pay ranging from $108,167 to $188,844. Hourly pay rate for Patrol Officers was $29.00 an hour to $31.50 an hour depending upon years of experience.

In 2019, there were 32 APD Sergeants in the list of 250 top paid employees earning pay ranging from $109,292 to $193,666. Hourly pay rate for APD Sergeants was at the time $35 an hour, or $72,800 a year. In 2019, there were 32 APD Lieutenants in the list of 250 top paid employees earning pay ranging from $108,031 to $164,722. Hourly pay rate for APD Lieutenants was at the time $40.00 an hour or $83,200 yearly.

2020

In 2020, there were 69 patrol officers paid between $110,680 to $176,709. In 2020, there were 28 APD Lieutenants and 32 APD Sergeants who were paid between $110,698 to $199,001 in the list of the 250 top paid city hall employees paid between.

The link to a related blog article is here:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2021/08/16/state-auditor-brian-colon-foolish-saying-his-audit-on-apd-overtime-abuse-will-result-in-100-compliance-160-police-union-members-made-between-110000-to-200000-in-2019-and-2020-because-of-overt/

2021

For the calendar year of 2021, 126 of the top 250 city hall wage earners were sworn police officers ranging from the rank of patrol officer 1st class through to the rank of Lieutenant. The 2021 listing of APD sworn personnel reveals that between the ranks of Senior Police Officer and Lieutenant were paid between $130,000 to over $199,000 in 2021 because of overtime. In 2021, there were a total 52 sworn police officers in the ranks of Police Officer First Class, Senior Police Officer and Master Police Officer in the listing of the top 250 top city wage earners. For 2021, there were 27 Sergeants and 30 Lieutenants listed in the top 250 city wage earners working for APD.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2022/02/17/third-year-in-row-over-half-of-top-250-city-wage-earners-sworn-police-apd-police-union-contract-violates-federal-and-state-labor-laws-after-over-6-months-special-state-audit-has-not-reduced-apd/

The 6-figure compensation being paid to sworn police can be attributed directly to “overtime” paid. There are nearly a dozen different types of overtime programs within APD. The categories where APD Officers can earn overtime include holiday work, tac-plan initiatives, training, call outs, calls for service, special events, administrative work, investigations, and court appearances. DWI check points and special events like the Balloon Fiesta and security detail for high profile dignitary visits are all events that require an extensive amount of overtime. The police union contract entitles a police officer to be paid “time and a half” when overtime is worked on any given day or week and has a mandatory 2-hour minimum overtime charge for court appearances even if less time is worked.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Police officers earning excessive overtime is nothing new. It has been going on for years and is very common knowledge. From a personnel management standpoint, when you have a select few that are taking home the lion’s share of overtime, it causes moral problems with the rest. Excessive overtime paid is a red flag for abuse of the system, mismanagement of police resources or the lack of personnel.

During the last 10 years, the Albuquerque Police Department has consistently gone over its overtime budget by millions. In fiscal year 2016, APD was funded for $9 million for over time but APD actually spent $13 million. A March 2017 city internal audit of APD’s overtime spending found police officers taking advantage of a system that allows them to accumulate excessive overtime at the expense of other city departments.

A city internal audit report released in March 2017 revealed that the Albuquerque Police Department spent over $3.9 million over its $9 million “overtime” budget. For the last 3 years, APD has exceeded its overtime budget by as much as $4 million or more each year. In 2019, APD spent $11.5 million paying sworn police overtime when the budget was $9 million.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2018/03/30/apd-overtime-pay-abuse-and-recruitment-tool/

RESTRUCTURE 40 HOUR APD PAY SYSTEM TO SALARY PAY SYSTEM

As an alternative to paying overtime and longevity bonus, the City should do away with APD hourly wage and time and a half for overtime for sworn police and implement a salary structure based strictly on steps and years of service. A complete restructuring of the existing APD 40-hour work week and hourly wage system needs to be implemented.

A base pay salary system should be implemented for all APD sworn personnel. A base salary system with step increases for length of service should be implemented. The longevity bonus pay would be eliminated and built into the salary structure. Mandatory shift time to work would remain the same, but if more time is needed to complete a workload or assignments for the day, the salaried employee works it for the same salary with no overtime paid and a modification of shift times for court appearances.

REMOVE LIEUTENANTS AND SERGEANTS FROM UNION

APD Lieutenants and Sergeants, and Patrol Officers are all are “classified” positions and can only be terminated for cause. APD Lieutenants and Sergeants are included in the police collective bargaining unit. Any and all disciplinary actions taken against APD Lieutenants and Sergeants are governed by the union contract. They have “due process rights” including progressive disciplinary actions and rights of appeal.

APD Lieutenants and Sergeants are on the front-line management that oversee those officers who serve under their command. APD Lieutenants and Sergeants are primarily responsible for making sure that all Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) are followed and further it is they that must review and approve overtime. The excessive overtime paid over the years to rank and file police is a reflection of Lieutenants and Sergeants not doing their jobs of oversight and prevention of overtime abuse.

Instead of enforcing limitations on overtime and preventing the overtime abuse, many sergeants and lieutenants simply participate in excessive overtime pay practices themselves and likely approved all overtime submitted by their subordinates to keep them happy and to maintain a working relationship with them and to garner favor with them.

Simply put, under the New Mexico collective bargaining act, APD Sergeants and Lieutenants are public management employees, and they should be prohibited from joining the police union. Its Labor Law 101 that federal law prohibits management from joining unions. Simply put the police union contract violates state law when it allows the management positions of Lieutenants and Sergeants to be part of the union.

APD Lieutenants and Sergeants need to be removed from the collective bargaining unit and made at will employees and paid yearly salaries and not hourly pay. This is essential from a management standpoint so that they can be held accountable for failure to act and failure to oversee those they are responsible for and not become part of the problem. There is a built-in conflict with Lieutenants and Sergeants being part of the union and being torn between management policies and procedures and union priorities that are a complete opposite to management priorities.

CITY HALL FOLDS LIKE CHEAP SUITE

City and State Audits are worthless and an exercise in futility unless they are relied upon to take aggressive follow up action. The overtime gaming system by APD sworn personnel must be stopped, but that will never happen unless and until city hall and the mayor’s office takes it seriously. All too often City Hall folds like a cheap suite by terminating an employee for violation of personnel rules and regulations, as is the case with overtime pay abuses, only to turn around months later to reinstate and pay backpay wages when the employee appeals a termination.

Despite all the city and state audits on APD overtime pay abuses and extensive findings of fraudulent conduct, not once has the city ever initiated civil collection actions to recover fraudulent overtime paid. At a bare minimum, the City Attorney needs make demand for reimbursement of the pay or initiate civil collection action for reimbursement of overtime paid that can be proven as fraudulent.

Despite repeated referrals to the New Mexico Attorney General of audits revealing overtime pay fraud, not once has the New Mexico Attorney General ever brought criminal charges. If the Attorney General is incapable, unable or simply unwilling to initiate any criminal actions, he needs to make that known and refer the overtime abuse to the Bernalillo County District Attorney. Not once has the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office been asked by the Mayor’s Office to step in and investigate timecard fraud by the Albuquerque Police Department.

The fact that criminal action is never brought by prosecutors for timecard fraud gives a sense of security to city employees and allows them to ignore personnel rules and regulations and to commit overtime pay card fraud. One guaranteed way of stopping anyone within APD from gaming the system is to abolish the existing system of overtime pay. Until the APD salary structure is changed, APD will always have sergeants and lieutenants making two, three and even four times their base salary.

ENACT CHANGES TO CITY PERSONNEL RULES AND REGULATIONS

The Keller Administration and the City Council need to act and take steps to remove Lieutenants and Sergeants from the police bargaining unit. They need to be made “at will employees” in order to conform with state law and federal law that prohibits management from joining the police union. The Albuquerque City Council can enact a resolution that states it is city policy that Lieutenants and sergeants are management positions and under state law are not permitted to join a union. Otherwise, overtime pay abuse and gaming of the overtime pay will continue as it has for so many years.

___________________

POSTSCRIPT

On July 6 the Albuquerque Journal published the following editorial:

Editorial headline: Rehiring troubled Lt. raises APD union issues

BY ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD
PUBLISHED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 6TH, 2022 AT 12:02AM
UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 6TH, 2022 AT 12:15AM

There are multiple reasons lieutenants (and sergeants) shouldn’t be in the union that represents APD to the city.

One example is Lt. Jim Edison.

Edison, fired in mid-November after internal investigations found he claimed more overtime hours than he worked, is back on the force. As a leader, he should be setting an example for other officers and held to a higher standard.

Instead, it appears he gamed the city’s collective bargaining agreement like few others, raking in a whopping $224,000 from April 2020 to April 2021. That followed $173,672 in 2021 and $186,944 in 2020. His regular pay is $43.20/hour.

Once discovered, an APD spokesman said Edison was untruthful about his OT and retaliated against the supervisor who initiated the investigation.

Edison did not go quietly as a member of the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association. He appealed his termination, reached a settlement agreement with the city in May and is now working in APD’s Aviation Department. Chief Harold Medina says Edison “wasn’t exactly breaking the law; he was taking advantage of the CBA.” Union membership does have its privileges.

City Councilor Louie Sanchez, a former APD officer, has asked how an APD lieutenant with 14 years of experience can be trusted to enforce the law and testify truthfully in court when he cannot truthfully fill out a time sheet? We would add how can he be trusted to mold younger officers, set a tone for accountability and help lead the department?

Edison did a huge disservice to the majority of APD pros who obey and enforce the letter of the law — rank and file, as well as the brass.

He should not be able to use the union contract to cover his tracks and stay on the force. It’s a long-simmering issue the city needs to revisit when the CBA — which represents officers, lieutenants and sergeants — comes up for renegotiation.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2513907/rehiring-troubled-lt-raises-apd-union-issues.html

On Friday, July 20, 2018, Santa Fe District Court Judge Sarah Singleton ruled in the case that the state of New Mexico violated the constitutional rights of at-risk students by failing to provide them with a sufficient education. The consolidated lawsuit was filed by the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. The Plaintiffs argued that the New Mexico public schools are inadequately funded.

The Court ruling centered on the guaranteed right under the New Mexico Constitution to a sufficient education for all children. The lawsuit alleged a severe lack of state funding, resources and services to help students, particularly children from low-income families, students of color, including Native Americans, English-language learners and students with disabilities.

REPORT FROM YAZZIE-MARTINEZ COUNCIL

In the 2019-2020 school year, the Albuquerque Public School System (APS) formed the Yazzie-Martinez Council to deal with implementation of the public education mandates of the Yazzie-Martinez consolidated lawsuit. The council includes parents, some students and instructors. Half of the council must be made up of people who represent the communities of students identified in the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit.

The panel told the APD board that during the coming semester, the council said it hopes to integrate its members into standing district committees and departments, including curriculum and instruction, special education, and the Indian Parent Committee. The goal of the panel is pave the way for systemic change in the district by providing research and advice on key issues.

On June 8, the Yazzie-Martinez Council updated the APS board on the input it has had during an instruction and accountability meeting. It was reported that the council has been involved with several APS projects, including its strategic framework, federal funding applications, assessing needs for Native American students, and coming into compliance with New Mexico’s Black Education and Crown acts from last year.

New Mexico’s Crown Act prevents school districts from discriminating against students for hairstyles or headdresses based on race or culture. Earlier in the week, the school board discussed possible changes to APS policy for discipline and dress code.

Other district initiatives were discussed. APS is anticipating it will receive over $75.5 million in at-risk funding during the coming fiscal year.

Chief of Schools Yvonne Garcia said the council’s goals include bolstering its numbers in the coming months and told the APS Board that its struggling with membership. She said that that the council will give “ongoing feedback, and not just when things get large.”

Progress was reported in a few of the areas. However, it was reported that New Mexico still has a way to go before the needs of “at risk” students are fully met.

YAZZIE-MARTINEZ ACTION PLAN DISCUSSED

On June 8, the APS School Board held discussions on the New Mexico Public Education Department’s draft action plan on the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit. A few board members expressed concern about the draft’s career-planning component’. APS Board members said more needed to be done to encourage a diverse array of students into college-bound tracks and vocational paths.

APS Board President Yolanda Montoya-Cordova said this:

“Where I feel the plan falls really flat is really around the career education and career-planning piece. They just tell schools to do it – ‘just do it.’ … I don’t feel that there’s really a strong vision or cohesion around that whole concept.”

APS Board Member Josefina Domínguez chimed in and said this:

“I also think we need to police ourselves very carefully about who gets encouraged to do a non-college path, because history can very easily … repeat itself.”

Superintendent Scott Elder has said that the new language in APS policies was part of “(creating) an environment where … all students feel comfortable and welcome.”
Spokeswoman Monica Armenta said APS has gathered feedback on dress code and discipline issues for around a year. The changes will go before the board for final approval the week of June 13.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2507289/aps-pushes-to-include-at-risk-voices-in-its-operations.html

YAZZIE V. STATE/ MARTINEZ ACTION PLAN

On May 14, the New Mexico Public Education Department released a detailed plan to address the landmark public education court case of Yazzie v. State/Martinez and mandated reforms to improve the New Mexico’s failing public education system and offer better and equal opportunities for all students. The Public Education Department has asked for written feedback from the public on the plan. The window for opportunity for public input closes on Friday, June 17 at 5 p.m.

The release plan by the Grisham administration is and includes improvements for every aspect of the education system. The link to review the plan is here:

https://mcusercontent.com/fe07174c30216027e5fab1fde/files/8d56cdcc-64d5-1494-dd06-04dfb8209cfd/Martinez_Yazzie_Discussion_Draft_2022.05.09.pdf?link_id=0&can_id=bd62d9bf2703bf57b545d3ed888c0bab&source=email-feedback-requested-nm-ped-releases-draft-plan-to-address-martinezyazzie-ruling&email_referrer=email_1541133&email_subject=feedback-requested-nm-ped-releases-draft-plan-to-address-martinezyazzie-ruling

According to the draft of the plan, it should be considered as a companion to the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) 2022 Comprehensive Strategic Plan which offers remedies to the Yazzie/Martinez decision embedded throughout. According to the plan, the work that lies ahead for NMPED and schools will require systemic change to address the needs of the students and families impacted by decades of neglect and underfunding, including students with disabilities, Native American students, English learners, and economically disadvantaged students. These students account for over 70% of the population in New Mexico’s public schools.

The action plan states that for New Mexico students and their families to realize their full potential, it is incumbent upon both NMPED and its partners, especially the school districts, to do their part in ensuring educational equity, excellence, and relevance for all students. By implementing the recommendations in this plan, all of New Mexico’s public-school students will benefit.

According to the plan of action, NMPED is planning a future in which students are engaged in a culturally and linguistically responsive educational system that meets their academic, social, and emotional needs.

To that end, this action plan is focused on the following long-term goals:

1. Assuring external factors like race, language, economic status, and family situations do not equate with lower rates of success in educational achievement and career prospects.

2. Increasing academic proficiency in math, science, and languages to ensure that all students graduate well prepared for the ever-changing world of college, career, and civic engagement.

3. Eliminating achievement gaps among New Mexico students, particularly English learners, economically disadvantaged students, Hispanics, Native Americans, African Americans, and students with disabilities.

4. Respecting, honoring, and preserving students’ home languages and cultures by implementing culturally and linguistically responsive instruction and learning for all students.

BIG-PICTURE GOALS

The action plan contains some very big picture goals for public education in New Mexico.

Graduation rates in the last few years have been in the low to mid-70s. The education department wants the statewide graduation rate to get to 90% by 2027. Education leaders also want to close graduation gaps between ethnicities and disadvantaged students.

Another target is improving reading and math proficiency rates. PED leaders want those up by 50% in the next four years.

The plan also focuses on teachers, class sizes, and building on recent successes, including increases in funding. Just this year, the state legislature passed pay raises for teachers and more money for Pre-K programs.

Since the lawsuit, the state has boosted help for economically disadvantaged students, those with disabilities and English learners. It’s also upped funding for more reading programs, extended learning time and more and better internet access.

Outside of funding, PED leadership points out the launch of equity councils and the work to create a response team just for the lawsuit.

The link to news source material is here:

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/albuquerque-metro/ped-releases-plan-addressing-martinez-yazzie-lawsuit/

HOW PED ACTION PLAN TO BE USED

The general public and public education advocacy groups have until June 17 to review and comment on the Public Education Department (PED) action plan released. The education plan is likely to drive immediate reforms by the state Public Education Department. The plan is also intended to generate discussion and budget priorities during the 2023 Legislature that will begin in mid-January.

In addition to the Public Education plan put forth, Native American advocacy groups and tribal leaders submitted their own action plan in 2019 calling it the “Tribal Remedy Framework.” The 2019 plan submitted by the tribes cites language of the Yazzie v. State and Martinez lawsuit and then makes recommendations and suggests funding to carry out the recommendations.

The Public Education Action plan will be used in part by the State District Court Judge assigned the Yazzie v. State and Martinez case to determine whether the state court continues to keep watch over spending and initiatives to improve public education. The 2018 District Court ruling found that the state investments in education, as well as academic outcomes of students, proved that “the vast majority of New Mexico’s at-risk children finish each school year without the basic literacy and math skills needed to pursue post-secondary education or a career.”

PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING

The PED Action Plan makes no funding recommendations. However, it highlights the increases in public education enacted by the 2022 legislature, including teacher salary raises and overall education funding increases. New Mexico funds its schools through the state budget and gross receipts tax revenues and oil and gas production revenues and does not relying on property tax revenues. According to Legislative Finance Committee analysts, public education funding accounts for around 45% of the $8.5 billion general fund budget. Unlike most other states.

The Lujan-Grisham Administration in the action plan point out an overhaul of social studies standards that expands focus on Native American history and identity. Those changes have been welcomed by education advocates.

Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Maddy Hayden said the draft is intended to provide a long-term guide and that more specific details will be added after the public comment period. Hayden had this to say:

[“The education reforms were developed] collaboratively across many agencies and there is shared understanding and accountability on the part of agencies to get this critical work done. ”
The link to quoted news source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2503688/nm-advocates-review-plan-aimed-at-education-deficits.html

2022 NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE FUNDING FOR PUBLIC EDUCTION

During the 2022 New Mexico legislative session, annual spending for public education increased dramatically. Annual spending on K-12 grade public education was increased by $425 million to $3.87 billion, a 12% boost.

Starting July 1, the base pay for teachers will rise to $50,000, $60,000 and $70,000 depending on the level of a teacher. According to a fiscal impact report, New Mexico’s average teacher salary was just under $55,000 a year. That’s lower than Colorado, Texas and Utah, but higher than Arizona and Oklahoma. Legislators also approved a measure to allow Indigenous language teachers to be paid at the same rate as their peers, even if they don’t have an undergraduate degree. For Native American language teachers paid as teaching assistants in many districts, their salaries could triple

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/nm-teacher-pay-increase-bill-heads-to-governors-desk-after-unanimous-house-vote/6393826/

During the 2022 New Mexico legislative session, 3 bills sponsored by Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo passed that were are in response to the historic 2018 Yazzie/Martinez court ruling that said New Mexico has denied several groups of students, including Native Americans, their constitutional right to an education. House bills 87, 88 and 90 allocated more than $70 million to tribal entities to help offer culturally relevant lesson plans and access to virtual and after-school programs for those students.

House Bill 87 appropriated $20 million from the state’s general fund to the Indian Education Act to provide educational funding for tribes starting July 1, 2024. The money will be used to create culturally relevant learning programs, including Native language programs, for students in the K-12 system. The Legislative Education Study Committee report said each of the state’s 23 tribal entities would receive $547,826 per year.

House Bill 88 appropriated $21.5 million to help tribal education departments develop learning plans and programs for students, extend learning opportunities and support tribal school libraries. Each tribe and pueblo will get $250,000 a year, with the exception of the Navajo Nation, which would get $500,000, according to the bill’s fiscal report.

House Bill 90 was aimed at higher education. It appropriated $29.6 million to four state colleges and three tribal colleges for 53 initiatives, such as building a Native American teacher pipeline and expanding high school-to-college programs to encourage those students to attend college. The bill’s fiscal impact report says it is assumed the bill would go into effect 90 days after the last day of the Legislature.

The link to quoted news source material is here:

https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2022/02/01/bills-to-address-yazzie-martinez-court-ruling-advance%ef%bf%bc/?mc_cid=21ff84b79b&mc_eid=d03b0979c3

APS SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES $2 Billion Budget

On June 1, the Albuquerque Public School Board approved a nearly $2 Billion dollar budget for the upcoming fiscal year the commenced-on July 1, 2020. It was a split vote of 4 to 3. Board members Yolanda Montoya-Cordova, Peggy Muller-Aragón, Barbara Petersen and Josefina Domínguez voted yes on the proposed budget, while Danielle Gonzales, Crystal Tapia-Romero and Courtney Jackson voted no. Several board members expressed concerned over how much the $1.936 billion budget had grown from last year’s $1.868 billion. They also questioned where cuts were made.

The biggest portion of the budget goes to the operational fund which accounts for nearly 45% of the total budget at over $869.1 million. APS is projected to spend $10.3 million more than it will collect this year. That amount is less than last year, when the district’s deficit was around $45 million. The district’s savings from vacancies will be approximately $7.9 million. $2.4 million will also be used from APS’ $52.7 million cash reserve to balance the budget.

During the June 1 meeting to approve the budget, information on the proposed budget included staff allocations, “at-risk” funding and programs and budget cuts. The cuts presented included 70 support staff positions, 36 elective courses and 27 administrative positions being cut across all grades. Only 16 instructional positions were cut.

The approved budget includes spending of over $27.6 million on increases for teacher salaries and over $39.5 million on 7% raises for public education staff.

APS employee raises will be paid in two phases with 3% payments for this year’s fourth quarter then followed up with an additional 4% raise next fiscal year. Teacher raises will be increased if they don’t reach the average $10,000 minimum salary increases for teachers, or the new minimum $15 per hour wage.
On May 31, APS and the Albuquerque Teachers Federation announced a tentative agreement on raises for many instructional support providers. The agreement guarantees some 850 licensed employees would be given the same minimum salary increases that were legislated for teachers earlier this year.

Over $3.5 million is set aside in the proposed budget for other at-risk service providers. During last week’s meeting, Executive Director of Budget Rosalinda Montoya said those included nurses, counselors, social workers and other instructional support providers.

STATE FUNDING INCREASES

State funding will sharply increase in the coming fiscal year that starts on July 1. The state funding increase is the direct result of raises approved by the 2022 legislative session for teachers and other public education employees. APS received $719.3 million in 2022 and is expecting $787.4 million in state funds next year. Despite the over $68 million rise in state funds, APS expects increased costs will exceed money from the state by over $12.2 million.

During its last meeting, the board also approved emergency money for fuel allocated by the Public Education Department. In May, APS was allocated $467,898 for increased fuel costs in 2022. Transportation is expected to run the district over $21.4 million. APS estimated fuel cost increases at $373,000.

Link to quoted news source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2504216/aps-board-up-against-deadline-for-nearly-2b-budget.html

COMMENTARY

On Friday, May 13, legislative economist told the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee that state revenue collections for the current budget year are up by more than $440 million than was projected in December 2021. The large cash infusion to the state no doubt will allow for more spending in areas to deal with the public education mandates of the Yazzie v. Martinez landmark decision.