Mayor: Fountain leak actually nearby frozen pipe
Keller, COO also talk about budget, ART
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller on Thursday walked back a statement he made a day earlier about the new fountain on Civic Plaza leaking.
“It turns out that was a frozen pipe near the fountain that is leaking,” he told reporters Thursday, later adding that as far as they know, the new fountain is fine.
During a speech to the Economic Forum on Wednesday morning, Keller said, “If you drive underneath, you will see why there’s no parking underneath (in) the parking garage because the new fountain leaks.”
Thursday’s news conference was called to elaborate on remarks he made at the forum on the budget deficit the city is facing, the fact that the federal funding for the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project has not yet materialized and the “working capital” problem the Albuquerque Police Department is facing because the overtime it’s having to pay is eating up money allocated for budgeted vacant positions.
Keller and interim Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Rael said the city is also having to replace a 911 transmitter system, which will cost an estimated $10 million. Keller said the city has to replace the system “for public safety reasons.”
“It’s an 800 megahertz system that allows the police department to communicate with the dispatchers and connects all our public safety agencies together,” Rael said. “The system that’s in place right now, we have just been informed that it needs to be replaced.”
Rael said it will be a phased project.
“It’s not going to happen overnight because it is a major retooling of our communications system … . It’s a large investment in public safety,” he said.
Keller said the city is looking at bonding options so that it doesn’t have to come up with the $10 million all at once.
Besides reiterating that the $75 million in anticipated federal funding for ART has not yet materialized, Rael said they have discovered a problem.
“There are some issues with accessibility to the platforms for the handicap community,” Rael said. “We’re getting a lot of concerns about it because they are in the median of the roadway facility and because you now have to cross traffic. We need to look at that and ensure that we have a reasonable access, or a safe access, and we will make that happen.”