Democrats Davis, Dennis vying for council seat

One of Albuquerque’s most liberal elected officials is facing opposition in his bid to stay on the City Council, and the challenge is not coming from the right.

First-term District 6 Councilor Pat Davis is facing fellow Democrat Gina Naomi Dennis in the race to represent an area that includes Nob Hill and the International District.

Davis, a police officer turned activist, and Dennis, a lawyer and community organizer, both support paid sick leave for workers. Davis has proposed legislation requiring it.

In a city struggling with crime and homelessness, both say it makes sense to offer services such as counseling directly in parks where homeless people are already congregating.

Dennis said her decision to run for City Council was significantly influenced by the “failures” of Albuquerque Rapid Transit. The transportation project — which has yet to begin service — reconfigured Central Avenue, changed traffic patterns and has been blamed for hurting businesses along the route.

Dennis, a onetime intern for former President Bill Clinton who previously practiced law in Washington, D.C., said the city should pursue financial relief from the federal government because it provided much of the ART funding. Her objectives include getting Small Busi

ness Administration money to “restore and re-incubate” small businesses, potentially moving the bus lanes from the middle to the side of the road, and finding a new use for the existing stations.

“This is definitely not a gutting,” said Dennis, who said she ultimately wants to see ART running. “It’s simply a way of making things more feasible, so you can turn left again and will put the bus lanes where they should be so that it’s safer.”

Davis — who joined the council months after it approved sending Mayor Richard Berry’s ART proposal to the Federal Transit Administration — said he has already taken several steps to protect the corridor.

Davis said he passed legislation in 2017 to put $500,000 of his district money toward changes, but the previous administration did not follow through.

“But at least in Nob Hill, I’ve lived up to the promise by bringing back the 30 deleted parking spaces, widening sidewalks that were promised but never done, and now bringing back the crosswalk,” Davis said, adding that he’s worked to fix issues related to ART “piece by piece.”

He said he thinks the council should have been more involved early in the ART process. In fact, he said, the council should play a more prominent role overall.

“I want to see the City Council be more proactive and more engaging in the issues of the city,” said Davis, who has sponsored or co-sponsored some of the most talked-about legislation tackled by the council.

That includes the plastic bag ban and a $250,000 allocation to aid asylum-seekers, both of which passed this year. He more recently introduced three gunrelated bills, including one that would prohibit guns at City Hall and other city properties and one that requires gun owners to keep firearms locked up and secured when unattended.

“My voters not only allow me to do that, but they kind of expect me to be on the lead of (progressive issues),” Davis said, describing District 6 as the most progressive in the city.

Dennis, who moved to Albuquerque four years ago to practice tribal law, said she has immersed herself in the District 6 community and gathered public input on the area’s challenges and goals. She is not currently employed as an attorney, saying she has since January focused full-time on community activism and her campaign, and would be a fulltime city councilor if elected.

“The most extraordinary experience I have ever had was doing the volunteer work, 20 to 25 hours a week as the president of the coalition of neighborhood associations,” she said of her recent two-year stint as District 6 Coalition president. “That’s because I was able to use all of my education and all of my work experience within a communitybased level.”