For a better ABQ, vote ‘yes’ on ballot projects

None of the proposed projects will raise overall tax rates

On this year’s local election ballot, voters have an opportunity to approve funding for important infrastructure and community development projects in Albuquerque — none of which will raise our taxes, and all of which will benefit our city and help us tackle key challenges, including high crime and homelessness.

The projects include new equipment and facility improvements for police officers and firefighters, road construction and road maintenance across the city and upgrades to city parks and community centers for children and seniors. Perhaps most importantly, voters will have a chance to support the construction of a new around-the-clock shelter and service center for the homeless, which will significantly improve how our community currently confronts this serious and persistent problem.

The chamber is a strong supporter of this new homeless center for three reasons:

■ First, the center will finally provide a place for police officers and first responders to take the homeless individuals with whom they are so often called upon to interact. For too long, their only options have been to take the homeless to a local emergency room or try to book them into the jail on a minor crime. In either case, the stay for the homeless person isn’t very long, the cost to taxpayers is sky-high, and the astounding number of hours that first responders must devote to transportation and reporting for each incident is time that could be spent in others ways to keep the city safe.

■ Second, the center will help structure and arrange the various types of support and services that most homeless individuals and families need, reducing the amount of time that the homeless must currently spend wandering from service to service all across town. It would also be a great referral point to substance abuse and mental health treatment.

■ And third, the center will provide the kind of low-barrier overnight sheltering that exists in other cities but has been lacking in Albuquerque for far too long. For too many businesses in town, their entryways or back alleys have become our community’s de facto overnight shelter for many who are homeless. That has to change. The center would also replace a shelter on the West Side that is so far away it costs taxpayers $1 million each year to bus the homeless there and back.

Fortunately, businesses are not alone in our support of this effort. In a recent scientific survey of likely voters in Albuquerque, commissioned by the business community and conducted by Research and Polling Inc., nearly 80% of people expressed support for this proposed homeless center and the bond question that, if approved, would provide funding for it.

There are a number of other reasons to go out and vote this year, including critical funding to improve classrooms and educational facilities at Central New Mexico Community College and throughout Albuquerque’s public schools. We also have an opportunity to elect fiscally responsible and business-minded councilors like Trudy Jones and Brook Bassan, as well as school board members like Peggy Muller-Aragon who will place the academic growth of our kids at the top of the APS priority list. The chamber also opposes the so-called “Democracy Dollars” initiative, which would distribute coupons or vouchers to residents that could be exchanged for $25 taxpayer-funded campaign contributions to political candidates; it’s an unnecessary, unwieldy proposal that would be costly and hard to administer.

Whatever your reason, the chamber encourages you to vote in this very important local election. And if you are concerned about high crime, homelessness and the quality of our roads and highways — as we are — then this election gives us all an opportunity to help our city make real progress on these issues. Together, we can ensure our city is a great place to start and grow a business and a safe, exciting place to work and raise a family.