ABQ needs lawmakers to meet it halfway on crime, homelessness

Nearly one-third (32%) of those surveyed said Albuquerque has become a worse place to live in the past year, compared with 19% who said it is better. … Crime was the top reason cited among those who said the city is getting worse.

— Albuquerque Citizen Satisfaction Survey

“We’re not going to be able to solve all our crime problems overnight. I’m focused on dealing with crime today.”

— Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller

As recreational marijuana and red flag laws take up much of the oxygen at the Roundhouse this legislative session, it bears repeating that crime in the Albuquerque metro area is top of mind for more than 500,000 residents, as well as their mayor.

That’s according to the above survey, completed in November by Research & Polling, and Keller’s 2020 legislative agenda, which leads with $20 million to modernize the Albuquerque Police Department’s computer, video, crime scene, lab and evidence equipment; follows up with $12 million for statewide violence intervention programs to prevent/ break the cycle of crime; and includes $14 million to match the same amount invested by city taxpayers in a 24/7 lowbarrier homeless shelter to help the estimated 5,600 men, women and children who find themselves in the Duke City without shelter every year.

It is essential to note that in our large and diverse metropolitan area, the people of Albuquerque and city leaders are all on the same page when it comes to the need to eradicate the scourge crime has become in our communities (Albuquerque recorded more homicides in 2019 than during any year in recent history), as well as helping the thousands of less fortunate souls who find themselves bedding down on our streets.

Equally important for lawmakers to know is that city taxpayers are putting up matching funds for essentially every single request to state lawmakers — $23.35 million for the above-mentioned $46 million in projects; and $54.35 million for the total $95.775 million request that includes everything from police horses to a wider west leg of Paseo del Norte to a practice facility for New Mexico United and high school tournaments. This is a real-world example of seeking a hand up, not a handout.

In his cover letter to lawmakers, Keller writes “I as the mayor, and we as a city, cannot do this alone. On behalf of the residents of Albuquerque, I am requesting the New Mexico Legislature’s assistance with capital improvements to the state’s most populous city. We are requesting funding for tangible projects which will have immediate, powerful impacts on our residents. These project requests are either statewide or regionally significant and will fully fund a project or complete a significant phase.”

So, as lawmakers question whether Albuquerque really needs the items on its wish list or simply wants them, as they entertain the rural vs. urban bias only natural in a state as geographically large as ours, they should remember that often as Albuquerque goes, so goes the state, that crime and homelessness do not get better on their own, and that any investment here can provide foundational building blocks and lessons learned for smaller communities.

Research & Polling President Brian Sanderoff’s summation of his most recent survey is that crime and homelessness clearly loom large. “Year after year, people get more frustrated if they perceive crime as not declining and so the cumulative effect will increase people’s frustration, and that will show up in the polling data,” he says in a Jan. 21 Journal story by Jessica Dyer.

Albuquerque has done its due diligence on anti-crime investments and homelessness remedies. Its police officers need current technology that allows them to access and process the data necessary to fight crime in 2020. Its residents deserve to have a safe place for officers to take those struggling on the streets, a place that doesn’t clog our emergency rooms or jails. And a place that, rather than warehousing people, actually connects them with services that help get them on a better path.

Albuquerque residents have taken the first, big step in funding these initiatives. They just need the state to meet them halfway.