Saturday, July 28, 2012

Albuquerque Municipal Issues


  1. More city councillors is a really dumb idea unless any additional councillors are elected at large.  This way penny ante parochialism by each council district can be weakened.
  2. Electing a city police chief is stupid.  It would be like electing the head of the pentagon.  Where is the civilian control with the ability to fire a bad chief and hire a good one?
  3. Allowing a Walmart at Coors and Montano would be repeating the scenario that is underway at Paseo del Norte and I-25.  All so developers can profit at taxpayer expense.  If Mayor Berry doesn't weigh in against this Walmart then in a few years a future Mayor will have to scramble for money to build flyovers on Coors because the intersection will be in total failure. Once again, Walmart is sucking the taxpayer dry with the help of republican city councillors and a republican Mayor.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Walmart is sucking the taxpayer dry with the help of republican city councillors and a republican Mayor." Jim, with all due respect to you, for the first time since Berry took office you have finally articulated just how partisan Berry really is and he is NOT a nice man. Berry's goal is to get re-elected and run against Senator Udall. No doubt Jay Mc Clusky will run Berry's re-elction as he ran his election before. You, as a former Mayor, need to be more vocal on just how bad Berry really has been for the city you love. Best wishes.

Anonymous said...

I'll tell you what I'm sick of...I'm sick of hearing endless issues on the front page of how bad APD is. From bad cops to bad policing, the current affairs of APD are like a cancer eating at the city. The police are supposed to do what's right regardless of who's watching or not yet Schultz always plays catchup. With the news and rumors flying about (in all circles of power I might add) regarding APD's mishandling of lawyer Mary Han's murder, I'm getting fatigue about how sad the current state of affairs are. Never do we see ANY ownership of the issues facing city hall or APD...it's always some other guy...it's old and these stories are not going away and it seems they're getting worse. And our city is not the better for it.

Anonymous said...

I lived in Albuquerque six years ago, and Coors was horribly congested then. It must be even worse today. I agree, the intersection of Coors and Montano doesn't sound like a good place for Wallmart, especially when there are others nearby. I favor low density cities and spreading things out, with wide streets and lots of parks and open space, with bike lanes and bike trails.

How about building a park where this new Wallmart is proposed? And, how about expanding the metro area - along with all new big box stores - to the southwest, along I-40? Then, a major interstate, I-40, takes all of the traffic to the big box stores, instead of the very congested Coors and Montano.

Also, why not build more Costcos instead of Wallmarts? They have better quality produce, meat, and better benefits for their employees.

Finally, Rio Rancho needs more big box stores, not Albuquerque. Now that their impact fees on commercial projects have been totally eliminated, then how about two new wallmarts, and two new costcos, to serve future population growth? And, how about a Costco in Santa Fe?

Certainly, Albuquerque is way too dense, with cookie cutter homes on the westside. Its boundaries should expand, to allow for less traffic congestion and less air pollution, making it easier for pedestrian and cyclists. Low density cities, such as Reno, have half the traffic of Albquerque, even during commute hours. -Tom Lane