As the saying goes “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
On January 16, 2018, the Albuquerque Journal publish a photo of Mayor Tim Keller standing alongside Joanie Griffin serving food to the homeless in the serving line.
(See January 16, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page A-8, METRO & NM section”)
The caption read “Making hope work … Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Joanie Griffin help members of Sauce Pizza & Wine team as they serve meals at St. Martin’s Hope Works day shelter Friday”
Serving meals to the homeless is fantastic and Mayor Keller needs to be commended for it and I do not question his sincerity given what he said about the homeless on the campaign trail.
What was not reported is that Joanie Griffin is the owner of Griiffin & Associates the advertising firm that was on contract to promote the ART Bus project and to interact with affected Central businesses owners and the general contractors Bradbury and Stamm.
Ms. Griffin was seen attending many of the public hearings sponsored by the City and the projects contractor Bradbury and Stamm and no doubt heard the complaints and concerns voiced by the general public at those meetings and during the city presentations.
Joanie Griffin, Griffin & Associates, made a cash “inkind” donation of $1,000 to the publicly financed “Tim Keller for Mayor Campaign” committee as reported in campaign finance reports filed with the City Clerk.
(See September 11, 2017 blog article “Show Me The Money, Chapter 3″ at PeteDinelli.com.)
Joanie Griffin, Griffin Associates, made another $1,000 cash contribution to “ABQ Forward” the measured finance committee specifically organized to raise and spend money to elect Tim Keller Mayor as reported in campaign finance reports filed with the City Clerk.
(See September 25, 2017 blog article “Show Me the Money, Chapter 4″ at PeteDinelli.com.)
The Berry Administration served up a lot of lies about the ART bus project to the public, including that ART was a world class project.
You must wonder what Griffin has served Keller about the ART bus project.
What is problematic is if Keller has bought into any of the promotional arguments about ART.
I have no doubt Mayor Keller can make his own judgments, but any association with the bus project’s past promotion would be a major mistake.
Mayor Keller may want to spend time with some of the 250 business owners about their interactions with Griffin & Associates.
In particular, Mayor Keller needs to know what promises were made to all the Central business owners and the neighborhoods affected and what they were told about the loans and other impacts of ART on the businesses and the community.
The City needs a total fresh start with the ART bus project if it’s going to work and be salvaged.
Mayor Tim Keller’s press conference outlining the problems with ART was a good first step acknowledging the mistakes of the past and moving forward.
Other good steps are that Mayor Keller replaced the Director of Transit and the Chief Operations Officer who were the main point men and promoters of the project for Berry.
Only time will tell if Mayor Keller will be able to fix all the problems with the project and secure the promised $69 million from the Federal Transportation Administration.
For a listing of all the lies regarding ART see my blog article “The Lemons and Lies of Berry’s Art” at