The headlines “City sees highest number of murders in 20 years”, “…gruesome killings were among the 61 reported last year” are very disturbing. (For full story see January 8, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page A-1, https://www.abqjournal.com/923137/city-sees-highest-number-of-murders-in-20-years.html)

As upsetting were the gruesome murders of children we had, a 20 year high in murders for one year is not the full story. Albuquerque has become one of the most violent cities in the Country. In 2015, murders in Albuquerque spiked by 53%. Since 2010, Albuquerque’s violent and property crime rates dramatically increased by 14% to 20% percent. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in 2015 Albuquerque’s violent crime rates increased by 9.2% and property crime rates increased by 11.5%.

APD officers have shot over 41 people with close to $50 million paid in police misconduct cases and excessive use of force cases. The number of APD sworn officers has fallen from 1,100 in 2009 to 850 in 2016. Only 430 sworn officers are assigned to field services responding to 69,000 priority one 911 emergency calls a year.

Albuquerque needs 1,200 sworn police officers to effectively return to community based policing that will reduce crime. Yet all we get from a feckless city administration are excuses. Excuses are what you can expect when you appoint a political operative Chief of Police who has no prior experience managing a municipal police department.

APD is severely understaffed and struggling to implement expansive and expensive Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed to and mandated reforms.The Federal Monitor has found that “APD’s system for overseeing and holding officers accountable for the use of force has failed and the serious deficiencies revealed point to a deeply-rooted systemic problem”. The Federal Monitor has also found that the “deficiencies, in part, indicate a culture of low accountability is at work within APD, particularly in chain-of-command reviews.”

More must be done to aggressively implement the DOJ reforms, solve the staffing shortages and address APD’s leadership crisis.

A PROPOSED SOLUTION

The City Council by ordinance can create a Department of Public Safety with an appointed civilian Police Commissioner. The Police Commissioner would be appointed by the Mayor with advice and consent of the City Council. The Chief of Police would be appointed by the Police Commissioner but serve at the pleasure of the Mayor with advice and consent of the City Council. The Police Commissioner would assume direct civilian oversight, management and control of APD.

A national search for a Police Commissioner and Chief of Police needs to be conducted. A Police Commissioner and Chief with extensive and proven leadership in managing a municipal police department must be hired, not political operatives.

The civilian Police Commissioner would assume primary responsibility for implementation of all the DOJ-mandated reforms and only be removed for cause by the Mayor. The Police Commissioner would completely overhaul and restructure APD, appoint new chiefs, commanders, lieutenants, academy director and a 911 manager and each would report directly to the Chief of Police, with the Police Commissioner in the Chain of Command as the Commissioner determines to be necessary and appropriate to carry out his or her duties.

The civilian Police Commissioner would be responsible for preparing budgets, personnel management and enforcement of personnel policies and procedures and imposing personnel disciplinary action. The Chief of Police would be responsible for day-to-day operations of APD, public safety initiatives and management of sworn staff and report directly to the civilian Police Commissioner.

The Public Safety Department would consist of four civilian staffed divisions and managed by the Police Commissioner:
1. Personnel and training, for recruiting, hiring, internal affairs investigations and police academy;
2. Budget and finance;
3. Information technology support and crime lab; and
4. 911 emergency operations center with a civilian manager.

“Deadly use of force” cases would continue to be investigated by the Critical Incident Review Team and the final reports with finding and recommendations submitted to the Police Commissioner.

The APD Internal Affairs Unit would be abolished. The investigation of police misconduct cases including excessive use of force cases not resulting in death or nor serious bodily harm would be done by “civilian” personnel investigators. The function and responsibility for investigating police misconduct cases and violations of personnel policy and procedures by police would be assumed by the Office of Independent Council in conjunction with the City Human Resources Department and the Office of Internal Audit where necessary. The Office of Independent Council would make findings and recommendations to the Police Commissioner for implementation and imposition of disciplinary action.

The city needs to fund and implement a non-negotiated major hourly rate increase of up to 15% to 20% percent for sworn officers, excluding management, to improve recruitment, retention and morale. Sign on bonuses, tuition debt payoff and mortgage down payment bonuses need to be offered to new recruits. Yearly experienced officer retention bonuses must be made permanent.

APD needs to “triple down” on recruitment and dramatically increase the size and number of police academy classes per year.If necessary, the City Council needs to consider another public safety tax submitted to voters for approval to pay for APD’s staffing expansion, pay incentive programs, needed training programs, DOJ-mandated reforms, equipment acquisitions and 911 emergency operations, staffing and equipment.

CONCLUSION

Until aggressive action is taken with APD and the Department of Justice mandated and agreed to reforms, APD will continue to spin out of control, violent crime will continue to rise and Albuquerque will continue to see dramatic spikes in crime.

It was reported that the Desert Sands Motor Hotel on Central was finally demolish and the property cleared. (For full story see January 6, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, Business Section, “Route 66 remnant reduced to dirt lot”, page B-1)

It is always difficult to see classic Route 66 motels leveled to an empty lot, but it is inevitable when the properties are not maintained, repaired or remodeled over the years or when they are damaged beyond repair.

Classic does not make them historic.

In the case of the Desert Sands Motel, after 3 major fires, it was probably cheaper to tear it down rather than try and repair it because it was structurally unsound.

The Safe City Strike Force was able to work with the Desert Sands property owners to assume the cost of the tear down.

I suspect the final cost of the tear down and debris removal was $100,000 to $150,000 and the damage from the fires exceeded $1 million.

With a little luck, this prime piece of commercial property on Central will be redeveloped.

When it comes to historic Route 66, the Central Avenue motels played an important role in Albuquerque’s history when the automobile was the major source of transportation to travel the country, especially for vacations.

When I was Director of the Safe City Strike Force from 2002 to 2009, we took code enforcement action against 48 of the 150 motels along central and forced compliance with building codes and mandated repairs to the properties to make them habitable.

The Central motels that the Safe City Strike Force took action against include the Gaslight Motel (demolished), The Zia Motel (demolished), The Royal Inn (demolished), Route 66 (demolished), the Hacienda, Cibola Court, Super 8 (renovated by owner) , the Travel Inn (renovated by owner), Nob Hill Motel (renovated by owner), the Premier Motel (renovated by owner) the De Anza (purchased by City for historical significance), the No Name, the Canyon road (demolished), Hill Top Lodge, American Inn (demolished), the El Vado (purchased by City for historical significance), the Interstate Inn (demolished).

The Safe City Strike Force was responsible for the demolition of at least seven (7) blighted motels that were way beyond repair, that were not fit for occupancy and that had excessive calls for service to the Albuquerque Police Department.

Many of the older Central motels the Safe City Strike Force took action against were no longer motels where rooms were rented out for short term stays, but were in fact converted to monthly long term rental units, sometimes for entire families.

Of all the motels the Safe City Strike Force took action against, only two were designated as historic: the El Vado Motel and the De Anza Motel, and the city bought both the motels and redevelopment is still pending.

I believe we need to preserve as much as possible all historical aspects of old Route 66, but trying to preserve blighted motels with no true historic significance that have become magnets for crime accomplishes very little.

To quote Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman “What, me worry?”

It has been reported that the city faces a potential $24 million dollar shortfall in gross receipts tax revenue for the 2017-2018 budget.

It is the biggest budget gap since 2011. (For full story see January 5, 2017 Albuquerque Journal “City faces potential $24 million shortfall”)

Mayor Berry says he is not worried, that it is manageable and the shortfall can be addressed without tax increases. Really?

Republican City Councilor Don Harris, the chairman of the Albuquerque City Council budget committee says the city may have to consider a tax increase.

I have no doubt Berry and City Hall are not at all worried about the shortfall.

City Hall and Berry will simply do what they have done in the past.

There will be more severe budget cuts, personnel cuts, cutting of essential services, layoffs and furloughs in order to avoid a tax increase at all costs, even if it affects essential services and public safety.

Berry is probably elated over the shortfall because this once again gives him an opportunity to reduce the size of city government even further, privatize some essential services and veto any tax increases.

Berry and the city council will never worry about a mere $24 million shortfall, not when they have revenue bonds that do not have to be put to a public vote.

Mayor Berry and the Albuquerque City Council have borrowed over $63 million dollars over the past two years to build pet projects like pickle ball courts, baseball fields and the ART bus project down central by bypassing the voters. (For full story see January 2, 2017 Albuquerque Journal “BYPASSING the Voters” page A-1).

Berry and the Albuquerque City Council so far have used $13 million dollars in revenue bonds to pay for the ART Bus project that was not voted upon by the public.

It has been reported that the $69 million dollar smalls starts grant from the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) has been slashed to $50 million.

Why worry when you can always find the money in Berry’s world of finance.

The Governor is seeking tougher DWI penalties, which means we are in store for another “all crime all the time” legislative session. What a joke!

(For full story see January 4, 2017 Albuquerque Journal article “Gov. seeks tougher penalties for DWI”, page A-1)

The Governor is a former District Attorney and she may have forgotten that you need to make an arrest and secure a conviction before you can impose increased sentences on anyone for breaking the law.

Someone needs to tell the Governor existing DWI laws and penalties are not being enforced and imposed at least in Albuquerque.

According to Metro Court records and statistics, DWI felony and misdemeanor arrests, arraignments and convictions are down dramatically.

In 2008, there were 633 felony DWI arraignments and the number steadily declined each year to 104 in 2015.

In 2008, there were 6,538 DWI/DUI misdemeanor arraignments and the number steadily declined each year to 2,942 in 2015.

In 2008, there were 6,538 people arraigned for misdemeanor DWI and in 2015 that number dropped by close to 60% to 2,942.

There is a direct correlation between the dramatic decline in the number of DWI arrests and arraignments and the severe decline in APD personnel.

The December 11, 2015 Albuquerque Police Department Comprehensive Staffing Assessment and Resource Study prepared by Alexander Weiss for the Department of Justice concluded that APD needs at least 1,000 sworn officers.

The Weiss report concluded that 1,000 sworn police officers were sufficient for Albuquerque provided that APD officers did not respond to certain low priority calls such as minor traffic accidents or false alarm calls.

In 2009, APD had 1,100 police officers with approximately 700 assigned to field services, patrolling our streets over three shifts.

In 2009, APD had a traffic unit and a DWI units that had upwards of 40 patrol officers and today it is at less than 10.

In 2009, APD command staff recommended that Albuquerque needed at least 1,200 sworn officers for community based policing and felony prosecutions.

The number of APD sworn officers has fallen from 1,100 officers to 850 over the past seven years.

These are the type of statistics you get when you have the Governor’s former Secretary of Public Safety Gordon Eden as our APD Chief, who is a political operative and who has no prior experience managing a municipal police department.

The silence by the press and anti-DWI advocates is deafening when it comes to reporting that DWI arrests and convictions have dropped dramatically.

Many people wonder where is the rest of the money coming from to pay for the $120 million dollar ART Bus project that the $69 million federal grant will not be giving to the city.

We now know the answer and it’s sneaky to say the least.

Berry and the Albuquerque City Council so far have used $13 million dollars in revenue bonds to pay for the ART Bus project that was not voted upon by the public.

It was reported that Mayor Berry and the Albuquerque City Council have borrowed over $63 million dollars over the past two years to build pickle ball courts, baseball fields and the ART bus project down central by bypassing the voters.

(For full story see January 2, 2017 Albuquerque Journal “BYPASSING the Voters” page A-1).

The $65 million dollars was borrowed with the Albuquerque City Councilors voting to use revenue bonds as the financing mechanism to pay for big capital projects.

Revenue bonds are repaid with gross receipts tax revenues.

The Mayor and City Council have become enamored with revenue bonds because they can literally pick and choose what projects they want to fund and build without any public input or vote whatsoever, so long as they have seven votes on the city council.

Normally, multi-million dollar capital projects are funded by using general obligation bonds which require voter approval.

What the Mayor and City Council do not like are the complicated requirements associated with general obligation bonds and the fact that they must be voted upon by the public.

General obligation bonds have major safeguards to protect the public with restrictions in place on how the bond funding must be dedicated and used.

General obligation bonds also include public budget hearings while revenue bonds do not.

General obligation bonds usually have shorter payoff period than revenue bonds.

Using revenue bonds for major capital projects that are repaid with gross receipts tax revenue cuts into revenues that should be used for essential services such as police protection, fire protection and government operations and personnel.

Some argue with a straight face that revenue bonds for government capital projects is like taking out a home mortgage that is paid off oveer 30 years.

Government capital improvement projects do no appreciate in value like a residential home and the projects actually depreciate in value and eventually need to be replaced.

Albuquerque has a general fund operating budget of close to $500 million dollars and the overwhelming majority of that funding comes from gross receipt tax revenues.

When there is a shortfall in gross receipt tax revenues, budget cuts and personnel cuts are usually the solution.

The City Council authorized $18 million dollars in revenue bonds this year for financing a variety of their pet projects and the city will be making annual payments for the next 22 years until 2038 which is beyond the useful life of many of the projects being funded.

At a public forum, city officials disclosed that the ART Bus project has only a 19 year projected use life and that the dedicated bus lanes will have to be removed to allow for increases in traffic.

Mayor Berry makes the outrageous claim that he likes the “agility” that revenue bonds provide and that have enable the city to build “game changing projects”.

Berry feels that a $42 million dollar freeway flyover, a $21 million dollar baseball complex, the ART Bus project that is destroying historic Route 66, a $2 million dollar swimming pool, a $2 million dollar library, a $1.5 million dollar “pickle ball” court and a $1.5 visitors center are “game changing projects”.

Short term construction projects are not game changers.

A game changing project would be a “multi billion dollar” investment that would transform the entire city and its image and that creates tens of thousands of jobs such has been done in Denver, El Paso, and Phoenix and Oklahoma City.

The the voting public need to demand that candidates for Mayor disclose their positions on the use of revenue bonds and if they are in favor of public votes on capital improvement projects.

City Councilors Ken Sanchez and Dan Lewis who are said to be running for Mayor have voted to use revenue bonds for their own pet projects in their city council districts.

City Councilors running for reelection like Diane Gibson an Don Harris have also voted for the ART bus project and for the use of revenue bonds to fund capitol improvement projects.

When elected officials fail to show any leadership on an issue despite voter demands for action, voters take matters into their own hands to fill the leadership void.

Supporters of the paid sick leave ballot initiative known as the “Healthy Workforce Act” did just that and gathered enough valid signatures from registered voters to place the initiative on the ballot.

The campaign needed 14,218 registered voter signatures but at least 24,000 signatures were gathered and submitted.

The Bernalillo County Commission refused the Albuquerque City Council’s request to put the sick leave initiative on the 2016 November ballot.

Time has now passed to put the initiative on the February, 2017 Albuquerque Public School Board and Central New Mexico Community College Board ballot.

The Albuquerque City Council will now put the mandatory paid sick leave initiative on the October 3 municipal ballot.

HEALTHY WORKFORCE INITIATIVE

I support the mandatory sick leave initiative and will be voting for it.

The mandatory sick leave ordinance known as the Healthy Workforce Act will require business owners to pay one (1) hour of sick leave for every thirty (30) hours worked.

Part time workers are normally not afforded paid sick leave and will likely be the biggest beneficiary of the ordinance.

Large employers would be required to offer seven sick days per year after working 40 hours a week for a full year.

Workers employed by smaller businesses would earn five sick days per year.

The sick leave ordinance is an extension of increasing the minimum wage initiative passed by Albuquerque voters three years ago and is a step toward a living wage.

The “paid sick leave” initiative will help the workers who have no rights, who are mostly “minimum wage” or low hourly wage workers and who are overwhelmingly “at will” employees in the private sector.

“At will” employees can be terminated without cause or notice by their employers.

The sick leave benefit will help attract and keep dedicated employees.

“At will” employees have little or no employment rights and no real vested rights in their jobs other than those already required by law such as being paid the minimum wage.

Federal and state laws governing working conditions also provide protections to workers and prohibit sexual harassment and retaliation.

ENFORCING MINIMUM WAGE AND HEALTHY WORKFORCE ACT

The sick leave ordinance if enacted by voters along with the minimum wage ordinance need to be enforced by the city because they are city ordinances.

Hourly wage workers should be able to rely on government enforcement.

Every single business in Albuquerque is required to register and have a license to do business and must agree to adhere to all enacted city ordinances and laws.

Businesses cannot pick and choose what laws and city ordinances they want to follow.

The City Attorney’s office and the City Planning Department have the authority to enforce existing ordinances.

The city can demand that businesses that do business with the city and that are licensed by the city pay the minimum wage and sick leave required by the ordinances.

The city can take court action to have business licenses revoked and secure court orders to shut down the businesses for violating the ordinances if necessary to compel compliance.

Under direction or the Mayor, the City Attorney’s Office needs to do the right thing and enforce the existing minimum wage ordinance and the sick leave ordinance if enacted by the voters.

COALITION OF THE USUAL SUSPECTS

A coalition of some 30+ major business organizations has been formed to raise a significant amount of money to oppose the mandatory sick leave initiative, not only in court, but in next year’s municipal election.

The coalition includes as members:

• Apartment Association of New Mexico
• Associated Builders and Contractors
• Associated General Contractors New Mexico
• Albuquerque Economic Forum
• Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce
• American Subcontractors Association of New Mexico
• Commercial Association of Realtors New Mexico
• Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors
• Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce
• Home Builders of Central New Mexico
• National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP)
• New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry
• New Mexico Restaurant Association
• New Mexico Utility Contractors Association.

I doubt if any of the coalition members listed will go bankrupt or be severely harmed financially by the sick leave ordinance, and for that reason, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Republican candidates for Mayor Dan Lewis and Wayne Johnson oppose the increase in the minimum wage and oppose the mandatory sick leave ordinance.

Republican County Commissioner Wayne Johnson was the only County Commissioner to show up to the District Court and deliberately sit at counsel table for all to see him during the hearing where an effort was made to have the the District Court order the county to put the initiative on the November 2016 ballot.

Both Lewis and Johnson no doubt will be seeking support from the coalition members for financial support for their runs for Mayor.

A few of the organizations that oppose the sick leave ordinance have said publically it’s a good idea in concept, many businesses voluntarily provide for paid sick leave, but they feel it will be an accounting nightmare and do not like the “red tape”.

The truth is the coalition members do not like being on the financial hook for increasing wages or benefits they have to pay to their employees and resist government regulations.

Most if not all of the same business organizations oppose increasing the minimum wage, want right to work laws, oppose increasing taxes even for essential services and want more corporate and business tax cuts.

Arguments that are being used to oppose the mandatory sick leave initiative are identical or similar to those made against increasing the minimum wage and include:

1. It will destroy small businesses
2. Businesses can not afford it
3. People will be laid off
4. A small business will have to cut down on hours offered to work
5. Too much accounting to keep track of sick leave
6. Too much government regulation
7. Many businesses already pay sick leave
8. Unskilled workers are paid enough
9. “At will” employees do not want paid sick leave

The arguments made against the sick leave ordinance, as was the case with the minimum wage, have little or no merit.

No credible financial impact studies or compiled data has been offered to substantiate the claims, at least not yet.

CONCLUSION

The proponents of the ordinance and opposing business coalition should have gotten together, along with city leadership, and come up with a solution that was acceptable and workable for all the parties.

That would have been called leadership but that is what is seriously lacking at city hall.

During Albuquerque’s 2017 municipal election, voters need to demand and ask where the candidates for mayor and city council stand on the issue.

Voters need to demand candidates say what they will do if elected on enforcing the ordinances.

Voters will decide what will be done because our elected officials failed to act.