On June 14, it was reported that the Albuquerque Police Department was called out to Coronado Park investigate a shooting that left a man dead. The Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) was contacted around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday morning about a man who was “down and out” at Coronado Park. Police say AFR went to check on the man and discovered he had suffered from a gunshot wound.

Lt. Ray Del Greco of the Albuquerque Police Department said officers responded to a shooting at Coronado Park at Third and Interstate 40 around 2:30 a.m. He said a man who lived in the park, which has become a campsite for the homeless, had walked up to a nearby fire station to report a man had been shot.

City Officials says the man was declared dead on scene. APD said a full violent crimes callout has been initiated and APD homicide detectives went to the park investigate the incident.

Links to news sources:

https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/apd-man-dead-after-coronado-park-shooting/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR1oETVJuIwdpb0pfMVxFbAH2gWY26NRPdXbcOrhCtByZEMwXbVSUerBhAE

https://www.abqjournal.com/2508302/man-fatally-shot-at-abq-park.html

MAYOR TIM KELLER’S REACTION

During an unrelated news conference on the city’s expansion of its speed camera system, Mayor Keller was asked about the latest killing at Coronado Park and why something is not being done about it being used as a homeless encampment. Mayor Keller had this to say:

“[The federal courts] will not allow us to just walk in and arrest someone because they’re homeless and the current situation beats the alternative. … It is not lost on me that we created Coronado Park because Wells Park said, ‘We don’t want these folks in our neighborhood,’ and we agree with them. And that’s why they were all grouped to one area. … So you also got to remember the alternative. You can’t have it both ways — you want to close Coronado Park, you are going to open all of Wells Park neighborhood to something none of us want to see.”

Link to quoted news source:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2508302/man-fatally-shot-at-abq-park.html

CORONADO PARK

Coronado Park, located at third and Interstate 40, is considered by many as the epicenter of Albuquerque’s homeless crisis. Over the last 10 years, Coronado Park has essentially become the “de facto” city sanctioned homeless encampment with the city repeatedly cleaning it up only for the homeless to return the next day. Residents and businesses located near the park have complained to the city repeatedly about the city’s unwritten policy to allow the park to be used as an encampment and its use as a drop off by law enforcement for those who are transported from the westside jail.

At any given time, Coronado Park will have 70 to 80 tents crammed into the park with homeless wondering the area. It comes with and extensive history lawlessness including drug use, violence, murder, rape and mental health issues. In 2020, there were 3 homicides at Coronado Park. In 2019, a disabled woman was raped, and in 2018 there was a murder.

Police 911 logs reveal a variety of other issues. In February 2019, police investigated a stabbing after a fight broke out at the park. One month before the stabbing, police responded to a call after a woman said she was suicidal, telling police on lapel camera video that she had previously made attempts to overdose on meth.

The link to the news source is here:

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/police-records-depict-pattern-of-problems-violence-at-coronado-park/5891961/

City officials have said Coronado Park is the subject of daily responses from the encampment team because of the number of tent’s set up there. They say the encampment team, along with Parks and Recreation Department , and Solid Waste go out every morning, during the week, to give campers notice and clean up the park. They also work on getting them connected to resources and services they may need.

https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/the-process-behind-removing-homeless-camps-from-public-places/

HIGH COST OF CLEAN UP

The debate on how to address Albuquerque’s homelessness crisis was raised during the recently concluded 2023 city budget process. Questions were asked by city councilors about the cost of the city’s efforts to help the homeless. Questions were also asked about clean up costs.

When it comes to Coronado park, the city every other Wednesday dispatches a crew to temporarily clear it of people and clean out the debris. The team involves several departments, including Police, Family and Community Services, Solid Waste, and Parks and Recreation.

During one council budget hearing, Democrat City Councilor Klarissa Peña asked the Keller administration officials how much it spends on the biweekly cleanup at Coronado Park. The answer came as shock.

City budget officials said it is costing the city $27,154 ever two weeks or $54,308 a month to clean up the park only to allow the homeless encampment to return.

Acting Chief Administrative Officer Lawrence Rael cautioned that the amount includes staff time built into the city budget for homeless outreach that occurs throughout the city. Rael had this to say:

“There is no question that monitoring a park of that size with that many folks does cost some dollars to make sure we keep it clean. … I want [to point out] a portion of that $27,000 is already day-to-day operating costs we assume anyway.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/2501616/lewis-moves-to-correct-planned-parenthood-vote.html

STATE LAW AND CITY ORDINANCE DEFINING A PUBLIC NUISANCE

Both New Mexico state law and city ordinance define a public nuisance.

Under state law, a public nuisance is define as follows:

30-8-1 Public Nuisance (Defined)

Whoever commits a public nuisance for which the act or penalty is not otherwise prescribed by law is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.

Under City ordinance, a public nuisance is defined in terms of use of property as follows:

11-1-1-10 PUBLIC NUISANCES PROHIBITED

“(A) It shall be unlawful for any owner, manager, tenant, lessee, occupant, or other person having any legal or equitable interest or right of possession in real property …or other personal property to intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently commit, conduct , promote, facilitate, permit, fail to prevent, or otherwise let happen, any public nuisance in, on or using any property in which they hold any legal or equitable interest or right of possession.

(B) … .”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

It was an astonishing admission of failure when Mayor Tim Keller said this about Coronado Park:

“[The federal courts] will not allow us to just walk in and arrest someone because they’re homeless and the current situation beats the alternative. … It is not lost on me that we created Coronado Park because Wells Park said, ‘We don’t want these folks in our neighborhood,’ and we agree with them. And that’s why they were all grouped to one area. … So you also got to remember the alternative. You can’t have it both ways — you want to close Coronado Park, you are going to open all of Wells Park neighborhood to something none of us want to see.”

Grouping the homeless, as Keller says, in a city park should not be an alternative given all the resources the city is spending to help the homeless. This so called “grouping” coming from a Mayor who for his entire first term made dealing with the homeless crisis a corner stone of his administration. A Mayor whose administration spent $40 million in 2022 and will spend $60 million in 2023 to provide assistance to the homeless. A Mayor who saw to it that the City purchased the 529,000 square-foot Lovelace Hospital facility on Gibson for $15 million to have it converted into a Gateway Shelter and who made the westside shelter a 24-7 facility.

No, Mayor Keller, the current situation does not beat the alternative. It was disingenuous for Keller to say “[The federal courts] will not allow us to just walk in and arrest someone because they’re homeless and the current situation beats the alternative. … .“ The current situation does not beat the alternative of having a zero tolerance of allowing illegal encampments and allowing the homeless to squat all over the city and enforcing the law.

Keller knows damn well that being homeless is not a crime. His attempt to blame the federal courts was pathetic if not downright misleading. Being homeless is not a crime, but that does not mean the homeless are allowed to violate the law. The are no state or federal laws nor court rulings that say if you are homeless, you are given immunity to break the law and you cannot be arrested for violating the law.

It is a dereliction of his duty for Mayor Keller to allow APD to ignore the city’s anti-camping ordinances, vagrancy laws, civil nuisance abatement laws and criminal laws, and for him to pretend those laws do not exist to accommodate the homeless.

CORANDO PARK KELLER’S SYMBOL OF FAILURE

With the June 14 homicide, there have now been 4 homicides at Coronado Park since 2020. How many more killings, rapes, aggravated assaults and how many more crimes have to be committed at Corondao Park before the Mayor Keller and the City realize the mistake made to allow the park to become overrun with the homeless and allow them to camp illegally?

The city has allowed a once beautiful and pristine park dedicated to public use to become a festering blight on the community. Simply put, it has become an embarrassment with the city violating its own ordinances and nuisance laws by allowing overnight camping and criminal conduct in the park thus creating a public nuisance both under state law and city ordinance. Coronado Park has now become a symbol of Keller’s failure as Mayor to deal with the homeless crisis.

Mayor Tim Keller could use the inherent authority of his office and issue executive orders to clean up and remove unlawful encampments and permanently close Coronado Park. After a full term in office, Keller is reluctant to do just that out of fear of being accused of being insensitive to the plight of the homeless. What Keller has now shown is that he has been a failure dealing with the homeless crisis and he is being insensitive to the needs of the general public and to public safety.

CORONDO PARK IS A PUBLIC NUISANCE

It is clear from the plain meaning of the state statute and the city ordinance defining a public nuisance that Coronado Park operated as a unlawful encampment is “injurious to public health, safety and welfare … and interferes with the exercise and enjoyment of public rights, including the right to use public property. The city is violating its own public nuisance law when it comes to Corondo Park by “intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently commit, conduct, promote, facilitate, permit, fail to prevent, or otherwise let happen, any public nuisance in, on or using any property in which they hold any legal or equitable interest or right of possession. ”

Now that Mayor Keller has ignored and condoned a festering problem that is known as Coronado Park for 4 years affecting a public facility, the City Council needs to fill the leadership gap. The city council needs to enact forthwith a resolution calling for the immediate and permanent closure of Coronado Park, order its cleanup and “decommission” the open space as a public park and order the fencing off of the park. The city council resolution needs to order the Parks and Recreation Department to conduct a study as to how the open space can be better utilized within the city’s park system.

On June 13, KRQE News 13 published the following news report:

“Some downtown Albuquerque residents are asking the city for help after a group of homeless people moved in and set up an encampment right next to their homes off 7th Street near Lomas Blvd. Neighbors say their problem began two weeks ago when one homeless person moved into a residential alleyway between Marble Avenue and Granite Avenue.

According to Montoya, he’s been told residents are responsible for keeping the alleyway clear, but as their newfound problem grows… Montoya says they need help.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The alleyways described were originally intended to be used by the city for garbage pick up, emergency access and to afford rear access to property and is private property which is why property owners have the responsibility for cleanup and maintenance of the alleyways. “No Trespassing Signs” and “No Camping Signs” need to be posted in the alleyways.

Hoping to address the problem, Montoya and other neighbors say they’ve reached out to the city, but to no avail. “I called 911 and everybody else has been calling 311, 242 cops and nothing has happened,” said Montoya. Montoya says at one point he even tried taking matters into his own hands by confronting one of the men living in the alleyway. “When any neighbor confronts them about getting out of the alley they threaten you. A guy brandished a knife when I asked him to leave the premises,” said Montoya.

Montoya says he’s also seen people living in the encampment dealing drugs, he says he hopes the city will clear out and block off the area to prevent any future encampments from popping up. KRQE News 13 has reached out to the city for comment. APD says in situations like these, unless the people are trespassing all they can do is ask them to leave.

The link to the KRQE news story is here:

Homeless camp pops up in downtown Albuquerque neighborhood (krqe.com)

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/downtown-residents-fed-up-as-homeless-camp-appears-in-neighborhood/

CITY PROCESS IN PLACE TOP DEAL WITH HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS

There are multiple steps the city follows when there are no law enforcement sweep actions or tactical plans to deal with homeless encampments. When an encampment is reported and a complaint is filed, the Family and Community Services Department and Albuquerque Community Safety Department sends outreach providers to speak to the people to see what services they might want and what services can be offered.

After the assessment, written “notices to vacate” are issued and the homeless are given a full 72 hours to clear the area of their personal property and belongings. The 72 hour notice is an arbitrary and made up policy by the city. The camps are then cleared by the city, but it does not always stay that way. Neighbors, and area property owners and the homeless population are stuck in a vicious cycle of filing 311 reports and calling APD and filing complaints and getting camps cleared out, then the homeless campers simply move back in.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-official-answers-questions-on-homeless-encampments-in-albuquerque/6317454/

The city has one “encampment team” made up of seven people. Their job is to respond to reported encampments set up on public property, and give the people living there the written “notices to vacate.” Once their time is up, the encampment team checks in to make sure the people have in fact moved. Once the encampment has been vacated, the city cleans up whatever is left behind at the camp which includes many times trash and needles for elicit drug use.

https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/the-process-behind-removing-homeless-camps-from-public-places/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

This news story is so very wrong on so many levels. It reveals just how feckless the Keller Administration has become when dealing with the city’s homeless crisis. It is also a disturbing element revealing APD’s unwillingness to protect the public. When APD says in situations as described in the news story, unless the people are trespassing, all they can do is ask them to leave is false and it reveals APD’s unwillingness to do its part in enforcing the existing laws. When a person brandishes a knife as was described, that constitutes a 4th degree felony. When people living in the encampment are seen dealing drugs in the encampments, it become a law enforcement issue.

Unlawful encampments anywhere in the city demand immediate orders to vacate to protect the general public. The city’s policy to deal with homeless encampments is to give 72 hour “Notice to Vacate.” The city’s 72 hour “Notice To Vacate” Policy is a made up and subjective policy. Such 72 Hour Notices to Vacate are not required under any city ordinance nor state law with any person who is not a lawful tenant.

Ostensibly, the 72 hour “Notice to Vacate” has some origins under the New Mexico Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act which outlines the rights, duties and responsibilities of both landlords and tenants. A link to read the act is here: https://www.aanm.org/new-mexico-uniform-owner-resident-relations-act
Squatters do not pay rent and have no property rights.

The Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act does have notice to terminate and vacate provisions and a 72 hour nonpayment of rent provision but unlawful squatters have no leases or rental rights under the Act. Giving unlawful squatters 72 hours to vacate an unlawful encampment is giving squatters the right to violate the law for a 72-hour period which is absolutely insane. The 72 hour “Notice to Vacate” is unacceptable and should be suspended immediately.

The city claims the only time it can immediately clear out a camp is if it is putting the campers or community members in danger. That is simply not true. The city can rely on its nuisance abatement laws and declare encampments a public nuisance. Civil enforcement and code actions can also be taken.

Keller can use the inherent authority of his office and issue executive orders to clean up and remove unlawful encampments. Ostensibly Keller is reluctant to do just that out of fear of being accused of being insensitive to the plight of the homeless as his administration spent $40 million in 2022 and will spend $60 million in 2023 to provide assistance to the homeless. What Keller now risks is being insensitive to the needs of the general public and to public safety.

Being homeless is not a crime, but that does not mean they should be allowed to violate the law. APD must not ignore enforcing the city’s anti-camping ordinances, vagrancy laws, civil nuisance abatement laws and criminal laws, nor pretend they do not exist to accommodate the homeless.

If Mayor Keller and for that matter Chief Harold Medina do not want law enforcement involved with enforcing the laws when it comes to the homeless, then that responsibility should be assumed 100% by the Albuquerque Community Safety Department, which should issue immediate orders to vacate to any person who is unlawfully camping. Any refusals to immediately vacate should be met with swift law enforcement action and arrests by APD if necessary.

The city does offer options. The city has the West Side 24-7 homeless shelter that can be offered where the homeless can be taken to and camp. Another option is the new Gibson Gateway Center. The city also has on contract up to 10 service providers that need to do more.

Unlawful encampment homeless squatters who have no interest in any offers of shelter, beds, motel vouchers from the city or alternatives to living on the street and want to camp at city parks or in alleys and streets really give the city no choice but to make it totally inconvenient for them to “squat” and force them to move on or be arrested by APD.

On June 10 and June 13, the United State House Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol held its two first hearings reporting its finding. Each hearing last 4 hours and was televised by the major stations and CNN. The hearings began with opening statements for the committee’s chair Democrat Bennie Thompson and Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheny followed by the live testimony from witnesses accompanied by video from those who testified by deposition.

FIRST DAY HEARING HIGHLIGHTS

On June 10, the national news agency NPR filed a report on line written by Domenico Montanaro who reported that the following news facts and information were revealed:

** Not previously publicly seen video footage from police body cameras, Capitol hallway and office footage, as well as police radio communication;

** Proud Boys and Oath Keepers on camera saying they went to the Capitol that day because they believed that’s what Trump wanted done, they felt he’d asked them to do it, and that after Trump’s “stand back and standby” remark in a debate, membership in the Proud Boys tripled.

The link to the entire and unedited NPR news report is here:

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/10/1104103404/new-revelations-and-other-takeaways-from-first-jan-6-committee-hearing

SECOND DAY HEARING HIGHLIGHTS

CNN telecasted live the entire June 13 House committee hearing investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. During this hearing it was revealed how those around then-President Donald Trump told him he lost the 2020 election but he refused to listen, turning instead to his attorney Rudy Giuliani to embrace false claims that the election was stolen.

CNN filed the following summary on line entitled 7 takeaways from Monday’s January 6 hearing, written by CNN staff reporters Zachary Cohen, Jeremy Herb and Marshall Cohen:

“The hearing was one witness short from what was planned, but the panel heard testimony from a former Fox News digital politics editor, a conservative lawyer, a US attorney and a Republican election official who all said it was clear President Joe Biden won the election and Trump’s claims of fraud were nonsense.

Here are the key takeaways from the panel’s second hearing this month about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the violence in the Capitol on January 6.”

STEPIEN SURPRISE SETS OFF A SCRAMBLE; COMMITTEE QUICKLY ADAPTS

The committee surprised many observers Sunday when it announced that Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien would be testifying in-person at Monday’s hearing. But Stepien had a surprise of his own on Monday morning, when he found out that his wife went into labor, so he pulled out of the hearing. This whirlwind of events forced the committee to scramble [and rely on recorded portions of Stepien’s deposition.]

In some ways, the outcome gave the Democratic-run committee more power to control what the public heard from Stepien. He wasn’t in the room to say his piece, which could have included some defenses of Trump and some pushback against the committee. Instead, the panel could pick and choose which deposition clips it played, and they focused like a laser on the most damaging material for Trump.

LENGTHY DEPOSITIONS TAKE PLACE OF WITNESS TESTIMONY

“Stepien’s testimony wasn’t the committee’s only use of depositions on Monday. The panel played lengthy portions of former Attorney General William Barr’s deposition with the committee, where he described in detail why Trump’s fraud claims were “bogus” and why he has seen nothing since to convince him there was fraud.

It’s not for a lack of trying to find fraud. Barr had issued a controversial memo weeks earlier that allows prosecutors to look at election crime claims even before certification of the vote. Barr’s move had prompted a top public integrity official at the Justice Department to resign. Barr looked for fraud and didn’t find it.”

BARR BECOMES DEBUNKER-IN-CHIEF

“Democrats reviled Barr when he was in office — accusing him of wielding the powers of the Justice Department to do Trump’s bidding, undermining the Russia investigation, and pushing right-wing conspiracy theories. But over the last two weeks, Barr has become a new hero of sorts for liberals, for aggressively debunking and condemning Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.

To be clear, Barr is still a hardline conservative. Just a few weeks ago, he made several false claims in a Fox News interview about the Trump-Russia investigation, and backed up Trump’s baseless assertions that the entire probe was a fabricated “hoax” perpetrated by Democratic operatives and the FBI.”

COMMITTEE ARGUES TRUMP PEDDLED FRAUD CLAIMS IN BAD FAITH AFTER HE WAS PERSONALLY TOLD WERE NOT LEGITIMATE

“One of the primary areas of focus of Monday’s hearing was to underscore the idea that Trump and some of his allies continued to peddle false claims of election fraud after they were personally told those claims were not legitimate.

At the same time, Trump’s allies were pushing the Justice Department to take Trump’s false stolen election claims to the Supreme Court in an effort to prevent the outcome from several key swing states from being counted. The brief sent to Rosen and other top DOJ officials by Trump’s personal assistant at the White House cited the same report on Michigan voting machine irregularities Barr had told Trump was “amateurish” and failed to include any supporting information.

COMMITTEE FOCUSES ON ‘TEAM NORMAL’ VS RUDY STANDOFF

The committee focused on testimony Monday that distinguished between two groups advising Trump in the days after the election: “Team Normal” and those who were with Rudy Giuliani pushing baseless claims of voter fraud.

The committee even took a dig at Giuliani and his state of mind on Election Night, playing video from Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller’s deposition where he said that Giuliani “had too much to drink.”
“I mean, the mayor was definitely intoxicated,” Miller said. “But I did not know his level of toxic intoxication when he spoke with the President, for example.”

COMMITTEE REVEALS DETAILS OF INVESTIGATION INTO CAMPAIGN’S FINANCES

“One of the key details the January 6 committee revealed during Monday’s hearing was how Trump’s lies about the election turned into millions of dollars in fundraising for Trump’s campaign and the political action committee he created after the election.

Still, the committee didn’t show a ton of detail about what financial documents it had obtained, and more could be unveiled in the hearings to come.”

COMMITTEE CONNECTS FRAUD TO THE VIOLENCE

“After a two-hour hearing focused on debunking Trump’s lies about the election, the committee ended its second hearing by returning to the violence that occurred at the Capitol on January 6.

The return to the violence at the Capitol is a theme that’s likely to continue through the opening series of hearings detailing how Trump tried to overturn his election loss in the lead-up to January 6, including hearings planned for this week about Trump’s pressure campaign against the Justice Department and his Vice President Mike Pence.”

The link to the entire quoted CNN report is here:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/13/politics/jan-6-hearing-takeaways-monday/index.html

On May 13, legislative economist told the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee that state revenue collections for the current budget year are up by more than $440 million than was projected in December, 2021

According to legislative economist, the surplus continues to be the ongoing surge in oil production in the Permian and an increase in statewide wages and employment levels that have resulted in a significant boost in personal income tax revenues. Gross receipts tax collections are up by $248 million projected 4 months ago in large part because of inflation and the rising cost of goods and services.

The overall state revenue windfall the state has been experiencing for almost the past 2 years has allowed the legislature to increase state spending to $8.5 billion or upwards of 14% for the 2022-2023 budget year that starts on July 1 and ends on June 30, 2023. Under the 2022-2023 enacted budget, teachers and state employees were given salary increases and taxpayers will be getting rebates of up to $1,000 per family.

A breakdown of which revenue sources are up and provided by the state economists to the Legislative Finance Committee for the current fiscal year that ends June 30 is as follows:

• Gross receipts tax – $248.4 million up
• Personal income tax – $243.7 million up
• Mineral production taxes – $20.5 million up
• Corporate income tax – $43.8 million up

In addition to New Mexico’s increase revenues, the state will be receiving more than $26 billion in federal pandemic relief funds.

INVESTMENT INCOME DOWN

The LFC was also told that the states Investment income is down by $111.2 million. The reason given for the decline is that rising interest rates have caused investments managed by the State Treasurer’s Office to decline in value.

WHAT TO SPEND IT ON

The large cash infusion to the state no doubt will allow for more spending in areas considered critical, such as education. Legislative Finance Committee Director David Abbey said lawmakers need to consider setting aside much of the new money in endowment funds for college scholarships or other purposes. Abby told the LFC the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program, which covers all tuition and fees for qualifying New Mexico students, should be considered.

The Opportunity Scholarship program received $75 million in total funding during the 2022 legislative session which ended in February. The scholarship program could eventually end up costing more than $100 million per year to maintain, according to legislative data.

REACTION BY LEGISLATORS

Upon hearing of the new projected revenue increase, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe had this to say:

“It feels like we’re in a position where we really have an opportunity to make significant investments right now. … This is an opportunity that in the 18 years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen before.”

LFC members expressed concern over New Mexico’s ongoing reliance on the oil and gas industries as a revenue source. The oil, gas and mineral extractive industries make up about 38% of state revenue during the 2021 budget year. The reality is that as revenues decline from oil and gas production, the budget still grows and there would be a need for budget cuts unless the revenues are replaced with a new revenue source.

Republican members of the LFC said during Friday’s meeting that the interim Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Committee needs to take a cautious approach to spending budget surpluses given the uncertainty over future oil and gas production.

While some Democratic lawmakers have raised concern over the extractive industry’s role in climate change, Sen. Bill Burt, R-Alamogordo, said additional state regulations on oil and gas operations could “choke” production and hurt state revenue levels.

Currently, much of the state’s revenue windfall is flowing into an early childhood trust fund established in 2020. That’s because lawmakers set up the fund to benefit from robust tax collections on oil and natural gas production.

However, the fund’s explosive growth – it’s projected to balloon to more than $4 billion by 2025 – has prompted lawmakers to consider legislation that would make it easier to use the fund for other child-related programs.

At least some of the state’s revenue windfall might have to be put to use replacing federal funds and covering obligations that include increased taxpayer contributions into the state’s teacher retirement fund.

In all, those recurring budget needs could total $266.3 million for the fiscal year that starts in July 2023, according to legislative data.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2498844/nm-on-track-for-big-budget-surplus-as-costs-wages-increase.html

TAX STABILIZATION FUND AND THE EARLY CHILDHOOD TRUST FUND

Two separate funds were created by the New Mexico Legislature to ensure that there is adequate funding to continue to provide essential services and deal with bad economic times such as when the pandemic hit and at the same time state revenues plummeted as a result of the oil boom bust.

The two funds are the Tax Stabilization Fund and the Early Childhood Trust Fund.

The Tax Stabilization Reserve Fund is referred to as the “rainy day fund”. It was created by the legislature in 2017. The revenues for the fund come from royalties or tax collections on the oil and natural gas industries that exceed a five-year rolling average.

The Early Childhood Trust Fund was created by the legislature in 2020 at the insistence of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. The funds revenue source is the same revenue source when total state cash reserves amount to 25% or more of the state’s approved spending level. Funds also come from mineral leasing payments on federal land. The trust fund makes annual distributions to help fund early childhood programs statewide, a major priority of the Lujan Grisham Administration.

According to the Legislative Finance Committee, both funds are projected to spike considerably over the next 2 fiscal years with the following projections made:

TAX STABILIZATION RESERVE

Fiscal year 2021: $1.8 Billion Fiscal Year 2022: $2.2 Billion Fiscal year 2023: $2.3 Billion

EARLY CHILDHOOD TRUST FUND

Fiscal year 2021: $334.7 Million Fiscal Year 2022: $505.4 Million Fiscal year 2023: $283.6
Note that based on revenue estimates released a total of $1.8 billion is projected to be in the Tax Stabilization Reserve fund at the end of the current fiscal year that started on July 1, 2021 and ends June 30, 2022, or more than half the state’s estimated $3.1 billion in total reserves. Also not that upwards of $1.1 billion is projected to be transferred into the Early Childhood Trust Fund over a three-year period ending in June 2023.

In August, according to the Legislative Finance Committee over the last decade New Mexico’s revenue levels have gone up and down from as low as $5.7 Billion in 2013 to now a projected $8.8 Billion in 2023 and fluctuated widely from year to year. The reported breakdown by fiscal years is as follows:

2013 – $5.7 billion
2014 – $6 billion
2015 – $6.2 billion
2016 – $5.7 billion
2017 – $5.7 billion
2018 – $6.8 billion
2019 – $8 billion
2020 – $7.8 billion
2021 – $8 billion (estimated level)
2022– $8.1 billion (estimated level)
2023 – $8.8 billion (estimated level)

The links to quoted source material are here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2423653/nm-revenue-levels-projected-to-soar-to-all-time-high.html

https://www.kunm.org/2021-12-03/fri-new-mexico-approves-public-financing-for-cannabis-businesses-details-of-teacher-raise-proposal-emerge-more

https://news.yahoo.com/windfall-oil-gas-revenue-boosts-165556190.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The biggest area for certain that will likely get significant attention and more attention in the January, 2023 legislative session is that of the Public Education System. Least anyone forget, it was in July, 2018, that Santa Fe District Court Judge Sarah Singleton ruled in the a the land marker education case of Yazzie v. Martinez case that the state of New Mexico violated the constitutional rights of at-risk students by failing to provide them with a sufficient education.

The Court ruling centered on the guaranteed right under the New Mexico Constitution to a sufficient education for all children. The lawsuit alleged a severe lack of state funding, resources and services to help students, particularly children from low-income families, students of color, including Native Americans, English-language learners and students with disabilities.

New Mexico has been struggling for decades to diversify its economy, wean itself off of federal government spending and reducing its heavy reliance on the oil and gas industry where the state gets nearly 40% of its revenue from. When the oil and gas industry booms, New Mexico becomes flush with money and when it busts, the state revenues plummet causing financial crisis.

With $3.7 billion In Federal Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act Funding, the allocation of $478 million in federal pandemic aid out of $1.1 Billion in pandemic relief and the $1.6 billion of projected windfall from oil an gas revenues, the state’ s decades long financial woes may finally be coming to an end, but the state is still too reliant on oil and gas revenues.

The next 4 years of government expenditure of billions may prove to be a once in a lifetime opportunity not only to address the state’s failing education system but to diversify the state’s economy.

On June 6, the Albuquerque City Council enacted a series of amendments updating the Integrated Development Ordinance. The legislation passed on a 5 to 4. One of the amendments was the “Safe Outdoor “Spaces”.

“Safe outdoor spaces” will permit homeless encampments with 40 designated spaces for tents, allow upwards of 50 people, require hand washing stations, toilets and showers, require a management plan, 6 foot fencing and social services offered. The Integrated Development Ordinance amendment sets a limit of two in each of the city’s 9 council districts. The cap would not apply to those hosted by religious institutions.

Some councilors’ vehemently voiced opposition to “safe outdoor spaces” to the point that the city council voted down the entire update of the Integrated Development Ordiance (IDO). The bill contained well over 100 amendments containing many zoning code changes. The update of the IDO initially failed on a 4-5 vote during Monday’s meeting.

Republican Councilor Trudy Jones, who had voted against the update, subsequently asked to reconsider the legislation. She changed her vote on the second vote, giving the bill a narrow victory.

Republican Jones joined Republican Brook Bassan and Democrats Isaac Benton, Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn to pass the legislation.

Republicans Renee Grout and Dan Lewis and Democrats Klarissa Peña and Louie Sanchez voted against it.

After the vote to allow “Safe Outdoor Spaces“, the council voted to defer to the June 22 meeting the enacted amendment on the “living lots” to the Keller administration to draft procedures for safe outdoor spaces. Mayor Tim Keller’s office will now start looking at locations and come up with the details of what resources would be available.

BENTON DOWNPLAYS HIS HEAVY-HANDED APPROACH

On June 8, it was reported that City Council President Isaac Benton said the safe outdoor spaces debate had overtaken the larger discussion of the Integrated Development Ordinance. Benton went so far as to argued that the “angst” may be much ado about nothing. Benton said he does not believe such camp sites will proliferate the city because he knows of only one organization , “a small religious congregation” within his Downtown-based district that has expressed interest in attempting one.

Benton claims that he supports the sanctioned camps on a temporary basis, he noted they may only have a “small niche of viability and helpfulness.” Benton told the Albquerque Journal:

“I really think we’re arguing over one little aspect that has sort of commandeered this code. Really qualified [homeless services] providers don’t even like this idea. … I like it as a possible test, and that’s the only place I was coming from with it.”

The link to quoted news source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2506358/council-votes-to-allow-safe-outdoor-spaces.html

COMMENTARY

Simply put, there will be nothing temporary about “city sanctioned” encampments as Democrat City Council President Isaac Benton suggests. Benton also shows a degree of real ignorance on land use zoning and planning law.

A map prepared by the city detailing where “living lots” and “safe outdoor space” zoning would be allowed for encampments revealed numerous areas in each of the 9 City Council districts that are in walking distance to many residential areas. Upwards of 15% of the city would allow for “safe outdoor spaces as a “permissive use” or “conditional use”.

Under the law, once such permissive uses are granted, they become vested rights and cannot be rescinded by the city council. Also, there is no requirement of land ownership, meaning someone could seek a special use for a safe outdoor space and then turn around and lease their undeveloped open space property to who ever can afford to pay.

The map reveals a large concentration of eligible open space area that lies between San Pedro and the railroad tracks, north of Menaul to the city’s northern boundary. The map does not account for religious institutions that may want to use their properties for living lots or safe outdoor spaces.

The link to the map prepared by the City entitled “Map 1 Council Districts Selected IDO Zoning” is here:

https://documents.cabq.gov/planning/IDO/2021_IDO_AnnualUpdate/Council/Map1_SafeOutdoorSpaces-A12-Option3.pdf

Benton did a real disservice to the overall interest of the city when he downplays what happened with the enactment of the safe outdoor spaces amendment and his heavy handed exercise of authority. As City Council President, Democrat Isaac Benton has the reputation of brow beating constituents and city officials during city council meeting or in private. When Benton does not like what you say, he brushes you off or cuts you off or simply ignores you.

Instead of calling a special meeting of the city council to discuss the 100 plus amendments to the Integrated Development Ordinance, Benton as council president intentionally scheduled the amendments at the end of the June 6 regular meeting and after the city council took a lengthy dinner break. He also brushed off the comments from the public by giving only 90 seconds to each member of the public who showed up to speak and who waited hours to talk to the city council.

DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

On June 9, KOB Channel 4 reported that the city officials as requested by the city council are laying out more details about what Albuquerque’s upcoming Safe Outdoor Spaces could look like in coming months. According to the report, the city wants to have a “safe outdoor space” up and running by the end of the summer. There are already two church congregations interested in providing space.

Elizabeth Holguin, the deputy director of Homeless Solutions in Albuquerque’s Family and Community Services Department, had this to say about the city’s plans to going forward with Safe Outdoors Spaces:

“We are not trying to put Coronado parks everywhere. A safe outdoor space is the opposite of what you see at Coronado and other unsanctioned encampments. … Usually the site will provide meals, there’s always bathrooms and hand washing stations, sometimes showers, sometimes Wi-Fi is provided, there’s a whole gamut of options that could happen with enough resources. … Just as in anybody’s home you know what they do in their tent is their business. … However, there is no drug dealing, no sort of transactions at all or any display of paraphilia in the common space. … Having the safe outdoor spaces would give that extra … layer of protection for the police department to be able to more definitively say you know ‘you want to camp, you can’t camp here, this is where you can camp now.”

Holguin said her department is working out those details with the Mayor’s Office and the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and how to deal with the homeless. The city is hoping the spaces will serve as connection points for case management resources so people can work toward permanent housing and job training.

It was revealed for the first time that the cost of a Safe Open Space will range in price from $70,000 to $360,000 depending on the “bells and whistles.” For example, Camp Hope in Las Cruces operates on a $70,000 budget, but each one is different.

According to the city, it is not planning to put multiple spaces in each city council district. What the city is looking at for now is to to start with one and go from there.

Family and Community Services is proposing one more resolution be enacted at the city council meeting later on June 29 . If that passes, the city wants to have a “safe outdoor space” up and running by the end of the summer with two church congregations interested in providing space.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/leaders-outline-plans-for-albuquerques-safe-outdoor-spaces/

NEWS MEDIA FAILS TO REPORT ON RECINDED SPECIAL ORDER

When Elizabeth Holguin tells KOB 4 that the Family Community Services Department is working with the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) on how to deal with the homeless, she did not disclose that APD has in fact rescinded its SPECIAL ORDER 22-46 that severely limited police to enforce the city laws and that gave Family and Community Services authority over APD police to dictate what police could do with the homeless when dealing with encampments. The special order Special order 22-26 was an abuse of power by Chief Harold Median. Special Order 22-46 provided in part:

“Sworn personnel shall make all reasonable efforts to pursue non¬ punitive, services-based approaches and shall not attempt to enforce littering, trespassing, obstruction of sidewalk, and other laws and ordinances … unless [the Family Community Services Department] FCS personnel request such enforcement and only after FCS Department personnel … determine that the individual is continuing to trespass after being given notice and an opportunity to stop.”

“Only FCS Department personnel … shall make the determination that an encampment must be removed. Sworn personnel shall rely on FCS Department personnel … to conduct outreach before an unlawful encampment is removed, unless the encampment creates an immediate hazard or obstruction.”
…
Sworn personnel shall not throw away or remove any personal property associated with the encampment. Sworn personnel shall not direct any other agency or person to throw away or remove any personal property.”

SPECIAL ORDER SO 22-46 RESCINDED

Not a single news agency reported on issuance of Special Order 22-46.

On June 3, APD Chief Harold Medina authorized the issuance of a formal recission of Special Order SO 22-46. It was signed by Deputy Chief Michael Smothers with sources confirming that Chief Medina was out of town.

Below it the recission order in full sent out on APD letter head:

June 2, 2002
DEPARTMENT SPECIAL ORDER – SO 22-46 (RESCINDED)
TO: ALL PERSONNEL
SUBJECT: PROCESS FOR RESPONDING TO AN UNLAWFUL ENCAMPMENT ON PUBLIC PROPERTY (RESCINDED)

ISSUED BY:
MICHAEL SMATHERS
Acting Chief of Police

AS ORGINALLY PROPOSED

The “safe outdoor spaces” amendment was originally proposed to the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) calls for the creation of government sanctioned homeless campsites where the homeless will be able to sleep and tend to personal hygiene. The proposed zone change can be summarized as follows:

1. Not more than 1 sanctioned campsites will be allowed in any one of the city’s 9 city council districts, or 9 total campsites, and the campsites would be limited to 40 tents, cars or recreational vehicles.
2. Each campsite will be required to have a certain number of water-flush or composting toilets, or portable facilities, hand-washing stations and showers based on occupancy.
3. It would require a surrounding wall or screen at least 6 feet high for those using tents.
4. Operators of the campsites, which could include churches and nonprofit organizations, would have to provide the city with a management plan or security agreement proving the site has 24/7 on-site support and security.
5. Operators would offer occupants some form of social services and support facilities.
6. The homeless campsites would be prohibited from being allowed within 330 feet of low-density residential areas. Religious institutions would have more flexibility for locating them.
7. The campsites would be permitted in certain commercial, business park and manufacturing zones and in some mixed-use zones after a public hearing.
According to City Officials, in most instances, the encampments would be set up and managed by churches or nonprofits.

“COMMUNITIES OF TENTS” OUTLINED FOR “SAFE OUTDOOR SPACES”

On Tuesday, May 10, the City of Albuquerque made a presentation before the Bernalillo County’s Homeless Coordinating Council elaborating on its plans for “Safe Outdoor Spaces”. The presentation was made by Elizabeth Holguin with the City’s Family and Community Services Department.

According to Holguin, the city envisions that “Safe Outdoor Spaces” would be communities of tents for the homeless population, uniform in design and structure, and fenced in for safety.

Holguin told the coordinating council:

“Not anyone can just walk up. … People will be accepted based on outreach worker referral. … Resources like bathrooms, showers, electricity, shade structures, sometimes even internet [will be provided] … Definitely handwashing stations. There’s often connections to food and meals and all of the different outreach services that can be provided. … You cannot bring anything that does not fit into your structure. You get a storage bin, sleeping area, and chair. … there would be policies preventing weapons, and the safe spaces would be supervised by a management team. … Drugs and alcohol would be allowed inside tents, the same way they are allowed in homes but obviously there’s no drug dealing [allowed]”.

City recognized that the tents are not a solution to homelessness, but hope they will help curb the metro’s crime crisis by providing a safer alternative to life on the street.

The link to quoted source material is here:

https://www.kob.com/archive/albuquerque-leaders-discuss-plans-for-safe-outdoor-spaces/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Research shows that housing is the most effective approach to end homelessness with a much larger return on investment than offering government sanctioned encampments and “tent cities”. Given the millions the city is spending each year, it needs to continue with the approach of offering programs, building shelter space and making beds available for its homeless population.

Albuquerque is making a huge financial commitment to help the homeless. Last year, it spent upwards of $40 million to benefit the homeless in housing and services. The 2023 proposed budget significantly increases funding for the homeless by going from $35,145,851 to $59,498,915. The city contracts with 10 separate homeless service providers throughout the city and it funds the Westside 24-7 homeless shelter.

Too many elected and government officials who want to establish government sanction encampments have a hard time dealing with the facts that many homeless adults simply want to live their life as they choose, where they want to camp for as long as they can get away with it, without any government nor family interference and especially no government rules and no regulations.

The city cannot just ignore and not enforce its anti-camping ordinances, vagrancy laws, civil nuisance laws and criminal laws nor pretend they simply do not exist. Squatters who have no interest in any offers of shelter, beds, motel vouchers or alternatives to living on the street really give the city no choice but to make it totally inconvenient for them to “squat” anywhere they want and force them to move on. After repeated attempts to force them to move on and citations arrests are in order.

The homeless crisis will not be solved by the city, but it can and must be managed. Providing a very temporary place to pitch a tent, relieve themselves, bathe and sleep at night with rules they do not want nor will likely follow is not the answer to the homeless crisis. The answer is to provide the support services, including food and lodging, and mental health care needed to allow the homeless to turn their lives around, become productive self-sufficient citizens, no longer dependent on relatives or others.

“Safe outdoor spaces” will be a disaster for the city as a whole. They will destroy neighborhoods, make the city a magnet for the homeless and destroy the city efforts to manage the homeless through housing.

CONCLUSION

On June 22, the City Council has the option to reconsider their vote on the Integrated Development Ordinance and vote on the Safe Outdoor Space resolution being prepared by the Family and Community Services Dearment. Reconsideration of the Integrated Development Ordinance would require at least one city councilor who voted for the IDO to change their vote. This means Republicans Trudy Jones or Brook Bassan, and Democrats Isaac Benton, Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn would have to move to reconsider and change their vote on the Integrated Development Ordinance and the amendments.

The public needs to make their opinions known and tell the city council to reject Safe Outdoor Spaces at the June 22 city council meeting. The email address to contact each city councilor and the Director of Counsel services are as follows:

lesanchez@cabq.gov
louiesanchez@allstate.com
ibenton@cabq.gov
kpena@cabq.gov
bbassan@cabq.gov
danlewis@cabq.gov
LEWISABQ@GMAIL.COM
patdavis@cabq.gov
tfiebelkorn@cabq.gov
trudyjones@cabq.gov
rgrout@cabq.gov
cmelendrez@cabq.gov

At the invitation of the New Mexico Sun and with mutual agreement www.PeteDinelli.com is delighted to announce that it will be submitting from time-to-time guest opinion columns for publication without payment to the on-line news agency The New Mexico Sun. For the last 4 years, Pete Dinelli has submitted guest columns to the Albuquerque Journal and they have been published. Both publications have the exclusive right to decide what guest columns will be published. Guest columns to be submitted will be on local, state and perhaps national issues.

The postscript below provides more information about the New Mexico Sun and provides a link to the publication.

Below is the very first published guest column with the New Mexico Sun:

Headline: ‘Safe Outdoor Spaces’ not even a stopgap to Albuquerque’s homelessness crisis

By Pete Dinelli
Jun 8, 2022

“Research shows that housing is the most effective approach to end homelessness with a much larger return on investment than offering government sanctioned encampments and “tent cities”. Given the millions the city is spending each year, it needs to continue with the approach of offering programs, building shelter space and making beds available for its homeless population.

The homeless crisis will not be solved by the city, but it can and must be managed. Providing a very temporary place to pitch a tent, relieve themselves, bathe and sleep at night with rules they do not want nor will likely follow is not the answer to the homeless crisis. The answer is to provide the support services, including food and lodging, and mental health care needed to allow the homeless to turn their lives around, become productive self-sufficient citizens, no longer dependent on relatives or others.”

Pete Dinelli is a native of Albuquerque. He is a licensed New Mexico attorney with 27 years of municipal and state government service including as an assistant attorney general, assistant district attorney for violent crimes, city of Albuquerque deputy city attorney and chief public safety officer, Albuquerque city councilor, and several years in private practice.

https://newmexicosun.com/stories/626988662-safe-outdoor-spaces-not-even-a-stopgap-to-albuquerque-s-homelessness-crisis

_______________________________

POSTSCRIPT

ABOUT THE NEW MEXICO SUN

The New Mexico Sun is part of the Sun Publishing group which is a nonprofit. The home page link is here

https://newmexicosun.com/

The New Mexico Sun provides the following “mission statement”:

“The New Mexico Sun was established to bring fresh light to issues that matter most to New Mexicans. It will cover the people, events, and wonders of our state.

At the New Mexico Sun, we have one mission—to give a voice to every member of our community.”