ABQ mayor talks crime, homelessness and Downtown development 

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said he wants the city to "stay the course" as he moves forward in his third consecutive term in office.

“I am deeply grateful and also humbled to have a third term … and I just want to acknowledge that I appreciate all of you for just giving me more time and for saying, ‘Let’s keep going,’” he said at Wednesday morning’s Economic Forum of Albuquerque.

Keller said the city must follow through on its priorities and projects from his previous terms such as the Rail Trail.

Forum moderator William Martinez asked Keller several questions, including one that focused on what the business community and city can do to “minimize the friction” between one another.

Keller used this year’s gubernatorial race as an example of how the two can work together, saying while the city can send suggestions of things to the Governor’s Office to help the city, “I cannot do this alone.”

“(People with) the economic forum could literally say, ‘These are the six things we think the governor should focus on for central New Mexico,’ and I would hope that we can do that together, right?” he said.

Among the things Keller said he would like the gubernatorial candidates to support include funding the completion of the Rail Trail and new police technology.

Other subjects Keller touched on during the forum include:

• Albuquerque’s police chief search: Keller said the city is looking at seven candidates, including interim Albuquerque Police Chief Cecily Barker, and he hopes to have interviews “wrapped up” in six weeks. He also outlined a few qualities he wants that chief to possess. This includes being accessible, accountable and having “New Mexico experience.”

• Crime: Keller said he wants to continue to invest in crime-fighting technology and the "civilianization" of the city, i.e. the hiring of public service aides and transit safety officers. “Every time we have a civilian, someone who is not a fully sworn officer deal with anything, it frees up officers to fight (other crimes),” he said.

• Housing: Keller touted the success of the city's Gateway System, but said he would like to continue working on transitional housing. This includes the ability to convert “these broken down drug hotels up and down Central into housing,” he said.

Keller also talked about Downtown development and in particular, the nonbinding memorandum of understanding to bring the University of New Mexico to Downtown.

UNM spokesperson Ben Cloutier said Wednesday afternoon that UNM “is exploring opportunities Downtown and is continuing to have conversations with the city of Albuquerque.”

“… We need to come up with a little subsidy package for them, and we’ll have that done by the end of the month,” Keller said.

Near the end of the event, Martinez asked Keller if there was one thing he could change about New Mexico, what would it be?

Keller said he would like to see it invest more.

“We have one of the most underfunded universities in the country and we are sitting on mountains of cash, right?” he said. “We have a crime problem that can be solved by technology and we are sitting on mountains of cash. We have an addiction problem that can be solved by actually paying incentives for people to move here to do treatment and building places for their new treatment and we are sitting on billions and billions of dollars.”

Gregory R.C. Hasman is a general assignment reporter and the Road Warrior. He can be reached at ghasman@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3820.