‘It’s real in every city in America’: Mayor talks about challenges city faces as federal decisions trickle down

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller spoke to about 200 people Sunday about the impact budget cuts and other actions taken by the Trump administration have had in recent weeks.

“It’s real here,” Keller said inside the Manzano Mesa Multigenerational Center. “It’s real in every city in America. That’s what is so terrible about this.”

Keller touched on topics ranging from budget cuts to immigration. He said the city planned to remain a “sanctuary city.”

“We’re not going to work with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement),” he said.

Keller said the city will also have to take a stand on its short-term budget.

The city is going to have to buckle down and “get ready for the storm, and that’s OK,” he said.

There are two ways to find money: to increase taxes and/or fees, or make cuts, Keller said.

“These cuts will force choices we don’t want to make like eliminating bus routes or charging you a lot to ride the bus because we can’t keep free fares and keep the route structure that we have,” he said.

Some of the cuts would impact other areas, Keller said, including:

• Public Safety: The city could see an impact to a number of areas in law enforcement including drug enforcement, crime fighting technology and a decrease in the size of the police force. “Can you imagine how detrimental that would be, especially given the challenges we’re having with crime?” he asked.
• Housing: Funding would affect projects like Uptown Connect — a mixed-use development that will be near the Uptown Transit Center — that would create almost 200 affordable housing units. “We will never see it” if “Trump keeps doing what he’s doing,” Keller said.
• Minority businesses: Trump also issued an executive order laying out plans to axe seven government entities, including the Minority Business Development Agency.

“What they are doing is destroying every aspect of our community, including the business community,” Keller said.

Another area facing cuts is veterans affairs. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported the Department of Veterans Affairs is planning a reorganization that includes cutting over 80,000 jobs from the agency that provides health care and other services for millions of veterans.

“This country has a moral and ethical responsibility to take care of our veterans, those people that have sacrificed the most for our country,” Frank Smith, incoming Veterans & Military Families Caucus chairman, told the Journal. “To try to lump that into ‘waste’ is unconscionable.”

A lot of the cuts and executive orders are “pretty scary,” Albuquerque resident Jim Augeri said.

‘Stand together’

One area the city is fighting back on relates to diversity, equality and inclusion, which Keller said the city will continue promoting as Trump tries to crackdown on DEI programs across the country. Keller said he will keep offices like Equity and Inclusion and Civil Rights.

He also said the city plans to continue being a “sanctuary city,” which limits or denies cooperation with federal immigration authorities, prevents city resources from being used for immigration enforcement or for sharing information about an individual’s immigration status, unless legally required.

“We are not going to change now,” Keller said.

The city also plans to continue committing to programs like Albuquerque Justice40, a Biden-Harris Administration initiative to deliver 40% of overall benefits from certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities.

“One of the best things we can do is make sure that we institutionalize what we want as a city ... so that no matter what politicians come around, they can’t mess it up,” Keller said.

To get through the next few years, he said, people are going to “need to do this together.”

Keller suggested people talk with their elected officials and tell them, “I want to help defend Albuquerque,” and to volunteer with local nonprofits.

“Of course, getting involved in those community groups is absolutely critical, way more now than it was even just a year ago,” he said.

Albuquerque resident Mary Mandeville said she felt inspired to start volunteering with organizations dedicated to helping young children.

“I think if we all stand together, we’re a heck of a lot stronger than if we don’t,” she said.