NEWS
Live blog: Albuquerque City Council to consider controversial zoning changes
Notes and tidbits from Wednesday's meeting
The Albuquerque Government Center where City Council meetings take place.
Published
A long road ahead
Councilors are set to discuss controversial amendments to the Integrated Development Ordinance shortly.
With more than 70 people signed up for public comment on the zoning change and discussion to follow, it's likely to be a long night.
A vote on the measure isn't expected until late in the evening.
A superhero and a super shoutout
Dressed in bright blue tactical gear, Skyline, Albuquerque's local superhero, sat in the council chamber's front row Wednesday.
Skyline recently went viral on social media for assisting homeless people and attending protests while dressed in a head-to-toe superhero outfit and helmet.
Councilor Joaquín Baca briefly interrupted the meeting to give the vigilante Good Samaritan a quick shout-out.
"My teenage sons asked me to give a shoutout to Skyline if he showed up to Council again," Baca said.
Skyline posts his "missions" online, hoping to inspire empathy and mutual aid in the community.
Meeting draws large crowd due to proposed change to zoning code
Ahead of Wednesday's City Council meeting, where controversial zoning changes are up for debate, the council chambers are packed with attendees.
The crowd includes proponents and opponents of a change to the city's Integrated Development Ordinance that would change zoning for single-family neighborhoods.
That change would allow duplexes and townhomes to be built in much of the city where previously only single-family homes were allowed.
Supporting councilors have said that the changes are crucial to addressing what they call Albuquerque's "housing crisis."
