OPINION: Keller should adopt new strategy in third term

Congratulations to Mayor Tim Keller on his 58% To 42% victory over Darren White as Keller becomes the first mayor elected to a third consecutive four-year term.

Voters saw the most contentious runoff in the city’s history. Keller and White vilified each other pointing out each other’s numerous flaws. It was a runoff between two of the most disliked candidates to ever run for mayor.

Keller is the progressive Democratic mayor who has failed to successfully prohibit the homeless from proliferating city streets and parks despite spending millions on shelters and programs. Keller failed to bring down high crime rates over eight years while the Albuquerque Police Department was involved in a DWI dismissal scandal.

Republican White is the former elected official with two decades of disgraceful public service. Like Donald Trump, White sought to divide voters by threatening undocumented immigrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and immediate removal of homeless encampments.

Keller clawed his way back from a low approval rating of 42% to win a hard-fought election. Keller running against a very weak slate of candidates and qualifying for $1.14 Million in public finance helped.

It’s not very often that elected officials who have very low approval ratings are given a third consecutive chance to succeed. Keller’s third term is not at all likely to be any better than the past eight years, unless he recognizes that people did not vote for him as much as they voted against his MAGA Republican opponent White.

To succeed in a third term, Keller should say without doubt he will not seek a fourth term, knock off his publicity-seeking ways and just govern. Keller needs to acknowledge what he has done for eight years has not worked and must change course to succeed.

The three main areas Keller should concentrate on are: a totally different approach to get the homeless off the streets, APD reorganization and proactive policing practices, and abandonment of divisive efforts to change the city’s zoning laws to benefit developers at the expense of neighborhoods and property rights.

The unhoused crisis has only gotten worse under Keller as he allows the homeless free reign of the city. According to the 2025 Point In Time tabulation, 50% are not even from New Mexico. The city has built a Gateway network under Keller that includes emergency shelters butmany homeless people refuse to use it. A major new initiative should be made on civil mental health commitments for the mentally ill and the drug addicted to get them off the streets.

APD is a train wreck, top heavy with mid-management and plagued by a DWI dismissal scandal. Keller needs to appoint a new chief and replace the entire command staff and completely reorganize the department for a new generation of leadership. APD cannot deal with the city’s high crime rates because APD’s sworn personnel is at 925.

Keller embellishes the city’s affordable housing shortage, declaring it a government crisis. To solve the crisis, Keller wants to increase the city’s density in established neighborhoods and allow residential property owners to “upzone” their properties. Keller’s policies will destroy established neighborhoods and will lead to gentrification as Keller angers many with his zoning changes that favor developers. Keller must find a better way to increase affordable housing.

Best wishes to Mayor Keller on his third term.

Pete Dinelli is a former Albuquerque city councilor, former chief public safety officer and former chief deputy district attorney. You can read his daily news and commentary blog at www.PeteDinelli.com.