New Mexico’s crisis of “progressive” governance
“Rescue Albuquerque’s downtown.”
“It’s not a stretch to say that Albuquerque residents believe the City is facing multiple crises”
These are just a handful of quotes from Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal. They are predominantly talking about downtown Albuquerque, but they are really talking about problems throughout New Mexico’s largest city.
Sadly, while it is easy to see that crime, homelessness, and large numbers of vacant buildings are problems, the reality is that the solutions being discussed are not really solutions to the problems being faced. Interestingly even more “progressive” Santa Fe has decided to take matters into their own hands (to an extent) by hiring private security to patrol the tourist-heavy Plaza.
It seems like this HAS to be considered in Albuquerque as well as other areas of the State where rampant crime is a problem. If local governments can’t or won’t put enough police on the streets it seems the City should use its resources (not pushing the costs off to businesses) to improve safety.
Another innovative option would be to do what New York City did an have private companies manage City parks.
Of course crime is the top problem in ALL our bigger cities, but it is not the only problem. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Democrats who control the Legislature love to talk about “diversifying” our economy, but that really means pouring our tax dollars into costly film subsidies and failing solar companies, not actually making New Mexico an attractive place to do business for anyone.
A thriving business environment would bring people and economic activity to ALL areas of our state (including our downtowns). Of course, New Mexico has more than enough to do EVERYTHING policymakers could possibly want to improve security and diversify the economy, but they aren’t doing it.
New Mexico government from Michelle Lujan Grisham down to local city government has failed to provide even the most basic needs for residents of the State’s largest cities. With plenty of money available at the State level it is astonishing (but not surprising) that Lujan Grisham and the Legislature haven’t been willing to solve these crises.
