Water Authority Engages in Outrageous Power Grab

Regular readers of this blog are undoubtedly aware that we have no love for the unelected bureaucrats over at the Albuquerque-Bernalillo Water Authority. We tangled with them over their outrageous attempt to use eminent domain to take over a privately-owned water utility, New Mexico Utilities Inc. That case is still tied up in court.
Now, Councilor Michael Cadigan has succeeded in allocating even more power to the un-elected bureaucrats at the Authority by giving them tremendous power over building and planning activities. Just over a month ago, Cadigan had been quoted as saying the Authority should have these powers and recently the Authority granted themselves the power — notice how that’s done!
The Albuquerque Journal had the right take on things in this morning’s paper, saying “the authority’s board should rescind its vote and forward its ideas to the City Council and County Commission, where public policy can be hammered out in a more democratic process.”
It is unfortunate that we have allowed water, the lifeblood of our city (not to mention development and individual property rights), to be controlled by an unelected group of bullies. Instead of putting a government agency in control, we should privatize the authority and make it accountable to its customers.