Mayor Keller, Local Legislators Highlight Investments in Albuquerque Following the Session

March 28, 2019

Today, Mayor Tim Keller came together with Albuquerque-area state legislators to highlight millions of dollars of investments in projects over the next several years, providing critical support to the state’s largest urban center. The funding comes as Albuquerque moves to address challenges around crime, homelessness, and the economy. 

Mayor Tim Keller said, “Our legislators stepped up this year to make sure the challenges we are facing, from tackling crime to reviving the economy, were top priorities. We have a lot of work ahead of us still, but this funding provides a critical boost to our efforts to make Albuquerque safer for every family.”

A united group of Albuquerque-area legislators coordinated legislative priority funding toward shared goals. The bi-partisan group, including newcomers in the freshman class, put more than $20 million in legislative priority funding into Albuquerque, including:

• Additional funding for the law enforcement communications network,
• Upgrades to APD's DNA lab to help identify criminals, clear rape kits, and get repeat offenders behind bars,
• Millions of dollars for critical public infrastructure like roads, parks, community centers, libraries, museums, pools, and open space, and
• $2.1M for the critical Paseo Del Norte and Unser project, reducing traffic in a high-growth area and improving response times for emergency vehicles to homes in the area.

Representative Melanie Stansbury said, “I believe that we were sent to the legislature in January from the Albuquerque area with a mandate to address public safety issues in our city, systemic crime, and the underlying issues that affect community well-being in our state. And I believe that over the course of the 2019 Legislative Session, we did just that.” She added, “We have seen for the first time in years here in the City of Albuquerque a measureable, quantitative reduction in crime in our city and that is a direct result of the actions that the City has taken.”

Senator Jacob Candelaria said, “I want to thank the Mayor and my City Councilors from the Westside of Albuquerque for their support this session and their leadership for this City. I also want to thank our public safety folks who are here, the investments we made in Santa Fe are really to give you the tools you need to keep this community safe.”

Representative Javier Martinez said, “I want to extend a lot of gratitude to our Mayor it’s been night and day since the last administration here in the legislative session…and that bodes very well for the people of Albuquerque. We are investing over $400 million dollars in our K-12 system and we finally got the conversation about Early Childhood Education going in earnest.”

City Councilor Klarrisa Peña said, “I appreciate the Mayor’s leadership, working together is how we accomplish this. So today is really about our legislators that we have here this afternoon and their hard work to pass the amount of bills that were passed in this legislative session and to work through the capital that’s going to produce some great results in the City of Albuquerque.”

City Councilor Cynthia Borrego said, “I want to acknowledge all of our wonderful leaders who are standing here behind me, I’m so honored to stand with them today. It’s really important that we make our resources go as far as they possibly can. We’re here today to make our community better, and with the leadership that we have right now, we look forward to more really good, strong legislative sessions.”

In addition to the investment in capital projects, Rep. Javier Martinez and Sen. Jacob Candelaria also led the charge to protect city revenue that was earmarked to help put more cops on the street.