March 12, 2021 Community Hall Newsletter

Hello Albuquerque,

On the one-year anniversary of navigating through this pandemic, I want to thank each of you for your dedication to keeping our community safe and healthy. The last year revealed the cracks in the system, but it also revealed our unique strength and resilience. Since day one, the City has been focused on a response to the COVID-19 that leaves no one behind and will lead us to a full recovery so that we can come back stronger than before.

At the same time as we innovated in real-time to bolster the safety net for our town, we continued to focus on our work to make Albuquerque a safer city for everyone. There’s no doubt that finally breaking through some of the longest-standing barriers to fight crime and reform our police department remain top priorities for our community.

This week we announced an innovative new leadership structure for the Albuquerque Police Department. Our extensive community input process over the past months showed that residents want both an ‘insider’ who knows every street corner of our city and our challenges with crime first hand, while at the same time, we want an ‘outsider’ to make sure that reforms are real and lasting. So we decided it’s time to do both.

Our new Superintendent of Police Reform Sylvester Stanley will be directly responsible for reform, including the operations of the Academy, training and continuing education, and will have the final say on discipline. Pending City Council confirmation, Chief Harold Medina will focus on the core crime fighting mission of APD, recruiting qualified officers, and building morale. At the end of the day, it is simply unrealistic and a disservice to the realities we are facing to expect one leader to solve all of our challenges. With a top level position over each of these core priorities, we are looking forward to the next chapter of progress.

This is a historic moment for our city, with the first Hispanic American Chief at the helm in 20 years, and one of only three African Americans to hold the position of Chief of Police in our state serving as Reform Superintendent. I hope you will join me in giving them a chance and rooting for our city to succeed.

I hope you will also join me in taking a moment to appreciate all of the first responders who have been stretched to the limits over the past year. Thank you to the police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and civilian staff who have continued to work day in and day out to keep our community safe. Side-by-side with health care, childcare, and grocery store workers, you have literally kept our city running.

While it has been a challenging year for everyone, the difficulties we faced drive us to find new ways to serve our community and step up for working families and local businesses, no matter what.

Thank you for your resilience,

Mayor Tim Keller

This week, Mayor Tim Mayor Keller announced:

• Virtual State of the City
• Two New Top Leaders for Albuquerque Police Department
• Month-long Parking Amnesty Period
• Free Fares for Seniors, Students
• Major Street Lighting Project in Southwest Albuquerque
• Albuquerque Fire Rescue Worked With APS to Prepare Facilities
• Albuquerque Named a Top 10 City for Women Working in Tech
• City Bringing Back Some Senior Activities Starting in March