Thursday, June 08, 2023There's A Housing Crunch But Mayor's Numbers May Be On High Side, Plus: Questioning City-County Consolidation And A Bizarre Trip To Walmart
The Mayor's continued reference to the need for 30,000 housing units in ABQ is, at best, misleading. That number came from the NM Mortgage Finance Authority and got more attention in a report from the NM chapter of the Urban Land Institute. According to the the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority 30,000+ units were needed for the entire state not Albuquerque. Here is the quote from the MFA report: MFA estimates that New Mexico needs to build 20,000 new homes over the next 5 years to accommodate growth. Additionally, the state is short 32,000 rental units that are affordable to low-income households. This need is most pronounced in the Albuquerque, MSA, Santa Fe, and Dona Ana County. Of late, at the State of the City address and most recently in a newspaper column, Keller mentions his proposal to allow casitas for grandparents and "adult kids" on property where single family homes are situated. No longer is his Housing Forward initiative being sold as an investment and income opportunity for homeowners to operate rentals, but the provision is still there. Had the City prohibited rental to nonrelated third parties in proposing the casitas, I don't think the controversy over them would have blown up. The City Council heard from some 100 citizens about the casita plan at its Monday meeting and deferred further action until a July meeting. CONSOLIDATION QUESTION  The City is selling more dense development as the only alternative to sprawl. But because the City no longer has annexation powers or unilateral control of the Water Authority it is limited to the current boundaries. It can't sprawl in the traditional sense. It seems to me that a true threat of sprawl would be consolidation because the County is where the cheaper vacant land is. LIFE TODAY Reader John G comments from ABQ on a recent trip to Walmart:It's amazing what you have to go through to buy a battery charger at Walmart these days. First, it’s behind locked doors; second, finding anybody to unlock the door because they’re short staffed, third, the employee would not give it to me to put in my basket so I had to walk with her to the checkout area where she handed it to another employee who checked it out for me once the register was opened up. And then, of course, everything was double checked on my way out the door by another employee with armed guards not too far away. I suspect we’re seeing the beginnings of a new retail format. NINE NUMBERS A reader writes of the proposal to switch ABQ government: Who are the city councilors going to yell at if there’s no Mayor? It occurs to me, under the city charter revision being discussed, the hired city manager would need to carry a 9 hotline cellphone for incoming calls from each commissioner! We’d have a bunch of “Mini-Mayors” and nobody to take the heat! The Council deferred that proposal this week to their June 21 meeting. Any change would have to be approved by city voters. Reader John Rey writes of Mayor Keller's appointment of former Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O'Malley as an Associate Chief of Staff for Policy: Debbie O'Malley is in the city hierarchy! Where the heck does Tim find the ever increasing pot of taxpayer money for his minions but only a measly 2 to 4 percent increase for the working stiffs? Guess the staff shortages that Tim and MLG complain about when one asks for service doesn’t apply to Movida Money. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023 |
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