Paseo Del Norte Interchange and Albuquerque City Council

As if to prove that all politics is local, councilors Debbie O'Malley, Rey Garduño, and Isaac Benton, blocked Mayor Richard Berry's attempt to finally do something about the Paséo Del Norté traffic mess.  Ms. O'Malley is from the second district, comfortably east and south of the traffic mess.  Mr.  Garduño is from the 6th district, the far south east.  Isaac Benton is from the second district in the south valley.  All of these councilors feel that they can safely thumb their noses at the west side voters and continue to get patronage for their own portions of the city.

Councilors O'Malley, Benton, and Garduño are hiding behind this in an attempt to delay the interchange, because of very narrow local interests, or because of partisan politics, or both.   The three councilors who now want to take the proposal to the voters opposed doing the same last year when the issue was brought up (Albuquerque Journal article, 2 August, 2011).  At that time Ken Sanchez also voted against the ballot proposal on what the Journal describes as a party line vote but but apparently has looked at the map and determined that the project would be good for residents of his district; good job, Ken.  Taking this to the voters is just a smokescreen for Ms. O’Malley and Mssrs. Benton, and Garduño to block the proposal.  Ms. O’Malley, in a letter to the editor, claims that she is for the project but would rather pay for additional librarians or zoo animals than support it.  In fairness, she also pointed out that another party line vote blocked councilor Sanchez’s proposal to put all $50 million into the Paseo project ballot proposal last year.  Still, that being the case, why oppose the project now?

On the other hand, if the council had it within their power prior to authorize the bond issue now, why was it taken to the voters last year?  While Ms. O’Malley is blaming the mayor for coupling the ballot proposal to the sports complex, her vote against taking the project to the voters in August of last year argues that she is primarily motivated with blocking traffic improvements to the west side or blocking this on a party line basis.

The curious way taxes are assessed results in older properties being limited to a maximum increase of 3% per year while new properties pay a higher rate.  That means that west side voters, with newer homes, are paying a higher tax rate to finance the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 6^th projects and services.  This argues for redistricting and/or voting for councilors on an at-large basis. 

If the west side is part of Albuquerque, all of Albuquerque should support improved traffic flow.  From additional bridges over the Rio Grande, improving the Paseo interchange, to improved public transit, better transportation would improve the city.  The city is not just Central Avenue and Nob Hill any more.