WEBVTT

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Hello again everyone. I'm Cecilia 
Webb and I am so honored to be your

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mistress of ceremonies for this 
afternoon's program. Welcome.

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And we are here this evening uh to celebrate 
our community and to celebrate our city and

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to celebrate everything in this town that we 
call home and that makes this place home. And

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um and I I I just want to share this before 
I get started with tonight's program.

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I know that half of you came because 
you came to support the city and we

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appreciate that. The other half, yeah, give 
yourselves a hand. And the rest of you,

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I know that you came because you want to 
talk to the mayor about your trash schedule.

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So, you'll have time to do that. All 
right. And before we begin tonight's program,

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I want to thank each of you for being 
here. I'd like to thank our city staff,

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our first responders, our community partners. 
Give them all a hand. Our artists, and of course,

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each and every one of you, thank you for being 
here. Give yourselves a hand of applause.

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We are now ready for the presentation of 
colors. If you are able to stand, please rise.

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And we are ready for the national 
anthem. And we will ask Aria

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to come out. Thank you. Aria Hernandez. Let's

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welcome her. She's a student from Tony 
Hillerman Middle School. 

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Oh, say can you see by the dawn early light? 
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last

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gleaming. Whose broad stripes and bright stars 
through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts

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we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the 
rockets red glare. The bombs bursting in air

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gave proof through the night that our flag was 
still there. Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave

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o'er the land of the free 

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and the home of the 
brave. 

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Thank you, Aria. And you can see Aria at 
Zazobra later this uh this year next month.

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The pledge of allegiance this afternoon will be

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led by students from the Christian 
from the Christine Duncan Heritage

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Academy. First in English and then 
in Spanish. Please remain standing.

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I pledge allegance

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to the flag of the United States 
of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God indivisible,

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with liberty and justice for all.

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[Spanish] Juro lealtad A la bandera De los Estados Unidos de America
Y a la republica, Que representa Una nacion

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Bajo Dios Idivisible Con libertad y justicia
Para todos.

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And thank you students. Thank you very 
much. You may now be seated audience.

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At this time, we are going to hear from 
our city counselors. If you'll take a

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look at your screen screens, uh you will 
hear from hear from them at this time.

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[Music] Hey, Burque. It's Stephanie Telles. I am your 
district 1 city counselor on the west

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side. The boundaries of our district easy to 
find. We're between Central and Paseo, west

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of the river. Uh hope you'll come down and 
visit us someday. We have invested over

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$100,000 in set aside funds in district 
1 since I started as your counselor just seven

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months ago. Investing in a water tender 
to help with uh fire suppression efforts. We have

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invested in furniture at Ladera Golf Course. 
 If you haven't been, please go. It's

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very nice. We've also invested in our libraries 
in upgrades to the HVAC systems and more

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upgrades to various parks throughout the district. 
We are recommitting a lot of our capacity efforts

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toward water sustainability in district 1, 
particularly investing in a big project to address

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infrastructure and road safety at Unser 
and Ouray. We are hoping to do a lot more work in

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storm capture and how we can reinvest that water 
 into our arroyos in the area as well as, you

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know removal of um unusable turf in the  
district and replacing that with native flowers

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and plants. Just to really increase the beauty 
of the west side as well as ensuring

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that we are keeping um water as sustainable as 
possible. We are really heavily focused on putting

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a lot of effort into expanding vision 
zero specifically in district 1. This includes

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working with schools to increase participation 
in walking school bus. We are also investing

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road safety projects. Particularly one 
that's really exciting is Homestead Circle coming

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up where we are going to be investing in 
narrowing these streets and widening bike lanes.

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We know that it's kind of scary crossing over 
Coors. So, we are conducting a study to see how

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we can potentially invest in new infrastructure to 
build a pedestrian crosswalk at Coors and Montano.

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There is so much to love about District 1. 
I particularly love living there because of access

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to our open space and our trails. I love 
the petetroglyphs. Who doesn't love the

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petetroglyphs? The library at Central and Unser 
is one of my favorite places to hang out. There's

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a lot to love and a lot to do on Albuquerque's 
west side. And I know a lot of people don't really

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like crossing the river, but I promise if you take 
the time to do that, you are going to find a lot

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of hidden gems that you have not been exposed 
to before. So come on visit us in District 1.

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[Music] Hi, my name is Clarissa Pena. I 
serve city council district three which is

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south of Central west of the river and all the 
incorporated areas and as I've stated

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um year after year the best district in the city 
of Albuquerque. Some of the projects we've been

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working on in district 3 are as you know we just 
completed the southwest public safety center.

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Phenomenal. And then we are actually also working 
on the Westgate Community Center. We just lacked

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the gym and we're actively seeking the resources 
and the money to get that completed.

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And then we're doing some projects on Central and 
what we're trying to do there is just to put in

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some basic infrastructure, some median landscaping 
all the way up to 98th. So this should be starting

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in I think 2027. So we're really excited about 
that. One of the last projects I'll talk about is

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the Route 66 Centennial. As you know, we're we're 
celebrating the centennial as we speak,

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and we've done a lot of work over the years with 
other counselors, with um the Mayor,

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with the administration to really highlight 
Central. And some of the things that you've

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seen along the route are like some basic 
infrastructure stuff, but we've added signage,

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we've repaired signs, art all along the 
stretch, like the art on Central, like the

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events that we've been having. The Route 66 
Visitor Center is up and running and it's been

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spectacular. And then in district three, 
we have the 66 sign that Robert Vanderslice did.

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We're so proud of that. It's just really turning 
out to be a great year for Albuquerque, a great

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year for the celebration, and I'm proud 
to be a part of it. And what I most love about

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District 3 is its people. As I stated in 
the beginning, it's the best district I

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believe in the city of Albuquerque. I love that 
we have a rural urban feel to our area.

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We have the river. We have our acequias. We have 
the urban culture as well. It's home

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to the first cultural asset in the west side, 
which is the Visitor Center. And again,

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I'll just end with saying that the people of 
District 3 are the most amazing people.

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[Music] Hi everybody. Councelor Nicole Rogers. I represent 
district 6 which encompasses places like Knob Hill,

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University, South Los Altos, and even as far as 
Mesa del Sol. I'm so excited to talk a little bit

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about what's happening in District 6. 
First thing that is going like wildfire is our

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participatory budgeting project. And that's 
where district 6 residents who live, study,

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or work in our district have a say in how 
we spend our district's council set aside

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dollars. So we did one round and that amounted 
to our growers market or the people's market

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on Katherine and San Mateo was our first project. 
We want to rival the downtown growers market and

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really have a destination in district 6 where
 we can dispatch fresh foods which is

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a food desert in that particular neighborhood. 
So, I'm really excited about that. Round two of

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participatory budgeting is happening right 
now. So, anybody here from district six,

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just go online. You can actually vote right now
 on 11 different projects. And whatever

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you vote on is what we will build. So, I have to 
give a shout out to the administration because

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you've been so helpful in helping us make sure 
these projects happen. And then the third one

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is the Shriners' property. It's a it's an iconic 
property on Zuni uh near Pennsylvania and Zuni

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where the Shriners headquarters were. They're 
moving out. We have acquired that with

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help from our state partners. And again, shout 
out to the departments who we closed that deal

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in record time. I think like two months uh to get 
it from offer to closing, which is awesome. So,

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right now, we're looking at some housing 
options. We want to house our Office of

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Financial Empowerment there and really just work 
on poverty alleviation strategies, and also

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space for community to gather that we need 
in district 6. The thing I love most about

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living in district 6 has to be hands down 
the people, the families and the food. I mean,

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you come, everybody comes to District 6 for the 
amazing ethnic food. You can find food from all

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over the world in District 6 and we 
have the best parties. We had 4,000 people

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at International Fest at Phill Chacon Park. It 
was beautiful. And people said,

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"I feel safe. This is not dangerous." It's not. 
We have a beautiful community. And the tide is

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turning in District 6. We're taking back our 
neighborhoods and y'all should start

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buying houses over here. Come visit District 6. 
We have amazing food. We have amazing people.

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Coda Bakery, Frank's Chicken and Waffles. 
I mean, it's Black Business Month, so you can help

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frequent some of our black owned businesses in 
District 6. It's a beautiful space. Come on down.

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[Music] My name is Renee Grout. I'm the city counselor for 
District 9 in Albuquerque. That's in the northeast

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and southeast heights from Manaul going south to 
Eubank going east. We've had lots of excitement

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in District 9. We just recently finished the 
neon welcome sign for Route 66. Got

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installed in June and we lit it up in July. And um 
we're very very excited about welcoming visitors.

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It shows the great things that we have 
in Albuquerque and we're excited to welcome

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folks here. We also finished the Station 12 fire 
station last December. We opened it up. It's a

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very busy fire station for Albuquerque and 
it was a two-bay station built in the 60s

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and it was it was just outdated and it wasn't able 
to hold the equipment that's needed to take care

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of the residents in the city. The new fire 
station is going to allow for more firefighters

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to be present and it will house the 
equipment easier and we'll have more

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resources available to help the citizens in 
Albuquerque. We're also working on parks in

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our district. Embudo Hills Park playground just 
got a refurbishment and we're just finishing that

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one up. Singing Arrow was finished last uh fall. 
New playground equipment's coming for a couple

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more playgrounds in our district. Things 
that I love about District 9. I love the great

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neighborhoods. I love the great people, 
the parks that we have, the open space that's

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just down the road from us, and I just love
 that I can call District 9 my home.

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All right, that's our city councilors. Let's 
give them another hand. They do a lot of work.

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Now, it's my pleasure to welcome someone 
very special to me. She is a worker behind

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the scenes. She is a daughter. She 
is a wife. She is a mother. And she

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is a just a good friend. And she is 
the woman behind the man who is the

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leader of our city. Please help me welcome 
Elizabeth Kistin Keller to the stage.

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Thank you Cecilia. Uh, a huge thanks as well to 
the Sandia High School Junior ROTC Honor Guard,

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to Aria Hernandez for that amazing national 
anthem, and the Christine Duncan students for the

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pledge. I also want to thank the entire City team, 
our community partners, and the incredible group

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here at the Route 66 Visitor Center for making 
tonight possible. How incredible is this space?

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We also want to thank tonight every single person 
in Albuquerque who is working hard to build a

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better future for our kids, our families, and 
our entire community. And we want to thank you

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all for being out here on this beautiful evening 
to celebrate our city. Now, one of the questions

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I get asked a lot in this role is how do you 
do it? And it's a question that's not uncommon

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for working moms. And it comes with a mix of 
appreciation, bewilderment, and sometimes even

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a touch of concern. But here's my answer. But the 
first part is simple. I don't do any of it alone.

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One of the things for Tim and me that are so
special about getting to raise Maya and Jack in

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the place where we both grew up is the incredible 
community that makes it all possible. Our family,

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neighbors, teachers, coaches, friends 
who are all woven into our daily lives.

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And the second piece of this answer is 
that while this work can be exhausting,

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it's also the most energizing thing that I 
do. Because while Tim and I and the entire

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City team are deeply immersed in the hardest 
challenges facing Albuquerque, we also get a

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front row seat to all of the amazing things our 
community is doing to take care of each other.

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And this is something I've seen in the last few 
weeks as summer has turned into the school year.

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People from all walks of life in every corner 
of our city showing up to take care of each

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other. I've seen it in the coffee shops that are 
collecting school supplies. I see it in the little

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free libraries and the pantries that are popping 
up block by block. I see it in the Fix it Clinic

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where volunteers come to help neighbors repair 
things that otherwise would have been thrown away.

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And I get to see it in uh the the Labor 
Station Closet which offers free clothes

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to local members of our unions, apprentices, 
or anyone new to the trades. Free work clothes,

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laundry facilities, access to support services. 
I can tell you we have so many examples in our

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community of community members stepping up to 
make sure that we have resources get to someone

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in need instead of sitting there unused while 
someone goes without. And that at its heart is

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what the administration's abundance agenda is 
all about. It starts with a simple question.

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How can we take what we already have, right, from 
land to buildings to equipment to expertise and

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put it to better use for people simply by making 
it easier to share, easier to find, and easier

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to connect? We have learned over the last several 
years that for generations, Albuquerque has shown

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how shared resources are fundamental to sustaining 
and strengthening our community. And tonight,

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you're going to get to hear a little bit more 
about what it means to take that spirit that's

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fundamental to our community and build it 
into how the city runs. So, here to talk

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a little bit more about that, uh, I am pleased 
to welcome up Maya and Jack, uh, and introduce

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the guy that we are so happy to share with the 
entire city of Albuquerque, Mayor Tim Keller.

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[“My Place In The Dirt” by Demon Hunter plays]

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Love you. Good job.

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That's a good soundtrack, right? 
All right. All right. Albuquerque,

00:22:41.120 --> 00:22:49.560
welcome to our State of the City for 
2026. Thank you all for being here today.

00:22:49.560 --> 00:22:55.520
And first, I do want 
to thank our first lady, Liz,

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and the family. Thank you so much for 
wonderful remarks. Let's give her those

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kids from Atrisco Heritage a round of applause 
for everything they did to get us started.

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Now I get to welcome you to the Route 66 
Visitor Center. Y'all are getting a taste.

00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:20.640
This is a special place and I'm so glad you're 
here today to celebrate the 100th anniversary

00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:28.640
of the Mother Road right there with us 
as a city. It's a beautiful place right

00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:34.400
now. Also, some of you may know this is Nine 
Mile Hill as it's called. and fitting because

00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:40.000
this is my ninth State of the City and so 
I am grateful to still be your mayor for a

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:48.880
historic third term. Thank you for the trust 
that you've given in me for another term. [unintelligible yelling starts from the audience].

00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:53.920
So, we're going to talk about a lot of things, 
including our police department. We're going to

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talk about our historic anniversary of Route 66. 
And from time to time, we might have some of this.

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That's okay. This actually pretty much happens 
at all of our gatherings now publicly. Um, also

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I know that when we think about our city and we 
think about our challenges, we have lots of them.

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We know this. But we're going to have a different 
kind of State of the City this year. We're going

00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:26.720
to have a State of the City that is actually more 
about ourselves. We're going to spend some time

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reflecting deeply about how we got here and 
actually about our long-standing challenges.

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That's what we're going to talk about. So, this is 
going to be much different than normal. Normally,

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we would talk about things like how we are 
bringing crime down or we talk about things

00:24:43.280 --> 00:24:47.840
like what we're doing at the rail yards and you 
know, you know the drill for a State of the City.

00:24:47.840 --> 00:24:53.360
We tell you what we've done and then we tell you 
what we're going to do. This city is actually

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going to be different this time. the State of 
the City. We're gonna do something that's also

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in many ways unscripted. I don't have a podium 
in front of me. I'm sure I'm gonna mess up. I'm

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sure there's going to be lots of interruptions. Uh 
but we're going to actually dive a little deeper.

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We're going to take some risk. We're going to 
talk about our long-standing challenges. We're

00:25:13.520 --> 00:25:18.240
going to talk about a throughine of questioning 
that we've all had at one time or another. Why

00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:24.720
are things so hard for us sometimes? Right? Why is 
this place so special? But also why do we have so

00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:29.440
many challenges? That's what we're actually talk 
about today. And we're actually going to try and

00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:36.000
propose a theory of change about what we can do 
to actually change a lot of that. So today is

00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:39.760
going to be different. It's going to be a State 
of the City like no other. And we're going to

00:25:39.760 --> 00:25:47.600
start with our origin story of why we're actually 
here in this place. So Route 66, the mother road

00:25:47.600 --> 00:25:53.360
is right there. But as a as a people, we were 
here, of course, since time immemoriam, our

00:25:53.360 --> 00:25:58.720
Native American communities. And they were here 
really because we're a city at the crossroads.

00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:02.960
That's why we're here. Now, the crossroads back 
then was a little different. It was the river,

00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:11.120
that lifegiving Rio Grande. Most of the time has 
water. Uh, but it was the Rio Grande and then if

00:26:11.120 --> 00:26:17.120
you see the mountains, right, the Manzanos and the 
Sandias, there's a gap in between to Tijeras Canyon.

00:26:17.120 --> 00:26:22.400
That is the other crossroads. It's a trade route, 
right? Trading across the east and the western

00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:27.120
plains and then stopping at the river. That's why 
this community exists. That's why we've been here

00:26:27.120 --> 00:26:34.320
for thousands of years. Now, when we fast forward 
to the next eras of our city at the crossroads,

00:26:34.320 --> 00:26:40.480
we see another road actually that was way more 
important and impactful than Route 66. We see El

00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:44.160
Camino Royale. Now, many of you know this, but 
some of you don't, especially if you're new in

00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:50.240
town. El Camino Real we call Fourth Street. Uh 
there's actually an amazing park in Martineztown

00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:56.480
that commemorates all this, but El Camino Real of 
course was that colonial road from uh Mexico City

00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:00.960
all the way up to Santa Fe and it had stops along 
the way and one of which was Albuquerque because

00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:08.000
this was the crossroads through the mountains. So 
this of course is the story of 115 years or 150

00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:13.680
years of Spanish rule of colonization. But that 
story of the crossroads continues and then we get

00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:18.880
into sort of the Anglo era, the American era and 
we have the Santa Fe Trail coming nearby stopping

00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:23.760
at the same crossroads. Then we have the coming 
of the railroad again stopping here for the same

00:27:23.760 --> 00:27:30.560
reason to to get more water in that case from the 
Rio Grande for the steam engines. And then we have

00:27:30.560 --> 00:27:36.800
Route 66. And we also of course today have our 
interstates. I would argue the Sunport is part

00:27:36.800 --> 00:27:42.320
of our city at the crossroads. But this is who 
we are. We are a city at the crossroads and we

00:27:42.320 --> 00:27:47.840
are a reflection of two colonizations. We are a 
reflection of three governments, Mexico, Spain,

00:27:47.840 --> 00:27:56.320
Mexico and America. And each crossroads has left 
its conflict, its laws, and its challenges. So

00:27:56.320 --> 00:28:02.480
this wasn't easy, the story of how we've survived 
in this place in the high desert. And it's also

00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:08.480
still with us. So we know that each time there 
was a cultural transition, right? There were

00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:13.840
things that were not at all things we typically 
remember unless you really think about history

00:28:13.840 --> 00:28:18.800
and so forth. Like look, tons of land was taken 
right over and over again by different sides.

00:28:18.800 --> 00:28:24.160
There was trauma, there was loss, there was war. 
This is the story of our city. And sometimes we

00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:29.280
forget that. Now you might also be wondering like, 
okay, that's interesting history. What does that

00:28:29.280 --> 00:28:35.520
have to do with today? I would argue that our 
history is actually core to understanding who

00:28:35.520 --> 00:28:40.080
we are today and where we have to go because of a 
couple of reasons. Let me give you some examples

00:28:40.080 --> 00:28:45.840
of why our history is alive today. I think more 
so than almost anywhere else in America. Let's

00:28:45.840 --> 00:28:52.480
take for example this land around us, this Mesa 
land. This actually is Atrisco land grant land

00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:58.320
from the Spanish colonial era. And they ended up 
through generations, I won't tell the whole story,

00:28:58.320 --> 00:29:02.960
making a decision. Some of them actually decided 
to sell the land to something called Santolina.

00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:07.840
Santolina is now a super controversial land 
development that comes up in county commission

00:29:07.840 --> 00:29:12.960
meetings and comes up in city council meetings. 
So that colonial history, that Spanish heritage

00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:18.480
from land grants is still with us today. We're 
still actually arguing about what to do with the

00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:25.120
Atrisco land grant in the form of Santolina. Now 
another example is of course our Sandia Mountain.

00:29:25.120 --> 00:29:29.200
You know it just came out last month, right? 
We're now having a new debate. Who's really

00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:34.480
in charge of that mountain? Is it the federal 
government or is it the Pueblo of Sandia? Again,

00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:40.480
a reflection of the city at the crossroads still 
with us today. Now, there's a powerful example,

00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:47.600
too. You know, there's statues and we have statues 
of concisadors. One in particular, Onate. Many of

00:29:47.600 --> 00:29:52.960
you remember this, but our history is so powerful. 
Just two years ago, we had a shooting over a

00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:59.680
statue of Onate. And four years ago, we had it 
right outside of our New Mexico history museum.

00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:04.880
Think about that. A shooting over a Spanish 
concistador right outside of our history museum

00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:11.840
four years ago. That is a history that is still 
alive. History for us is not stories. It's not

00:30:11.840 --> 00:30:18.320
even scars. It's more of a scab. And when you pick 
it, it bleeds. History is alive with us today. And

00:30:18.320 --> 00:30:25.440
it's critical that we understand that as we think 
about our challenges. So throughout that history,

00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:31.120
we showed something that most communities 
in America didn't. We did not assimilate,

00:30:31.120 --> 00:30:36.800
right? Despite all those stories and transitions 
that I told you, somehow we found a way to

00:30:36.800 --> 00:30:42.720
actually keep parts of our culture, part of our 
identity at each one of those crossroads. And that

00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:49.200
forms the basis of why we're so special, why we're 
unique in the high desert and in America. We're

00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:53.840
one of the only places you can find the cultural 
elements from each piece at the crossroads. And

00:30:53.840 --> 00:31:00.640
we all know this. It's in our food. Our food is 
a combination of Native American cuisine and of

00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:05.600
uh Spanish cuisine and Mexican cuisine. That's 
New Mexican food. We see it in our architecture,

00:31:05.600 --> 00:31:12.080
our villas, our latias, our adobe bricks. All of this 
are pieces that we have retained from our city,

00:31:12.080 --> 00:31:17.280
our experience as a city at the crossroads. even 
our traditions right over the holidays things like

00:31:17.280 --> 00:31:23.200
luminarias things like the matachines these are 
all reflections that city at the crossroads so

00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:28.480
they're alive with us today in so many ways even 
in our art and so much that you even see inside

00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:34.720
uh the route 66 museum and the art exhibit now 
through this also we kept our families together

00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:39.840
that's also important and as I look out in this 
audience I know some of you quite a few of you

00:31:39.840 --> 00:31:44.880
actually and we know that actually even our of 
course pueblo communities These families are still

00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:49.520
in the same pueblo as they were before and are 
here with us today. We know that out of the 30

00:31:49.520 --> 00:31:55.040
plus founding families of Albuquerque, I see two 
people in the audience who are related to them,

00:31:55.040 --> 00:32:01.360
right? Our families are still here too. So this 
is what we have kept. It is a demonstration of

00:32:01.360 --> 00:32:08.240
resilience. That is our core strength. We didn't 
just survive. We did something different. We clung

00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:13.680
to parts of our culture and we kept it alive. And 
we learned actually how to celebrate that and how

00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:18.720
to believe in that and how to support it even 
though we had all the traumatic history that I

00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:26.640
spoke of. So resilience is our core strength and 
in that way actually I actually think we're a role

00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:31.280
model for America. So just for a moment we're 
going to talk mostly about Albuquerque but if

00:32:31.280 --> 00:32:35.680
you think about what's happening in our country 
it's about a lot of people not getting along with

00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:40.320
each other especially because of their different 
backgrounds and their different lived experience.

00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:45.840
We've been dealing with that for a long time, 
right? This is actually very similar to our

00:32:45.840 --> 00:32:51.680
story other than we figured out how to actually 
live together and cherish each other's difference

00:32:51.680 --> 00:32:56.000
and still work together as a community. That's 
why in many ways I think we're a role model for

00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:05.360
America and I think that's why America has a 
lot to learn from Albuquerque, New Mexico. [unitelligible yelling from the audience] Now,

00:33:05.360 --> 00:33:13.200
let's talk about the other side of this because 
When we think about literally our people, what

00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:18.960
we're also talking about in the audience, we've 
talked about our strength and we know what makes

00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:26.240
us special. But it begs the question of why do we 
have so many challenges today and we know we know

00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:32.240
at the end of the day that we have low ratings 
in almost every category that matters, right?

00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:38.160
And this isn't something it's not it's not fun or 
exciting or joyful to talk about this. I get that.

00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:42.560
But we have to own that, right? Health statistics, 
we're near the bottom. Child well-being,

00:33:42.560 --> 00:33:47.040
we're near the bottom. Education scores, we're 
near the bottom. We have challenges. And we've

00:33:47.040 --> 00:33:52.480
had these for decades. So, you can't just blame 
one person or another. Right? New Mexico has

00:33:52.480 --> 00:34:00.320
always struggled. So, why is that? I would argue 
that it's actually related to our origin story,

00:34:00.320 --> 00:34:06.080
to our core strength. The other side 
of resilience is a scarcity mindset.

00:34:06.080 --> 00:34:11.120
You can't survive what we have been through as a 
community unless you have a scarcity mindset. And

00:34:11.120 --> 00:34:16.240
the scarcity mindset basically works like this. 
In many ways, it's about they call it a zero sum

00:34:16.240 --> 00:34:20.800
situation. So what it means is that if something 
good happens to you, that means something bad

00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:26.000
happens to me. So if you get land, that's probably 
because you stole it from me. Or if you get,

00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:30.320
you know, money of some kind or you're successful, 
it's probably because you took advantage of me.

00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:35.600
This seriously was true, right, for most of 
our history. We understand that land, water,

00:34:35.600 --> 00:34:40.480
resources, we've just been taking this from each 
other as part of that story at the crossroads.

00:34:40.480 --> 00:34:46.400
But the mindset that helped us survive was also 
about keeping that culture required us to say,

00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:50.880
"No, I'm going to protect what's mine. I'm going 
to make sure that we don't give up our language,

00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:55.920
that we still speak our native languages, that 
Spanish is embedded in our state constitution,

00:34:55.920 --> 00:35:01.200
the only state in America with that protection." 
So, we also fought for those scarce resources.

00:35:01.200 --> 00:35:05.920
That's how we kept our identity. So it's 
part of who we are. That scarcity mindset

00:35:05.920 --> 00:35:11.760
is embedded in us. So here's what that means. 
During tough times, there is no place I would

00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:16.880
rather be than New Mexico because we know how 
to survive, right? We know what to do. And we

00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:21.760
saw this during COVID. You know, those were real 
challenging situations. And by almost any measure,

00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:26.320
whether it's health or it was income or it was 
just making sure that our city functioned, we did

00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:32.480
much better than other communities. But when times 
are good, we have trouble keeping up because we

00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:40.800
cling to that scarcity mindset. That's what holds 
us back. Now, you may be like, "Okay, I understand

00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:46.800
this conceptually. Scarcity. Got it. Resilience. 
What does that have to do with governing?" Let

00:35:46.800 --> 00:35:53.840
me tell you much, much more than anyone actually 
knows. I would argue to you that scarcity is the

00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:58.720
fundamental driving policy in all of our public 
policy for important things in the state of New

00:35:58.720 --> 00:36:03.360
Mexico. Almost all of them. Now, I'm only going 
to share with you a couple of examples, but think

00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:10.000
about this. We know that as a community, right, we 
send our tax money to Santa Fe and to Albuquerque

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.480
and then they redistribute it. This is how 
government works, paying taxes, etc. Well, what

00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:19.520
do we do in New Mexico? We got a scarcity mindset. 
So, here's what that means. I'm not going to give

00:36:19.520 --> 00:36:23.600
one area of the state more money than another area 
of the state. We're not going to let that happen

00:36:23.600 --> 00:36:29.840
in New Mexico. We're going to divide it up evenly 
among every legislative district. We are the only

00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:35.280
state in the union that still does this. And it's 
it makes sense, right? Because if we're so used

00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:39.840
to conflict and resources are scarce, we should 
divide it evenly. That's how we get along. That's

00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:45.360
how we pass a budget. And more or less, we do 
this at the City, too. We divide things nine ways

00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:50.080
all the time because we have nine city council 
districts. But what about if one area needs more

00:36:50.080 --> 00:36:56.080
money than another? Or what about if one big ideas 
in a particular area and not in another area?

00:36:56.080 --> 00:37:01.520
Well, this is why we start picking apart things 
and why we say no to big ideas. Why we see them as

00:37:01.520 --> 00:37:07.920
threats? Why we are arguing over a soccer stadium 
for 30 years, right? Why we're arguing about the

00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:13.120
Rail Trail going behind our house even though we 
love the Rail Trail. Why we're fighting over an

00:37:13.120 --> 00:37:18.720
aquatic center going into one area of town and not 
area our area of town. Why affordable housing is a

00:37:18.720 --> 00:37:22.880
huge issue with respect to whether we don't want 
it in our neighborhood or we want it in our city.

00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:29.440
It's the same thing. It's all a scarcity mindset 
where we're pitted against each other. So this is

00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:35.120
alive and well with us today. I'm going to give 
you another example. When we have extra money as

00:37:35.120 --> 00:37:40.160
a state from oil and gas because whether we like 
it or not, that is what funds a lot of our state.

00:37:40.160 --> 00:37:45.120
We have oil and gas down south and we tax it. We 
get royalties from it. What do we do with that

00:37:45.120 --> 00:37:51.360
money for a hundred years since statehood? We save 
it. We put it with the state investment council.

00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:56.320
We put it in a fund, interestingly called the land 
grant permanent fund, a reflection of our history

00:37:56.320 --> 00:38:03.760
at the crossroads. And we save it and we save it 
and we save it. And now we have 72 billion dollars

00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:11.440
in our state investment council funds. Can you 
believe that? Do you know that? 72 billion. Now,

00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:16.640
we do use the interest to help fund our schools, 
right? So, it works like a trust fund sort of.

00:38:16.640 --> 00:38:22.640
And so, you know, slivers of it come back to us. 
But conceptually, this is what this is about. We

00:38:22.640 --> 00:38:27.680
have decided that we're not going to invest in 
New Mexico. We're going to save. It's a savings

00:38:27.680 --> 00:38:33.600
mentality versus an investment mentality. And 
that actually is the scarcity mindset at play

00:38:33.600 --> 00:38:40.080
right there. We say we're going to save it because 
one day oil and gas might run out. One day things

00:38:40.080 --> 00:38:44.720
might not be as good and our kids might need 
that later. It kind of makes sense. Like it's a

00:38:44.720 --> 00:38:51.520
very prudent way to handle our money. That is the 
scarcity mindset at play. Now think about though

00:38:51.520 --> 00:38:58.640
the hypocrisy in that. We are investing that money 
in Wall Street. We are literally investing that

00:38:58.640 --> 00:39:05.200
money in building companies in Silicon Valley and 
everywhere else around the world. We are giving

00:39:05.200 --> 00:39:13.280
71 billion dollars to everyone but New Mexicans. 
That is the scarcity mindset at play. That's how

00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:18.480
this is still alive with us today. Now, the city 
is similar. It's a little different because we

00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:23.920
don't have that kind of money. The city does this 
with our assets. We have all this extra land,

00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:29.920
hundreds and hundreds of acres of extra land. Do 
we let you use it? No way. Right? We're worried.

00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:35.120
We have a scarcity mindset that someday we might 
need that land or maybe you'll do something bad

00:39:35.120 --> 00:39:40.480
on that land and then we'll get in legal trouble 
and we'll get sued. Right? It's all about risk

00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:46.400
mitigation. That's a modern word for the scarcity 
mindset. And we definitely have it in Albuquerque.

00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:51.040
We do it with buildings, too. We don't share 
our facilities. This one now some of it we need

00:39:51.040 --> 00:39:54.800
funding to open it and so forth, but there's 
other ways to do it. We'll talk about that in

00:39:54.800 --> 00:40:00.560
the future, but I just want to let you know 
that this is the scarcity mindset at play in

00:40:00.560 --> 00:40:07.280
New Mexico and in Albuquerque. Lastly, it's also 
part of us personally, and I think we we all feel

00:40:07.280 --> 00:40:14.000
this because these are challenging times. And I 
know that if you know our income is the same and

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:18.640
costs are going up, times continually get harder 
for us. And so that drives stress in our lives,

00:40:18.640 --> 00:40:23.520
that makes things harder. And so our tendency 
is to also view things as in some way a threat

00:40:23.520 --> 00:40:30.880
to our way of life or to our property. And this is 
important when we think about how do we go from a

00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:37.040
scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. Part of 
it is understanding that government's part of the

00:40:37.040 --> 00:40:42.320
problem, right? We're driving this. So if you wake 
up and all of a sudden PNM is putting power lines

00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:47.280
in the back of your house, how are you going to 
feel? Right? Government is actually reducing your

00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:53.040
freedom. It's reducing your set of decisions and 
it's not helping in any way. So, it's adding to

00:40:53.040 --> 00:40:59.840
the friction in everyday life and it's reinforcing 
a scarcity mindset. So, when we think about this,

00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:05.440
there's other examples too. You know, how many 
of you have had fiber being dug up in your in

00:41:05.440 --> 00:41:11.840
your yard? You have a show of hands, right? They 
come around, spray paint the street, dig up stuff.

00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:16.640
Okay. Now, we want high-speed fiber. So, there's 
a reason for that. I think we all understand that.

00:41:16.640 --> 00:41:22.800
But the way they do it, they just barge in and 
tear up your yard. This is examples of government

00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:27.840
being, contributing to that challenge we're having 
around scarcity because they're making our lives

00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:34.400
just a little bit harder. And so there's another 
piece of this, too. In order to go from scarcity

00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:40.400
to abundance, you have to feel safe. You got to 
feel safe. Literally, right? Part of the scarcity

00:41:40.400 --> 00:41:45.920
mindset is insecurity that we might lose something 
or that our way of life might be threatened.

00:41:45.920 --> 00:41:51.200
And so public safety is even more important during 
this time. And it's public safety in the broadest

00:41:51.200 --> 00:41:55.680
sense. It is someone who's unhoused, but it's also 
someone in their house who's worried about it get

00:41:55.680 --> 00:42:00.720
broken into or their car being stolen or somebody 
who's going to a public event in fears for their

00:42:00.720 --> 00:42:07.040
safety. These are all examples that we have to 
overcome to move from scarcity to an abundance

00:42:07.040 --> 00:42:13.360
mindset. Now, this is an American problem, too. 
And I just want to highlight this is what makes

00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:18.560
it so hard I think in Albuquerque because we 
have our own issues and then like America also

00:42:18.560 --> 00:42:25.200
adds issues on top of us. And so now what we 
see is the challenges that we're having around

00:42:25.200 --> 00:42:32.240
cost of living, around inflation, national housing 
crisis, all of these actually just add on to this.

00:42:32.240 --> 00:42:38.080
And what do we see government doing? Not much. 
Is government at any level really solving any

00:42:38.080 --> 00:42:44.080
of these issues? It's not. I wish it was because 
I know I'm part of it. But that is why this is

00:42:44.080 --> 00:42:49.600
becoming so hard. It's an American problem because 
it also disproportionately affects those who can

00:42:49.600 --> 00:42:55.440
only look to government, those who have nowhere 
else to turn. So understanding this helps us

00:42:55.440 --> 00:43:00.800
realize that as our children unfortunately aren't 
as competitive in the world, or as we can't find a

00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:06.160
place for a family member who's addicted, or if 
we're a parent who actually can't find a stable

00:43:06.160 --> 00:43:12.960
home. All of this is colliding together to make 
our lives harder. This is happening all around

00:43:12.960 --> 00:43:20.080
us. This is underneath so many conversations 
that I have each and every day in the city. Now,

00:43:20.080 --> 00:43:25.040
being mayor of Albuquerque is like a roving town 
hall because believe it or not, the discussion

00:43:25.040 --> 00:43:30.240
that we're having here in parts I have all 
the time. I have it at my kids sports games.

00:43:30.240 --> 00:43:34.400
You know, it's like whenever there's halftime 
or there's a timeout, everyone's like talking

00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:38.800
about their neighborhood, giving me some tips 
on what I should do. I'm in line at Smith's.

00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:43.600
We're talking about the cost of groceries. This 
is this has actually always been life as mayor,

00:43:43.600 --> 00:43:48.480
by the way. I remember people doing this to other 
mayors, too. And it's kind of cool. It's a roving

00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:57.280
town hall, but underneath the specific issues, 
what people actually tell me is is very similar.

00:43:57.280 --> 00:44:02.560
It's actually almost the same thing that they all 
say. And it's really just two two things. One is

00:44:02.560 --> 00:44:08.400
that people say, "Look, I just think things are 
getting more difficult and I see it with my eyes.

00:44:08.400 --> 00:44:14.480
I see parts of town that are run down. I see empty 
buildings. I see drug houses." And then they say,

00:44:14.480 --> 00:44:21.840
"I feel it in my in my wallet because everything 
is more expensive. Rent is up 50% from COVID."

00:44:21.840 --> 00:44:26.880
Right? We know food costs are up, fuel costs 
are up, all of these cost of living issues. So

00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:32.080
folks share that and then they also remind me and 
social media just validates it all, right? Because

00:44:32.080 --> 00:44:36.800
it's just a reinforcement negative cycle there 
when you turn on your phone. But then they tell

00:44:36.800 --> 00:44:43.360
me something else. They're always very gracious 
people about the fact that we didn't cause these

00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:48.720
problems necessarily ourselves. People share like, 
look, the federal government is cutting benefits.

00:44:48.720 --> 00:44:53.200
The safety net's disappearing. Uh the federal 
government's cutting their own budget and because

00:44:53.200 --> 00:44:57.760
we have so many federal employees that affects 
us. So, it's an acknowledgement that those are

00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:05.600
real. But what people want is surprising. No one 
ever says, "Why can't you fix the cost of gas?"

00:45:05.600 --> 00:45:09.680
Because they know, right? We can't do that. And no 
one ever makes general statements. It's actually

00:45:09.680 --> 00:45:14.160
great. They're always like, "Hey, man. I know 
you can't fix fentanyl." But here's the important

00:45:14.160 --> 00:45:20.960
part. Folks just want the city government of 
Albuquerque to help them a little bit to help ease

00:45:20.960 --> 00:45:28.000
the pain of everyday life, even if it's in a small 
way. That's what they want from city government.

00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:33.360
And this actually is a way for us to prove to 
the rest of the country that here in Albuquerque,

00:45:33.360 --> 00:45:38.880
even if times are tough, we have a government that 
works for us. That is the foundation of what we

00:45:38.880 --> 00:45:46.080
can do to lift up Albuquerque and overcome the 
myth of scarcity. So, I know Albuquerque, we can do

00:45:46.080 --> 00:45:52.080
this. This is possible. And I am committing right 
here with all of you today the entire remainder of

00:45:52.080 --> 00:45:58.000
my third term to this issue. And we're going to do 
three things. It's very basic. Number one is the

00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:03.520
City is going to transform its policies based on 
abundance. We have to do that. We have to get out

00:46:03.520 --> 00:46:08.240
of the scarcity mindset from the top down. And 
that starts today. The second thing is we have

00:46:08.240 --> 00:46:13.040
to build our civic muscle to be able to actually 
get things done. None of this works if government

00:46:13.040 --> 00:46:18.960
can't actually put your speed bump in or fix 
whatever's happening outside your house. Then

00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:24.800
we also have to make sure that we are restoring a 
general feeling of public safety to all our public

00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:31.360
spaces. That is critical. And lastly, we have to 
prove that government can actually reduce a little

00:46:31.360 --> 00:46:37.120
bit of the pain in your everyday life. And I'm 
going to talk about how to do that. So the thesis

00:46:37.120 --> 00:46:42.960
looks like this. It's about a city abundance 
agenda that is about sharing what we have

00:46:42.960 --> 00:46:49.360
instead of protecting and hoarding it. It is about 
making your life a little bit easier each day and

00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:53.600
it's about trying to reduce all those things 
that are causing friction that make your like

00:46:53.600 --> 00:46:59.760
life difficult here in the City of Albuquerque. 
And if we can do that, we can restore some hope.

00:46:59.760 --> 00:47:05.680
We can restore a baseline of inspiration that 
actually says that in Albuquerque, New Mexico,

00:47:05.680 --> 00:47:11.520
this is a better place to live than anywhere else. 
Not just because of our amazing culture, but also

00:47:11.520 --> 00:47:18.560
because government is helpful. So this is our 
answer to scarcity. It is a ity Abundance Agenda.

00:47:18.560 --> 00:47:24.480
So let me tell you how this is actually going 
to work. So we'll get into some specifics. Let's

00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:30.400
start with the pain point of housing. One of the 
biggest cost issues in any community in America,

00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:36.720
but also here in Albuquerque. What we have done 
over time is classic scarcity. We have basically

00:47:36.720 --> 00:47:43.040
said we are going to tell you what kind of house 
you can live in. You have a choice. You can have a

00:47:43.040 --> 00:47:48.960
single family house with a garage and a backyard 
or you can have an apartment. That's basically

00:47:48.960 --> 00:47:54.800
it. We do this as a government through our zoning 
codes and through our ordinances. And we basically

00:47:54.800 --> 00:47:59.760
limit the number of houses we can build to 
these two types. And we also mandate through

00:47:59.760 --> 00:48:04.400
our building codes that they have to be made of 
like uh you know mostly stick and wood unless

00:48:04.400 --> 00:48:08.480
they're adobe and things like this. But we don't 
even allow alternative building materials like

00:48:08.480 --> 00:48:14.080
recycled materials or like manufactured materials. 
All of this brings the cost of housing down.

00:48:14.080 --> 00:48:18.800
And so do different kinds of houses. Sometimes 
they're called BOXABLs. Sometimes they're called

00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:24.880
cottages. Sometimes they're called duplexes. All 
of this should be easy to find in Albuquerque.

00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:30.480
And it's not. So, we're going to start by 
democratizing what it means to actually decide for

00:48:30.480 --> 00:48:36.000
yourself what your home should be. You pick what 
type and you'll have options, choices to actually

00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:44.080
decide what home means for you. Now, another cost 
facing us is the cost of food. And it's real hot

00:48:44.080 --> 00:48:50.720
today, but fall is coming. And when fall is coming 
in New Mexico, it's also harvest time. And I know

00:48:50.720 --> 00:48:56.880
a lot of us, we've got gardens in our backyard. 
And we have produce. And for a lot of us,

00:48:56.880 --> 00:49:02.400
we grow too many zucchinis. We always have extra 
zucchinis. And we also have chickens. And they

00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:07.840
don't always lay eggs at the same rate at which 
at which we use them. So we end up having extras.

00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:10.400
And this is kind of one of the cool things, 
right? It's like my neighbor's got chickens,

00:49:10.400 --> 00:49:15.680
so I get some chickens. Nice some eggs. And but on 
the other, so on one side of the equation, right,

00:49:15.680 --> 00:49:22.080
we have an abundance of produce and of eggs in our 
city, especially in the fall. On the other side,

00:49:22.080 --> 00:49:27.760
we have SNAP benefits, food stamps being removed 
from people, and we have cost pressure making

00:49:27.760 --> 00:49:33.680
food more expensive for folks. And so we can put 
those two together. So we're creating the backyard

00:49:33.680 --> 00:49:38.640
exchange. So soon you're going to be able to take 
all your extra zucchini and all your extra eggs

00:49:38.640 --> 00:49:43.760
and hand them off to one of our four health 
and service centers and then you can also go

00:49:43.760 --> 00:49:48.960
to those and pick all those up. So we're going to 
connect right the people with extra to the people

00:49:48.960 --> 00:49:55.200
who need it. That is demonstrating food abundance 
here in Albuquerque. Now we also want you to be

00:49:55.200 --> 00:50:01.200
able to afford more, not just reduce the cost of 
the things you want. That has to do with economic

00:50:01.200 --> 00:50:06.320
opportunity. So, we're going to keep doing what we 
can to invest in areas where we have competitive

00:50:06.320 --> 00:50:11.280
advantages and so forth. But we also know part of 
that is making sure that those benefits when we do

00:50:11.280 --> 00:50:16.720
get new jobs, when companies move here, when they 
start businesses, that the benefits from that are

00:50:16.720 --> 00:50:22.080
spread for all of us. That's why we want to have 
local labor agreements, uh want to have local

00:50:22.080 --> 00:50:26.240
sourcing agreements, something called community 
benefits agreements to make sure that that

00:50:26.240 --> 00:50:32.000
abundance is shared with all of us. So you can 
see how this works. How the city can actually have

00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:37.680
an abundance agenda to make things a little bit 
easier for us. Now I want to tell you a little bit

00:50:37.680 --> 00:50:43.440
of a story. How many of you have had to ever get 
a permit in your life for anything? And I know we

00:50:43.440 --> 00:50:47.440
have some city folks here who work in the planning 
department. I understand that. Okay. So at least

00:50:47.440 --> 00:50:52.640
half of us know. Sometimes it's easy. We've made 
a lot of good strides on this. But at the end of

00:50:52.640 --> 00:50:56.800
the day, it can also be really hard. And if you're 
a company with a lawyer, an accountant, you can

00:50:56.800 --> 00:51:01.360
do this. But if you're an entrepreneur trying to 
start a business or trying to start a food truck,

00:51:01.360 --> 00:51:05.680
the paperwork that we make you fill out can be 
very very burdensome and actually there can be

00:51:05.680 --> 00:51:11.200
a backlog and it can take months to do this. 
And I'll tell you one example. Someone who I

00:51:11.200 --> 00:51:16.400
just saw in the audience, this is fitting. Uh told 
me they were trying to remodel their porch. This

00:51:16.400 --> 00:51:19.600
isn't even really a business. They just want 
to remodel their porch. They're kind of handy,

00:51:19.600 --> 00:51:22.560
so they're going to do it themselves. It's like, 
"All right, I'm going do my porch remodel." Well,

00:51:22.560 --> 00:51:28.400
the City comes around and says, "Stop. You can't 
remodel your porch. You have to get a permit to do

00:51:28.400 --> 00:51:36.080
that. And then they wait weeks and then they wait 
months. They just want to remodel their porch.

00:51:36.080 --> 00:51:40.400
Now, there might have been some other issues in 
there. I'm oversimplifying. But at the end of

00:51:40.400 --> 00:51:43.920
the day, this makes sense. We want to make sure 
the porch is okay because if you sell your house,

00:51:43.920 --> 00:51:47.520
we don't want to cave in on the next person. 
That's the building safety reason why we do

00:51:47.520 --> 00:51:52.320
it. But why do we make you wait? We don't 
have to. An abundance approach says we can

00:51:52.320 --> 00:51:58.880
say build your porch. You start and we'll check 
it after you're done and if you messed it up,

00:51:58.880 --> 00:52:02.800
we'll probably make you redo it. But you don't 
have to wait for government. We're going to say

00:52:02.800 --> 00:52:08.000
yes first. We're changing the default to yes 
on thousands of permits that are going to start

00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:13.840
going through the City. So this is another way in 
which we can demonstrate both regulatory justice

00:52:13.840 --> 00:52:21.520
and abundance. Now, one of my favorite examples of 
this is back to all these empty parcels of land.

00:52:21.520 --> 00:52:25.040
We see them in our neighborhoods and 
it's like, "Wow, there was a house there,

00:52:25.040 --> 00:52:29.440
but the City tore it down. Now it's empty piece 
of land. How come no one uses it?" Or we see it

00:52:29.440 --> 00:52:34.560
alongside a lot of our major roads. Why is there 
a piece of dirt land there? Well, the City owns

00:52:34.560 --> 00:52:40.720
hundreds of pieces of land, yet people want to use 
that land. They want to use it to build housing,

00:52:40.720 --> 00:52:46.000
for example. Other folks want to use it maybe 
just for a community garden. Uh this is the

00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:50.880
kind of thing where historically we basically 
almost never even sell our land. Sometimes we do,

00:52:50.880 --> 00:52:56.640
but we won't let anyone use it. So, we're turning 
this on its head, too. You can use all our city

00:52:56.640 --> 00:53:00.320
land. We just rolled this out yesterday, and 
we're basically going to let you use it for

00:53:00.320 --> 00:53:05.440
next to nothing. There might be a 99-year lease 
for a dollar a year. You might have to actually

00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:09.200
do the the fencing and secure it. You know, 
there's going to be some consideration there,

00:53:09.200 --> 00:53:13.920
but basically, we're going to let you use 
it for next to nothing to put our land to

00:53:13.920 --> 00:53:19.680
good use to share what the City has with all of 
you who really actually own that land anyway as

00:53:19.680 --> 00:53:24.240
residents of the City of Albuquerque. So, let's 
hear more about this concept with respect to

00:53:24.240 --> 00:53:35.840
community gardens with the video. Uh, and Eli 
Cuna is going to talk to us about her idea.

00:53:35.840 --> 00:53:42.320
The Semilla project is a land-based learning 
center focusing in leadership development,

00:53:42.320 --> 00:53:48.560
economic development, and environmental justice. 
We are growing food together with the City. We

00:53:48.560 --> 00:53:54.320
are planning with the City the expansion of the 
garden. We are serving the community together

00:53:54.320 --> 00:54:01.200
with Loma Linda Community Center and 
then we're training young generation to be

00:54:01.200 --> 00:54:08.800
farmers using a lot of the programs of the City 
and places of the City to continue practicing the

00:54:08.800 --> 00:54:15.120
skills as a farming in the community garden. So I 
think all that together is like we are redefining

00:54:15.120 --> 00:54:22.560
what economic development looks for our community 
when the community is leading of what they need

00:54:22.560 --> 00:54:29.040
and how it should work. It's about investing 
in ourselves and in our people and in our land.

00:54:29.040 --> 00:54:37.920
District 6 is in the Loma Linda Community Center uh 
usually close to the International District also.

00:54:37.920 --> 00:54:46.480
They continue being negatively impacted by food 
deserts and also uh like a lack of access to

00:54:46.480 --> 00:54:53.040
uh fresh food. So, we went around district 6 
door knocking asking people, hey, what's your

00:54:53.040 --> 00:54:59.520
worries? What is happening? What is the things 
that you would love to address? People mention

00:54:59.520 --> 00:55:07.600
access to fresh food, and then also mention that 
our kids can have access to green spaces. We're

00:55:07.600 --> 00:55:14.240
organizers so we do a lot of the canvasing. We 
go and ask people if they want to sign up for a

00:55:14.240 --> 00:55:21.840
food box and that's the way how we also keep the 
relationship with the community. We have tomatoes,

00:55:21.840 --> 00:55:32.000
we have chile, we have calabasitas, we have 
lettuce, kale. This is 1,500 plants that we put

00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:39.600
here. We have been partnering with the community 
center. They lend us the land. They provide us the

00:55:39.600 --> 00:55:46.880
technical support from their team providing us 
guidance tools and really be here with our team

00:55:46.880 --> 00:55:55.360
and then from there also provide us an opportunity 
to pilot a workforce development cohort. So every

00:55:55.360 --> 00:56:06.320
year we are launching like a a cohort of 20 young 
like uh from 18 to 26 that they are interested in

00:56:06.320 --> 00:56:13.120
natural resources careers including sustainable 
agriculture. So they are trained for 12 weeks and

00:56:13.120 --> 00:56:21.280
they stay in the City working for another 20 weeks 
and this provides sustainability to these gardens.

00:56:21.280 --> 00:56:27.760
I would love to see this uh replicating 
in every single empty plot that

00:56:27.760 --> 00:56:35.360
exists in Albuquerque. That is part of the 
sovereignty that we are looking for. It's

00:56:35.360 --> 00:56:42.240
part of the resilience of our neighborhoods. 
When neighbors and community can feel safe,

00:56:42.240 --> 00:56:49.760
they can build relationship and also can having 
have this relationship a reciprocity with land.

00:56:49.760 --> 00:57:04.320
It's a way of resistance but it's a way also to 
uplift the beauty of how we support each other.

00:57:04.320 --> 00:57:07.200
All right. Thanks so much, 
Eli. That was wonderful.

00:57:11.520 --> 00:57:16.560
What a wonderful example of what we can do with 
an abundance mindset. And now she can take all

00:57:16.560 --> 00:57:21.440
those extra uh grown products and put them in 
the community center and then you can all have

00:57:21.440 --> 00:57:26.000
them. That's part of the backyard exchange. So 
you can see this all actually fits together.

00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:31.200
Now the other thing we want to do is look at 
City facilities. So, it's the same concept,

00:57:31.200 --> 00:57:37.040
but it's about all the buildings that the City 
owns that are not all used or the City facilities

00:57:37.040 --> 00:57:42.000
that have rooms that are not always used. So, 
if we think about that resource, which we have

00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:47.120
historically not really shared or let folks 
use, and then we pair that with another really

00:57:47.120 --> 00:57:52.880
important need during these tough times, and it's 
child care. It's early child care. We've got some

00:57:52.880 --> 00:57:57.840
childare workers back there. Give them a round 
of applause for taking care of our little ones.

00:58:00.800 --> 00:58:04.880
Love the sashes.

00:58:04.880 --> 00:58:09.040
So, what we're doing for child care is basically 
saying, well, first, you know, speaking of

00:58:09.040 --> 00:58:14.320
abundance, the State of New Mexico made child 
care basically free. I don't know if you all

00:58:14.320 --> 00:58:22.880
know this. It's pretty new. It's an awesome 
thing. What a powerful thing that they've done.

00:58:22.880 --> 00:58:27.280
And I will acknowledge they did that by taking 
a little bit of money from that giant permanent

00:58:27.280 --> 00:58:32.880
fund. I was telling you about. So, uh, they're 
starting to catch on, right, how to do this. And

00:58:32.880 --> 00:58:37.440
so, the challenge though now is we don't 
have enough places to take our kids. So,

00:58:37.440 --> 00:58:42.800
people can't find a child care place near their 
place of work or their home. There's not enough.

00:58:42.800 --> 00:58:48.480
Why aren't there enough? Well, it's because a lot 
of our childare workers can't afford the space to

00:58:48.480 --> 00:58:54.480
set up shop to take care of our kids. So, that's 
where the City comes in. We are just going to let

00:58:54.480 --> 00:59:00.400
any child care group who is certified and all 
that use our space for free. We're going to

00:59:00.400 --> 00:59:11.200
give you dozens of buildings to take care of 
our kids for the next generation.

00:59:11.200 --> 00:59:16.480
So, we can show abundance in a lot of different 
ways that are, I think, surprising to folks.

00:59:16.480 --> 00:59:21.680
There's also uh some small ways that really help 
our families in addition to taking care of the

00:59:21.680 --> 00:59:28.560
little ones. We as a city have a challenge and 
we've all felt this if you have family members who

00:59:28.560 --> 00:59:33.520
are in like little kids sports and it basically 
works like this. Your kid signs up to a team,

00:59:33.520 --> 00:59:37.600
it's great, they're playing soccer or volleyball 
or basketball and then it comes time to like where

00:59:37.600 --> 00:59:41.920
should we practice and then it's like well we 
should find a gym to practice in. And then we find

00:59:41.920 --> 00:59:48.640
out that it's really hard to rent any of the gyms 
that the City runs. It's almost impossible because

00:59:48.640 --> 00:59:53.040
we only let you use them from 9 to 5. Now, that 
makes sense, right? Because that's when they're

00:59:53.040 --> 00:59:58.640
open. I mean, there's a reason for that. We're 
not being mean. It's just we're only open 9 to 5,

00:59:58.640 --> 01:00:04.400
but that's not when practice is. Practice is 
always after work or after school. And so,

01:00:04.400 --> 01:00:09.600
this is another one of those examples of friction. 
We just create more friction for our families in

01:00:09.600 --> 01:00:16.800
all of these ways. And a similar example is a 
birthday party or a quinceanera or an anniversary.

01:00:16.800 --> 01:00:20.800
You know, event space. We have all sorts of events 
save space in Albuquerque. Most of it costs quite

01:00:20.800 --> 01:00:26.160
a bit of money. It's shockingly expensive 
how much it costs to rent private places,

01:00:26.160 --> 01:00:30.640
uh, restaurants and things like this for events 
like this. And then here we are again on Sunday

01:00:30.640 --> 01:00:36.000
afternoon driving by a City facility. Oh, wouldn't 
it be great to have our 20th anniversary there?

01:00:36.000 --> 01:00:42.080
Nope. It's closed. You can't use it. This is also 
what we're changing. We are going to let you rent

01:00:42.080 --> 01:00:52.640
and use our facilities seven days a week and 
we're going to let you use them in the evenings.

01:00:52.640 --> 01:00:59.120
Now, sometimes we need a place that is literally 
totally free, not even for rent, and is available

01:00:59.120 --> 01:01:05.360
to all of us more or less all the time. This is 
why we're also investing in iconic places for our

01:01:05.360 --> 01:01:11.920
families. These are places in many ways like the 
Rail Yards. If you've been to the Rail Yards market,

01:01:11.920 --> 01:01:16.560
a thousand people plus will be there tomorrow 
for the market. It's the largest market, which

01:01:16.560 --> 01:01:21.920
is free, in the entire state of New Mexico, right 
in the heart of our city at our Rail Yards. Now,

01:01:21.920 --> 01:01:26.800
we want to do more of these kinds of iconic 
places for families all over the city. And so,

01:01:26.800 --> 01:01:31.760
we've rethought how we build our parks because 
we want our parks to actually not just be kind

01:01:31.760 --> 01:01:37.440
of grass and a playground. We want them to be 
iconic. And if you've ever been to Wells Park

01:01:37.440 --> 01:01:43.680
since we redid it, you will see what an iconic 
place for families is. It is the most popular

01:01:43.680 --> 01:01:49.680
birthday place for anyone under the age of 11. 
It is full of folks from all over the metro

01:01:49.680 --> 01:01:53.760
area. Every time I go there, it's like, "I'm 
from Los Lunas. I'm from Grants. I'm from uh

01:01:53.760 --> 01:01:57.600
Bernalillo." And I'm like, "Why are you here?" 
They're like, "Because this park is incredible,

01:01:57.600 --> 01:02:03.520
and my kids made me come here." So, let's 
hear more about Wells Park from Meredith.

01:02:15.840 --> 01:02:21.760
[Happy upbeat music] Today we're at Wells Park, which recently was 
renovated by the City, and it's a one

01:02:21.760 --> 01:02:26.720
of my family's favorite places to come. Part 
of building community is learning how to share,

01:02:26.720 --> 01:02:31.760
take turns, um, communicate, and build 
relationships. And that's what the park invites

01:02:31.760 --> 01:02:38.720
people to do. I really appreciate the way that 
Wells Park invites and encourages Albuquerque's

01:02:38.720 --> 01:02:47.440
community to come out, be outside, uh, stay 
active, and get to know their neighbors. They love

01:02:47.440 --> 01:02:52.560
this. They also love the slide. They also love 
the rollerblading. They like the pickle ball. They

01:02:52.560 --> 01:02:59.040
play basketball, too. We enjoy the splash pad. 
Indoors, we mostly use the restrooms, but we're

01:02:59.040 --> 01:03:06.880
also um we have our membership, so we can do badminton
 basketball inside. Before the renovation,

01:03:06.880 --> 01:03:14.080
we hadn't been as a family. Uh we recently moved 
 to Albuquerque 6 years ago. The renovation

01:03:14.080 --> 01:03:20.960
really invited us to come down and check it out. 
And then we saw how rich and um plentiful the

01:03:20.960 --> 01:03:27.200
offerings were here regarding like the equipment 
and the services and the accessibility. Um so we

01:03:27.200 --> 01:03:32.880
just keep on coming all times of day, 
every day of the week. It's extremely inviting.

01:03:32.880 --> 01:03:43.120
It's clean. It's well prepared for people of all 
ages and all physical abilities. And the um roller

01:03:43.120 --> 01:03:47.040
rink for me is a big attraction. And it's gotten 
me into roller skating and buying my own roller

01:03:47.040 --> 01:03:51.760
skates because I feel safe and comfortable 
skating here. I like skating with people of all

01:03:51.760 --> 01:03:57.200
ages and learning new skills from more 
advanced skaters. I think that having shared

01:03:57.200 --> 01:04:18.720
spaces like that and that's essentially what 
parks are really encourages people to get along.

01:04:18.720 --> 01:04:21.200
We like coming here in the 
evening, in the morning,

01:04:21.200 --> 01:04:26.960
in the middle of the day, in the winter. 
We've had parties here, bike rides. Um,

01:04:26.960 --> 01:04:48.560
I always see people that I know 
and also make new friends here.

01:04:52.800 --> 01:04:57.600
I love how Meredith also mentioned that uh 
her family sometimes uses a restroom there

01:04:57.600 --> 01:05:02.800
too because part of the abundance thing is that 
we have public bathrooms and we've actually added

01:05:02.800 --> 01:05:07.520
dozens and dozens of bathrooms all over the 
city. So, uh it's one of those small things

01:05:07.520 --> 01:05:13.680
that people appreciate when they need it. That 
includes about a hundred out at Balloon Fiesta,

01:05:13.680 --> 01:05:20.560
too. So, enjoy those in October. Um, 
this also this story also speaks to

01:05:20.560 --> 01:05:25.840
uh safety though. You'll notice that park was 
safe. And I do want to acknowledge, right,

01:05:25.840 --> 01:05:32.480
none of this strategy works if we are not safe 
as a community. And so crime is going down in

01:05:32.480 --> 01:05:36.320
Albuquerque. It doesn't mean we feel safer, 
but we know the statistics are going in the

01:05:36.320 --> 01:05:41.200
right direction. We know our police department 
is working hard with technology and civilians,

01:05:41.200 --> 01:05:46.160
and we've got to keep going. We have a long way 
to go. But we also know we're trying to work on

01:05:46.160 --> 01:05:51.600
specific areas that are driving crime that is 
especially dangerous like teen violence. This

01:05:51.600 --> 01:05:57.680
has been a massive problem all over the country 
and here. And we started a program recently in our

01:05:57.680 --> 01:06:03.120
high schools that is about violence intervention 
and it basically provides kids with a combination

01:06:03.120 --> 01:06:08.240
of service but also lived experienced folks 
who've been incarcerated to help them guide

01:06:08.240 --> 01:06:14.080
them on a different path. And so this program is 
extremely successful. It has shown for every kid

01:06:14.080 --> 01:06:21.040
in the program roughly an 80% increase in their 
grades and an 80% drop in any criminal activity.

01:06:21.040 --> 01:06:29.840
That makes it the most successful program 
that we know of in the state of New Mexico.

01:06:29.840 --> 01:06:34.160
This is in four high schools right now 
and we now just finished offering it to

01:06:34.160 --> 01:06:40.400
every high school in Albuquerque. This is 
going to make a difference in our city.

01:06:42.560 --> 01:06:46.080
Now, we're also going to continue doing the 
things that we have to do to keep our city

01:06:46.080 --> 01:06:52.240
safe. That means things like cracking down on 
drug houses, on hotels that are selling drugs,

01:06:52.240 --> 01:06:58.960
the unfortunate things that we have to do in a 
city that unfortunately is overrun by drugs. Now,

01:06:58.960 --> 01:07:04.480
some of this is a different kind of response. 
It's a it's a social work response. It's a

01:07:04.480 --> 01:07:09.360
response that offers help. And that is our 
community safety department. Our community

01:07:09.360 --> 01:07:20.480
safety department has now taken 150,000 calls 
from the 911 system. That is extraordinary.

01:07:20.480 --> 01:07:24.800
And those are all calls that APD did not have 
to respond to so they could focus on violent

01:07:24.800 --> 01:07:28.560
crime. And they're all calls where somebody 
actually got someone who could actually help

01:07:28.560 --> 01:07:33.280
them with a behavioral health or mental 
health issue. And we see how this can come

01:07:33.280 --> 01:07:38.240
together to make our public spaces better. 
And we see it especially in Old Town. So,

01:07:38.240 --> 01:07:54.800
let's hear from a business owner 
in Old Town, Pete Cassettes.

01:07:54.800 --> 01:08:02.080
[Southwestern Music] I own Outpost 1706 Tap Room here in Plaza Don Luis. 
I manage Plaza Don Luis and I have an Airbnb in Plaza

01:08:02.080 --> 01:08:07.920
Don Luis. So, got a big footprint involvement in 
Old Town. In 1992, I started my career with the

01:08:07.920 --> 01:08:13.360
New Mexico State Police and I worked all the way 
through the ranks. In 2013, I was appointed chief

01:08:13.360 --> 01:08:19.120
and I was a chief for five and a half years of 
the of the state police. Had a wonderful career. I

01:08:19.120 --> 01:08:26.560
just love uh business and I just love Albuquerque. 
I cannot make beer. I can certainly sell it. I

01:08:26.560 --> 01:08:32.160
actually uh not only opened a business, I actually 
moved to Old Town. I live in Old Town. So, I

01:08:32.160 --> 01:08:38.640
completely immersed myself in this micro community 
in Albuquerque. And what I noticed first off is we

01:08:38.640 --> 01:08:44.640
had a large population that was uh suffering 
from a mental illness and addiction. And they

01:08:44.640 --> 01:08:50.960
were using Old Town as a refuge. A lot of pressure 
was put on the City, and APD and the resources,

01:08:50.960 --> 01:08:55.920
but unfortunately, they weren't getting the best 
information to act and use those resources. So,

01:08:55.920 --> 01:09:01.280
the first step for us was understanding what's out 
there. And there is a lot of resources provided by

01:09:01.280 --> 01:09:06.880
the City. One good example would be ACS.  
Um they're a resource that I knew very little

01:09:06.880 --> 01:09:13.760
about. I knew the director Jodie uh and um I 
decided to reach out uh and we initially had

01:09:13.760 --> 01:09:20.720
meetings regarding the the population in Old Town 
that I felt um at first um we were frustrated

01:09:20.720 --> 01:09:25.680
as as business owners and merchants of property 
owners of what do we do with the same reoccurring

01:09:25.680 --> 01:09:32.400
people we see that need help that just don't know 
how to get it or can't. And I sat down with ACS,

01:09:32.400 --> 01:09:39.360
a group of us, and we really mapped out a plan 
and really got results as far as them being

01:09:39.360 --> 01:09:44.640
able to come out and identify folks and also 
to managing the expectations of everybody in

01:09:44.640 --> 01:09:49.840
Old Town of what we can expect when the City does 
respond. Uh, and I think now if you fast forward

01:09:49.840 --> 01:09:54.160
5 years later, a lot of that's been negated. And I 
think that's through the hard work of not only the

01:09:54.160 --> 01:09:59.440
folks at Old Town, but the commitment by the City 
and Mayor Keller and the folks that uh that work

01:09:59.440 --> 01:10:07.520
for him, ACS, APD, Metro Security Division, all 
working together to actually make an impact. I do

01:10:07.520 --> 01:10:12.400
feel safer. I think the majority of residents 
do and the businesses do. There's always room

01:10:12.400 --> 01:10:17.760
for improvement. What's nice is uh you know, this 
system, the the folks coming in and out of here,

01:10:17.760 --> 01:10:23.920
everything is there's a flow to it. And um I 
believe that the City is very responsive in

01:10:23.920 --> 01:10:28.560
in understanding that and then responding to 
it, especially when we're providing the best

01:10:28.560 --> 01:10:34.480
information we can and working with them. 
So we've seen better data-driven results based

01:10:34.480 --> 01:10:45.600
off of our interactions with the city uh since 
probably 2022, 2023. It's gotten a lot better.

01:10:51.600 --> 01:10:56.800
Well, an amazing piece of that story is also 
he's a former state chief of police. And so for

01:10:56.800 --> 01:11:01.520
a guy with his background to be talking about 
how public safety is more than just policing,

01:11:01.520 --> 01:11:08.080
it's especially powerful. Now, we also know that 
part of that story is where ACS can take folks,

01:11:08.080 --> 01:11:12.160
where folks can actually go to get help. That's 
where the Gateway comes in. A lot of folks have

01:11:12.160 --> 01:11:18.560
heard about the Gateway System. Well, it's finally 
up and running. and it takes care of 1,200 people

01:11:18.560 --> 01:11:24.320
every night in this city. It's extraordinary what 
this system is now doing. There are teens in

01:11:24.320 --> 01:11:28.880
the Teen Gateway. There's families in the Family 
Gateway. There are actually a hundred folks who

01:11:28.880 --> 01:11:33.600
are living at our westside shelter, but also 
work for the City to help clean up downtown

01:11:33.600 --> 01:11:39.520
through our better way forward program. And ACS 
is transporting almost 600 folks a month from

01:11:39.520 --> 01:11:46.480
the streets into the Gateway System. And they're 
also diverting 2,000 people from emergency rooms

01:11:46.480 --> 01:11:51.280
into places like the Gateway System where they 
can get the right kind of care and also not tie

01:11:51.280 --> 01:11:57.440
up emergency room space. This is how our city is 
starting to work together to help those who are in

01:11:57.440 --> 01:12:03.680
need. But I will tell you, I understand what 
we still see on our streets and I understand

01:12:03.680 --> 01:12:11.440
that we cannot improve what we see on our streets 
without more drug treatment and diversion options.

01:12:11.440 --> 01:12:17.600
That is the only way to improve things beyond the 
Gateway and the community safety department. Now,

01:12:17.600 --> 01:12:22.800
this is going to require something difficult 
for us as a city and as a state. We're going to

01:12:22.800 --> 01:12:28.080
have to renew our public compact on how we're 
dealing with this issue because we have to do

01:12:28.080 --> 01:12:33.440
two things at the same time that in some ways 
kind of butt heads and are in conflict. And it

01:12:33.440 --> 01:12:39.040
basically works like this. First, we have 
to agree that we can do better than leave

01:12:39.040 --> 01:12:48.960
people on the streets. They deserve better and 
we can do better than that for our communities.

01:12:48.960 --> 01:12:55.120
It means to accomplish that we actually have to 
start treating individuals like people who have

01:12:55.120 --> 01:13:01.040
their own history and their own needs instead 
of like just by the location. So basically

01:13:01.040 --> 01:13:05.200
what we do now is we have outreach to areas 
like Old Town. We just told you that. But the

01:13:05.200 --> 01:13:09.600
key to why that worked is because we got to 
know the actual people. We got to understand

01:13:09.600 --> 01:13:14.640
this person needed housing. This person needed 
addiction help. This person needed mental illness

01:13:14.640 --> 01:13:20.880
uh mental illness help. This is what we have to 
do. We have to build our system around the actual

01:13:20.880 --> 01:13:25.760
individual and this is what we're going to start 
doing at the City. We're transforming how we do

01:13:25.760 --> 01:13:33.200
outreach to be person centered person-based care 
and casework. That also means diversion from jail.

01:13:33.200 --> 01:13:36.480
It also means making sure there is a 
bed, making sure there's transport,

01:13:36.480 --> 01:13:41.760
making sure their belongings are taken care of. 
We have to do all of that to make this work. Now,

01:13:41.760 --> 01:13:46.800
there's another side of that public compact, 
though. Public spaces have to be for everyone.

01:13:46.800 --> 01:13:53.440
Everyone. That means it is not illegal to sit 
at a bench in a park. It's also not illegal to

01:13:53.440 --> 01:13:57.840
walk down the street, but it is illegal to 
do drugs in our parks. And we have to start

01:13:57.840 --> 01:14:03.120
cleaning that problem up. It also is illegal 
to harass or harm someone on the street. So,

01:14:03.120 --> 01:14:09.280
we have to do both. We have to have the compassion 
to actually get people real help. But we also have

01:14:09.280 --> 01:14:14.160
to make sure that the public domain is there for 
all of us, all of us to enjoy together and that

01:14:14.160 --> 01:14:19.920
people feel safe from the unhoused to folks who 
are just trying to use a park. That's what we're

01:14:19.920 --> 01:14:25.920
going towards in the future. But we cannot do 
this alone. I certainly can't. Neither can the

01:14:25.920 --> 01:14:32.640
City of Albuquerque. This is where I need help on 
the abundance front, right? We should not have to

01:14:32.640 --> 01:14:37.920
grovel for resources for the Gateway System. 
It's the single most needed thing right now in

01:14:37.920 --> 01:14:43.920
our city. We should not have to beg for housing 
vouchers. Yet, this is what I have to do in our

01:14:43.920 --> 01:14:49.200
budget every year. These should be the first 
things that we're funding. So, that mindset has

01:14:49.200 --> 01:14:54.320
to change. And part of it is going back to that 
notion that look, we're the we're the richest,

01:14:54.320 --> 01:15:00.160
poorest state in America, right? We have 
challenges around poverty, but we have all

01:15:00.160 --> 01:15:05.360
of these different kinds of pots of money that 
we could use to actually invest in our schools,

01:15:05.360 --> 01:15:10.800
invest in treatment, invest in more child care. We 
have the funds for this. And I'm going to tell you

01:15:10.800 --> 01:15:18.960
one other example. Our state budget for the last 
several years has had 35% plus extra money. This

01:15:18.960 --> 01:15:25.760
is just annual extra money. Do you know what 
35% of our state budget is? It's $3 billion.

01:15:25.760 --> 01:15:32.640
Can you imagine how better our streets would be if 
we just took our extras at the end of the year and

01:15:32.640 --> 01:15:37.920
invested it in addiction treatment? That is what 
I need help doing. That is what New Mexico needs

01:15:37.920 --> 01:15:43.680
all over the state. Now, there's some hope because 
as I mentioned earlier, folks are starting to wake

01:15:43.680 --> 01:15:49.200
up to this and it's amazing. There's even examples 
at UNM. You know, we finally funded a new medical

01:15:49.200 --> 01:15:54.400
school, fully funded it with this kind of extra 
money. That's a great thing. That is abundance.

01:15:57.200 --> 01:16:01.040
And also even the State Fair whether you we 
can fight about what to do about it but the

01:16:01.040 --> 01:16:05.680
State Fair actually has money to be fixed up 
again we're using some of that extra funding

01:16:05.680 --> 01:16:10.000
that we have and even in our school system 
you know they've partnered with the United

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:15.600
Way and APS is working on something called 
Career Academies, the City's helping with this. By the

01:16:15.600 --> 01:16:20.000
end of two years we should have a setup 
where in every high school in Albuquerque

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:25.040
every kid gets an actual internship, 
a paid internship in the

01:16:25.040 --> 01:16:32.960
City somewhere in the City. That is awesome. 
That is transformative. That is abundance.

01:16:32.960 --> 01:16:37.520
So, I need all the leaders in our city, 
whether you're a neighborhood leader or

01:16:37.520 --> 01:16:42.320
you're just a self-proclaimed proclaimed 
leader or really all of us together to

01:16:42.320 --> 01:16:47.840
also just say yes a little bit more. It's 
okay to say yes to someone's good idea,

01:16:47.840 --> 01:16:53.280
even if you're worried your idea might not get 
funded, right? That's the personal way to push

01:16:53.280 --> 01:16:59.120
back against the scarcity mindset. And we've 
got to do this between governments. You know,

01:16:59.120 --> 01:17:04.560
we have 15 layers of government in Albuquerque. 
It's a legacy of the city at the crossroads.

01:17:04.560 --> 01:17:08.400
We have like land grant government and acequia 
government, tribal government that we have all

01:17:08.400 --> 01:17:13.600
these Anglo forms of government. And so, we don't 
really empower each other to do anything. In fact,

01:17:13.600 --> 01:17:18.960
we created so much government, all we do is just 
protect the status quo. That's another example of

01:17:18.960 --> 01:17:24.000
how the scarcity mindset is embedded in who we 
are. So the only way out of that is for us to

01:17:24.000 --> 01:17:28.400
actually support each other. And so that's what 
we're going to try and do in Albuquerque. We're

01:17:28.400 --> 01:17:33.920
going to support what they need up north to fix up 
areas around Rio Arriba County. We're going to support

01:17:33.920 --> 01:17:39.520
what they need down in Los Cruces. And they should 
support us, too, because we're in this together.

01:17:39.520 --> 01:17:46.800
So we want to also celebrate when things go well. 
It's okay if we do good things, if we have good

01:17:46.800 --> 01:17:51.520
things, and we shouldn't be surprised when we do 
something extraordinary. And I want to go back to

01:17:51.520 --> 01:17:57.200
one example, that community safety department. 
Did you know that the mayor of New York City

01:17:57.200 --> 01:18:06.560
literally ran on copying Albuquerque's 
community safety department? That's awesome.

01:18:06.560 --> 01:18:12.640
And last week, the City of Chicago was here 
visiting to copy our community safety department.

01:18:15.200 --> 01:18:19.280
And six months before that, Seattle was 
here doing the same thing. And now some

01:18:19.280 --> 01:18:23.680
of our governor candidates want to make it 
statewide. That is worth celebrating. Please

01:18:23.680 --> 01:18:36.000
give every community safety department member 
here today a round of applause. 

01:18:36.000 --> 01:18:41.600
So now the timing is also important. We're 
looking at an opportunity that we haven't

01:18:41.600 --> 01:18:46.240
seen for generations. We have a natural 
transition uh in the governor's office.

01:18:46.240 --> 01:18:50.880
We have a new UNM president, by the way, some 
of you may know started a couple of weeks ago.

01:18:50.880 --> 01:18:57.280
And we also have funds. We have this money 
that we can use to push back against the

01:18:57.280 --> 01:19:02.880
scarcity that we've had in the past. So now is 
our chance to do more of what I talked about,

01:19:02.880 --> 01:19:06.480
to build on the good examples that our 
legislaturator's done, that the governor

01:19:06.480 --> 01:19:14.080
has done. So now is the time to truly move from 
a scarcity mindset to a place of abundance. Now

01:19:14.080 --> 01:19:18.720
we're going to conclude in just a little bit, 
but I want to begin to wrap up by sharing

01:19:18.720 --> 01:19:24.320
with you part of this is about my commitment to 
you. I've stated the three goals that I'm going

01:19:24.320 --> 01:19:29.760
to work on for the remainder of my historic 
third term. But I also want you to know this.

01:19:29.760 --> 01:19:34.400
Sometimes as mayor of a city like Albuquerque, 
especially the largest city in a rural state,

01:19:34.400 --> 01:19:38.560
sometimes the mayor also has to fight 
for our city. And I want to let you know,

01:19:38.560 --> 01:19:44.640
we found out about a month ago that our federal 
government was flooding our streets with millions

01:19:44.640 --> 01:19:51.280
of fentanyl pills. Some of you know about this. 
This is horrifying to think about. Our federal

01:19:51.280 --> 01:19:58.480
government was using us as an experiment to see 
if they did that, maybe some cartel leaders would

01:19:58.480 --> 01:20:07.680
show up and they could arrest them. That is wrong. 
That is immoral. And that costs hundreds of lives.

01:20:11.120 --> 01:20:17.280
So, what we are going to do is we are at least 
going to honor the cost of those lives that

01:20:17.280 --> 01:20:23.120
were lost, the cost of everyone who's working in 
recovery and in rehab and dealing with this issue,

01:20:23.120 --> 01:20:26.800
the cost of law enforcement to deal with 
this issue. And we are going to hold those

01:20:26.800 --> 01:20:31.120
accountable who made that decision. And we are 
going to make sure that Albuquerque is never

01:20:31.120 --> 01:20:41.280
used again by our federal government for 
a drug experiment. [cheering and applause]

01:20:41.280 --> 01:20:45.200
Now, unfortunately, there's another example 
of this that we saw this summer and we've

01:20:45.200 --> 01:20:49.200
seen throughout this year, and it is 
what our federal government has been

01:20:49.200 --> 01:20:54.720
doing through ICE coming into our cities and 
targeting people of color and rounding them

01:20:54.720 --> 01:20:59.280
up and arresting them and detaining them. 
Now, that might sound like an exaggeration,

01:20:59.280 --> 01:21:04.000
but hopefully by now, after seeing what 
happened in Minneapolis, this is clearly

01:21:04.000 --> 01:21:09.520
exactly what is happening in some American 
cities. But not here, because we will stand

01:21:09.520 --> 01:21:15.600
up against ICE. We have the laws and the grit 
and the guts to make sure that that does not

01:21:15.600 --> 01:21:22.840
happen in Albuquerque. And when it does, we 
will hold them accountable, too. 

01:21:24.560 --> 01:21:30.080
So, you have my commitment to defend this city 
when we have to stand together for our families.

01:21:30.080 --> 01:21:35.840
And you have my commitment to make sure that 
the City does what it can to actually so you

01:21:35.840 --> 01:21:40.000
all know that we can be helpful again in 
your lives. Whether it's protecting your

01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:44.800
family or whether it's trying to get drugs off our 
streets instead of putting them onto the street,

01:21:44.800 --> 01:21:51.840
I will be there to defend this city for as 
long as I'm your mayor. Now, as we conclude,

01:21:51.840 --> 01:21:57.600
I want to take a step back. First, I want to 
let you know Baila! Baila! is coming up next. That's

01:21:57.600 --> 01:22:04.960
right. That's exciting. The bar is going to be 
open. That's also exciting. Uh, Hollow Spirits

01:22:04.960 --> 01:22:11.120
is provided. Spirits uh, and food is going to be 
upstairs and you can enjoy this amazing facility.

01:22:11.120 --> 01:22:16.400
But as we wrap up tonight, I just want to 
summarize a little bit because the theory of

01:22:16.400 --> 01:22:23.200
change is now clear for us. We have shared in 
many ways a truth that has not been connected

01:22:23.200 --> 01:22:28.880
before. Certainly not for city government. And 
it begins with respecting where we came from,

01:22:28.880 --> 01:22:35.040
the city at the crossroads. In that story, it 
also is about cherishing what makes us special,

01:22:35.040 --> 01:22:41.120
our core identity, the culture that we've 
been able to save because of our resilience,

01:22:41.120 --> 01:22:46.000
our core strength. That's why this is such a 
special place. That's why we love it. That's

01:22:46.000 --> 01:22:52.640
why it's unique among American places to live. But 
we also know we have a call to action. We have to

01:22:52.640 --> 01:22:58.000
push back against the scarcity mindset that is 
still with us from that history that was the

01:22:58.000 --> 01:23:03.440
other side of resilience. Because now we actually 
can demonstrate abundance. And I've shared with

01:23:03.440 --> 01:23:08.320
you many ways in which we can do that. We've got 
to put abundance at the forefront of our public

01:23:08.320 --> 01:23:16.640
policy instead scarcity. So I know if we can do 
this together, this is Albuquerque now. This is

01:23:16.640 --> 01:23:22.720
Albuquerque's future. And if we can do this 
for the next as long as I'm your mayor term, we

01:23:22.720 --> 01:23:26.880
are going to make sure that we lift up this city 
for all of us here today. And we're going to make

01:23:26.880 --> 01:23:32.880
sure that we achieve our full potential and that 
we become the best of Albuquerque that we know we

01:23:32.880 --> 01:23:40.480
can be. Thank you so much Albuquerque for joining 
us tonight. May God bless you and may

01:23:40.480 --> 01:23:51.640
God bless Albuquerque. Enjoy the rest of 
the evening. Thank you so much. 

01:24:06.400 --> 01:24:20.320
["The Nurturing Glance" by Soilwork plays]