Good evening, everyone.

This is the sixth meeting of the 27th council.

Um will come to order.

All counselors are present this evening.

And we added something to the agenda here in the front.

So we're happy to be offering English Spanish interpretation this session by clicking on the more icon or the globe in your toolbar at the bottom of your Zoom screen.

You can choose your language of preference.

Presenters and hosts, remember to choose English in order to hear comments interpreted from Spanish.

Also, uh please be reminded to speak at a reasonable pace to help facilitate the interpretation.

And then I'm going to pause for a second.

And these are for the Zoom users.

Thank you.

So next we will have a moment of silence followed by the pledge.

Oh, and I apologize.

Before we do that, I just want to, you know, um a moment of silence in honor of Sergeant Michael Schloppmann from Bernalio County, Sheriff's Department.

Um Mr.

John Centuro, CEO of Albuquerque's Home in USA, and Mr.

Joe Chavez, he's from the West Central Community Development Um Group.

He's a board member.

Please join us in the pledge.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Um I'll also add in there, and and we'll take a moment of silence just to add the um service members who had lost their life while protecting our country in Iran.

Thank you so much.

Councilor um Vice President Champagne.

Madam President, civic parking passes are provided for members of the public.

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to 5 p.m.

The council will take a break at approximately 7 p.m.

this evening if needed with regard to decorum in the chambers.

We want tonight's proceedings to be as civil and respectful as possible.

Please do not make any personal attacks, and please do not applause, snap, or other outbursts during the meeting.

Such removal from the city council chambers will be effective for the remainder of the meeting.

If continued disruption occur, the president may recess the meeting until order is restored, and if necessary, mayor may clear the chambers of persons participating in the disturbance.

This meeting will go a lot smoother if we are respectful of one another.

At this time, we will have an admin administration question and answer period.

Counselors, do we have any questions for the admin?

Counselor Grout.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

My question is for Director Turner.

No, Keener.

Keener.

Keener.

Hi, Director Keener.

Thanks for being here today.

Um I wanted to say congratulations.

I understand uh transit ridership is up.

And so um I wanted to know what else do you trip attribute um or what do you attribute this ridership up?

One of the reasons why.

Um, Council President and um Councillor Grout.

So, yes, ridership is up, it's against all of our modes.

Um, so and that includes our fixed route, our paratransit, and our microtransit.

So we do have you know, microtransit is one of our newer modes that got introduced in 24, so that is adding additionally to it.

Um on top of that, I think part of it is because of our reliability increasing.

Um so, as you all are well aware, we've had lots of misservice over the years.

We're actually down 93% right now when I look at the first two quarters of fiscal year 26 versus the first two quarters of fiscal year 25.

So I think that's a big part of it because now people can depend that when the bus is going to be there that it's it's going to come.

And then also some of the work that we've done with the transit app as well to help people plan rides, but also to see if we are having to have a bus that's not going to be going out, we are able to cancel those trips and people are aware of that as well.

Very good.

Are we fully staffed on drivers?

Um Council President and Councillor Grout.

No, we are not fully staffed on drivers, but um we have made some big strides there, so we are down into the mid-70s right now for motor coach operators, um, which is about 30 percent.

So we were upwards of 40 percent at one point in time.

Um, and then for our sun van drivers, we're actually around 10 percent right now, vacancy rates.

So very good.

Well, thank you.

I'm I'm glad things are improving.

It's good to hear.

Thank you.

Counselors have any other questions?

Madam President.

Um, thank you, uh Mr.

Vice President.

I just want to just congratulate the um ad um the admin.

Uh you know, just been driving down central in day after day.

I'm seeing folks out there picking up trash, cleaning it up.

I think the um for transit as well, it looks just amazing.

Um they're there pulling weeds.

It was it's been really nice to see all that work out there.

So thank you guys so much.

Appreciate that.

Madam President, yes, uh, no other questions or answers.

Okay, thank you, Vice President Champine.

Um, Counselor Grepp.

We are now on proclamations and presentations.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, we're going to have a short presentation from Miss Jody Escavelle.

She's the community safety department director, and she is going to provide information on the connect to care overview.

Great, thank you.

Awesome.

Hi, Director.

Hello, Councilor, Council, Madam President, Counselors, thank you for this opportunity to speak about something that we feel is so beneficial for our community right now.

Um, despite having uh increase of calls for service, um, 311%, 73% increase of calls from 24 to 25, as well as 911 calls by 10 percent.

We have found a space to continue to be proactive for our response for the community.

And this is one of the ways that we found success is our connected care events.

So, what is an ACS connected care event?

Who doesn't sit on the screen?

Um, this is um proactive response to our community.

So finding those high volume areas where we feel like we need to be able to take resources, write to the community, um, find and create pathways as well as break down any barriers that our community members might have um run into.

This is quite literally meeting our community where they are.

I'm gonna rush through, but hope that you guys have a ton of questions and I brought Jen to answer all of them all.

Um what resources is the next, um, which is really great.

What resources are offered?

We have medical behavioral health, um, this helps um this comes to the community via IGA with our street medicine team, our UNM Street Medicine team.

That Dr.

Kavanaugh is a psychologist.

We have um Dr.

Lindsay Fox, we're doing medications, we're treating, we're doing all the things that we need to do to help people feel um better and make better choices for themselves.

Um we have substance abuse, uh intervention, housing and safety, access to documentation, and we have a great partnership with the Veterans Integration Center.

I think it's nice to be able to shine a light on our all of our community partners because we couldn't we couldn't have these events um without all of their input, as well as our city departments that also um our our police department, our fire department, and most recently our animal welfare department.

Um we've increased the amount of times that we're collaborating in that space.

Um I also want to talk about goodwill.

They're an amazing partner.

Um I want to talk about how this isn't a handout and this is a hand up.

We're trying to get people connected.

Goodwill is there, trying to get people connected to jobs.

Um we also have the um recent partnership with the MVD through the governor's office that are helping us actually print out IDs on site, because we understand that that is a big barrier for our community that has have either misplaced their documents and we want to be able to get them reconnected, have their ID.

Um there's there's no excuses.

We have set everything up in that space to be able to help break down those barriers, create those pathways.

Um a little bit of the impact.

I mean, there's thousands of people going to these events.

I knew that was gonna happen.

I knew I was gonna start to rant.

Um, but I really did want to talk about just the partnerships that are so important to make this happen.

And I hope that you guys have questions.

Jen Martinez is here.

Um, she oversees that division and is brilliant in this space.

So thankful to be able to share with something that the city, the administration, and and everybody, to include all of our partners are doing something proactive to make sure that we are um in the spaces that we need to be in those high targeted areas.

Counselor Grout asked that you can finish your slides.

Okay.

Thank you, Counselor.

Thank you.

Um I do want to talk about, let's see, I don't really know where it is.

I'll just go off of here.

The depth of the um the resources that are in the space are really important.

Um it's out ACS street outreach, our navigators, which you guys have helped with our opiate funding.

Um we've brought on navigators there that have been extremely successful.

I have numbers of that as well.

Our behavior health responders are there, our community responders as well as our core responders.

What we found in these events is that people are coming forward that normally wouldn't have domestic violence situations.

We have given um an ultrasound to a woman that had zero prenatal care, and then decided um they were giving on-site ultrasounds at the International District Library.

It was the first time that she was able to see her her baby, and then um decided to engage with our opiate education and prevention team and go into treatment.

Um, this is something that we've been able to bring into the field and and make a big impact.

And that's all um within ACS's capabilities now.

The depth has been um really amazing to start to build out.

Um, we're just getting better at what we're doing.

I hope you guys have questions.

Any questions?

Counselor Backa.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam President.

Sorry about that.

Um I don't have a question.

I've I've gotten to see these first hand over the last couple of years and the evolution and how much it's improved.

I got to go out with uh Counselor Champagne on one of these.

Um phenomenal work.

Uh it's not easy work by any stretch.

I'm not the one out there doing this.

So just a big thank you from me to you and everybody else involved because I know it takes it takes a lot to make this happen.

So thank you.

Any other questions?

No, I just want to say before I um hand it back to Councilor Grout, is that I think you're doing an amazing job.

You know, when we first talked about ACS coming, um, you know, bringing this department on board, it was really about being proactive.

And you know, you guys got your hands full and you ended up kind of having to go and you know just respond to calls, but to see you come back to what your original vision was and to see all the hard work you're doing.

There's people I know in the community that are actually reaching you guys are reaching out to, and it's been really um a tremendous help to them.

So thank you guys.

Thank you, Madam.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Director.

I um have loved to watch you guys grow and evolve as well.

And um, I think you are getting better at your job.

Um, like that's what you're seeing, how what works and what doesn't work and so forth.

Um this is exactly what I want to see is the community, the different departments uh partners in the community coming together and going out into the community and not sitting behind a desk waiting for them to come to us because they're not going to.

Not as easy.

And so going out into the field, and you even told me when we met last week that um you're actually even going, you're setting up in it in an area, and then you're actually going out into the area.

And so you're going to find them.

You're not waiting for them to come.

And as you do that, I know without a doubt that more and more people will hear about your services and will come and um and take part in it.

I love that um MVD, uh New Mexico MBD is there.

Don't have an idea, let's ID, let's get it done now.

Um, the story about the woman getting to hear about her baby.

That's very sweet and special, and that's that's just what we need.

Um goodwill.

I just love the partnership that goodwill has brought to our city and our community.

They are finding jobs for people and it's working.

And of course, the work with um from Dr.

Fox and the UNM outreach team.

Very, very good.

I mean, all of the things, veterans integration system, getting those those folks some help and and uh home for them.

But that this is just one of the I just this just warms my heart more than you know, to see um the help that you're bringing to the people on the street, and I wish you wish you much much success, continued success, and we look forward to seeing even better numbers.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President and Counselors.

Thank you for the time.

Thank you.

So, next we have a presentation from Dr.

Shell Sanchez, Arts and Cultural Um Director, and Tanya Armenta, from CEO of Visit Albuquerque, who will provide a quarterly update on the Route 66 Centennial.

Okay, thank you.

Come on over.

Welcome, ladies.

Thank you, thank you, Madam President.

Thank you for the invitation.

Um it is the centennial, so is this our last presentation?

I feel like we're in it.

I guess we could talk about it later, but we're we're we're saying it's launched, so um, we're gonna just walk you through a little bit really quickly.

Um here we go.

Um, so our art field road trip, which is our signature um activation for Route 66 Centennial is launched.

Our shorthand for this is 18 miles, 19 art activations, 20 artists, and one poet.

And now you can um find the the kind of app or the navigation on that at the route 66 um remix.com.

Um, and you can also get there through visit Albuquerque's website for the centennial.

So we crossed the finish line on this last week.

Um, counselor Pena was there with us, um, and it was great fun.

We thought it was super amazing and popular, but now it's doubly popular thanks to AFR for those of you who have been on social media.

So thank them for a little bit extra love for our two um final installations.

Um then we have just really quick, we've had some really good national wins.

Um, Samantha Brown's syndicated show, Places to Love, um, featuring the chemo theater is now showing nationally, and so we've gotten a lot of great attention for that.

Um, it doesn't just focus on the chemo, it focuses on a lot of other things, but Albuquerque got some great press.

The Route 66 remixed has been designated as an officially certified activity of the National Centennial Celebration.

Um, that's great.

We get a lot of extra attention, and um we get on a lot of other calendars and other uh communities, so that's a big deal.

And then a Albuquerque is a satellite city for the national kickoff event um on April 30th.

So stay tuned for more of that.

And I'm gonna pass this on.

Oh, one more announcement.

The Route 66 Visitors Center.

The sign park is very much under construction in the kind of second phase, and we'll be opening on April 1st.

We for 4th.

4th, April 4th.

Join me.

Um, new exhibits, uh, new central um permanent, semi-permanent exhibit, and uh amazing photography exhibit.

So April 4th.

Hope you can all be there.

Um, because now that we made cool stuff, Tanya's gonna uh encourage everyone in the community across the country and nationally internationally to come.

So thank you, Dr.

Sanchez.

Thank you, Madam President, members of the council.

Um it's really an opportunity, a wonderful opportunity to talk about a few things now that we are in 2026 that have come to fruition.

First and foremost, hope that um everyone's had an opportunity to explore Route 66ABQ.com.

That is a comprehensive website with stories, itineraries, events, calendars, and as Dr.

Sanchez mentioned, the Route 66 remixed has an entire section dedicated to it.

If you'd like to subscribe to the Roadrunner Newsletter, it's a monthly UNU newsletter about news and events on Route 66.

I have some I have QR codes to sign up for that.

We've also had great earned media and PR opportunities, media missions and trade missions for Route 66 large advertising campaign with national advertising in uh digital advertising presence in major airports and video spots.

The 2026 official Albuquerque Visitors Guide has a seven-page uh feature that's dedicated to Route 66 and organic and paid social media efforts.

Just want to hit on a few of these media highlights.

Albuquerque this year, thanks to the Centennial, um, it really plays uh is the reason the cornerstone of some of these rankings.

We're the top vacation destination for 2026 according to today.

Uh to the Today Show, Conde Nash Traveler, the best places to go in 2026, Afar magazine, best places to travel in 26, Frommer's best places to go in 26, AARP eight affordable destinations, and as Shell mentioned, Samantha Brown's Places to Love, um, also a feature.

I have a couple of these because really these snapshots don't really um pay justice.

So if anyone would like to take a look at these media highlights, um, just a real opportunity for Albuquerque to capitalize on this interest from the centennial, thanks to the good work that's been done.

Wanted to hit on a few key dates, and I'm not gonna hit on all of these, but um just a few things that are happening.

Of course, there uh July 18th, the Route 66 Summerfest.

November 11th is the official hundredth birthday of the highway system uh November 11th.

Some things that are local would be the um the roads and rails festival, the Wills Museum's doing here in April, the other Route 66 exhibit opening at Albuquerque Museum, the Great Race is coming through Albuquerque June 24th.

That's at Balloon Fiesta Park, um, and the Bands of Enchantment Festival September 26th.

And then just uh to talk about why this is meaningful.

I wanted to um talk a little bit about um some opportunities for us for conversion of travelers.

We know the interest has been significant from an international perspective, especially uh UK, Germany, um, Japan.

We are looking at capitalizing on increasing the international tourism this year, but also domestic as well.

Just a looking at early 2025, these statistics show travelers that were coming to Albuquerque.

7% were on Route 66 on a Route 66 road trip.

This is early 2025, so that's approximately 434,000 travelers that were on a Route 66 road trip.

Uh then you take a look at uh those visitors that were in Albuquerque who visited Route 66 while they're here.

That's 14% of travelers at the time in early 2025.

That's 868,000.

So those will be used as benchmarking when we compare 2026 to 2025.

And from an international perspective, wanted to mention that Albuquerque is currently featured in 208 bookable itineraries that are sold through travel agents, tour operators, and wholesalers in Germany and the UK, and of those itineraries, approximately 65% are Route 66 focused.

So those opportunities from an international perspective.

Stand for any questions.

Thank you, ladies.

Does anyone have any questions?

Councilor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you all so much.

We're really excited about all the amazing things.

I just wanted to get a follow-up for Director Sanchez on the banners in my district.

We had a lovely public commenter talk about them, and I just saw another meme in the Highland district.

Um it just says HIH-LAN, and somebody made a meme of somebody under the influence right underneath it saying Highland.

Um I don't think that that leaves us with a good connotation either.

So I just want to get an update on where we are in fixing the centennial banners in my district where it didn't go over pretty well.

Um, Madam President, um, Councilor Rogers, yeah, we we are in the midst of that.

I'm uh I'm I believe that we copied you on a response to the community inquiry.

Uh we have a quote.

We're designing the banners for Silver Hill, and we will get them installed as soon as we can print them, schedule installation, and make that happen.

So well underway.

Thank you, Madam President.

I would just ask if I could look at them before we we purchase them.

Um and it's not just Silver Hill, we sent a couple of other neighborhoods as well.

So if I could look at those before we um put them up or order them, that would be great.

Because I think if our Office of Neighborhood Coordination or us could have helped, we could have given that feedback ahead of time, saving us extra funding in having to redo them.

So I would love the chance to approve them for my district given the what's happened in our community with these banners.

Um Madam President, Councillor Rogers.

At this point, we're working on the Silver Hill banners based on the available budget, but I'm happy to talk to you about um the other requests that you have for changing out the existing banners.

Thank you.

Any other questions, comments?

I'll just end it with saying I think you guys have done a phenomenal job.

You've been working, you know, just working your tails off to get this done, and really all the accolades that you're getting is a result of the work that you've been doing.

Um, you know, Tanya, amazing work.

Thanks for your service on the commission, and um, I look forward to all the excitement this year because there's a lot of you know, if you look at even with um the Vanderslice uh monument that was just put up.

I don't care what time of the day you go by, it's only been up what like two weeks, and there are cars there.

I went just the other day to just kind of congratulate um Vanderslice and his crew, and I drove up, and that's when the firefighters were there, and I was like, When there's a party over here, so yeah, so you guys are doing a great job.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

So we are now on to the journal.

Item number five.

I move approval of the February 17th journal, 18th journal.

Second.

There's a motion and second by Councilor Rogers.

All those in favor, say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed, same motion.

Motion passes unanimously.

Um we are now on communication and introductions.

Are there any changes to the letter of introduction?

Hearing none, I move approval of the letter of introduction.

Second, there's a motion second by Councillor Grout.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Yes.

Opposed, no.

Motion passes unanimously.

Uh we are on to reports of committee.

There are none.

Next, uh deferrals and withdrawals.

Are there any deferrals or withdrawals at this time?

Seeing none, um, we are on item eight, consent agenda.

Are there any changes to the consent agenda?

Vice President Champagne.

Yes, I'd like to pull EC 2641 and 43, please.

So um we are pulling, there's a request to pull EC 2641 and EC2643.

With those two items um pulled.

I just want to say um for those of individuals on tonight's consent agenda who are being appointed to serve on a board or commission.

Thank you for your willingness to serve.

I move approval of the consent agenda.

Second.

There's a motion and a second by Councillor Grout.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed no motion passes unanimously.

Um Vice President Champagne.

Thank you, Madam President.

Just a few questions.

Uh EC2641 is the first quarter of the IPA report.

And if uh Madam C A O, if you have uh a director here, I just have three questions.

Um about this.

Why do we why do we uh give out this information that's requested of us?

I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?

The IPRA request.

Why do we why do we give out information?

So the Inspection Public Records Act is a state law that requires that we produce records to uh persons as just defined by the act.

Okay, so we give out video that the city has and has possession of and gives it out freely to the public, but based on a state statute, correct?

There is a fee.

Uh they can inspect for free.

Uh we do charge a fee if they would like copies of the video.

Okay.

Is there any criteria for these requests?

Um, and the reason why I ask is a lot of this report showed um numerous different countries throughout the world requested stuff from from the city of Albuquerque throughout several states.

The top one is from Arkansas.

But is there a criteria of these requests or um so um Madam President?

Um Vice President Champagne.

Um no.

I mean, so currently under state law, the only requirement is that they identify the records they are seeking with reasonable particularity.

And you are highlighting the concern that we flagged in our report, which is we've seen an explosion of requests from out of state and out-of-country YouTubers, is what they appear to be.

It appears they are submitting huge, huge numbers of requests to us using AI.

We get 20 to 40 requests from individuals over on Mondays.

Okay.

Madam President, is there any time that we tell people no?

Um so we can redact records if they don't describe the records they're seeking adequately.

We can reject the request on that ground, but uh we cannot reject a requester's request based on their location.

Okay.

So and Madam President, that what and director, I noticed that the number, and again, you touch base on this real quick, and just kind of reiterate what you had said that the number keeps going up, and the clerk's office is continuously commenting about how they're dealing with the backlog, and that's just based off of the obviously this is important because we you guys emphasize so much about how we're dealing with this backlog and how in in the numerous um I guess lawsuits that we get if we don't return them out in a certain amount of time, burstate law.

Um are you still able to keep up with that backlog and and do you see an end in sight?

Thank you for asking this important question.

I think so.

We strive to close small requests quickly, and then we designate broad and burdensome requests as such, and then we have an additional reasonable period of time.

We really do try to um you know be in contact with requesters and reduce our overall response time through June 30th of last year, we were doing great.

Um, but then we saw the explosion in July, August, and September of the YouTube requests, um, astronomical explosion.

And so um I don't I don't know the answer is I don't know.

I mean, I I don't know that there's an end in sight.

I mean, we did receive 20,000 requests last calendar year.

I suspect we're gonna receive 20,000 this fiscal year because the the volume is not let up.

Um so absent changes in state law, no, I do not see an end in sight into this increase in volume.

We have been successful in keeping our response time relatively low.

I mean, the city does get a large number of simple requests, but we do take longer than 15 days on a large number of requests as well.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Director.

Vice President Champagne, do you have a motion?

Uh make a motion to accept uh EC2641.

There's a motion and second.

Madam President, the motion would actually be a receipt being noted because this is a report.

Because of the report, thank you.

Oh, yes.

And then I will make a uh correction to my motion that a receipt be noted.

You're okay with that, Council Group, yes.

So there's a motion and second for receipt be noted of EC2641.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed, same sign.

Motion passes unanimously.

Uh, Counselor Vice President Champagne.

Thank you, Madam President.

EC2643, the second quarter FY26 ABQ ride quarterly security report from APD, ACS, and Metro.

Um, and I'm not too sure who can answer my seven questions.

Madam President, Counselor Champagne, um Director Keener will start off the bat.

We'll see if we need others.

Perfect.

Uh why do we need this report?

Uh Madam President and Councillor Champagne, uh, it is a directive from uh previous ordinance that we are following through on.

Um so that is the reason why we have this report developed.

Although I can say that we are working on making improvements to it at this time.

Um, for instance, here at the beginning of the year, I I believe it was uh just before February we started implementing within our ABQ Ride dispatch team a SAM system for reporting category alerts within internally um ABQ ride and SAM stands for security accident and medical, and so we are collecting that data, and I think that's going to give you a little bit of of what's been missing off of this, which is the on-bus information, um, because we are getting a lot of that through our dispatch team, and we are also working in conjunction with parametrics, who is the consulting firm that helped us with the long-range security plan also on developing a dashboard that will overlay that geographically onto a map so we'll be able to see you know where we need to put our resources uh for security in a more timely manner than we currently have.

Okay.

In the reading of it, I did see that we have Madam President, we have transit security officers, we have public service aids, and we have APD.

Why the need for three separate entities, three uh type, because we usually just have metro security.

So why the other two, or why the beef up in numbers?

Madam President and Counselor Champagne, that that's a great question.

And that was part of the long-range security plan.

Um we have been talking about this multi-pronged uh approach to transit security.

Um but here recently we have migrated over to APD.

And so in conjunction with APD, we have the transit safety officers.

Um they're not sworn police officers.

Uh they do not have the ability to detain, they they really are just enforcing our rules to ride.

So if there is any kind of rules violation, or excuse me, not rules violation, but uh violation in law.

At that point, they're able to have that direct connect with APD to where we can get a much quicker response for sworn police.

Um does that answer your question?

Yeah, well, yes and no, madam president, but why the need for so much then?

I mean, metro security was there, they if there was an issue with the bus stop or on the buses, metro security would follow, or so why have we needed a PSA group, a now EPD group, and even to the uh the next question I had, and this goes in the same thing APD undercover operations.

The report specifically stated that APD conducts UC operations on the buses.

So what's why?

Uh Madam President and Councilor Champagne, I think we've always needed this.

I I think one thing that I found that's been extremely helpful is that this force is dedicated to transit.

Our transit TSOs are are completely dedicated to transit, as are those PSAs that are given to us.

And the PSAs ride the buses.

The transit safety officers don't, they're they're set up more as a mobile patrol.

And so when you talk about Metro, Metro had responsibility for the entire city, right?

We didn't have anyone that was dedicated other than at the ATC.

And so when they weren't proactively responding, right?

They weren't on the network, they weren't in the areas all the time that that we know that we have issues.

And so by having APD transit safety officers, they're very familiar with our system, they're very familiar with the way that we operate, they're familiar with the people, and they're able to provide that more proactive response for us.

Um Madam President, uh, one thing that caught my attention was my glasses that fly everywhere.

That caught my attention right now.

Um provides crime prevention through environmental design analyst.

What is EDA?

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

Environmental design analyst.

That uh the one of the paragraphs in there says it provide the describes provides crime prevention through environmental design analysis.

And I was kind of curious what EDA was.

EDA?

Yeah, environmental design analysis.

Are you speaking of subtlets?

Um is that what it is, Jeff?

Yeah, okay.

Yeah.

Um, so this is um and Madam President and Counselor Champines uh septes are our are pretty normal standard process for just you know having PD come out and take a look at our environment and see how we can prevent crime from happening.

So, like natural deterrence, right?

Lighting, um, cleanliness, uh making sure you know that we do have security presence, those are all things that that help to um you know prevent crime.

Perfect, thank you.

Um Madam President, how long has this type of security been in place with all three entities?

Um Madam President and Counselor Champaign, I would have to look, but I believe it was early 2024 when we started the multi-pronged effect um approach to transit safety, and that's when we stood up the transit safety officer program and and started uh migrating from Metro over to APD.

And before that it was just Metro, correct?

Before that it was just Metro, and you could even go back to I think it was 2018 when um we actually did have within ABQ ride our own transit security force.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

There's been a lot of movement with transit security over the years.

And quite a need too, right?

Madam President, Counselor Champaign, yes.

There is a need for transit security.

This is not specific to Albuquerque.

I mean, you see this across the nation.

Um, many of the agencies are stepping up their security forces right now.

Okay, Madam President, um the total metro calls for for quarter second quarter of 2025 were 2160.

And for second quarter of 2026, there were 69.

That's a huge difference.

Is there a reason why it's such a dramatic uh drop?

Madam President and Counselor Champagne, yes, because we don't rely on metro security for our our security anymore.

We have migrated that over.

So the only time that we use metro security is um if we have TSOs in training, um, they tend to do that with with all of them at one time because we we only have um 17 transit safety officers and and three transit safety sergeants, and then um the period between when our our buses start and about 7 a.m.

when uh the transit safety officers come on duty, we'll utilize Metro for that.

Okay.

And that Madam President, the same goes for the transit centers.

I guess in FY25, the calls for service were 2537, and then for Q2 of 26 or 680.

Again, that's a you know a 40% drop, or my math is wrong.

Uh so Madam President and Counselor Champagne, um the ATC is really the biggest facility that that sees our our our transit security calls.

Um it's the one that we see them the most at, and Metro used to perform security there.

They were there 24-7.

Um here recently we did transition over to APD TSOs.

Um, and then when last I think it was about the middle of last year, we pulled the TSOs out of AP uh the ATC because we needed them mobile in the field, and we replaced them with a contract security at that time.

Um and those are level two guards.

They do report, so if they have anything that happens at the ATC, they will either call out uh APD or they will call out uh the TSOs.

So we still do get reports through them through that process, but I I think they they've been extremely effective for us at the ATC, and we've seen some positive improvements with them.

Perfect.

And one last question, Madam President.

Uh reactive calls, down 63%.

Um 2,345 to 868.

What are reactive calls and why the big drop?

Uh Madam President and Counselor Champine.

So reactive calls are when the APD TSOs are actually being called out to something.

So they also do have calls when they're just out and about doing their normal patrols and they'll see something and respond to it.

Um or also in the re the proactive um stuff is their briefings or those tactical operation plans that they have as well.

Um but I think um the reactive calls you're seeing drop because you're seeing that presence that's out there with APD TSOs.

And so again, like I said, they're very familiar with our system, they're familiar with the people out there, they're able to have you know conversations with people and talk to them about the rules to ride, what's acceptable, what's not, and they know who these people are, right?

So they're able to get ahead of it when they see them out there.

Perfect.

Thank you, Madam President.

Dr.

Sengle, she did a great job.

You didn't have to say anything was awesome.

So I appreciate the information.

Thank you.

Madam President, I make a motion to receipt be noted.

So there's a motion and a second for a receipt be noted.

We had a question from Counselor Teas.

Oh, thank you, Madam President.

Yes, thank you.

I just have a couple of questions.

Um do you what's the implementation plan for the route by route data, the bike corridor method?

Do you have a plan for that in place?

Um Madam President and Counselor Teas, yes.

As I just mentioned, um, we just implemented our with our own ABQ ride dispatch team to where they're tracking that stuff in a much better fashion.

Um I anticipate that's by the last quarter uh report that we do for fiscal year 26 that we'll be able to have a full quarter's worth of that data to provide.

Okay.

I don't think we'll have the dashboard up and running just yet, but it should follow shortly after.

Okay.

Um thank you.

Madam President, how are you measuring whether um your shift away from the metro security um is producing better outcomes or will produce better outcomes?

Uh Madam President and Counselor Kaz, I I think that can be seen by by just having again that that presence that is dedicated to to transit.

So we're seeing and we're hearing from our staff the response times are much better than they were before because we already have the resources in the areas that we typically see issues, and so the response times are much better, and I think people are starting to see that.

Okay, great.

And I guess my last question, Madam President, thank you, is what is the formal handoff protocol between you know APD ACS and TSO.

Is it are there any issues that are um creating problems that calls are bouncing or anything like that?

Um Madam President and Counselor TS, so ACS gets called out in the normal way.

We don't typically call out ACS.

So it's it's through either 311 or it's through 911 that you would get an ACS response.

We don't call them direct for anything.

Um I think the handoff between our ABQ ride dispatch team, they know when TSOs aren't out yet, so they know to call Metro, and we've had some really good relationships with Metro being out there when we need them to be and then and calling out um APD TSOs, they actually have our security channel, so they're hearing everything that's going on, so a lot of times they're already hearing it before the dispatch team is is calling them out.

But sometimes if there is anything that is serious in nature, like uh you know uh a law that's being violated, then our dispatch team is calling direct into um APD to make that call for sworn to come out too.

Okay, Madam President, thank you.

So that is what your your process is because I know ACS does not respond to security enforcement.

So does that automatically happen or are they just listening and then kind of jumping in?

Uh Madam President and Councilor Texas, are you are you referring to ACS's response right now?

Yeah, yeah.

So when ACS is okay, we know we're not responding to security or enforcement issues.

What is the protocol for the handoff when that is when that's the issue?

Madam President, Councilor Teas.

Um, I just want to respond because I think this is uh connected into um how ACS is dispatched, which is important because I think a call for service for ACS that comes in through 911 is going into the same dispatch center as an APD call, and the call takers in in um in the 911 center are making that um, you know, going through and triaging that.

We have folks from ACS also connected in into the 911's um uh call center.

If it's a 311 call um to ACS, it's also dispatched through 311 into those departments.

So I just think it's important to note that that it is through the 911 system that that dispatch would occur.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

Just one more question for you, Dr.

Keener.

Thank you for all the work you're doing, especially in my district with the shelters and things.

Thank you.

I just had a question.

You mentioned that we switched from co metro to contracted security.

Is that I mean, do we have a cost analysis?

I know contracted security, is it more expensive than using our own metro security?

And how did we arrive at contracted security instead of just bringing metro security back?

Uh council president and counselor rogers, yes, it is more expensive.

Um, and we are using level two security at the ATC as well.

Um my understanding was that there was a need um for I believe it was the encampments to be able to utilize the resources that we had at that time at the ATC.

And um, so that's where we ended up with PD coming in, and then just they're in a they weren't able to fill all the positions that we had with the TSOs, and so we had to have that mobile coverage out in the field to be able to make sure that that we could um you know have a handle on on the transit safety out there, and so that was the decision made at that point was to get the APD TSOs out of the ATC into the field and bring in contracted security at that point.

Thank you.

Madam President, so any plans to bring Metro back and not pay the extra amount for correct just knowing the budget of the city and where we at where we're at, um, I just wonder if we could make a better decision and not spend extra on the contracted security instead of metro security.

Madam President and Councilor Rogers, yes, that is the goal is to bring APD TSOs back.

And and that's why you'll notice for the long-range security plan, we actually added those positions in because originally it was leaving Metro at uh the ATC, but now that we're gonna be covering it with APD TSOs, we we up that number to um to the 87, which includes the transit safety sergeants as well.

Okay, so yes.

Thank you.

And then the last question is how do we train the contracted security?

Um Madam President and Councilor Rogers, I they have their own training process, it's the same for Garter World.

Uh, we step in and you know, we have lots of conversations with them, so they're on our calls on a weekly basis to talk about any any kind of issues that we see coming up, any kind of handling that that might not be correct that's handled very quickly with those teams and those individuals are are either no longer working for us as contracted security, and then they build that back into their training.

So contracted security does their own training, but they also are roped into our training as well.

Thank you, Madam President.

Does that include the ambassador trainings?

Um that our ABQ ride ambassadors are getting.

So they can help navigate the feedback that I've been getting is their contracted security, they can't actually help our writers navigate anything.

And I think that's a missed opportunity.

If we gave them maybe the ambassador training, they could actually help writers instead of just watching writers.

No, madam uh president and counselor rogers, that that's extremely fair.

We've seen the same thing, and that's what we're working with our garter world teams on because they're the ones that are on the buses um especially.

Uh I think Schimmel does a really nice job of this already at the ATC on giving people resources and you know, pointing them to the roles to ride and and all of that educational stuff.

But for our garter world folks, we we do work on that because they are the ones on the buses and we are working with their management team on and helping um with that, although it has you know it has continued to be a struggle, but we we are um continuing to push that out as something that is a key priority for us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

Uh Council President, Council Rogers.

So when it comes to our ambassadors and to the security that we have, we're in active recruitment at all times, trying to fill every slot we can, but they have to go to an academy.

So in the priority of our administration is to have safety.

So this is the quickest way to safety, and yes, there may be a little bit more cost, but as we fill these positions, that's where we're going.

When it comes to the ambassadors, their job is different where they know the neighborhood, they know those things.

So our security officers that we hire are for security and the ambassadors are there to clean and then give information as needed.

So as we go down that road, those are the two big things.

Thank you, Madam President.

I appreciate that.

I just think we don't have enough ambassadors, you know.

But I think they can serve as ambassadors, and I think it also helps just with the you know the build trust with security and law enforcement, all the things that we're working hard at at the city is to build trust, and I think having them be able to be friendly faces as well as the security we need.

I think we can balance both.

But thank you for that.

Thank you, Councillor Rogers.

So we have a motion and a second by Councillor Grout for a receipt be noted of EC 2643.

All those in favor, say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed.

Motion passes unanimously.

We are now on to announcements.

Councilor Basson.

Madam President, there will be an intergovernmental legislative relations committee meeting on Wednesday, March 4th at 3 p.m.

via Zoom video conference, and the land use planning and zoning committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 11th, is canceled.

Thank you.

Um Councillor Lewis.

Thank you, Madam President.

There'll be a FTO meeting on Monday.

March 9th at 5 p.m.

in the uh city council city council committee room, ninth floor, suite 9003, City of Albuquerque government center.

And before we move on to financial instruments, I um wanted to make just a couple of comments, and then I'm going to defer to Councillor Rogers.

Um, I'd like to take a few minutes to address the important comments that were made at last council meeting.

The council values and upholds the right to free speech, and we are committed to ensuring that members of our community are heard.

At the same time, it must be clear that racism remarks have no place in our civic discourse.

They are harmful, they undermine the dignity of members of our community and stand in direct opposition to the values of respect and inclusion that we strive to uphold as a governing body.

Councilor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

And I appreciate Council uh President and I had a great conversation after our last meeting.

And I think the kind of chambers that we want our community, you to come to as a safe environment where you feel belonged, where you feel belonging, that you belong.

I was really sad last meeting.

We were introducing for the first time our African American advisory council board.

Um, and sometimes this was the first time some of my community members were in this chambers for the first time and had to hear themselves be referred to as colored uh during the meeting.

And so I'm grateful that our council leadership wants to base base basically make sure that we keep the decorum in our off in our chambers.

Because we all can believe that's the beautiful beautiful thing about America is that you have the ability.

That's the beautiful thing about our democracies.

You don't have to agree.

We don't have to all um you know get along, right?

But we do have to be respectful of each other, in my opinion, when we're in public spaces together.

Um, and so I'm grateful that we moving forward in council um can make sure we are modeling that as well, and I take responsibility for that myself as well.

Modeling that for our community means a lot.

Um, but for our audience, for folks that are watching online, for folks who want to be involved civically, we have to make sure that these chambers are a safe place regardless of if you're in support or against something.

Um that's the beautiful thing about our democracy, and that's the thing I love most about Albuquerque is that together we know that we can move forward regardless of if we agree or don't agree together in dignity and in it and hopefully some peace.

So thank you so much.

I will be so easy.

So you need to exit the building.

We'll have our security.

You refer to me.

You referred to me.

That was a reference to my coming called color.

Thank you so much.

So we are now going to move on to financial instruments.

Exactly what the work mean.

Yeah, yes, you call it finding.

Okay.

Miss Chris Offerson, just let them exit the building, please.

Thank you so much.

Okay, so we are now on financial instruments.

There are none.

We are now on item number 11 appeals.

ACO5, Maria Gonzalez, agent appeals the hearing examiner's decision to deny a variance of 30 inches to allow a 66-inch projecting wall.

Sign at the property located at 3715 Silver Avenue Southeast Zone MXM VA 2025 00170.

This will be a full hearing, and all presenters must be sworn in.

So anyone who is going to be presenting on this appeal this evening, can you please stand up and raise your right hand?

Anyone else?

I think you okay.

Um, do you affirm under penalty of perjury that your testimony today will be true?

Thank you so much.

So the time limits for the presenters are as follows.

Arguments, eight minutes for presentation of appellate, eight minutes presentation from the um appealed decision by body, representatives of the ZHE, three minutes, presentation by or response to questions by city planning staff, unless staff spoke as opponents, and then two minutes rebuttal by appellate.

So now we're gonna have um our staff.

Uh I don't know if Julia or Mr Victor.

Uh thank you, Council President.

Um just to sort of orient the the body, this appeal concerns a proposed variance of 30 inches to allow a 66-inch projecting wall sign at the property located at 3715 Silver Ave uh Southeast, 87108 zone MXM.

The issue in this appeal is whether the ZHE's denial of variance should be upheld.

Uh at the city council meeting on February 18th, 2026, the city council voted 5-4 to reject the Luho recommendation findings and hold and hold a full hearing on this matter uh following the same procedures that you uh that council president just laid out.

We'll start with the um appellate, and you'll have eight minutes.

Good evening.

My name is Dan Miller.

I'm here on behalf of City on the Hill Church.

I'm a pastor there.

Uh Maria's Gonzalez is not here, so I'm uh appearing on our behalf as the church.

And I first would like to thank uh uh the council president and all the council members for allowing me to be here tonight.

I'd like to uh use your time well.

Uh we didn't expect to be here tonight, and I would like to give you a quick recap of how we got here with the permitting process, and would hopefully give you some details behind that regardless of what you may or may not know about the things that have gone on so far.

Um the sign that in question uh began this permitting process was originally designed by one of our church members years ago.

It was then installed on the building that we were renting on San Mateo Boulevard years ago.

Uh and it represents the central message that we believe is a significant part of our church and what we're uh about.

In a 19, or excuse me, in 2021, we purchased our very first building.

We had rented up until that point, purchased our first building at 3715 silver.

It was a former church building that was in extremely poor condition and that hadn't been a usable structure for years.

In fact, that building was the source of uh one EMS or 911 call per day for a number of years.

It was a source of uh light for the city and was a very difficult property.

We invested a lot of time and energy.

So with that time and energy and money invested over a year and a half, we transformed that building into a thriving home for our congregation where we meet today on a regular basis.

The church gathers together to worship on Sunday.

Individuals, young families, and kids uh gather together for the community on a near daily basis in that building.

Then after getting settled into our new space, we decided to pursue installing the sign that had been previously installed on a rented space on San Mateo.

And we took that sign to Zion signs here in Albuquerque and began the process of actually saying what would need to be done to install this sign on our existing place.

When the initial permit was submitted, we were informed that due to the width of the sign as a projecting sign that the IDO code limit is 30 inches, as was stated just a minute ago.

Based on that information, I personally visited the city zoning department and spoke with a then director and assistant director who are no longer there in that department, unfortunately.

I inquired about the process and likelihood that a variance permit would be worth the effort as opposed to pursuing the other option they proposed of mounting the sign on a pole.

Obviously, the staff that I spoke with could not give me an estimate, a percentage of likelihood of that variance permit being approved, but they said that was very likely that it would receive favorable consideration.

Based on that, we chose to pursue the variance permit rather than mounting the sign on a pole for the following reasons.

First, it would keep us completely from having to redesign the sign.

The sign was designed and built and structured to be side mounted on the building.

It would also preserve the history of the sign.

We were simply looking to refurbish it and reinstall it on our existing building.

The mounting the sign of the building, we believe is a preferred option for aesthetics and sight lines for us as well as the neighbors.

And I also shared at that initial hearing in the appeal hearing that several hardships would be incurred by mounting the sign on a pole rather than attaching it to the building as it was previously.

Those include significant cost to redesign the sign and an added cost to add a large concrete base, wiring, and significant structure would have to be done to alter the sign to mount it to a pole.

There's also a safety issue.

There's an old stained glass window near where the pole mounted sign would need to be located that could allow someone to use the pole to access the building and break into that will that part of the building.

There's also a concern with vandalism.

The accessibility of the sign being on a pole puts it very near a stairwell where people could actually reach out and touch it or poke it with a stick and cost some vandalism, which is a very real concern in the part of town we are located in Knob Hill.

We began this process doing everything in our power to be able to adhere to zoning requirements and listen to the neighbors and try to take feedback and input.

It's been a very long process.

I didn't expect to be here tonight.

I'm not even sure exactly how this transpired for us to be here, but we're grateful for the opportunity to speak to you.

I want to share some final thoughts about the sign and the location so that you have the ultimate authority to make a ruling on this tonight, we hope.

Our church is located in a unique and historic district of Knob Hill and Albuquerque.

And we take very seriously being good neighbors there, being aesthetically, we've spent a lot of time and energy.

You would speak to most neighbors, even if they disagree with the sign or the location of where we want to put it, they would agree that we've done a good job at trying to be able to transform that community and care about that community and care for individuals in that community.

Because we're 200 feet off Central Avenue, we're kind of in a unique limbo zone for some zoning.

We're in a residential neighborhood, but we're also very close to central, so some of the IDO that were designed years ago that are very extensive and very lengthy, as you probably know, have some bearing on what we can and cannot do with the sign.

Therefore, the 30-inch restriction.

The sign in question is approximately 28 square feet of surface area, which is just over 15% of the allowable surface area in our zoning for MXM zoning location.

So the sign is on the small side of surface area by a long shot.

In fact, the per excuse me, the portion of the sign that exceeds the 30 inches, I brought a visual example to show the council that this is the total distance and the exact measurement of what exceeds the zoning IDO requirement.

So this whole hearing, this whole process is about this much of the sign that protrudes past 30 inches.

So that is a physical representation of what we're talking about.

And it's important to keep in mind.

The goal, if I understand it, of the IDO is to protect and enhance buildings, neighborhoods, businesses, and it seems reasonable and preferable to us that the sign be mounted to the building rather multiple feet away as we were instructed to do.

Because if the purpose of the IDO is to protect that aesthetic and protect those site lines, simply moving it five feet away increases cost, increases risk, increases vandalism, all the things that I mentioned earlier.

And it doesn't really solve the things that the code is designed to protect.

My assumption and assertion to the council tonight is that it is a reasonable, I believe, uh, exception to the code to be able to grant a variance permit based on these things.

And there are only three residences that have a direct line of sight to this sign, and all are over 230 feet away.

I've personally spoken with all three of these households, and only one of them is opposed to mounting the sign.

The good news is there is an alternative for that individual that may be able to address the issue of being able to see the sign from their home.

The city is actually working with an organization, a nonprofit that's going to redevelop a little triangle area next to our church that would give a visual sight barrier to our property, particularly to the sign.

And part of that development of that little triangle will be to plant some trees.

We've been able to try and address that issue with a neighbor to say if we can strategically locate a tree or trees that would help block that sign, that would give you a block from being able to see the sign that he's not excited about.

So, based on those solutions, uh we really believe that to address some of the concerns that a few neighbors had.

We've also modified some of the things that you may have seen in some of our information that we have eliminated the illumination that would alter, and we've also agreed to be able to put the sign on some type of photo cell or timer that would limit the number of uh hours during the evening that it would be lit.

Based on these factors, we would respectfully ask this council to approve the variance permit uh to mount the sign to our building as we believe the solution is better than the alternative.

I would also like for a prompt decision on this matter due to the fact that our original permit is valid through only March 10th, and that if the permit variance is rejected, we need time to be able to submit the appropriate paperwork to be able to move forward with mounting the sign on a poll.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Next, we have a presentation from ZHE, but we don't do we have oh, yes, we do.

Good evening, madam uh president, chair, uh councilman.

Uh this request was for an appeal to the maximum projection of a sign.

The request is for an illuminated projecting sign on a building that is on the National Register of Historic Properties as a contributing building in the Granada Heights Historic District.

The IDO allows one projecting sign in the MXM zone district, but limits how far the sign can project from the facade of the building to 30 inches.

The request is for a variance of 28 inches beyond the 30 inches, allowing for a total projection of 58 inches, almost two times more than the IDO limit to allow the sign to be installed almost five feet from the facade to the five feet to the outside edge of the sign.

The ZHE and Luho found that the applicant failed to meet the burden to justify the requested variants in two important decision criteria.

Criteria one, special circumstances on the site that are not self-imposed.

The type of sign and its installation were chosen by the applicant.

The applicant stated they wanted to mount a sign they already had as a projecting sign because it was less costly than installing it as a freestanding sign.

In other words, the hardship posed by the regulations is self-imposed.

There were other legal ways to install the existing sign that would not require a variance.

Criteria three refers to adverse impacts on neighboring properties.

A number of residents in the Granada Heights Historic District expressed concern for negative impacts expected at their property due to visibility of this illuminated sign from their homes or balconies.

The planning department stands behind the ZAG's decision for this case and the LUHO recommendation for this appeal.

Thank you.

Now we have a presentation or response by our city planning staff.

We don't have any work.

Yeah.

I just wanted an acknowledgement.

Okay.

And then next we have a uh two-minute um rebuttal by the appellate, if there's any we fully acknowledge the IDO and the distance.

Uh we would contend that there's some significant issues based on the main street sign ordinance that we're well below uh 15% surface area.

The entire argument uh and rejection of this based on the zoning department is based on the distance from the building.

Our assertion is that if we are uh asked or requested and move forward with putting the sign on a pole, though the IDO code has solved nothing.

It's actually created a worse problem, it's created more visibility for neighbors, more uh concern for sight lines.

And so the solution is actually worse than the alternative.

And so that is one of the things that I would strongly ask you to consider is that uh if we reject this, if you reject this tonight, we'll move forward to try and think about putting on a poll.

That's not our preferred alternative.

That's not the neighbor's preferred alternative, but that's that's kind of the solution that we're left with at this point.

So uh that's one of the reasons I believe this body has the ability to actually make a reasonable exception to uh code and an ordinance, and that's why uh exceptions exist.

When there is an appropriate place to do that, I think it's an appropriate thing to do that.

And we're trying to be a good neighbor, we want to be a good business, and we want to be a good citizen of Albuquerque, but we also believe we have the right to express uh some religious views based on that sign, and it's uh really a core part of what we're about.

So I would just ask you to take that into consideration that the a no is really creating another problem.

So thank you.

Thank you.

So that that concludes that concludes that.

So now before we go to the deliberations and discussions, because I think we're gonna have uh a motion here.

I just want to um say that we have three options.

One of them is to deny the appeal and adopt the Luho findings, and then number two is deny the appeal and adopt different findings, and number three is to grant the appeal and adopt and adopt finding.

So now we'll go on to deliberation and discussion amongst the counselors.

Counselor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

Just procedurally, are we allowed to ask questions of either party just to make sure I'm okay?

Great.

Um, Pastor, if I could ask you a couple questions, that would be awesome.

Thank you for being.

And um, your uh churches in my district, so I wanted to start off the questions um tonight.

Um I know I love land use and zoning, been on the committee uh my entire time as a city counselor, and I know that for these variances there are five specific criteria that you must meet in order to be approved for that variance.

Um is it true that you met zero of the five requirements?

Um there's a little interpretation based on that in terms of like uh how that is actually based on distance and some things.

So we have met uh not many of those, you're correct.

Uh that was what we started with the whole variance permitting process.

And so we were instructed to file that permit based on the the zoning department is as an alternative to mounting it on a poll uh as I mentioned.

Thank you, thank you, Madam President.

Okay, and then I just wanted to go to our staff.

Um, just reading the record.

I read that there were zero of the five criteria met to grant the variance.

Uh no other one?

Thank you.

Thank you, Leslie's one of our planners in the planning department.

Thank you for being here.

Um thank you, President.

Um Madam President and Commissioner, uh Councilman, sorry, I'm just the commissioners.

Okay, um, no, if I I it they there are certain criteria that are very broad and therefore they meet those criteria.

I mean, we don't consider that the sign was gonna affect the health and public safety and and the welfare of the community.

Um it's not going to affect um it is not contrary per se to the IDO, it's not in an overlay zone, it's not contrary to what its zoning allows to have a projecting sign.

It was just the idea that they didn't create the justification in the original application, which is what we're dealing with in terms of why that sign needed to be this wall-mounted sign, and we had uh a number of comments from the um surrounding neighbors who felt that it would have a detrimental effect on their um impact on their neighborhoods.

We haven't heard it, you know, we whatever they've discussed beyond that.

We haven't evaluated that.

Thank you, Madam President.

And Leslie, in your experience with the the feedback from the community was just about the lights and the flashing and the time that it would be on.

Is that correct?

Right.

They didn't want uh the lights on it and um I mean, of course, then there was the added size of it, which is what we're talking about.

Thank you.

And so just want to double check.

They met the requirements for the lighting um requirements that we have.

So it wasn't too bright to be considered for we don't know.

There's no we have we received no data concerning the actual illumination that would come from the sign.

Okay.

And do you have any indication based on the um things that were in the port that they were gonna have all flashing components removed, eliminating the issue identified by the ZHE regarding signs intensity and changing illumination?

I read that they revised the design, uses using constant LED illumination, and there's no movement or animation.

Was there any change from the community based on those changes?

Not that I recall at the uh at the Luho hearing.

Okay, thank you.

And then last question I have is what kind of coaching or technical assistance does the department offer um if something isn't correct on an application.

Is there any technical assistance or saying maybe if you you know respond in these ways, giving us the data that we need to be able to make a good determination?

Is there any technical assistance that's provided?

And regardless of the nature of the business, a church or otherwise, what kind of technical assistance does your department?

Well, we offer um I mean, as we analyze how an application meets the requirements within the IDO.

If there are technical issues or placements, you know, and then a lot of things where we can recommend, okay, if you set it back here or you make certain changes, then you're more likely to get an approval on your application.

Okay.

But we don't guarantee approvals.

Okay.

Thank you.

And that made me think of one more, sorry, question, Madam President.

Thank you.

Um, so my I was always taught that with uh variance, there has to be an extraordinary like remedy, it's like the last resort if we don't have any other all their alternatives.

So hearing that there, it may not be ideal, but that there's an alternative to the sign still being used.

Um can you talk a little bit about the your experience with variants and they need to be extraordinary or that's what I always knew.

So I just want to get your thoughts on that.

They are you know variances, if you stay strict with them, they are difficult to get because often they're they're not extraordinary circumstances, and quite frequently it's a matter of somebody wants something, and that's the unusual circumstance that's not on other lots.

Um I can't speak for how potentially you could get an extraordinary um case.

But usually it's like is is is the is there a slope, are there like setbacks that are you know really difficult to meet?

Is it uh you know, is there terrain differences, um things like that.

Thank you.

And then sorry, that I promise.

Last last question.

If this church was on central, would they need a variance for the sign, regardless of if it was central or in the neighborhood, they would still need a variance if it was on central area.

Bright neon lights that we like on central.

The neon lights wouldn't be an issue then, you know, if it was on central, but the projection being beyond the 30 inches would still require a variance.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilor Rogers.

Counselor Lewis.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um so just in reading the record and and certainly it's helpful hearing hearing the testimony tonight.

Um and really we're we're we're looking at some some criteria.

I mean, a criteria that the uh ZHE and the LUHO base their base decisions on, but also the same criteria that we base our decisions on.

And uh and there they are subjective.

I mean, they there are some subjectivity here, and and again, that's why we um you know have you know differing uh opinions on it.

And I think that uh um, you know, the the testimony of the appellants does help to um you know give give some insight into um you know the criterion if that criteria was met.

Um and so I I'm just I know that the the LUHO uh focused on several findings, one that had to do with number one of the five, which saying that there were no special circumstances applicable to the subject property, uh they're not self-imposed, and so they they list that criteria again in an opinion on that.

And then also number two, that there was insufficient evidence to establish that variants will not be contrary to public safety.

And so, you know, I think it's helpful to go down through these five.

Um, and um and again, based on that the testimony tonight, I think you know, shed some light on uh um the fact, and I and I think again to clarify when Councilor Rogers mentioned that the appellant um or clarifying whether the appellant met or didn't meet any of them, I think it's pretty clear that a case can be made and that we could grant this appeal tonight uh and have findings that would uh would show and demonstrate um that they that they do meet you know all five of these.

Uh for example, number one, the special circumstances, uh there is a uniqueness of the site.

Um, you know, really number one is all about the uniqueness of the site, and it and and this this site is a block from the Route 66 from central.

Um it's in close proximity to an architectural character that you know we all we all cherish as Albuquerque, you know, citizens, and so it it does it does further um uh you know, natural and cultural features.

I mean again, this uniqueness about the site preserves and enhances the natural and cultural characteristics and features that contribute to the distinct identity of communities and neighborhoods and cultural landscapes.

And so, you know, the placement of the sign on the corner is the only way to allow for a clear site line.

Um you know, two too central.

Um so it's one of the ways that they because again, because the uniqueness of that site, um their ability to be able to uh you know have that site line.

tribute to the distinct identity of communities and neighborhoods and cultural landscapes and so you know the placement of the sign on the corner is the only way to allow for a clear site line um you know two too central um so it's one of the ways that they because again because the uniqueness of that site um their ability to be able to uh you know have that site line uh you know the and again our staff could you know help us with these findings and but you know it does further uh goal seven three of the comp plan sense of place which states that reinforce uh sense of place through context sensitive design of development and streetscapes um this you know the second criteria has to do with the variance um uh that it will not be allowed or materially contrary to the public safety health or welfare again um you know I think there's certainly a a case to be made to um uh to to translate and and number two that it absolutely does you know um uh it's absolutely not contrary to public safety um as a sign there's no public health associated with the fixture of a sign to the corner of the structure uh the sign is also again some of the things that we found the signs compliant with the standard allowance of lumens per typical standard channel letter signage so that complies with the code um uh number number three the talking about um you know adverse impacts so that the the various the variants does not cause significant material adverse impacts on surrounding properties or infrastructure improvements in the vicinity um the sign does not alter or impede any infrastructure improvements in the area um and again as as stated above and what was clear here tonight as well um that the sign will be required to remain in you know the the the appellants said that it would make sure that uh it's within the lumen emission uh stated in our code and also you know the appellants or the applicants mentioned the removing of the flashing action of the sign in order to reduce light pollution on surrounding properties and the lujo specifically mentioned that they you know that wasn't taken into account but that was uh you know committed to by the by the appellants and real quickly number four you know uh you know we could find that the variance will not materially undermine the intent and purpose of the IDO um you know it's within those those standards of the IDO uh and then the fifth criteria the the variance approved is is the minimum necessary to avoid extraordinary hardship or practical difficulties I think that's a pretty you know easy criteria for the certainly for this you know application to meet and so um again um I I think there's some pretty clear flight findings and in favor of uh of the um you know of the uh uh appeal and uh Madam President I I I will move to grant the appeal and uh and you know give ourselves a little bit of time for our staff to help us with uh just you know defining um the findings and specifically rated related to the criteria as I kind of gave some general um description of so there's a motion and a second um to grant the appeal and adopt findings of AC2505 um before um we go on to that is there any discussion on that and but counselor Bacca on the previous discussion thank you madam president um you know if I talk about my opinion if this is on central with all the signs that we have on central heck yeah I have at it right um I live downtown we got light pollution constantly but that's opinion here we have to go by the record in front of the ZHC and as I read through this uh several things here uh a quick question were any of the neighbors notified about this particular meeting tonight yes I'm not asking sir I'm asking our staff and planning staff no offense I just the official were uh council uh president pena uh counselor vaca um okay sorry miss I apologize um counselor Baca if you could just provide clear clarity on who you want that response from uh go ahead miss um sorry our representative president um councilman Backa they they have notice through the legal ad that but because they are not applicants uh are the appellant then they're not partners to the appeals so therefore they're not given like individual notice they would have to check on the uh follow through the hearing and followed city council from the last session to this meeting thank you so nobody got a direct notice that they were going to be here thank you that that's enough for that I appreciate that um that was just a clarification for my part because as I read through this quite a few of the neighbors were were opposed to this particular sign and its location and you know again if this is on central not an issue however you know as as we work through IDO issues regularly neighborhood edges is such a big thing right what is how does it affect the residents in an area this just happens to be right in a right on the verge of a of a residential section and so the adverse effects the impacts the neighborhoods clearly that if if you're a neighbor and you say this is impacting me negatively um somebody else doesn't get to decide that that's fact right this this will impact me um it's not a 30 I mean when I look at the size of the sign that sign is bigger than me that's not a small sign that we're putting out there

What is it?

How does it affect the residents in an area?

This just happens to be right in a right on the verge of a of a residential section.

And so the adverse effects, the impacts the neighborhoods.

Clearly, that if if you're a neighbor and you say this is impacting me negatively, um, somebody else doesn't get to decide that.

That's fact, right?

This this will impact me.

Um it's not a 30.

I mean, when I look at the size of the sign, that sign is bigger than me.

That's not a small sign that we're putting out there.

Um so that that's a a negative there.

Um, you know, this building was built in 1946.

There's been a sign there the whole time.

Um per the record, um, just like all churches in our community.

I think we have four downtown.

Um, not a big deal, obviously, signs aren't a big deal.

However, this sign is a pretty big sign, uh, which the neighbors, quite a few neighbors have said that they're not okay with.

Um and then I guess yeah, obviously, hardship was self-imposed because they could have done something else.

They didn't have to do this specifically.

Although I do like that you were trying to do something better or different.

Um per the ZHE, they did not follow the IDO.

I mean, it's pretty cut and dry.

Um very cut and dry.

Actually, it should be this appeal.

We should deny the appeal.

Um, and then just to take it just one final thing, you know, uh sir.

Uh the appellant said that if this gets denied, they're gonna do whatever they want.

They're gonna put up a sign, right?

It's not very neighborly to say if you deny me, I'm gonna make it worse for the neighborhood.

That actually sounds like a threat, even though you were smiling on the stand.

I'm not saying that's what you meant.

I'm just saying for your words, if this gets denied, it's gonna be worse for the neighborhood.

That that now that I'm sorry, that's that's taking that's not taking your neighborhood into account.

So with all that, I personally think we should deny the appeal.

Thank you.

And deny the current motion.

Counselor Bacca, um, thank you.

Counselor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just had a question for um Leslie again.

You mentioned that there was no data on the lumens um of the light, but counselor uh Lewis said that it would meet the requirements.

So I'm just want to get some clarity on from you.

Was I didn't find it in the record.

I I just did a search and find for Lumen.

It was only shown once, but no data on the actual like output of the light.

Thank you.

Um, Madam President, Commissioner Rogers, Councilor Rogers.

Um, no, we we received no information on the lumens for the sign.

Thank you.

And then the Pastor Miller, or I'm sorry, yes, Miller, right?

Pastor Miller, do you have the lumens uh what's the lumen output for that light?

I do not have that information.

I'm not I'm not aware of that in terms of technical staff.

So our representative for the sign company would have to address that.

Um I think it's adjustable, but I can't uh verify that 100%.

Thank you, Madam President.

That's an important part of the application to get the variance.

So um without that information, it's hard to to really for me uh since it's my district, I balance the needs of what you're wanting to do with the needs of the community, and then without that information on the output, it's um because I think we could I'm always about compromise.

How do we compromise with each other to get what we need for the church, but also respecting the community around and so um so thank you, thank you for that.

That's that's our desire.

So thank you, Council Rob and uh Council uh Baca.

Uh the neighbors were notified, just to FY for record.

I I received the same email they did about this meeting.

That's how I found out about it.

So thank you.

Councilor Rogers, the meta president and councilor Rogers just want to clarify you the people who did go to the luho, they received an email message that this was gonna be happening today.

So but they weren't gonna be able to testify at the hearing because that's not it's a closed record.

Thank you, Madam President.

I see several members in the audience raising their hands as community members for the area.

So thank you so much for being here.

All right, uh um, sorry.

Sorry, there's no discussion.

I'm so sorry.

Thank you so much.

So we're gonna go on to Councillor Champagne right now.

Thank you, ma'am.

Counselor Champ, um Vice President, thank you, Madam President.

Uh I have a couple questions.

One for our staff.

What is the zone currently?

Counselor, the uh councillor president, uh counselor champagne, uh zone is MXM.

Okay, and what's that allowance right now?

Four signs?

MXM allows what for the signs?

It allows a uh uh uh uh projection sign of up to 30 inches, right?

Counselor um Madam President, are there any exceptions?

Uh the variance we council uh council president, counselor champagne.

I think there are none that would exist without a variance.

Okay.

And what are the boundaries of a main street corridor?

I'm gonna pull all of you in tonight.

Feels good to be up here, not the desk.

Um council president, counselor champagne.

Uh the boundaries of the main street corridor are 660 feet off the center line of the roadway, and so within this area would be the center line of central avenue.

And then 660.

Center line of central avenue going 660 feet or commonly two blocks, both directions.

Correct.

And where and where does this sit, this location?

From the center line of central.

It sits within 330 feet.

Sits within 330 feet.

Um Madam President, historic Route 66, Central is historic Route 66, correct?

Right?

Am I assuming to say central is Route 66?

It is historic.

We are celebrating it.

Correct?

Yes.

And there is something in the IDO about historic and refurbished neon signs to be allowed on historic Route 66.

The amendment, uh, I believe in the IDO in 2025 is what I'm looking up, uh, allowed historic neon signs to be refurbished and reinstalled, even if they don't meet current size standards.

So as long as the design and character are maintained am I reading it wrong?

Madam President.

Vice President Champagne, who are you directing your questions?

To our council staff.

Uh uh, whoever wants to correct me if I am reading it wrong.

Council.

Mr.

Cox is making his way to the podium.

Thank you so much.

Uh Council President, Counselor Champagne.

Um I was also reminded I may want to be sworn in.

That's a good call on this.

Thank you.

Mr.

Cox.

Um, do you affirm under penalty of perjury that your testimony today will be true?

Please hold up your right hand.

I do.

Thank you.

Um the the complicating part here, while the sign um design looks neon, it is actually not neon and LED.

And that distinction is very important within those neon historic sections.

Okay.

And Mr.

Cox, is it and I don't know if you can answer this, but it is not neon, it is LED based on the change that was done.

Pastor probably would be it was LED, but the old in terms of the design is okay.

Okay, and how how old is the sign, Pastor?

Um Pastor, if you can make your way to the podium, please.

Sorry.

The uh the sign is approximately 10 to 12 years old.

I'm trying to remember what it was originally installed, but that was what it was originally built and designed and installed on our old uh rental property.

And then it's uh we took it in for some refurbishment to look at the possibility of reinstalling it.

So that's that's the history of it.

Okay.

Madam President, did you and this is just for my clarification, and this will be my last question because there's conflicting stories from what I'm listening to, and I again I might be wrong, but you chatted with the neighbors that this sign would affect, but I heard different that a lot of neighbors don't want this sign.

So did you chat to the you said three?

There's there's three households, residential households that have direct line of sight.

There's a handful that may have very, very limited peak of views of the sign, but like there's three that would have a direct line of sight to the sign.

I've talked all three of those, and then I've spoken to a number of the neighbors, some of which are here tonight, uh, that are probably in opposition to the sign.

And so we've we've spoken at various levels.

Uh there's been a knobhill neighborhood association that I participated in that they hosted an open forum.

There's been multiple discussions.

I'm I'm probably invested in this process about a hundred hours, which is kind of mind-numbing.

And so uh we we really do want to be good neighbors.

We want to follow the process.

Uh and it's not let's put up a sign at all costs, uh, like you mentioned.

Uh we we we wouldn't be here if we had just initially taken the the um zoning commission's uh advice and put it on a poll.

There were no hearing uh would have been necessary, it would have probably been a very likely approval and it would have been up.

And so we're simply trying to say can we just simply mount the sign as it was designed and then uh not have to consider going down a road of potentially putting on a on a poll?

We we don't want this to be a referendum on sign or no sign.

We really believe that we have a the right to put it up.

We we want to do that in a way that's sensitive to our neighbors, we want to care about them.

Uh that's why we've tried to make some of the accommodations.

And so we we don't want to get into a disruptive fight about it, but we really believe that my comment may have been misunderstood that it's not a let's put it on the wall or the the poll, but we we want to look at the best alternative, and that's why I want you to have all the information as you make your decision about whether it would be allowed to uh be an exception uh for a variance.

Perfect.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councillor Lewis.

Thank you, Madam President.

Just real quick, though, I mean there was some discussion on the lumens and and if this complied, I mean, you know, this this sign, like any other sign would be required to remain in compliance with you know lumen emission that's stated in our IDO.

I don't think that's what in question.

And uh and and also I think you know, Pastor, in some of your discussions with your neighbors too.

I mean, there I mean, when I when I read the record here too, I mean the uh the the applicant had had made clear about not only the uh you know complying on the the lumens, but also uh the flashing effect of any sign like that, which I think was one of the concerns of uh of one of the neighbors.

But I also think um uh, you know, and I'm and and Pastor, I'm glad you had a chance to to clarify that.

I mean your relationship with the neighbors because I think you were somewhat mischaracterized here just a little bit ago.

Um and obviously that's that's you know, as as a as a church, as some of your your neighbors, you're a part of that community.

Um and uh uh you know, your your mission is to um you know to to be a good neighbor and to you know care for the people in that community in that area.

Uh so I appreciate you clarifying the the approach that you have and and and getting the given the context of it, but the um again the the five criteria, I think there's a uh a pretty clear case uh that the applicant um uh meets and is not um uh that's not violating any of the five criteria whatsoever.

Um and again, um the the decision of the the LUHO, the ZHE and what they explained was an opinion um based on just several of those that they clarified.

Um but you know, certainly there's a differing uh uh opinion on that as well.

And that's what this council is for.

I mean, and that's what these hearings are for uh to be able to determine those.

Um there's not a a clear-cut, any kind of violation.

I mean, this is the process of having a uh uh a request for a variance, which we do many of those.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Counselor.

Counselor Teaser Thank you, Madam President.

Um I have a few questions for um Pastor Dan Miller, please.

Okay, hi Pastor, thank you for being here.

Um earlier you stated that you have made some changes to address some of the concerns, is that correct?

Uh as I mentioned uh earlier, uh Counselor uh tell us that we have uh tried to address the the flashing issue.

We've also tried to think about what we could do to um limit the amount of time this time is lit.

We haven't actually determined what that would look like, but we've we put that on the table.

And uh those are some of the things we tried to represent at the appeal hearing and even the prior hearing.

And so the the comments about self-imposed, yes, they are somewhat self-imposed, but I I I think as I mentioned earlier, there are some things that are uh significant issues.

Safety, vandalism, uh, aesthetics, some of those things are are significant that we're trying to represent.

Thank you, Madam President.

So you're saying that you do not meet prong number one because some of them are self-imposed.

So some are self-imposed, yes, but some are not safety and security.

Thank you.

And for um Madam President, Pastor Dan, um, if you have addressed some of these concerns, why not um just do a new proposed application instead of going through the appeal process because that was an option provided to you to meet these prongs?

Is that correct?

The option was correct.

The option was to to mount it to a poll, which I've mentioned several times tonight.

And so I am nearly certain I can't speak for the neighbors, but I'm nearly certain they would not like that option, even as well as potentially mounting it to the building.

So that's why we chose not to pursue that for our sake and their sake in our favor.

Madam President, thank you, Pastor.

Um with regard to your concerns about the public safety.

Um would granting a variance undermine um regulatory consistency tied to safety and welfare?

And this is for Pastor or our staff.

I'm not sure what you mean by that question.

Could you help me unpack that a little bit, please?

Sure, sure.

Um if we granted you the variance, what type of precedent do you think it would set?

Would it set a precedent that would override regulatory consistency type to safety and welfare?

I don't think so.

I I I'm not a lawyer, but I know that uh in in the law field you have uh legal precedent based on case law.

This is not that.

Uh would somebody be able to come back to and uh reference that?

Sure.

Uh but I also believe that that's the purpose of the legal uh proceeding that we're kind of going through here tonight and other things.

That there are some checks and balances that are in place.

So it's it's not a carte blotch that every situation is now going to reference this decision and say, oh, look, now we can do this as well.

Because I I I believe that's the whole nature and heart of a variance is that you consider the implications of the individual application based on its merits.

Okay, thank you, Madam President, Pastor Dan.

Um of the prongs is that there's no significant material adverse impact on surrounding properties.

And you mentioned you spoke with three of your neighbors.

Um, but I understand that that prong um requires evidence and just not the absence of outrage, right?

So do you did you provide evidence directly to show that you met um the standards of that prong?

Of which prong again?

Uh about um that it won't have any significant material adverse impact on surrounding properties.

That's a challenging thing because that is very subjective, because if a neighbor has a very, very limited peak of view and they can see it just a portion and they don't approve of that, that's certainly their right and their opinion.

Uh that can be considered something that they they say is uh uh uh harmful or uh distasteful thing.

That's certainly their opinion.

And so I I can't speak to that because that is subjective a hundred percent.

Um question for a legal, Madam President.

Um on that prong, does the applicant bear the burden of demonstrating no significant adverse impacts?

Or um do the neighbors Council President, Councillor Teos, the applicant bears the burden of proving each of the five required elements under the variance, so they have the burden of providing that evidence.

Okay, Madam President, thank you.

And so did the applicant provide any evidence to demonstrate anything regarding the five prongs, subjective or objective or otherwise council president Pena, Councillor Teos, the uh ZHE and the LUHO both uh concluded that they had not provided any evidence to meet the five prongs.

Okay.

Um thank you, Madam President, Mr.

Pastor Miller, thank you so much.

I just want to be clear.

So we're not saying necessarily that it was denied based off of subjectivity, it was denied because no information was provided to address the prongs to identify whether the evidence was provided, right?

So it might be subjective, it might be objective, but we don't know at all because no evidence was provided for those prongs.

Is that correct?

Sorry, yes, legal.

Uh council president, counselor Teos, uh that was what the ZHE and Aluho concluded.

Okay.

Um thank you so much.

So I just want to be clear, I just don't think this is a case of the code um preventing reasonable use or you know, going forward, it's just more of a case that your application was insufficient for that, kind of.

So um why not consider Pastor Dan just submitting a revised application?

And I thank you for your question, uh, Councillor Teas.

I would I would ask, what would that look like?

How would we be able to actually verify that we could prove that there is no hardship posed to a neighbor?

That's uh almost impossible task to be able to do because if a neighbor says it it is an issue for them, it's an issue for them.

I can't say that's not.

And so there's no tangible way, there's no scientific way that I'm aware of.

And there's no built-in process in the code to be able to address that.

So that's part of the tension in this this uh decision.

I understand that and I appreciate that, but uh we really truly believe that we've tried to do our very best in this process.

And so we our intention is not to be contentious, we don't want to be a bad neighbor, we don't want to be disrespectful, but we also would like to not have to uh jump through 4,000 hoops to be able to put up a simple sign uh that's a key part of our core mission.

Okay, Pastor Dan, last question, thank you.

Um did you actually, I'm sorry, Pastor, I'm done.

I'm I'm thank you for answering my question, legal counsel.

Um has does the zoning or the the law here, does it apply um fairly to just any any entity, right?

Regardless of what the entity might be, whether it be a church or a nonprofit organization or a private company, um, how is that tied?

And has there any been any that you can recall um factors where the applicant said I can't possibly provide any of this information, or knowing that they have, they tried anyway generally.

Council President, Counselor Tees, the uh variance test in the IDO are to be generally applied.

So they would there's not a discrimination in terms of what the variant the purpose of the underlying building is for the the underlying entity that's applying for the variance.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Backa.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just want to make sure the record is clear.

I didn't misconstrue anything.

Pastor Miller directly said on two occasions that if this appeal was denied, he would still be putting up a sign, and that was gonna go up.

Now it's possible he misspoke, and that wasn't his intent.

However, he then followed that with I should be able to share my beliefs or display my beliefs out there, meaning his beliefs trump the 22 people out there in regards to the sign.

But this isn't about beliefs.

This is about the IDO that is created to create consistency and so that we can resolve issues like this.

And in this case, you very clearly does not fit the IDO.

It's it's a huge sign right in a residential area.

Um it's not historic and it's outside of the uh main street designation.

This is a very clear-cut case that it did not make it.

So this isn't about beliefs, this is following our rules that we have created.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Backa.

Counselor Peoplecorn.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, question for uh I think staff.

Um I've heard twice now that Mr.

Miller was given a choice of appealing or putting in a new application that required the sign to be on a poll.

But I'm looking at the record, and I do not see that anywhere.

Can you point me to where that um choice was given to this applicant?

Madam President, while they're looking, I'll just say that doesn't sound like the kind of thing that the hearing examiner would normally tell someone.

Um I think they usually would say something along the lines of you can reapply or you can appeal.

I have not seen in any of the records.

I've only been here for a little over four years, so I might have missed something, but I've not seen where the hearing examiner told an applicant that they needed to do a new application with a new approach in on the record uh council president, um counselor feeblecorn, there's a mention of of it being one of the possible alternatives to placing the poll, just to clarify the record.

It's not a recommended, it's not a it's not a requirement that if this variance were not, you know, were not granted, they would have to put it on a poll.

The the uh uh Luho and the ZHE indicated and in the memos that we have in the record proper indicate that there are a variety of different ways in which the sign could be mounted, whether it's on a poll or whether it's affixed in some other way or whether it's mounted in some other way.

It's just this specific configuration is what the CHE and the LUHO found to be uh you know not compatible with the variance criteria.

Thank you, Madam President.

That's what I thought.

Um I you know we have to judge this on what's in the record, and I'm very confused as to what the alternative findings would be.

Um there's no information in here that would allow alternative findings to um to satisfy each of these five um conditions in the conditional criteria form.

Um I did hear, I just I just have to say um I did hear you know it's impossible.

You can never prove that applicants get their proposals passed the z the hearing examiner every single week.

Um and so it isn't impossible, it does take a little work, um, and the work was not done on this application.

Um, but to say that because there's some subjective things in this criteria that you just can never do it, and so therefore you should get an uh an exemption from the rules that every single other applicant in the city of Albuquerque has to abide by um seems disingenuous at the least.

So um again, I just I think uh we have rules, they're very clear.

Um shouldn't matter who you are.

Uh everyone should have to play by the same rules, and we will see if that is the case.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor Lewis to close.

Thank you, Madam President.

Well, you know, there's a lot of nuances here that you know you claim you don't you don't uh you know when you when you ask for a variance here, you don't claim a um uh you know special favors.

What you do is you claim um there's uniqueness.

Um anybody would do that, you know, whether it be a business, an organization or a church or um another you know type of zoning.

So that that's what you would do.

So I wouldn't mistake, you know, claiming uniqueness, which is a part of the conditions of the variance of the of the criteria.

I wouldn't mistake that with with someone just wanting a special privilege because of who they are.

Um, you know, that's not fair.

Um, and that was mentioned several times tonight, not by the applicant, but by the uh you know those who you know you know seem to be opposing this.

Um that you know, no special privileges to uh that so that you know that again that's that's that's not fair to treat somebody in that way.

I mean, regardless of the art thing again, you can claim conditions of uniqueness, which is a part of our uh conditions in our code.

Um and uh and and you also you also make the case, and by the way, the the testimony tonight is record.

That's a matter of record.

Everything that was shared tonight is a matter of record, and that's what this process is for to be able to get clarity on that record.

And the appellant is not required to prove um anything.

The the appellant is is simply required uh to state their case.

Um it's the it's the uh the luho that made the decision or or opinion uh that it wasn't proven.

And so um again, and and that's why you know when we hear the record tonight, um, and I I think you know, I I clearly uh you know made a case that we could develop findings, and I generally outline those uh where the conditions of our of our criteria for the variance have absolutely been met, um you know, based on the record, based on the testimony here tonight, um, and that we could have a differing opinion, uh, then the just just the few um uh points of uh of opinion that the uh uh that the luho had.

So uh again uh um I know the motions on the table to grant the appeal, and uh thank you, madam president.

Thank you, Counselor Lewis.

So there is a motion on the floor for AC AC 2505 to grant the appeal and adopt findings.

And there was a second by Vice President Champagne.

All those in favor, please say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed, no.

No.

That um passes on a 5-4.

And Madam President, just as a point of clarification, if we could get approval to adopt findings at the next council meeting, then council staff will have time to put those um together for the council's approval.

Madam President, I move we adopt findings and that our staff will present those at the next uh next council meeting.

There's a motion and a second by councillor group to adopt findings at our next meeting, which is what day 16th.

March 16th.

March 16th.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes, yes.

Opposed, same motion.

Just one.

So that passes on an 8.1.

Was that I didn't see your hand, Counselor Rogers.

So okay.

So we will um before we go to public comment, we are going to break until 725.

Okay, welcome back, everyone.

We are now gonna go into uh general public comments.

Thank you, everyone.

Members of the public can provide live public comments to the council in person or virtually if they've signed up for public comment per the instructions published on the agenda and our website on Friday.

Here are the public comment ground rules.

Each participant has two minutes to present.

Comments are addressed to the councilors only through the council president.

Any disruptive conduct.

Thank you, counselors.

Any disruptive conduct will result in removal from the meeting.

There were there is a two-minute time limit and the bell will ring to indicate your time is up.

As a reminder, pursuant to our rules of procedure, Article 1, Section 8C.

General public comment shall not be permitted on quasi judicial matters.

Please do not include your comment or anything related to any quasi judicial matter, including the Luho appeal we just heard on AC 2505.

Failure to comply with this rule may result in your comment being cut off.

Please take this time to edit your comments.

Mr.

Cornelius, can you please call the name of the first speaker and councillor Basson will be joining us via Zoom?

Thank you, Madam President.

Our first speaker is Sarah Kelly, followed by Myrna Lascano.

Evening, that's so I greatly appreciate that you all and some of your speakers addressed some concerns.

So luckily for all of us, I'll sort of scratch some of my indignant commentary that I was going to make this evening.

Though that's unfortunately I'm sort of scatterbrained.

That and so that it will be all rather disorganized, but I just do wish the sales pardon.

Do still wish to say that rejections of public uh records requests should be met with that mention of what what is sort of along the lines of a thousand hoops that the last appellate was discussing that specificity should be given concerning how records requests might be bettered.

That's and again, pardon the disorganization.

That's so that's and that's considering the fact that more and more public services will be met with privatization and contract workers.

That's there ought to be one ought to consider oversight as concerns private.

That's measures meeting public services.

That's and so that's all have to come back a little more organized next time, but that's why we'll just comment on the infrastructure that I think is in dire need.

That's so water kiosks and public restrooms.

Like there are to my knowledge only two poor Lil Lou.

That's one at the one in old town, and one, does that mean I'm done?

That's and one at Uptown Transit Center.

That's infrastructure is in dire need.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mirna Lascano, followed by Nora Navaras.

Oh, my name is Ashley Leon Lascano, and I will be translating for my mother, Myrna Lascano.

My name is Mirna Lascano, Travajo in Cuidado Infantil, y soy member leader activa del centro.

Me siento orgullosa de contribuir con mi trabajo a la economía de este stado, donde he vivido por más de 20 años, luchando con el centro para defender las politicas amigables para immigrantes in Albuquerque.

Oh y estamos aquí para apoyar la ordenanza, porque las deportaciones masivas de esta administración traido miedo, caos y sufrimiento.

No solo dañan a nuestras familias, sino también a la seguridad publica.

In Albuquerque, ISPR sigue a la gente de nuestra communidad.

Los vigila in sus casas, nos attackan los trabajos, or cuando vamos a comprar nuestros alimentos.

Imagine el miedo que sentimos cada vez que salimos de casa pensando que podriam ser separado nostrijos and the valors de nuestra community.

Good afternoon, President and members of the city council.

My name is Myrna Lascano.

I work in childcare and I am an active leader and member of El Centro.

I am proud to contribute through my work to the economy of this state, where I have lived for more than 20 years, organizing with El Centro to defend immigrant friendly policies in Albuquerque.

Today we are here to support this ordinance because this administration's mass deportations have brought fear, chaos, and suffering.

They not only harm our families, but also undermine public safety.

In Albuquerque, Ice targets people in our community, surveils them at their homes, intimidates us at our workplaces, and even when we go out to buy groceries.

Imagine the fear we feel every time we leave our homes, thinking we could be separated from our children, and that no one would know where we are.

This goes against the values of our community.

That is why I support this ordinance, which would allow people to feel less fear when going to a hospital, a school, a shelter, or a community center.

Thank you very much.

Nora Navarez, followed by Olga Santana.

My name is Nora Nevare, soy una orgulliosa mother, abola y educatora de niños desde la six semana de nascidos hasta los 12 años.

Algunos preguntan con temor, or se van a givar at my mama or my papa.

Ninguno de security for all the person who llamamos at this condado nostro.

Let's appoint this resolution for that families viving since our communities are an example of solidarity and respect.

Today we are here to support the introduction of this ordinance, which represents an important first step in continuing to reaffirm the values of our working communities.

As a teacher, I am facing a serious concern.

It deeply deeply hurts me to see fear on the small faces of our young children.

When we go out for a walk and they see someone in a uniform, some will ask in fear, are they going to take us or are they going to take my mom or my dad?

No child should have to live with that fear.

That is why we are here today asking for the safety for everyone who calls this city home.

We want our schools to be places where children feel protected and we can continue teaching them with love and hope.

Thank you very much for listening.

Olga Santana, followed by Rosalillo Hernandez.

Hi, and good evening, Ms.

Madame President and members of the Council.

My name is Fabiola Landeros, and I will be reading on behalf of Olga.

Madame Chair and members of the Council, my name is Fabiola Landeros from El Centro, an immigrant rights and workers justice organizer with over 6,000 members.

We are proud of our legacy led by immigrant leaders of passing policies that recognize the best contributions of our communities.

That's say, with the federal government's terrifying vision of mass deportation, current policies are not enough.

Targeting the very workers who are the engine of our economy is not only inhumane, but bad economy policy.

Instead of spending billions targeting our people, the federal government should be addressing affordability and the high cost of living.

Burkeños, immigrant parents should not have to make safety plans with their children in case they do not return home from work.

Victims of crime and their own house should feel safe at shelters.

We know safer community places will not stop all detentions, but we will not we will not stop organizing until all new Mexicans are safe and able to try.

Thank you to the co-sponsors for bringing this fur because immigrant friendly is equal to Burk and Strong.

Thank you.

Rosalio Hernandez, followed by Elisa Reyes.

Good evening, Chair and members of the City Council.

My name is Roxana, and I am a member of El Centro and in Solidarity.

Today I'm here to support this ordinance because since the administration began, our community has been constantly targeted by the presence of ICE.

And my taqueria individuals in white vehicles wearing green uniforms have shown up, spreading fear among my customers who then decide to leave my business out of fear.

Some of my workers have missed work multiple times because they are afraid of being detained and not returning to their families, which has reduced both my workforce and my customer base, significantly impacting my income.

That is why today I ask you to approve this ordinance for the good of the entire working community so that everyone feels safer visiting places like Paceria, Mexico.

Business owners also need to be able to protect our workers and inform them if an I9 audit has been requested.

We want to continue providing our services, contributing to the local economy, and supporting our families.

Thank you.

Elisa Reyes, followed by Sonia Romero Autri.

My name is Elisa Reyes.

So promoter in the cuidado de la salute.

Pronto retomar credit in the carrera de psychologia, for lo que trajo directamente con la community, and además soy member of the centro.

La communidad necessita cada vez más approach and orientation for a memo constant at ICE, which affects a residents and citadel naturalizers for attention basadas in perfect racial and amenaces to get beneficios.

Aumenta la anxiety, la depression and law, and the stress chronic.

Una communidad con menos is una community más saludable.

Muchas gracias.

Good afternoon, Madam President and members of the City Council.

My name is Elisa Reyes, and I am a community health worker.

I will soon be resuming credits toward a degree in psychology, which allows me to work directly with the community.

I am also a member of El Centrum.

Today I'm here to support the introduction of the Safer Community Places Ordinance.

Our community increasingly needs support and guidance due to the constant fear of ICE, which affects not only undocumented individuals, but also residents and naturalized citizens due to detentions based on racial profiling and threats of losing benefits.

Many families live in fear of going to work, taking their children to school, or seeking medical care due to fear of detention.

This fear dramatically impacts health, increasing anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, as well as chronic stress.

When a family is afraid, they do not seek help, report abuse, or access basic services.

Public health includes stability, clear information, and safe spaces.

I ask you to consider policies that protect and strengthen our families.

A community with less fear is a healthier community.

Thank you.

Sonia Romero Autri, followed by Francesco Artists.

Good evening, City Council members.

My name is Dr.

Sonia Romero Autry, and I am the elementary vice president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation.

I'm here representing Dr.

Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation and our educators.

We would like to express our union's strong support for the safer communities places ordinance.

Our primary responsibility as educators is the safety, well-being, and success of our students.

Schools must be spaces where children can learn and grow without fear.

Fear closes doors, that education is meant to open.

When families feel unsafe, it impacts attendance, engagement, and the sense of belonging that every child deserves.

Immigration enforcement activities on or near school grounds can create anxiety and trauma for students, families, and even our staff.

By prohibiting the use of city property for immigration enforcement and officially designating schools as safer community places, ensures that students and families can access education and resources in a safe and welcoming environment.

This is not just a matter of policy.

It is a matter of public trust.

Many of our students and their families come from immigrant communities, and this ordinance sends a clear message that the city of Albuquerque values all its residents and it's committed to protecting the rights and safety of our children in our communities.

The Albuquerque Teachers Federation applause the City Council to taking this important step to safeguard our schools and other essential community spaces.

We urge the council to pass this ordinance so that all students can grow and thrive without fear.

As educators, we chose this profession because we believed that we could make a difference in the lives of children.

That education could be a doorway for stability, possibility, and more importantly, hope.

We ask that you stand with us in protecting every child.

Let our schools remain sacred places where students can feel safe enough to breathe deeply, belong, and simply be children.

Thank you.

Francesco Artist, followed by Michelle Gaydellas.

Michelle Guidelis, followed by Dr.

Lisa Christofferson.

Good evening, Madam President, Council members.

My name is Michelle Gaydellas, and I live in District 6.

I'm here to urge several uh urge action on several urgent connected priorities.

But first, a question.

What is your vision for Albuquerque?

Because right now, what I see is car dependent sprawl, consuming open land up to the edges of our petroglyphs, irreplaceable cultural heritage being paved over for strip malls and parking.

I see unhoused neighbors being swept and sighted and locked up without appropriate shelter, housing, or services.

That is not a solution.

It is making the problem invisible when making it while also making it worse.

The city deserves leadership with a bold affirmative vision.

On housing and sprawl, infill housing and increasing density needs to be easier to build.

Extending infrastructure to the urban fringe is fiscally and environmentally reckless.

Stop subsidizing unsustainable development and let our planning professionals do their jobs.

On ranked choice voting, Albuquerque voters deserve an electoral system that lets them vote their conscience without fear of backfire.

Ranked choice leads to better representation and broader participation.

On safe streets, fully commit to vision zero, reduced speeds on high injury corridors, protected intersections, real enforcement, fixed pedestrian infrastructure where people actually walk, invest in ABQ rides, so transit is frequent, reliable, and a real alternative to driving.

On renter protections, rising costs are pushing people out.

Just cause eviction protections are a reasonable, necessary step.

All of these are connected, whether you were rich, poor, or somewhere in between.

Walkable, affordable, safe, democratically vibrant neighborhoods are possible.

We just need leadership willing to follow the experts and make it happen.

Thank you.

Dr.

Lisa Christofferson, followed by Joe Cardillo.

Albuquerque City Council, an emphasis on the Albuquerque part.

Albuquerque is we the people.

This council exists to do business for we the people.

To hear from the people, uh community.

Community needs community celebrations.

That's what we're here to do today.

My name is Lisa Christofferson.

I live in District 3.

Uh today I spake on three things, but I want to thank the council for two things.

Thank you very much for the comments made earlier today.

Protections for marginalized and vulnerable communities is very important as we work together, and I think that's what we need, right?

We're gonna have to all work together.

It's a big city.

Well, not compared to Chicago, but I mean we have a big city.

Uh so the three things I'd like to uh on the second thing, I want to thank you for the two minutes.

Appreciate that.

Thank you very, very much.

Um, and if we have just a uh a very stable, like we have 50 people, we know we'll have one minute.

We have less than 50 people uh signed up, then we know it's gonna be two minutes.

It's just uh kind of a based on however many people sign up.

That should be a reasonable expectation.

So three things affordable living, community partnerships, and appearance of evil.

So the first is the patterns of voting that we're seeing match donor list and contributing companies.

There's a little bit of associations there sometimes with those five four votes that are concerning.

So we have opportunities that have come before this council, uh, and we had overwhelming public comment, right?

To uh we want affordable housing, and over and over, you're you're it's not it looks like you're voting against us, like things we come over and over and ask you for, and we're not getting that, and it doesn't make any sense because you all seem like reasonable people.

Uh so no to casitas, um, so generations could live together.

Why?

No to duplexes so college graduates can uh pay off their school and car loans and have a place to stay.

Why'd you vote against that?

No to two bedroom apartments for college students working to go to school.

Why did you vote against that?

Community partnerships includes us.

So please let's be partners and work together.

Joe Cardillo, followed by Lena Weber.

Uh good evening, Madam President, counselors.

Um, I want to start with the outburst that we heard earlier.

Uh perhaps not everybody who's watching the the um the meeting on on YouTube or Zoom might have might have caught it.

But a gentleman used a racist slur, and I wasn't particularly surprised because I sat behind him in the previous meeting and he used the same slur, and I think he actually may have done the exact same thing three meetings back.

I'd I'd have to go look.

And uh, you know, I appreciated uh, Madam President, the statement that you shared at the beginning of this meeting, and I guess I was a little surprised to see no one else on council after the same repeated behavior happened.

Just stand up and say, you know, this really isn't acceptable.

This isn't really within our values.

And so I think in particular, Vice President Champagne and Madam President yourself could have just stood up there and reaffirmed that.

And so I'm gonna use just a touch of my time if it's okay to say that uh, especially to folks who are new to this chamber, to our young folks and our kids, to our immigrant communities and families, that you absolutely belong here.

This is the people's house.

We are glad you're here.

I'm glad you're here, and I'm grateful that you're using your voice, and please do continue to do so.

We all we all belong here.

This is the people's business, it's the people's house.

Um, speaking of leadership, I I kind of wanted to just touch on something a couple of speakers have mentioned, you know, seeing the sort of pattern that this council has taken in voting.

Um, you know, I was talking with a neighbor of mine this morning who's a veteran, and he was reminding me that, you know, Burkeños look out for each other, a thing that I try to live by and and and and kind of work by.

And um, right now our city council is making choices that seem to help the wealthy and the well-connected over the hardworking families in my neighborhood in particular, but certainly in other districts as well.

I'm in, I'm in district six.

Um, and this council's voted five-for uh to to block protections, would have stopped junk fees for renters, uh, you know, a couple of other votes that people have mentioned blocking uh the ability to build a casita or a duplex, you know, for families that might want to take care of an aging parent, etc.

And I think we need to look out for each other.

I today I see a lack of leadership uh on this council.

I see a messy and kind of a divided set that votes against things that the people want.

And uh, you know, I see decisions that are made behind closed doors, and I think we need to make some change for that, because that that really just does not represent the people well.

So thank you for your time and have a great evening.

Lena Weber, followed by Justin Rogers.

Good evening, Madam President, counselors.

Uh my name is Lena Weber.

I'm the policy director with the ACLU of New Mexico, and on behalf of the ACLU of New Mexico, we're urging the council to support strong action to safeguard public safety, constitutional rights, and community trust.

We know that here and across the country, we're witnessing a rapid erosion of our rights, a violent disregard for due process, numerous deaths at the hands of federal agents, and rampant racial profiling.

But at the local level, the city of Albuquerque can take concrete action to ensure that our city is more accessible and safer for those who live and work here.

And the city can strengthen its longstanding policy to not use our local public resources to facilitate or cooperate with immigration enforcement and a mass deportation agenda that's tearing families and communities apart.

By taking action on this issue, the city will affirm our community's values of fairness, due process, and equal protection, and do everything in our power at the local level to uphold civil liberties in this critical moment.

Thank you.

Justin Rogers, followed by Simon Polakowski.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam President and members of the council.

First, I want to say thank you for the extending the time back to two minutes.

I think that's it allows people to make a better point than being rushed in one minute.

Yeah, I wanted to talk about some of those five, four votes and address you, Madam President.

Just to say that I feel like so far in your presidency you've been letting a lot of people down.

You were endorsed by people like Mayor Keller, Melanie Stansbury, and Deb Holland.

A lot of your support came from Democrats.

And then you immediately teamed up with the conservatives to become president and choose Republicans as vice president and cow chair over members of your own majority party.

A lot of us were looking forward to having Councillor Teyas replace Louis Sanchez and have a majority on the council that represented our values.

And we were even, you know, after that meeting, we were assured by City Hall Insider in the blog of notes that said President Pain will continue to vote 90% of the time with the four Progressive Democrats.

Well, let's examine the record.

If I can have the overhead here real quick.

In which at least three of the progressive counselors voted one way and three of the conservatives voted the other way.

In other words, contested votes, not near unanimous approvals.

And do you know how many times out of those 25 President Payne has voted with the progressives?

It's not 90%.

It's not close to 90%.

It's one out of 25.

That's four percent.

So I don't want to be enemies here.

Um and I wanted to, I'm glad I had enough time here to like be critical, but then offer hope for the future and say that there will be some things coming up with immigrant protection.

I know you've been a strong supporter of before.

Um we want you to reconsider ranked choice voting.

That goes for everybody on the council.

I'm not don't need to only directly out the president.

So thank you.

Uh Simon Polakowski, followed by Benjamin Bean.

Good evening, Council President, Council.

I represent no one but myself.

Uh rank voting, as long as there's none of the above.

Uh we don't have to buy whatever it is either party uh is selling.

And people I think would be more willing to participate if they could uh register their frustration with the political process.

Uh number two, on my way down here this evening, uh I saw a woman juggling uh empty water bottle in the middle of Carlisle on an island in the middle of Carlisle.

No, yeah, Carlisle and Candeleria.

Uh, two people sleeping down here on Te Harris on the sidewalk.

Uh man, I don't know, could have been dead laying on a bench on Edith, uh, the homeless issue.

Uh it's been kicked down the road now for 40 years.

So happening 40 years ago.

I remember when a man was murdered here out on Civic Plaza, and he was uh he was a metal case.

He uh would uh defecate in his hand and throw his vehicle material at people.

And um when he uh was murdered, I knew people that were happy that he was gone.

Uh we need to start doing something about the homeless.

Uh we need to take him into protective custody.

Can't you know they can't be just pushed away and cleaned up after and then have it uh have uh go somewhere else temporarily.

There has to be some type of permanent uh process of getting these people off the street and into uh normal life if possible.

And uh yes, uh there's a lot of problems, and if you can't view it, I think uh you should you know allow somebody else to try at least.

Thank you for your time Benjamin Bean, followed by Alphea Atherton.

Uh can I get the overhead, please?

Uh good evening, madam chair, counselors.

Um we've been talking to you for a while as strong towns, and I thought I'd give you a quick introduction to what strong towns is via our six core principles, um, just to read them out financial solvency, land as a resource, transportation as a means for prosperity, job creation and economic growth, strong citizens, and government at the local level.

Uh I can't hit all of these in two minutes, but I'll get through a couple of them.

Uh financial solvency, uh, what we mean by that is the city should not be uh issuing more in debt than it has in its income.

It's pretty simple.

Um I won't be here for the geo bonds tonight, but generally, I don't know if we need to pay for like people that are working today with the funding of tomorrow.

Maybe there's another way we can structure that.

Um land is a resource.

Uh this is the acknowledgement that the basic uh unit of wealth that builds cities is land.

Um it is not pavement.

Um pavement is a one kind of improvement on land.

There are many kinds of improvements we can make on lands, including farms and housing.

Uh transportation as a means for prosperity.

Umsportation shouldn't be an end until itself.

Transportation should have a goal.

Um job creation and economic growth.

Um those are the traditional call marks of success for any municipality.

Um they are a good measuring stick, but they are not, they should not be the goal by themselves.

Strong citizens, uh, we believe that a strong town is comprised of strong people.

That doesn't just mean government.

That means the person throwing a block party in your neighborhood.

Uh thank you very much.

I'll try to get through some more next time.

Althea Atherton, followed by Grace Dukes.

Madam President, I'd like to put on my transit volunteer hat for the first half of my comment because um during the question and answer period, Director Wheeland seemed to be conflating two different ambassador programs.

Um I believe he was speaking of the Duke City uh community ambassadors who work under Solid Waste.

They clean many areas of our cities, including the bus stops, but I believe that Director Keener and Councillor Rogers were actually talking about the ABQ ride ambassadors who are overseen by transit and wear the brightest green shirts you've ever seen in your life.

Um and while um there are some members who are also super volunteers and adopt a stop, um, cleaning up trash is not one of our duties.

We are your guides to ABQ ride.

We provide a welcoming presence on buses and at bus stops while we educate the public as navigators of local resources.

And while we can educate about the rules of to ride, we are not permitted to enforce the rules to ride because we're volunteers.

Ambassadors get about eight hours of training, half of which I lead as a fellow volunteer.

And that is training is something that I would love, love, love to bring to contract and metro security, as well as our TSOs.

And I'm always happy to answer any questions you may have about the program.

Um it's something I dream of growing significantly.

Okay, taking off that hat.

Now I am back to being a constituent.

Um for the actual reason I signed up for today.

Um I was so excited to see Rach Choice Voting appear um on the letter of introduction, also known as instant runoff.

Um the last runoff election costs us about 1.8 million dollars.

Um and I don't think that accounts for the countless hours from candidates, staffers, advocates, poll workers, and the voters themselves who that were taken away from the other important work that they do.

Um and I think that uh there's been some criticisms that uh folks with ranked choice voting, um, it might be confusing, but I think we have the slow cooker runoff right now, and I think that's way more confusing.

I have worked on the last two uh runoff elections.

I've helped um people understand their rights, and people didn't know that they had to vote again.

Um so I'm sorry.

Uh thank you for your time, and I appreciate you.

Um and if you have any questions about the ambassador program, please reach out Grace Dukes, followed by Cesar Marquez.

Thank you.

Tonight I'm here before you to demand accountability for lack of progress and affordability.

As a renter, I have expenses that only get bigger every month while my paycheck stays the same.

Rent has become unaffordable for most young people.

When my lease ends in December, I will be forced to choose between the real page AI algorithm, hiking up my price, or starting an impossible search for cheaper alternatives elsewhere.

Prices are only going up, and as they keep going up, as basic living expenses become more unaffordable, more of us will be forced out onto the streets because our shelters are either full or unwelcoming to many in our unhouse population.

An available bet is not enough accommodation.

Our unhoused neighbors are our neighbors too, and deserve the same dignity and respect that we give everyone else.

This current situation in Albuquerque cannot continue.

Solutions haven't presented to you many times in the past and routinely voted down 5-4.

No coincidence.

Last meeting was no exception.

Not only did you vote down common sense renter protections and zoning changes that would allow young people like me to better afford housing, you disrespected your colleague, Counselor Tay S while she was telling a deeply personal story about the loss of her mother.

Shame on you.

And while we in the community are doing the work, looking out for our neighbors and trying to make things better, President Pena and Vice President Sham Hein look out for the wealthy.

So to those watching at home, ask yourself what is the vision of this leadership?

So far, it's looking like concentrating power in the hands of the 1% right out of Donald Trump's playbook.

Right here, I have one of your campaign ads, Counselor Pena.

Paid for by the real turrets.

You are bribed.

Do better.

Thank you.

Cesar Marquez, followed by Andrea Plaza.

Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the council.

My name is Cesar Marquez, senior organizer with Common Cause New Mexico.

I want to start with the number.

1.8 million.

The 2025 Albuquerque runoff elections cost taxpayers 1.8 million dollars based on the final bill reported after the runoff.

We should not be spending that kind of money on a second election when there is a proven way to get a majority winner in one election.

Albuquerque already requires majority winners.

An instant runoff keeps the same goal, a true majority winner, but does it in one election?

Instant runoffs are simple.

Voters rank candidates one, two, three, four, five.

And if no one gets a majority, the last place candidate is eliminated, and those uh votes transfer to the next choice until someone reaches over 50%.

It is basically a run-of just counted instantly so voters do not have to come back.

I have heard I have heard concerns that this is confusing or unfair.

The courts have already decided that rank choose voting and runas do not violate the one vote, one rule.

You can Chad GPT or Google this.

And if anyone still thinks that instant runoffs are confusing, I am more than happy to bring the Legos back and demonstrate an instant runoff on record again.

It's straightforward, and cities like Les Cruces and Santa Fe, which all anybody here can visit.

Uh I'm more than happy to bring the county clerks to also explain it to you if you have any questions.

Uh but they these CDs in our state are already using it successfully.

So my ask is simple.

Move this ordinance forward so Albuquerque can modernize our elections, protect taxpayer dollars, and elect leaders with real majority support.

Thank you.

Andrea Plaza, followed by Aurora Ariola.

Madam Chair and members of the council, my name is Andrea Flasa, and I am the executive director of Encuentro.

Since 2010, Encuentro's focus has been to provide the Latino immigrant community with top quality adult education programs.

Our programming is a key on-ramp to workforce development efforts in Albuquerque, preparing workers to fill positions in key industries that are currently experiencing workers workforce shortages.

Immigrants play an outsized role in New Mexico's workforce.

For example, 10% of the state's population are immigrants, yet we represent over 13% of the workforce.

We would like to praise Bernalio County and the city of Albuquerque for bringing forward the Safer Community Places ordinance.

The workers who care for our most vulnerable residents, our children, the elderly, people with disabilities, should not live with the constant fear that they or their clients and our children will be targeted.

At a time when this nation should be doubling down on addressing affordability, growing safety net benefits, and workforce development for transitioning workers, it is a travesty that we instead are having to take measures to protect our communities and local economies from federal from the federal government.

That said, we are proud of New Mexico and what we have all built together.

We cannot and will not allow this administration to break down what we have all built up.

A state in which we care for our neighbors, value family, and recognize the vast contribution of immigrant communities.

Passing the Safer Community Places Ordinance is a step in the right direction to protect our workers, small businesses, and the most vulnerable burqueños.

Thank you.

Aurora Ariola, followed by Tyler Richter.

Good evening, Madam President and Counselors.

My name is Aurora Ariola, and I serve as the policy and economic justice manager at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.

And I stand here today not only as a proud daughter of immigrants but as someone who calls New Mexico home.

According to the Migration Policy Institute State Labor Force Analysis, in New Mexico, workers born outside of the United States participate in a labor force with about 62% of immigrants aged 16 and older in the labor force.

This is a high rate.

This means immigrant workers are actively contributing, paying wages, and filling jobs across multiple industries.

Immigrant-owned businesses and broader local business community are better able to maintain stability and continue investing locally when policies create clarity and security within their communities.

When small businesses can operate with confidence and grow, they create more jobs, support family income, and strengthen, strengthen the economic foundation of our city.

When immigrant workers are protected, businesses maintain workforce stability, protect productivity, and plan for long-term growth.

When small businesses can plan and invest with certainty, they create jobs, expand services, increase local spending, and build the economic resilience that our city depends on.

As part of the Color Theory Coalition, a partnership of community-based organizations that support entrepreneurship and small business development across our state, we see every day how economic mobility is deeply tied to stability and community safety.

When immigrant families and businesses succeed, Albuquerque's economy grows stronger.

I ask you to continue protecting our immigrant communities as you have in the past by supporting the safer community places ordinance.

Thank you so much.

Tyler Richter, followed by Marie Marmesh.

I won't use all two minutes, but I'll note that the Route 66 Visitor Center is not yet open.

There is nothing on its schedule for uh the centennial celebration of Route 66.

And I have a poem for Ms.

Pena.

The arrogance of the colonizer, don't mind the history, listen to mine.

The arrogance of the colonizer, don't mind the young and hungry, keep them desperate.

Desperation is quiet.

The arrogance of the colonizer, distract with process, definitions, pronunciations, procedure, as if bodegas didn't sell community.

The arrogance of the colonizer hide behind stakeholders behind one more meeting while the truth sleeps in the cold.

The arrogance of the colonizer, ignore the truth.

Don't look at it in the eye.

Don't look at it in the eye.

Call it complex when it is ugly and real.

The arrogance of the colonizer.

Build monuments to your ego just to watch them melt back into the mesa.

The arrogance of the colonizer.

Speak of community and build walls at night.

Community doesn't have a gate.

Community doesn't build taller walls.

Community loves the ugly.

Community is for all.

Shame.

Marie Marmash, followed by Tad Newminsky.

Good evening, Madam President Pinya, Vice President Champagne, and members of the City Council.

My name is Marie Marie Marmash, and I reside in South Broadway, historically, one of the oldest black American communities in this city.

As a resident, I've received several calls from friends within the African American community seeking more information about the African American Advisory Board.

First of all, I want to thank Ms.

Nicole Rogers, Councilperson Nicole Rogers for our hard work in creating this board.

But that said, I would respectfully ask that this process be slowed down just a bit.

The community members who contacted me, my friends, had questions about the board, such as who are the members, how are they chosen, and why do some members hold permanent positions?

And I want to be clear, I do not speak for all black residents of Albuquerque.

But the partnership would give community members an opportunity to ask questions, to feel genuinely included, and to help address issues with transparency, and also would offer the chance that the board would be sustainable and viable long term.

I thank you for your time and consideration.

Tad New Minsky, followed by Fernanda Banda Thank you.

My name is Ted Nemiski.

Well, okay, let me tell you, you are not lawyers right here.

If you're not a lawyer, you cannot pass law.

Look at what's going on at people coming here to the meeting lately.

And you do not listen, people coming and voicing.

Those people finally get such angry.

Now I brought the ABT.

I was on the top, probably ten, maybe even five.

We brought ATD to federal just to justice.

Now let's go.

Robert.

She is the politician, duty, lawyer.

Yes.

That's what she says.

She says that's one thing.

And what she's done doing, the different things.

That's his example.

I don't want to go to the detail.

Champion.

Well, he's like her, except he little bit different approach, but has own interest behind it.

Fernanda Panda, followed by Joe Calkins on Zoom.

Joe Calkins, followed by Janet Sayers.

Here we go.

Good evening, Madam President and Councillors.

My name is Joe Calkins, and I have lived in District 2 for 49 years.

I have two points tonight.

First, when campers were removed from my block on February 24th, I barely needed their relief.

But it was also heartbreaking.

People were displaced with nowhere stable to go.

If individuals refuse shelter, the city still needs designated places where they can legally stay without being pushed from block to block.

Second.

I've heard Albuquerque community safety before that people are safer than ever.

That has not been my experience.

In the year ending February 1, I felt well over 200 requests related changes in my home.

They were moved away roughly 10 times.

In several cases, they were relocated closer to me.

I was told unsafe situations would be escalated.

From my perspective, that has not been happening consistently.

I ask that the city track and publish on the outcomes.

And I compose that for 60 seconds.

But if I have a little bit more time, I'd like to say that give kudos to the city council staff there at City Hall.

Uh give kudos to the city council staff there at City Hall.

I called up this afternoon to find out how close we were to uh the limit at which people would be moved down to 60 seconds.

And somebody answered and told me it was very close and would probably go over, so I don't like speaking for 60 seconds.

Um then a moment later somebody called my call.

This is not the first time.

The secretary there at City Hall of the United States.

Mr.

Cornelius, can you let him know we're having a hard time hearing him?

Mr.

Conkins, you're you're you're breaking up there at the end.

Oh no.

Um loud and clear now, sir.

Please proceed.

Okay.

Um anyway, uh, I just wanted to say that they pick up the ball when it's dropped, and I've been super happy dealing with them every time I've called.

Thank you very much.

Janet Sayers.

Um, yes, good evening, and and thank you very much.

And thank you all for your um service on the council, and I I also appreciate having the uh the the two minutes.

So I just wanted to say tonight that um you won't be hearing too much more about uh the main library, and we do feel that with the uh contributions from 10 legislators and capital outlay, along with um city councillors and some county commissioners that we're well over the million dollar mark, uh plus um we'll be uh looking to use some of the uh 2025 uh library renovation that was in the bond issue.

So that that's number one.

Number two, um arts and culture director um uh shell sands just didn't have a chance to tell you, but the uh the speaker series is going very well, and that was put together by some of the history groups.

It's on the fourth Saturday uh of every month at 11 o'clock.

And we've had sell out crowds of between 50 and 60 at some of the venues.

We're using five of the libraries along with uh the uh oh the place by the railroad.

Okay, wheels the wheels museum and and some other county locations, uh site in uh Bern Leo, Las Lunas.

So uh we're very happy.

The history is very happy to be part of the Route 66 celebration, and lastly, the library advisory board is very much looking forward to providing productive and uh thoughtful comment during the 2027 uh operating budget time, and also the the same discussion of the capital improvement budget uh which will happen later, but it's all being prepared right now.

So again, thank you for your time and thank you for the two minutes.

Thank you, Madam President.

There were two other folks I could not locate in Zoom, so that concludes general public comment.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, and congratulations, Ms.

Sayers.

You did an excellent job.

Oh and thank you all for your help very much.

So we are now on other business.

So now we are on other business item 15.

Um executive, we're gonna go now go into executive session pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10, 15.1 discussion subject to attorney client privilege pertaining to D 202 C V 2025 04659.

And we will um we're gonna need a roll call vote from this um point forward regardless because we have one of our counselors on Zoom, but um Michelle, can you please call the roll?

Councillor Baka.

Yes, Councilor Basson, yes, Vice President Champagne, yes, Councilor People Court, yes, Councilor Grapp, yes, Councillor Lewis, yes, Councilor Rogers, yes, Councillor Tayas, yes, President Pinya passes unanimously thank you everyone.

I affirm that the matter discussed in executive session were limited to those specified in the motion for closure.

So we are now on to item 11 approvals.

There are none.

And we are at our final section tonight, which is final actions.

So now we are on 011.

Counselor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

I'm pleased to reintroduce this bill, 026-11, which represents a thoughtful step forward in strengthening equitable outcomes and ensuring that our policies are informed both by lived experience and professional expertise.

I've spent the last couple weeks talking with community members, both in support and not in support.

And we have some amendments, but I want to just clear up a couple things that I heard over the last two weeks from our community.

One was about uh permanent seats.

And so uh thank you first to our um staff for helping me compile a list of boards and commissions that already have permanent staff or permanent uh members.

Uh we modeled this uh our ordinance today off of several other cities uh that we researched, as well as our commission on uh American Indian and Alaska Native, but I want to focus on ones that aren't specific to populations.

We have the Balloon Fiesta Park that has permanent seats.

We have Balloon Museum, Board of Trustees, Biological Park Board, we have our domestic violence sexual assault commission that have permanent seats, our information services committee, intragovernmental conference committee, our library advisory, our Route 66 Center Commission, our veterans and military affairs advisory, just to name a few.

Um, and this proposal, I just want to give some historical background, was a part of my work in the City of Albuquerque's Office of Black Community Engagement, where uh Pat Davis actually in 2021 wanted to start an African American advisory board, and at that time our community hadn't done the work of meeting looking at data to really decide what the focus group focus of that uh board would be.

So at that time in 2022, I convened by outlining over 33 intersections in the black community.

Um, some of those members are here in the audience today.

Um, and we did begin to uh improve two-way communication between the city, improving trust.

We addressed some systemic disparities with national partners like urban institute and the opportunity accelerator, and the strategy team was designed not only to elevate lived experience, but to ensure the route was grounded in sound research, data, and best practices.

So this is not something I just dreamed up, a real quick.

Um, we also want to be really clear about something else that's really important.

Is we have gotten feedback from folks saying, well, maybe this isn't okay because you're excluding other communities outside the black community.

Um, but I want to point to the subject matter experts.

We're talking about expertise here, not limiting participation based on identity.

Um, we have a lot of subject matter experts in our community, but there may be some where we need to look outside of our community for professional knowledge, technical background, uh, some of the things I know, but I'm pretty positive we have a lot of this expertise in our community, but that does not mean we cannot look outside of our community for that expertise.

We are seeking the strongest minds, most informed perspectives to help us do this work well and responsibly.

At the same time, we recognize that lived experience is also the most important form of expertise, and the balance of professional insight, community voice is how I lead.

And so, and and I know we have some people here who will speak in favor of it, and some who will speak in opposition.

And I want to say clearly that regardless, the level of engagement that we've seen in our community over the last two weeks on this issue, um, may is something I welcome, and I'm excited to see so many of us come into these chambers regardless of how you speak of the bill tonight.

It demonstrates that people in our community deeply care about the direction of our city, civic participation is a strength, and I'm genuinely encouraged to see such involvement.

Finally, I recognize that no policy is ever perfect on day one.

I'm confident that after the first year of implementation, if adjustments are needed, we can return to council and refine and improve this legislation.

Um but I know one thing is we gotta start somewhere.

Um we know that the the orgs to answer some of the questions from our public commenters during general public comment were chosen because they are black serving organizations specifically.

Their mission is to move our community forward.

We have a lot of black-led organizations who absolutely are welcome as subject matter experts or uh a part of our community voting members, uh, which is some of the amendments that I have.

I heard deeply from the community that they wanted a voting seat, not just to be at the table, and so some of the amendments will make sure that also the community members will have equal vote as well as the permanent seats.

Second, so it's a motion for a due pass on 011 and second by counselor feeble corn.

Do you want to go over amendments first before public comment?

Um, sure, I think that's okay.

Thank you, madam uh mr.

Vice President.

Um, so yes, so I'd like to move amendment A, which is number one in our packets, and we'll have it on the screen for folks to be able to follow along.

This is on page two line 31.

The blue line amended is possible as follows.

A, the board shall consist of 17 voting members, and again, that's to make sure that the community member seats are voting members of the board, and then because of that, we'll have to update on line four on page four lines 27 to 30 that the quorum, meaning when the board can actually vote, would be nine members must be there to vote, um, and then it just specifies that that the board shall not vote on matters unless quorum of the members are present, and which means you can still have presentations, discuss items, um, but without a quorum, we wouldn't be voting.

And I urge your support.

Second, move a motion and a second by counselor feeble corn.

Any discussion seeing none?

Uh Madam Clerk for a roll call.

Councilor Bacca.

Yes, Councilor Bassan.

Yes, Vice President Champagne, yes, Counselor Febricorn, yes, counselor grout, yes, counselor Lewis, yes, counselor Rogers, yes, Counselor Tates, yes, President Pena, yes, passes unanimously, all right.

On to amendment number two.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

Uh I am uh would like to move for amendment number two, labeled B in your packets.

This is a technical update just to capitalize the word black in our whereas statements.

Um it's that simple, just a technical amendment.

I move a due pass.

Second, we have a due pass on amendment number two, seconded by councilor feeblecorn discussion, madam clerk, counselor backer, yes, counselor, yes, vice president champagne, yes, counselor people corn, yes, counselor grout, yes, counselor Lewis, yes, counselor Rogers, yes, counselor Tayas.

Yes, President Pena, yes, passes unanimously on to amendment number C.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

Now we'd like to move uh for amendment number three, label C in your packets.

And this is thank you to Councilor Basan after um our awesome conversation about some of the calls she received.

Um we also included policies and procedures, which I had left out of the bill of the ordinance, and I appreciate her.

So beginning on page four, line 31.

We would just add the word policies and procedures along with the bylaws, so that this board would be responsible for also coming up with the policies and procedures on how the board would operate in addition to their bylaws, and that we would just want them to do that by the end of the first year and and review it on an annual basis.

Can I move a due pass?

Second, so motion is a due pass on amendment C, seconded by Councillor February.

Any discussion?

No, I just would like to add thank you, count uh councillor champagne.

That um the bylaws, a lot of the feedback we got from community is things that we can add in our bylaws.

It doesn't have to necessarily live in the ordinance, but I want this group to be have charge to um if they find at the end of the year there's some needed changes to this bylaw or to the ordinance because of their bylaws and their policies and procedures.

I'm more than happy to carry those amendments um at the end of the first year, and I urge your support.

Madam Clerk.

Counselor Bacca, yes, Councilor Bassan, yes, Vice President Champagne, yes, Councilor People Corn, yes, Councilor Grout, yes, Councilor Lewis, yes, Councilor Rogers, yes, Counselor Teas, yes, President Penya, yes, passes unanimously on to floor amendment number four.

Thank you.

Floor amendment item D or four in our packets.

Uh this is another technical amendment, just we forgot a spaced between alternate and May.

Um, and so we're just correcting that uh typographical error.

I move for a due pass.

Second motion's a due pass with a second from councilor feeblecorn.

Anybody can discuss the slash.

Madam Clerk.

Counselor Backa.

Yes.

Councilor Penn.

I'm sorry.

Councilor Bassan.

Yes.

Vice President Champagne?

Yes.

Counselor People Corn.

Yes.

Counselor Ground?

Yes.

Counselor Lewis.

Yes.

Counselor Rogers.

Yes.

Counselor Tiaz.

Yes.

President Penya?

Yes.

Passes unanimously.

Perfect.

And that takes care of all the floor amendments, Madam President.

We can move on to public comments.

Mr.

Garrett.

Thank you, Madam President, Mr.

Vice President.

Up first, we have Doni Ruthini, followed by Willie Williams.

Madam President, City Councillors, thank you very much for your time.

I am not against the bill.

What I am against is the gatekeepers you're going to be putting in place in the black community that will further the gap of the haves and haves not in the black community.

This does not represent the diversity within the black community.

First of all, how do you not have the NAACP on the list?

Do black people not need health issues?

We don't have any health providers on the list.

The only permanent seats that should be on this list should be for the youth, so that is a revolving door.

A lot of these people on the list have already have the ear of the mayor, already have the ear of the city council.

This is not echo the voice of the rest of us.

It does not add to the voices of so many black people in the city of Albuquerque.

This bill is a mistake if you will allow all of these groups without considering the rest of us to have a voice.

And if you're okay with only some of the people having the power and the voice, that's okay, just say that.

But don't tell us that you care about democracy or you care about the Republic of People or any of that other stuff you sell on your banners when you're running for campaigns.

This is not right.

And who are you, Counselor Rogers, to determine who is black serving and who is black enough to be on this list.

Yes, thank you so much.

I apologize, City Councillor Rogers and Madam President.

This list is not right.

It needs to be checked and put down.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, uh, Madam President in the chamber for having me.

Uh want to thank Nicole Rogers for the bill.

Great concept.

Uh like the idea.

The only issue I have is with the permanent seats on the bill, specifically with the New Mexico Black Leadership Council, Kathy McGill.

Uh seeing that name on the list is like a stab in the back to myself and a lot of other black community members who uh had to endure uh just very unprofessional uh times working for this individual.

And what's more disheartening is to see this individual on this list who uh has systematically committed fraud by using the YO or the workforce solutions program to defraud funds.

She applies for grants, has funding allocated for staffing, then hires the staff, sends them over to the YOWA program to get high uh on the job training program, which allocates six months of funding for wages, and then uh she'll make it impossible for you to stay there after that six months.

So basically, she doesn't have to use her allocated funding, and this is the individual you want to put to oversee the black community.

It's very disheartening.

Um the fact that the International District Economic Development Center was investigated, and Kathy McGill, New Mexico Black Leadership Council is written into the city budget, and the uh city isn't investigating this is beyond you know, beyond reasonable.

So uh that's where we're standing.

We don't want this individual overseeing the black community to further ostracize members of the black community.

It's just it's a no as long as Kathy McGill, New Mexico Black leadership is on that list.

Thank you.

Marion Biggs Jackson, followed by Michelle Guidelasie Michelle Guidellas, followed by Dr.

Lisa Christofferson.

And uh good evening once again, Madam President, uh members of members of the council.

My name is Michelle Gadellas, and I'm resident of Albuquerque's District 6.

Um, and I just wanted to come here to voice my strong support for 02611 and also to thank Councillor Rogers for her leadership in bringing this ordinance forward as the first African American woman to serve on Albuquerque City Council.

Uh Councilor Rogers brings a historic and vital perspective to this work.

Um I was present at uh at the February 18th council meeting and was really moved by Councilor Rogers' passion and resolve in championing this legislation.

Um it was clear from the work this work uh comes from a deep understanding of the challenges still facing the black residents in our city and across this country.

Um I don't have to tell anybody here that racism is not a relic of the past.

It continues to shape the daily lives, health, safety, economic opportunities, and even zoning laws that affect people of African descent right here in Albuquerque.

Um this ordinance is meaning is a meaningful response to that reality.

It would create a permanent advisory body, focus on the areas where the community needs the most support, economic opportunity, public safety, health equity, cultural vitality, and civic participation.

It ensures that the people most affected by these issues have a real seat at the table when city policy is being shaped.

So Councilor Rogers has shown she understands the urgency of this moment, and I'm really grateful for her willingness to act.

Um, and I hope that her colleagues will all join in passing this ordinance.

Thank you.

Dr.

Lisa Christofferson, followed by Althea Atherton.

Hi, my name is Lisa Christofferson.

I stand in support of this bill because I know how much work you have put into this.

Um, as the first African American city councilor, and as my friend and as my sister, uh, my family uh bought us, and I should, I told you, they bought us shirts uh because we're twins.

Uh when I have my hair down, uh sometimes my mother calls me you because she watches, and you know, my students also watch.

Um and so I would like to thank this body for considering this bill.

Um it's been a long time coming, it's not perfect.

As a black community, there are not very many of us in this state.

We're two percent of the state, and we're not a monolith.

And so here we are as a community.

Uh we are not in agreement.

We need some time.

It's a good bill to get started.

Um we have to start somewhere.

And so we don't have everything we need.

Uh, but you all saw what happens uh in this chamber, and Nicole and I have been here about two years, and we've been enduring this.

So I would like to caution uh my family members in the black community uh when you start with I support this bill, but it sounds very much like a I support, I know I was supposed to help, but I forgot, or you know, sorry.

Uh so it's about that same.

Uh so I would ask us to pass this bill, and all of the power structures, the ego problems, the drama we're having within, and the very uh serious concerns about Kathy McGill, we might want to, you know, rethink that.

Uh fraud is her MO.

Uh so I would suggest uh we pass this bill, and that we also uh city councilors maybe put in some uh caveats uh that we would come back maybe with some revisions or as you hear concerns from the community, whatever those concerns are of representation, youth, uh permanent seats, etc.

Maybe we could come back in six months or so with fixes that the group uh that the board that's elected or however that happens, they then come back with suggestions, and then you could change it after that.

Althea Atherton, followed by Grace Dukes.

Madam President.

The last time this body's uh met, our district six counselor Rogers said the phrase representation is not symbolic, it's structural, and it has echoed in my head over the last two weeks.

It's not enough to just invite a marginalized person to join a board.

We need a whole board that centers a perspective of African American and black members of our community to help the other boards and city structures do the best equity work that we can.

I firmly believe that you, as elected leaders, Madame President, and members of the City Council are charged to identify gaps and build the necessary structures to close them.

Councillor Rogers' perspective as the first black woman elected to this council means that she has the lens to see a particular opportunity for the city of Albuquerque and creating the African American Advisory Board.

And I believe this is an important step towards granting people and organizations with relevant lived experience a direct line to bringing solutions to the table.

I currently serve as chair of the transit advisory board, and we haven't spoken about the spell, so I can't speak for the rest of the board.

But as an individual member, I look forward to hearing the conversation that this board will have regarding the bus system and any opportunities they have to share expertise with us on matters of transit equity.

According to our 2022 onboard survey, 11% of weekday riders and 9% of weekend reviders, weekend riders identify as black or African American.

And I think part of the reason that the FTA requires these surveys is so we know which communities we serve and make sure that ABQ Ride can continue to provide the mobility services with equity, dignity, and respect.

Last month we celebrated Transit Equity Day on Rosa Park's birthday.

And while public transit has come a long way in the last few decades, there's still plenty of work to do.

I know that I do not have all the lived experience to see every inequity in our transit system, and I look forward to having more experts appointed by the city that I can turn to when I have questions, or who can come to us when there's something that we can help with.

Please vote yes on O2611.

Thank you for your consideration on this matter.

Grace Dukes, followed by Eugene Pickett.

Thank you again, Madam President, members of the council.

I'm here to speak in support of O 2611.

As Conserva Rogers said last meeting, history is not just something we study.

It is something we live, shape, and pass forward.

Representation is not symbolic, it is structural.

It shapes who is seen, who is heard, and who policies are designed to protect.

And that is why this matters.

Tonight, before you, there is an opportunity to include those who have been historically left out of decision making processes and shaping the policies to make Albuquerque the great place we all love and all call home.

So please vote yes and create the African American Advisory Board.

Thank you.

Eugene Pickett, followed by Marcia Boyer.

Madam President and uh City Councillors, my name is Eugene Pickett.

Um I'm in agriculture.

I'm an advocate for a small farmers and ranchers, both in the Latino community as well as the black community across the country.

And in my world, we look at it like everybody eats.

So the significance I think that like here, you know, when we're talking about this particular piece of legislation, um extremely important.

But it's not a negative but the opportunity in process to engage the community, you know, in such a way that like there is uh input encouraged.

So I mean it's not like only tonight, but if this could be um at least, you know, like a broader-based public hearing of some form of workshops that were set up because the uh unspoken elements that may not have participated.

I'm a church guy.

So I'm not a church disease.

You know what I'm saying?

I mean, you know, so when they say like that, you know, um the unspoken voices need to participate.

You have to have their participation.

You know, because when you don't, you know, we're gonna lack.

And um I feel very um appreciative of the security here tonight.

Because no one, none of the counselors, none of the audience, especially, you know, like black women, should not feel uh intimidated, should not feel unsafe.

You know, because we're living in a in a in a time where you know safety is so important.

You know, so when you encourage the engagement, then the engagement and the input will manifest because everyone will have the vested interests.

So if you leave that piece out, then I think one of the most important things in terms of how you want to engage the black community will be left out.

Marcia Boyer, followed by Tad Niaminski.

Good evening, madam.

Um president and members of the council.

I'm Marsha Boyer, and I normally don't speak, so my nerves may get the best of me.

I'm here to speak on 02611, establishing that African American Advisory Board.

I'm a descendant of the Boyer family.

We have deep roots in New Mexico and go as far back as the 1800s.

So I take great pride in any project that supports the African American community.

I'm a resident of the Kirtland community, where my parents were recently deceased, and I have lived there for over 70 years.

There needs to just be more transparency, and there needs to be more additional input because many just heard about the ordinance via television.

I respectfully ask the council to allow more time for more work to be done with the African American community before proceeding.

I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

My name is Ted Nemiski.

Well, after approaching next year is going to be six to the years in the United States.

Then I experienced with my nationality, the three different groups, the discrimination.

I got fed up after two years.

And I came to New Mexico.

Well, I became quickly successful.

And after two years living here, my boss sent it to Santa Fe to get a license, contractor license.

So speaking about racism, I think I say that all.

Cities see improved civic participation, stronger trust in government, and more sustainable policy implementation.

And an African and American advisory board would not replace existing systems.

It would help strengthen them.

It will serve a bridge between community and council, ensuring that engagement is consistent rather than occasional.

Albuquerque grows stronger when all of us in the communities are seen, heard, and meaningful involved in the governance.

Thank you.

Benny McGee on Zoom.

I'm a constituent of District 7.

I come before you as a black scholar with a bachelor's in African American Studies from UC Riverside and a Master's of Social Science in UCLA.

I strongly support Council Bill 011 and the creation of the advisory board.

This is a significant opportunity to advance equity for black people in the city of Albuquerque.

When you lift up the people at the bottom, everybody else elevates.

Make sure you keep that in mind.

With that said, I have serious concerns about the board structure.

I have worked for one of the listed organizations as a permanent seat, and based on my experience, I can confidently say there was no thorough insight or research into whether these organizations were the right representatives.

Many are well intended, but may not be equipped with the expertise or the technicality or even the historical insight needed to invise to advise on complex issues.

Also, black migration is not done throughout the United States.

So having permanent seats will never reflect the evolving black community.

I urge the council to involve experts, which is hard to find a black expert on blackness.

And I think you guys should find to provide organizations with questionnaires and find out what perspective they have for black people before they're fully given permanent seats within your city.

Thank you guys for making sure I got to make my comment.

And just know that the board will only be effective if you have experts guided.

Make the experts decide who's on the board.

I think that would be the best way to go about it.

Thank you guys for your time.

Enjoy your evening.

Madam President, that concludes comment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You want to proceed with the entire bill?

I can finish if you want my presence.

Okay.

Counselors, any discussion on 2611.

That being said.

I do.

Oh, Madam President.

I just want to, you know, we did receive calls.

Um, I intend to vote for the bill, um, but we did receive calls.

I was just wondering who from our who is the staffer, is there someone here who's putting it together and working just so that we can hear from them about the community involvement.

I'm so sorry.

About community involvement um in that process.

Councilor Rogers.

I was asking that uh, Madam President, uh, the bill, it's uh as written is Councillor Rogers' bill, so uh our staff was not engaged in the the writing of this bill, and it was her staff.

Thank you, Madam President.

Actually, I did send the bill to equity and inclusion um before I introduced it for feedback and did not hear back until after the bill was introduced.

All right, so I did.

Um, and this is my work carrying over from equity and inclusion, and I'm happy to talk about the community engagement we've done over the last four years.

Um, it started with the strategy team of 36 members of the black community.

Um, we spent two years developing the focus areas of economic mobility of um uh missing and murdered black family was something that came up after the the uh strategy team, so that particular one was not discussed by um the particular strategy team.

That was a direct response to the Jayvon Givens case that we've been working with APD on, where a black man was hung in the city of Albuquerque and his family wasn't notified until a year later.

And so we added this because of that incident.

Um, cultural events and heritage, it's the purpose of that is to work alongside equity and inclusion for Black History Month programming for Juneteenth programming, similar to the Hispanic Heritage Committee.

Um, also health outcomes.

So I do want to say we do have representatives from UNM Health, the NACP, APS, and the African American Student Services at UNM so that we can make sure we round it off with our youth voices, they are included in the bill.

Um, all other the health outcomes was a big big part of what we wanted to focus on.

The other is civic engagement and representation, making sure we can have more members from the community in these chambers, which, regardless of how people spoke about it tonight, I'm still glad to see them here in these chambers, engaging in our processes because there's a lot of time I look out in the audience and I don't see us here outside of Lee Stor Christofferson.

And so I think that's another reason civic engagement and representation was a big part of that.

We've spent a lot of time on the board composition, and I feel you know, I'm I'm I absolutely have the most respect for the Boyer family and their legacy and history here, which is why we included the African American Museum and Cultural Center, which works to preserve that history of our homesteaders, and so that they can make sure to bring in uh that voice also from our history.

So I really, you know, again, it's not perfect, um, but I think that's we need something to start with.

I'm committed to continuing to work with the community over the next year as we launch this work on bylaws, processes, and procedures, and amendments that we can work on to bring back to the to the to the council.

And so, yeah, I hope that answers your question.

It did, thank you, Councillor Rogers.

Counselors, any further questions?

Councilor Lewis.

Yeah, thank you.

Um if I may, uh, you know, Councilor Rogers up.

How did you all address?

And it sounds like you guys I know you've been working on this for a long time.

Um, but have have you how did you all address the permanent board?

I guess it seems like, and again, uh I'm not I'm not sure the total context other than what we've heard tonight.

Um there might you might be some that feel um you know not represented you know on your board, and there was the issue of um uh of a permanent members.

I mean, how have you addressed those those issues and those concerns?

Absolutely.

I think that um, and I heard the same thing from community members about representation, which is why we did the amendment to make sure that the community members that weren't tied to an org had voting power just like the orgs do.

So all of the folks could sign up through the same boards and commission application process, um, even though there's not um they're not tied to one of these particular organizations.

And so I think hearing from community, we made sure that those were voting members so that if they're not there's community members that wish to serve that are not a part of those orgs, there's still an opportunity to do so.

Um and so I think as the board gets started, if they see that they need more community seats, I'm open to bringing that back and making amendments.

Um this really is just a starting point.

We've been working on this, like I said, since Pat Davis.

I even looked at his version of his bill that he had drafted that him and I were working on when I was in the role of uh black community engagement.

So you know, I did my best to be as thoughtful as possible, and I knew because the black community is not a monolith that somebody was gonna feel left out.

But the point is is that um I know that we can work together uh to strengthen it as we move forward.

Counselors, any further questions, comments?

Councillor Rogers to close.

Thank you so much, and again, thank you to everybody who did public comment in support or not.

Um, I look forward to working with you to strengthen this so that we can absolutely continue to make this a better product that's more representative representative of, and that is hard to do with the black community.

Um, we're not gonna ever get to a point where everybody at the time is um represented.

Um, and so I urge your support as we take the vote.

And the motion is a due pass on 2611, Madam Clerk.

I do pass as amended.

Yes, ma'am.

Uh Counselor Bacca.

Yes, Councillor Passan.

Yes.

Vice President Champagne.

Yes.

Counselor Fablecorn, yes.

Councillor Grout, yes.

Counselor Lewis, yes.

Councilor Rogers, yes.

Counselor Teyas, yes.

President Pena, yes.

Passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Um, so we are now on um R205 Councilor Grove.

Thank you, Madam President.

R205 is requiring the Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Department, the Albuquerque Police Department, and the Albuquerque Community Safety Department to provide quarterly operations reports.

I move a due pass.

There's a motion second for a duke pass of our 205.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just want to um talk a little bit about this resolution.

The true heroes of our city are our first responders in APD, AFR, and ACS.

They do a fantastic job under stressful conditions.

And I introduced this bill because I wanted more openness and transparency around their work and the challenges that they face.

The health and safety of our community depends on them.

It's our job to make sure that they have the resources that they need.

For that, we need information.

Since this bill was introduced in November, we've had great conversations with the leadership about the core goals of this bill.

They're happy to provide regular operational reports to our to council.

These reports will be accessible to public to the public on the department's websites, uh web pages, and they may be linked on counselors' projects, uh project pages, so constituents can see the great work that each department is doing.

Councillors will also be able to have quarterly briefings with each department to review data, discuss trends, and identify district specific issues.

The updates will include improvements in technology and data systems so we can stay informed on progress and challenges.

Letting the departments do this administratively will achieve the same goals but more quickly and with more flexibility.

I'm excited that the public will be able to see the full story around the work that each department uh completes on a day-to-day basis.

So I'm going to move to withdraw this bill.

The objectives are being met with through collaboration, so it's not necessary.

I can always bring it back if I need to.

This process has shown that when we work together, we can achieve policy goals more effectively, efficiently.

And I want to thank Chief Chief Cecily Barker, Chief Emily Haramillo, and Director Jody Escabel, for their willingness to work with me and our staff.

And I want to thank our staff for working so um diligently with me to make this happen.

Um I enjoyed um meeting with the departments and going over challenges and what's important to us when we're making decisions, budget decisions.

It's important that we have the whole scope of everything.

Um the other thing that's very interesting is that oftentimes trends and things that we see are very seasonal.

So it's not always going to be the same.

And so getting to see in each department is also different.

So I think it's important that we have transparency for the public to see what our public defender or public um our safety staff is doing for us to keep us safe, but also um see and see all the things that they have to do.

It's it's truly amazing.

Um, and each and each district is different.

So I think I'm hopeful that the the counselors will find this very helpful to see trends in their districts to see where we need to work on and um and move forward and and make changes that way.

So I look forward to continuing these conversations.

Um so at this time I want to withdraw this bill.

So there's a motion a second for with to withdraw um R205.

That was by Vice President Champagne.

But before we go to a vote, um, do we have any?

We have two people signed up to speak, but it looks like you're telling me they're not online.

That's correct.

Okay, okay, thank you so much.

So, with that, is there any discussion from counselors?

Seeing none, um, councilor grout to close.

I heard your support to withdraw this with that.

Councilor Baka.

Yes.

Councilor Bassan.

Yes, Vice President Champagne.

Yes, Councilor People Corn, yes.

Councilor Grout, yes, Councilor Lewis, yes, Councilor Rogers, yes, Councillor Tees.

Yes, President Pena.

Yes, Council's unanimous.

Thank you.

We're on the final bill of the evening, and this is R for amending R25122 regarding minimum staffing requirements for Albuquerque Fire Rescue Rescue Apparatus, and I think I will ask Councillor Feeplecorn if she'd like to open and close on this bill.

Sure, madam, Madam President.

Um so this is the um the uh winding down of uh a lot of drama between city council and um the administration over staffing requirements for Albuquerque Fire and Rescue.

I think we have um negotiated a very um balanced answer to this problem, and this is our finalizing of that agreement, and so um happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Councilor Papel Corn.

Is um any questions from the councillors?

Do we have anyone signed a oh we do?

Okay, I thought it was the same two names.

So go ahead.

Thank you, Madam President.

We have Grace Dukes followed by Tad Numinsky, Tad Niminsky.

Thank you.

Well reasonable level of safety while you're performing the assigned duries, and lot more.

I have I have no problem, I really appreciate paramedic.

But I do have a lot of problem to the fire department destroying so-called abandon houses.

How they destroying because I see it many houses being destroyed with those doors, and roof because little fire in one I could go over and over.

Where is Arson in the vestigator?

Oh no, that is a homeless people.

And the closes closed.

I ask to fire the department to release all fires, amended houses fires during the last three years.

No response, and city clerk, NATO play games with me.

I'm sorry, I'm finding next this week or next week against city and the tour release again against city clerk and fire department plenate the uh the director.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Naminsky.

Um, that your comments weren't germane to the bill, but I bet you go ahead and complete them.

So thank you so much.

Next time just try to make sure that your comments are germane to the bill.

Um is there any questions from our staff?

I mean uh counselors, I'm so sorry.

Okay, Madam President, we need a motion.

There wasn't one.

I think there was one.

I made it in then Councilor Feblecorn.

And so I'll send it over to you to close, but I'll just make a couple of comments just real quick.

I think this is really, you know, um, you know, we really got in a in a in a situation last year, and I'm just really um thankful for your work, Councilor Feblecorn and Councilor Lewis to really try to unravel this with you know um just this was between us and the administration and then actually um really um working to support our fire department and our fire chief, and hopefully we can just start to um move forward and and make real progress on some of the things that we've all committed to.

So counselor feeble corn to close.

Thank you, madam president.

I'll just say I'm looking forward to having this um episode over.

Uh I um fully support um AFR Chief Armio and know that the department is in good hands, and I look forward to getting back to the work that the city council should be doing.

So that I urge your support.

Thank you.

So there is a motion and second for a due pass of R4.

Um Madam Clerk.

Councilor Baca.

Yes, Councilor Bassan.

Yes, Vice President Champagne?

Yes, Councilor People Corn.

Yes, Councilor Ground?

Yes, Councilor Lewis, yes, Councilor Rogers, yes, Counselor Teas.

Yes, President Penya?

Yes, passes unanimously.

Thank you.

So that was the final item of the evening.

There being no further business, this council meeting is adjourned.