Albuquerque City Election issues

[elegantelbow]

Thanks to erisedsmirror, I went and looked up the Albuquerque issues that will be on the November 2 ballot:

There will be a two issues:

1) A change in the charter. Currently the city charter says that councilors are paid annual salaries equal to one-tenth of the annual salary received by the Mayor. The Council President shall receive double the annual salary

Comments

[cryptosporidosi]

grr damn city councilors.

[fruitylips]

I tripled my income between 1991 and 1992 and then doubled it between 1995 and 1996. Between 1999 and 2000, I increased my salary by ~35%, also. Yes, I have the tax forms to prove it, if you're interested/skeptical.

Of course, I decreased my income by about 50% between 2001 and 2002. And then by about 90% between 2002 and 2003. 2004 will show an approximate 900% increase in income over 2003. All of that, tho, was related to getting laid off and then not looking for a job for 18 months, so it probably doesn't count.

[elegantelbow]

I tripled my income between 1991 and 1992 and then doubled it between 1995 and 1996.

But you weren't doing the exact same job. Yes, plenty of people have had a time in their lives when their income went up signficantly. But very rarely does the paycheck triple when the job remains the same.

[faelad]

They're still trying to extend the road into the petroglyphs? Why don't they just build fricking condos right in the park? ::grumble grumble::

Thanks for info on these. I haven't even looked at the back of my absentee ballot yet; still researching the piddly people on the front.

[_dark_phoenix_]

Um...they pretty much have. Been down Unser lately? It's all levelled and just waiting for "Volcano Cliff" condo complex and a myriad other housing developments to go up with the extension of Paseo. And really, that's the fault of the city in the first place. They should have stopped the growth in that direction or made the roads to accomodate it before it happened. Now its a giant rat race to get out of there and it doesn't matter what time you leave. I've headed out of Ventana Ranch as early as 6 in the morning to get to work by 8 and sometimes barely made it to Louisana and I-40 at quarter of. That road needs to be built or they need to come up with some super plan to knock more arteries into this armpit. I-40, I-25, Montano, Alameda, and Paseo just aren't cutting it.

[faelad]

Long time since I've been up there. Drat.

[elegantelbow]

Yep. This morning both KOB and KRQE are reporting that the governor is planning to release state funds for that road. Either $3.3 million or $1.3 million, I'm not sure which.

[coffegrl]

Amen!

To be honest, the uproar over the petroglyph park just blows my mind. The park was created to serve as open space, not as a historical or religious site. Extending Paseo is akin to putting a road next to any other park in Albuquerque.
Yes, urban sprawl is bad, and Albuquerque's West side is guilty of it, but the sprawl has already happened. Getting better roads into and out of the West side isn't going to make it any worse.
The argument that the Paseo extension is going to benefit Rio Rancho more than Albuquerque is a crock too! I live in Rio Rancho, but spend 75% of my disposable income in Albuquerque - providing Albuquerque with my gross reciepts taxes. If it wasn;t such a pain in the ass to get out of Rio Rancho, I might be more inclined to spend even more in Albuquerque.

Yes, but...

[buddhafiddle]

For my part, I would feel totally differently about the Paseo extension if there were a binding moratorium on new housing permits in the west side until such time as schools, water, and road infrastructure supports it.

Rewarding real estate speculators who build sprawl development by building the infrastructure at public expense after the fact is the main thing that makes urban sprawl worse

Re: Yes, but...

[coffegrl]

I don't disagree with you on these things, but I do understand the flip side of the situation. I live in Rio Rancho and work on the west side. I currently pay less than $700/month for mortgage on a 1350sq ft house, sitting on 1/3 of an acre of land. I am in one of the better school districts in central NM. Just prior to moving up here I lived in a 1300 sq ft (maybe) house sitting on less than 1/6 an acre because of the apartments that were built on to the back of the house, and I was paying $775 in rent. If I had children they would have been able to go to Monte Vista (which I have heard is a decent school), but would have had to get across several major streets to do it. I am not suggesting that urban sprawl is acceptable, but can you blame people for going somewhere that they are going to get the bigger bang for their housing buck? I am only suggesting that the greater Albuquerque area needs to think about where those tax dollars are coming from in the first place. Think about it, 18% of the population pays 38% of the taxes

[lovelybones]

Voting is hard. :(

[elegantelbow]

Yeah, it is. That's why I created nm_vote. I need to talk to people about the election issues before I get in the booth, so I can make some kind of rational decisions.