City Council formalizes its federal wish list
Aug. 3—With Congress back in the earmarks game, Albuquerque officials have formalized their $30 million wish list — even though it is already clear some of it is a no-go.
The City Council on Monday unanimously approved the list of projects it wants the federal government to help fund. It includes a Holocaust museum, open space trails and Unser Boulevard widening.
But it was a compulsory vote to ensure compliance with city ordinance.
The city had already submitted its requests to New Mexico's federal delegation, which ultimately nominated a portion for consideration by the full Congress, council policy analyst Tom Menicucci told the council Monday night.
The surviving requests total about $17 million, he said.
Menicucci said it probably would have been more except the metro area did not have a representative in the U.S. House of Representatives at the time. New Mexico's 1st Congressional District seat was temporarily vacant earlier this year between Deb Haaland's departure to become interior secretary and Melanie Stansbury's victory in a special election to replace her.
"Of course, there will always be next year," Menicucci said.
Monday's meeting was the council's first in over a month as the body customarily takes off the month of July.
The council postponed votes on a number of bills, including three related to the implementation of a free bus fare pilot program and another on the University of New Mexico Regents' application for a tax increment development district, or TIDD, for its South Campus area.
The council did on Monday vote to accept the recommendations of a task force that studied solutions to the dearth of hot-air balloon landing sites. The task force made a range of suggestions, including some small-scale — like recruiting more property owners to mark their land with large Xs to designate a safe landing location — to the purchase of a large parcel that could be used for balloon landings and also developed for sports purposes at a cost of $70 million.
Councilor Brook Bassan cautioned that the recommendations were just that and that the city is not buying any property at this juncture.
The report, she said, was about "coming up with ideas so we can make our next move," she said.
Also on Monday, a high-profile stadium funding proposal was formally introduced but not discussed. The proposal calls for putting a multipurpose soccer stadium bond question on the Nov. 2 ballot.
If council passes it, voters would decide if the city issues $50 million in gross receipts tax revenue bonds to pay for the project, which would serve as home base for the New Mexico United soccer team.
