Thursday, May 23, 2019New Mexico's Two Horse Economy Doing Some Heavy Lifting, Plus: More On APD Staffing And Some "Burque Bashing" We all know about the SE Permian Basin oil boom and the billions in state revenue it's bringing in, now add a boost from federally funded Sandia National Labs (SNL). SNL says it is in the process of hiring1,900 employees this year, 1,100 new positions and another 800 to fill vacant positions. They say the number is unprecedented and many of the new hires are coming from NM. The new jobs are specialized and pay into the six figures, resulting in a notable economic boost for the ABQ metro. A spokeswoman for Sandia tells us: By Sept. 30, 2019, Sandia expects to have more than 13,000 employees. This includes all regular employees, post-doctoral students and limited-term employees at NM, California and other sites. This also includes employees who are students. That’s a good opportunity for our college students who have been leaving the state in search of jobs elsewhere. About 11,000 of the 13,000 Sandia employees will be based in ABQ. So is Trump "Making New Mexico Great Again" with his pro fossil fuel policies and commitment to outsized nuclear weapons budgets for Sandia? Some Dems would rather point to fossil fuels as the cause of climate change and warn of the danger of nuclear weapons designed at Sandia. But these two sectors have been the foundation of the modern New Mexican economy for decades and will remain so. Despite the regular chatter of "diversifying" away from oil and the feds, lately oil and the feds are only getting bigger. The SNL FY 2020 budget is over $3.6 billion. Energy royalties and taxes regularly comprise a third or more of the state's General Fund, currently at $7 billion. Diversify? Not in this lifetime. It's not all gravy. That program to add billions to the Los Alamos National Labs budget to manufacture "pits" for nuclear weapons appears to be hitting the wall. Still, recent budgets for LA don't have much pain. 1000 IN SIGHT We quoted a newsletter from ABQ City Councilor Pat Davis Wednesday, saying that under the recently approved city budget there would be 1,059 APD officers beginning July 1. Davis clarifies. He says the actual number is about 985 starting this July and adds that the correct number for July 2020 is actually1,053, if hiring goals are met. We speculated that the increased police presence could give us an idea by the end of the year whether more officers will cut the rate of crime significantly. Davis said he believed so since 985 officers will, among other things, improve response times. Says Davis: APD is fully-funded budget is for 1,053 officers by the end of FY20 (June 30, 2020). ( I erroneously said 1,059 which included some new PSA positions, but those aren't sworn). APD's staffing plan calls for 80 of those new 100 officers to go directly into what we call "neighborhood policing," aka patrol and 911 calls in area commands. The remainder will go to fill vacancies in overburdened detective units including crimes against children, homicide and other specialized jobs. Meanwhile the Governor says she is pleased with the deployment of about 50 state police officers in Albuquerque to help fight crime. Her office reports: The roughly 50 state police officers temporarily assigned to targeted areas of Albuquerque. . .have generated, to date, more than 257 total arrests, including several dozen felony arrests and 13 DWI arrests. State Police have also seized meth, heroin, firearms, ammunition and stolen license plates, among other evidence. BASHING "BURQUE"  I'm with you, Joe. As a native Albuquerquean, I dislike the gangsta connotation of "Burque." I also don't like to hear "Isleta" pronounced with three syllables "Is-a-leta" as the casino does in their own commercials. On the other hand, "BernCo" seems real digital for the county, and distances us from the Town of Bernalillo. It seems "Bernalillo" is translated "Little Bernal." Bernal is said to be the name of a community named for a Spanish family. Maybe this explanation from the Urban Dictionary will help old timers come to adopt "Burque" and "Burquenos," slap on a T shirt and go to a heavy metal concert with Mayor Keller: While many uneducated YOLOs claim the origin is unknown, the original gente knows. The word is short for the original spelling of the city "Alburquerque," in which you find the word burque. This is the original name of the founders and the original city in Spain. Okay, that helps. Instead of thinking of the Los Padillas gang each time we hear "Burque," we'll latch on to that historical explanation. Mayor, I think Frank and I are ready for that metal concert. Join us for some holiday film reviews tomorrow. Reporting from Albuquerque. . . er. . . Burque, I'm Joe Monahan. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019 |
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