One Year Ago

ABQ Mayor Tim Keller marks his first year in office this Saturday. So how's he doing? Down at the Alligator pond where they keep a close eye on all things La Politica the fresh-faced, energetic 41 year old earns a grade in the B to B+ range. Here's how it shapes up, starting with the positives:

--Unfortunately the crime wave rolls on but Keller and APD have stabilized it somewhat. Sure, it's hard to see how crime could have soared any higher as the city already ranked at or near the top of the nation in the stats, but stabilizing the rate is an important first step.

--Like it or not, Keller pushed through the city council a tax increase that is bringing in $50 million a year or more to city coffers with most of it pledged to the crime fight, including hiring more cops. That tax will be crucial to any future success he has on the crime front and which will ultimately determine his political fate.

--APD is making incremental progress as it operates under the Justice Department consent decree. Gone are the days under Mayor Berry when he and his minions brazenly thwarted implementation of the decree.

--On the economic front Keller had a big catch with Netflix. It announced a ten year, $1 billion investment here in film production. His administration doesn't get all the credit but it gets enough. In one fell swoop the talk of a profitable "creative economy" became a reality with the Netflix deal. Weeks later, however, government contractor Honeywell Aerospace announced it was pulling up its ABQ stakes and laying off hundreds, again revealing the fragility of the city's economy.

--Changing the psychology of the city after the failed eight years of Republican Mayor Richard Berry was essential if ABQ was to look more hopefully at the future. Keller, a peripatetic politician who loves the camera, has been accused of showboating but his cheerleading has the city thinking more positively about itself,  an important aspect of executive leadership. His One ABQ campaign has been criticized as trite and political sloganeering, but this past decade the city has been severely fractured both economically and socially. From that perspective and as the city continues to grow even more ethnically diverse, the One ABQ pitch resonates.

--ART. There are positives and negatives to how Keller has handled the ignominious, scandal-ridden transit plan. The most bungled public works project in city history was left on his desk by Mayor Richard Berry like a rancid sandwich. He is now embroiled in a high-risk legal tempest with the providers of the electric buses for the project. ART could still cause Keller to stumble, but his first foray at trying to make sense of the mess have been, well, sensible. This is truly a no-win situation and containing the damage is the best that can be expected.

AND THE DOWN SIDE

So why doesn't  Keller get an A or A plus from those Alligators watching over their fair city? Well, perhaps he will get there in the years ahead but in the first year. . .

--Keller and APD still have major issues. Early in his term he and his police chief mishandled a high profile case of a sexually abused 7 year old girl and appeared to be attempting a cover up of APD incompetence. That Keller was buying into the culture that brought down the department was startling. And it was one of several instances that raised issues about his dedication to transparency. (He walked back his support of the policing in the case of the 7 year old).

--That tax hike the Mayor engineered worries the Gators as they look at the still off-the-charts overtime that many at APD are receiving. The administration will argue it's because of the cop shortage but a cop doing PR and pulling down close to $200,000 a year is a major optics issue and raises the question of whether Keller will efficiently spend the hundreds of millions in new tax money. And does he have command and control of APD or do they have it of him?

---Keller's APD pay package to resolve the cop shortage is attracting officers from Rio Rancho and other area cities. Does that undermine the overall safety of the metro? And will those officers have a strong commitment to APD cultural change that first time officers would? Critics argue it was the hiring of "laterals" from other police departments  that caused much of the problem we had with fatal police shootings that forced the Justice Department to come in here and that has cost the city tens of millions in lawsuit settlements.

--While crime has leveled off in some categories, ABQ remains a very violent city. Murders continue to hold at or near record levels and citizens continue to complain of repeat burglaries at their businesses and homes. Complaints are also heard that the city/county jail, once overcrowded, is now too empty. Keller and APD Chief Geier remain vulnerable to the "not tough enough" on crime message.

--The Topgolf veto. Keller's veto of subsidies for this project was unanimously overridden by the City Council. His boots in cement approach didn't do him any favors and cost him political capital. But his relationship with council has been a bit better since that fiasco. Write it off to a rookie mistake?

THE BOTTOM LINES

Mayor Keller faces a city with a soft underbelly of crime, violence, poverty and drugs that continues to hinder economic development and encourages the city's best and brightest to head for the state line. These are the same problems that bedeviled the previous administration but were left to fester and worsen.

The city ached for change and a new face when it elected Keller in a landslide last November. His first year put to rest concern that he would be overwhelmed by the job as he demonstrated a basic and sometimes elevated competence. He and the city he leads still face a long road ahead in remaking ABQ into a more economically vibrant and safer place but he has taken the first steps of the journey.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018