Happy Day After Election :-)

marjorie says...

It’s nice to have a happy day-after-election. Congrats to all the winning City Council Candidates, including Don Harris for pulling it out in District 9.

Living in District 2, I was very pleased to see Debbie O’Malley win another term. She’s a great Councilor who gives a lot of time and energy to public service. We are very fortunate.

I have to admit I was a little shocked by the percentages last night, which were simply off the scale for the winning candidates. Along with others, I can only assume that those making up the very low turn-out are the political strata in Albuquerque, and what they delivered to the city was their mandate for power sharing. Whether or not it was in fact the case, this year we had what was widely perceived as a “Marty Chavez slate” …and it went down in flames, including the attempt to recall Don Harris. In addition to that, the voters approved an amendment allowing Council appointments to boards and commissions if called for by ordinance. I think Marty Chavez is quite popular in Albuquerque but, you know, he’s also a little too big for his britches. And it seems a lot of folks recognize that.

While that may be the big mandate, District 6 delivered their own mandate when it comes to values. It's a largely progressive Democrat district and in this regard Rey Garduno is a truly stellar replacement for Martin Heinrich. Rey, I can't wait to see you up there on the Council!

The other item I was very happy about was the passage of the affordable housing bond. The City adopted the Workforce Housing Opportunity Act and it was fair to fund it. And, as I stated in one of the comments earlier in the week, the opposition to funding it, as ever, had no response to our housing problem other than, in effect, the tired “the free market works, so let it…but maybe with some incentives for developers thrown in.” Come on, folks. It’s time for a new approach.