Why Have a Coalition of Neighborhood Associations?
District 9 used to have a Coalition of neighborhood and homeowners’ associations that identified broad community issues, sought citizens’ inputs through the member associations, and presented arguments and testimony on behalf of the many thousands of voters represented in our corner of town. But it withered for several reasons—limited time available for substantive volunteer efforts, a sense of frustration in dealing with major policy and planning issues, an unfortunate “don’t care” attitude of some associations, and general fatigue of Coalition leaders.
However, there are significant issues facing District 9 groups, nearby
- Neighborhood Involvement. Citizens have the right (and responsibility) to get involved in government and community matters. However, few people have the time or broad expertise to do so with confidence, and everybody has other things to do…family, work, church, friends, other organizations. That’s a key reason why we have neighborhood and homeowners’ associations. But the same constraints on time and experience apply, so by pooling our specific expertise, sharing the load across the breadth of challenges, and gaining knowledge about proposed plans in our area and throughout
- Association Legislation. Three draft Bills would (a) create a Task Force to determine what’s wrong with neighborhood and homeowners associations (the answer is “not much”), (b) force specific changes to Bylaws concerning election of Association Boards, and (c) dictate comprehensive requirements for “more democratic” homeowner associations. This “universal solution” approach to a few specific problems simply won’t work. We’ll have to galvanize public interest and input, and then testify in opposition of these draconian Bills.
- Planning, Zoning, Development, etc. The challenges include Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency plans for revitalization of East Central and adjoining properties, followed by preparation of the Sector Development Plan. These complex and comprehensive policy-setting plans will determine the 5-, 10-, and 20-year vitality and appearance of the District. This is our best (and for many of us oldsters, last) chance to responsibly define what our Southeast corner of Albuquerque should look like—commercial, city service-wise, environmental, residential, and recreational. The Tijeras Arroyo Corridor Study will begin very soon—there are significant concerns by several associations about this “mini-study.” Other, broader planning policy issues include proposed legislation for higher density, multi-use, diverse economic and social strata, and mass-transit-dependent residential and commercial development—pushing the new urbanist/smart growth social engineering theories and agenda through city-wide legislative initiatives rather than requiring site-specific justification of such developments.
- Education. The economic growth of District 9, the City of
- Crime. While major crime has not increased within the City, it has grown in nearby county areas and nearby municipalities—where criminals have only a short commute to affect our public safety. APD needs more trained, uniformed officers on the street, not behind desks. BCSO lacks both deputies and equipment to meet crime-prevention and crime-control problems. The
- Emergency Response. AFD growth has not kept pace with residential growth, especially in District 9, the
- Environmental. Perhaps not as evident nor as directly-applicable to most associations in District 9, the contamination of the Tijeras Arroyo due to chemical dumping and septic system leakage and polluted wells, are becoming a major public health issue that must be addressed. This is not just a
- Taxes and Pet Projects. Taxes are already at a high level, with proposed increases like the recent Council-passed Transit Oriented Development legislation that includes an optimistically “cheap” $270,000,000 street car system--$600 per foot for nine miles. The Rail Runner, total future costs unknown, is another example of avoiding the fact that no local or long-haul passenger rail system in the US has been self-sufficient in the last 40 years; large tax subsidies support “successful” street cars, commuter rail, AMTRAK, and other rail systems, diverting scarce tax dollars from higher priority infrastructure and service requirements. There is a fledgling organization, Stop Wasting Albuquerque’s Taxes (SWAT), that focuses on such issues; perhaps we should get involved as a junior partner in this effort.
A reinvigorated Coalition that encompasses associations and their members within and beyond district boundaries will have much greater “clout” than individual associations. By establishing “subject matter expert” committees to focus on specific categories of challenges, a Coalition can concentrate attention. A Coalition can centrally research and assess planned policies and plans, identify common issues, set some general policies, establish priorities, and collectively act as a spokesman—rather than expecting that each association can possibly deal independently with every issue. A Coalition should not be controlled by our elected representatives (as a couple are), nor should it blindly exclude nearby associations who may be affected by proposed government policies and plans (e.g., the East Gateway sector plan will address transportation well beyond district boundaries). There are already well-functioning joint City-County coalitions (e.g.,
We can collectively assess priorities and deal with a few issues now, taking on additional challenges as our successes and continuing assessment identify the next effort. We can either act as a group, or we can sit back and be subjected to somebody else’s “top-down” planning for our future. I encourage you to get involved in addressing the coming challenges.
Roger Mickelson
323-9273
