City Council paves the way for new NM United stadium - Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
The Albuquerque City Council at its Monday meeting again voted in favor of moving forward with building a New Mexico United stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park — however, it is taking steps to address traffic concerns in the area.
The project had been on pause after nearby neighborhoods appealed the plan twice.
Mayor Tim Keller initially asked the council to approve an agreement between the city and United for the soccer team to pay for a $30 million multi-use outdoor sports stadium on 7 acres of the city-owned Balloon Fiesta Park.
The proposal has bounced back and forth between the council, the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) and a land use hearing officer for several months.
Part of the process included United paying for a traffic study, which the appellants argued was ignored by the EPC and should have been considered.
YES: Joaquín Baca, Dan Champine, Tammy Fiebelkorn, Renée Grout, Dan Lewis, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers, Louie Sanchez
NO: Brook Bassan
A land use hearing officer recommended that councilors deny the appeal and uphold the EPC’s approval, but noted that the commission ignored recommendations from the independent traffic study.
The hearing officer in his final report suggested opening a second traffic lane during games and said “officer control” would probably be required at nearby intersections.
Councilors approved the application to build the stadium in November 2023. It was appealed by residents in the surrounding neighborhood but the EPC approved the plan again.
However, that decision was appealed for a second time in July by neighbors. According to the hearing officer’s findings, the appeal was partially based on procedural errors, misapplications of the Integrated Development Ordinance and concerns about the increased noise and traffic the stadium would bring to the area.
With no discussion Monday night, councilors accepted the recommendation to deny the appeal on an 8-1 vote and set the process of building a new stadium back in motion.
David Wiese-Carl, a spokesperson for New Mexico United, said the team will not move forward with construction on the stadium until the legal “appeals process is exhausted,” and the city finishes the initial construction that was funded by capital outlay.
Downwinders pressure Speaker Mike Johnson on RECA during his New Mexico visit - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
LAS CRUCES — Downwinders had a message for the U.S. House speaker on Wednesday: You’re failing people the federal government exposed to radiation and hurting their chance at some measure of justice.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) attended a private event supporting candidate Yvette Herrell seeking to again represent the 2nd Congressional District in New Mexico, and then for a public event announcing national GOP investment in her campaign and other down-ballot races.
Despite the sun beating down on a stretch of gravel outside Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, spirits were high for the 30 or so rallying there, many of whom wore shirts bearing slogans directed at Johnson: “Pass RECA before we die,” or “We are the unknowing, unwilling, uncompensated.”
RECA is the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which expired in June after decades of offering financial assistance to people harmed by U.S. nuclear weapons development. People in New Mexico were never included among those who could seek compensation despite having been downwind of the world’s first nuclear blast.
A bipartisan push in Congress to expand the program failed. Some advocates are still holding out hope for a bill on Johnson’s desk that could extend and expand RECA.
Bernice Gutierrez, a member of Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium board, said she was frustrated that the years of organizing by her group and others is being thwarted.
“One man is holding up this whole process. He’s denying justice to everybody,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez was 8 days-old in 1945, when the first atomic bomb exploded at the Trinity Site in the Jornada Del Muerto, just 35 miles from her hometown in Carrizozo, New Mexico. Her family has been plagued by aggressive and deadly cancers, which pushed her into the fight.
Gutierrez said Johnson isn’t just hurting New Mexicans, he’s hurting thousands of people nationwide – in far more Republican House districts than Democratic ones — who would finally receive benefits after radiation exposure from uranium mining and aboveground nuclear tests.
RECA THEN AND NOW
Johnson has blocked an effort to expand and extend the life of the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act, over the objections of members of his own party, who represent people exposed to radiation.
S. 3853 would allow thousands of people in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Missouri and Guam — and uranium workers after 1972 — who have suffered diseases linked to radiation exposure to be eligible for compensation. The bill passed the Senate in a 69-30 vote in March.
Johnson’s publicly expressed concerns start and end with thecosts of expanding the program.
Since its start in 1990 until the program’s sunset in June, the fund paid out $2.6 billion. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that costs would rise to between $50 billion and $60 billion over the next decade.
While advocates have disagreed on the accuracy of that figure, it’s also only a portion of the estimated $756 billion in spending for the nuclear weapons program between 2023 and 2032.
RECA is a unique fund that paid out lump-sums to people exposed to radiation from decades of nuclear tests or uranium mining before 1972. The program only compensated downwinders in a handful of counties in Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
However, there is a growing nationwide reckoning that radiation exposure has harmed more communities causing rare cancers, diseases and low birth rates.
‘WE’VE SACRIFICED ENOUGH’
A call went up among people wearing yellow and black shirts and matching banners — evoking hazmat — as the flashing lights of a motorcade rounded the curve.
“Pass RECA now!” they chanted, as the motorcade carrying the speaker turned the corner, with escorts from federal, local and state police. The people ensconced in black SUVs in the center, had their heads turned away from the signs as they passed.
“I’m a New Mexican. I feel we’re all Downwinders here,” said Joaquin Lujan. He drove from Polvadera, outside of Socorro, to attend.
Lujan, 72, said the failure of the government to expand the program was a shame.
“The Republicans, I don’t know, they’re just not part of la gente,” he said. “That’s why we have to be out here. This is so important to our families.”
Don Meaders, a retired leader in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, made a cross as part of the message to Johnson, saying it’s unconscionable to not help people exposed to radiation.
“The cross is a symbol of sacrifice, and we’ve sacrificed enough,” he said.
RECA AND THE ELECTION
Members of the New Mexico Democratic party and supporters of Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez joined the Downwinders outside the museum. Some held signs about reproductive rights, which have been curtailed by Republican policies.
While RECA did not explicitly come up during a pair of brief speeches delivered by Herrell and Johnson, it’s become a significant campaign issue in the toss-up of New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.
Herrell recently told Source NM she supports expanding RECA fully and would address it with Johnson after Downwinders joined Vasquez for a campaign event last week.
Tina Cordova, the founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, said that Herrell’s positions on RECA have changed, and if Herrell wants the support of the Downwinders, she would have to do more to champion the cause.
“We requested that she get us a face-to-face meeting — and we’re on the outside, and they’re on the inside,” Cordova said, pointing to the museum up the road.
At a campaign rally for Vasquez in Albuquerque last week, leaders in the Democratic party publicly promised to pass RECA if they take the majority in the House.
“For me, that’s a safety net,” Cordova said.
Both Johnson and Herrell declined to take questions at the campaign event on Wednesday.
Lincoln County leaders and NM lawmakers talk economic impact, building back from fires and floods - Leah Romero, Source New Mexico
Residents, businesses and local governments in the Ruidoso area continue to struggle with the financial toll of summer wildfires and floods, leaders and experts told lawmakers Tuesday.
The Legislative Finance Committee gathered at the Inn of the Mountain Gods on Mescalero Apache land to hear from local leaders and experts on the aftermath of two wildfires that ravaged the Lincoln National Forest in June.
According to Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford, over 900 homes were destroyed in the South Fork and Salt fires. In mid-July, state officials reported to FEMA that 856 homes were destroyed. Crawford said over 258 homes were subsequently destroyed by flooding.
This number represents both primary homes and secondary or vacation homes, but not outbuildings such as sheds on the same property. Officials estimate that about one-third of homes lost were primary residences.
“We don’t want to add a financial tragedy to that, too,” Crawford said. “We’re already experiencing that in some fashion.”
He noted that revenue for businesses in the area needs to be maintained, not only for the benefit of business owners, but for the village itself, which makes money from gross receipts taxes.
“Revenues are off over 70%, in just an average. Some experience much greater, some less,” Crawford said.
It was brought to lawmakers’ attention that the Inn of the Mountain Gods on the Mescalero Apache Reservation is the area’s largest employer and major economic driver.
Another significant source of revenue in the area is Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Casino, which General Manager Rick Baugh told lawmakers has an annual payroll of $5.5 million and employs over 500 people in peak season.
The race track was largely saved from fire damage, but flooding caused extensive damage to the track, requiring racing to be shut down and relocated to the Downs at Albuquerque.
“The gross receipts tax that the racetrack pays on an average for an annual basis is around $720,000. We pay around $1.6 million in gaming tax and another $1.3 million in purse monies to our owners and trainers,” Baugh said. “Our bridge has been out, which has stopped us from operating for about 25 days.”
With the cooler months getting closer, officials worry Ski Apache, another revenue driver, will also take some hits. Rep. Harlan Vincent (R-Ruidoso Downs) said the New Mexico Department of Transportation will soon start working on restoring the road up to the ski resort, but the department has limited time before snow season begins around November.
President Thora Walsh Padilla of the Mescalero Apache Tribe said restoring the economies of the impacted communities is the main focus right now, but restoring the forests should be next.
“We have an opportunity to build back with respect for the river and with the understanding that every canyon drainage here is an intermittent stream,” Walsh Padilla said. “As we live in this landscape, we must allow the river to have its space, and understand that flood plains are hydrologically important and ecologically productive areas.”
A look at how federal plans could make the costs of housing more affordable - Casey Quinlan, States Newsroom via Source New Mexico
As renters and would-be homeowners struggle with the high cost of housing, the Biden administration has announced policies to address this strain on household budgets.
That includes $100 million in funding for a program to incentivize affordable housing production and streamlining loan application processes to expedite building more housing.
Some of those proposals – such as a cap on rent increases from corporate landlords – call for Congressional action, while others are rules and grants that can be done without legislative approval. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will also be finalizing a rule to allow different kinds of housing, such as duplexes and triplexes, to be built under the agency’s manufacturing and safety standards.
The Biden administration and the Harris campaign are making their housing policy case to the American people as Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump compete for voters’ trust on economic issues. An August Financial Times/Michigan Ross poll shows that Harris is slightly ahead of Trump when it comes to who voters trust more on the economy, by one percentage point. Although that is a very small advantage, it is a change from July, when 35% of voters approved of President Joe Biden’s job on the economy compared to 41% for Trump.
PLANS WOULD CUT RED TAPE, BUT HOUSING STOCK IS STILL LOW
The administration’s plans to address supply and soaring prices also include repurposing federal land in Nevada and a cap on rent increases from corporate landlords, which would require Congressional action. Housing and homelessness experts say many of these changes are positive, particularly zoning changes, while others argue that a few of these actions are insufficient for the crisis at hand.
On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced her plans for boosting housing affordability if she wins the presidency. Harris’ plans are similar to some of the Biden administration’s approaches to housing policy, with an emphasis on stopping corporate landlords from driving up rents and knocking down local zoning barriers to building affordable housing. She also announced a policy to provide up to $25,000 in payment assistance for first-time homebuyers on the condition that they paid rent on time for two years.
“We will take down barriers and cut red tape, including at the state and local levels, and by the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class,” Harris said at a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday.
Indivar Dutta-Gupta,who focuses on policy research and seminars at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, applauded developments to make it easier and less costly to build affordable housing through the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing program, which provides funding for communities getting rid of barriers such as “outdated” zoning policies and a “lack of neighborhood amenities.”
“It’s very difficult for a builder to just kind of copy and paste their plans from one community to another. Secondly, we’re not just talking about requirements for special permitting and land use that are tedious,” he said. “They’re time consuming and that dramatically increases the cost of housing, so if you can knock down a process that takes 12 months to six months, that can make a big difference for housing affordability.”
Kenneth Chilton, professor at the department of public administration at Tennessee State University, said there are certainly homes being built – just not enough affordable ones between $100,000 and $300,000 in the area he lives in Nashville. Wages have also not caught up to those prices, he added.
“The market has catered to the more affluent households, so there are new houses being built, but they’re million dollar-plus houses for people who can afford or are willing to put themselves in a financial burden to afford a million dollar house,” he said. “… It’s becoming harder and harder to afford the discretionary income needed to save up for down payment.”
The Biden administration and Congress has also focused more on corporate landlords of late, who are influencing the housing market. Dutta-Gupta and Chilton said that even in situations where they make up a smaller percentage of landlords, their practices influence other landlords and drive up rents. Chilton, who has studied how firms that can quickly snatch up all kinds of properties can influence regional housing markets, said it’s hard for the average homeowner to compete.
“You have a lot more corporations and investors who are buying up housing,” he said. “Some of those are institutional, but there’s been recent reports that even smaller local landlords are kind of adopting the same business practices of one-year leases with built-in cost of living adjustments. They’re operating like corporate landlords.”
He said that none of the Biden administration proposals he saw accounted for potential homebuyers, who have to apply for loans, failing to compete with groups and investors making all-cash purchases without inspections. Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation in Congress to limit corporate landlords’ power, but it has not passed.
Dutta-Gupta said the Biden administration’s recent efforts are putting “meaningful dollar amounts” into the quest for affordable housing through grant opportunities, even though they are probably below the demand. He said he’s also heartened to see that the U.S. Department of Transportation is making sure its discretionary infrastructure grants give preference to communities with more “pro-housing policies,” to give localities more incentives to favor affordable housing. But he said the administration has to make sure it effectively communicates this through outreach.
“There’s going to have to be a meaningful effort to explain to the communities that there’s a new preference and this is how those communities can potentially fall into that category of the preference,” he said. “You don’t want to just let them know there’s a preference and then no change in behavior happens.”
Although Trump has talked about mortgage rates during his campaign, he hasn’t provided a lot of detail on housing policies. The Federal Reserve’s federal funds rate has an influence on mortgage rates and Trump has said the president should “have at least a say” in Fed policy. The Republican Party’s 2024 platform also includes a section on housing affordability, which mentions tax incentives to “promote homeownership,” allowing for new home construction on some federal lands, and reducing regulations that “raise housing costs.”
THE CHALLENGE OF KEEPING PEOPLE HOUSED
Given the challenges to building the supply of more affordable housing, the National Alliance to End Homelessness would like to see broader policy approaches to prevent more people from becoming homeless. Homelessness reached a record high in 2023.
Although the Biden administration has taken steps to expand housing access for groups particularly vulnerable to homelessness, such as veterans and survivors of intimate partner violence, Steve Berg, chief policy officer at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, would like to see more of a universal approach, such as housing vouchers that meet the scale of the need. He said targeted emergency rental assistance combined with eviction moratoriums in places where homelessness is particularly high and rising quickly would also be effective at reaching the people who need it most.
“The eviction moratorium combined with subsidies for landlords to help when people got behind on their rent were very effective interventions,” Berg said of earlier pandemic policies to keep people housed.
WHY POLITICAL LEADERS ARE FOCUSED ON HOUSING
The Federal Reserve has signaled it is close to cutting key interest rates as inflation has slowed and the housing market has begun to cool in response to high mortgage rates. The Fed started to raise interest rates in 2022 and hiked them 11 times until late 2023, putting pressure on the housing market during a time of high demand for housing and a shortage of affordable homes.
In May, U.S. rent growth was up 3.2% from a year ago, which was the biggest gain there has been in more than a year, according to CoreLogic’s single family rent data. A lack of housing affordability is also closely tied to homelessness. From 2019 to 2023, the number of people who had to go to emergency shelters for the first time rose more than 23%, a 2024 report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness shows.
“The Federal Reserve primarily slows the economy by making construction of residential housing, and generally taking out loans, more costly. People are certainly experiencing the higher cost of housing right now due to the higher interest rates, so the timing [of the policies] may be fortuitous,” Dutta-Gupta said.