Governor announces redevelopment plans for New Mexico State Fair site — By Daniel Montaño, KUNM News
Expo New Mexico may be getting a facelift soon.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller and other officials announced Tuesday a request for proposals to update and redevelop the 236-acre lot of state-owned land in Albuquerque’s International District.
At a special meeting before the announcement, the State Fair Commission voted unanimously to start accepting proposals beginning Wednesday.
Proposals will be open for 45 days, and will be evaluated in January, with a chance for public input for the plan after the finalist is selected.
In the last legislative session, lawmakers set aside $500,000 in capital outlay funding for the purposes of the redevelopment. Ideas to be considered for the proposals include building a modern arena with capacity for large scale concerts and events, identifying new sites for the fair, and mixed-income housing opportunities.
The governor describes the redevelopment as “a unique opportunity to create badly needed housing for the workforce while spurring massive private investment.”
The city needs an estimated 55,000 new housing units in the next decade to keep pace with growth.
About 1/3 of those who lost homes in Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire have gotten final payment offers - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The federal office overseeing compensation for New Mexico’s biggest-ever wildfire has finally released numbers showing it has made final payment offers to about a third of people who lost their homes in the blaze more than two years ago.
New Mexico’s congressional delegation had been pressing the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire claims office for that number and other information, asking what was taking so long.
The claims office – overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency – is tasked with paying out nearly $4 billion in compensation for the fire, caused by botched prescribed burns in early 2022. According to the latest figures, it’s paid out about $1.5 billion of that, including for lost business revenue, reforestation and homes lost in the fire.
As of Nov. 20, the office had received 272 claims for total losses of homes in the wildfire, according to responses the federal office gave to questions members of the delegation sent earlier this month.
Of those, 174 claimants received at least partial payments for their losses, and 98 of them received a final payment offer, according to the response letter shared with the delegation early last week and provided Wednesday to Source New Mexico.
It’s not clear from the response letter how much has been paid to those who lost their homes, or how many of the homeowners accepted the final payment offer, which is known as a “letter of determination.” Claimants who are unhappy with the amount the office offered can appeal.
The status of those who lost their homes in the fire has been an open question for months. A group of protesters gathered in front of the office’s Santa Fe headquarters in late October, calling on the office to prioritize compensation for those who lost their homes over more-trivial losses like smoke damage.
The office had paid about $400 million for smoke damage to about 4,200 claimants in a 2,200-square-mile area as of Sept. 25, using an internal map and a standardized calculator to quickly distribute payments averaging $94,500 each.
U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, as well as U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, all New Mexico Democrats, sent a letter Nov. 1 to the office’s leadership, saying “many New Mexicans continue to wait for the relief and compensation they are owed.” The letter asked 13 questions on a range of topics.
Heinrich also questioned FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell about the issue during a hearing two weeks later. Heinrich told Criswell it seemed to him that those who lost everything in the fire were at the back of the line and asked her what the claims office was doing to address it.
Criswell responded that total-loss claims are more complicated and take more time, but the office has increased staff this year to handle the deluge of claims. The deadline to file an initial claim for losses incurred in the fire and ensuing floods, known as a “notice of loss,” is Dec. 20.
The claims office response letter also says officials created a “reconstruction team” that is entirely focused on compensating those who suffered a total loss of their primary or secondary homes.
The back-and-forth over delays in compensation occurs as an additional $1.5 billion in compensation hangs in the balance. President Joe Biden carved out the extra funding for wildfire survivors in a nearly $100 billion disaster response package he’s hoping Congress will approve by the end of the year.
If approved, that would bring the total awarded for compensation $5.45 billion for the state’s biggest-ever wildfire, one that destroyed several hundred homes and burned through a 534-square mile area.
Spokespersons for Heinrich and Luján did not respond to requests for comment on the office’s response letter.
The delegation is hopeful legislation will extend the deadline from the rapidly approaching Dec. 20 deadline, but they urged those who suffered losses to apply right away, given the uncertainty with a new Congress and a narrow timeframe.
OFFICE DEFENDS FOOD LOSS POLICY
One of the 13 questions the delegation asked related to how the office pays people for food lost in the fire. Across the burn scar, many families in rural areas kept stores of food in extra freezers, which were either destroyed or stopped working amid widespread power outages during the fire.
FEMA’s claims office pays people for lost food based on the gender and age of the claimant, based off another federal agency’s guidance. A man aged 19 to 50 receives $104.70 for a week’s worth of lost food. A woman in the same age range gets $93.
The policy is based on the United States Department of Agriculture’s food plans, which the agency says have been created since 1894 to “illustrate how a healthy diet can be achieved at various costs.”
The delegation’s Nov. 1 letter asked the claims office how it was “ensuring equity in food loss payments,” and, if it were to change its policy to make it more equitable, how it could make up the difference to those who had previously been shortchanged.
The office’s response letter says leaders have no intention of changing the food loss policy, however. It did a “thorough review” of the process after consulting with Heinrich’s office and the USDA.
“Our review concluded that our current standardized rates for food loss are consistent with the methodology used in the creation of the USDA Food Plan tables,” the letter reads.
Some wildfire survivors told Source New Mexico they thought the process was unnecessarily complicated and unfair. The office has previously said it cannot calculate how much money has been paid to date for food losses, including how much more men have been paid than women.
The office, in its response, also doubled down on its practice of paying different hourly wages based on the county in which do-it-yourself repairs were done. The same work would be reimbursed at $18.97 an hour in Mora County, for example, versus $29.49 an hour in Santa Fe County.
It said the hourly wages were calculated based on analyses of Census and federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which considered the costs of goods and services that are typically higher in urban areas than rural areas.
Albuquerque City Council approves legislative requests - By Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
The Albuquerque City Council wants state lawmakers during next year’s legislative session to focus on public safety, behavioral health and homelessness, according to the wishlist the Council approved Monday night.
Councilors are also asking legislators to approve multiple capital outlay requests during the legislative session, which starts next month.
Among the council’s legislative priorities are requests for stricter penalties for certain criminal offenses, rent stabilization programs and low-income utility rate assistance. One priority calls for behavioral health and addiction services to be an “alternative to jail for some non-violent offenders.”
The councilor’s list of capital outlay projects includes improvements to the Route 66 Visitors Center, building a trauma-sensitive shelter, healthcare and case management housing complex for unhoused seniors in District 6 and building an aquatic center at North Domingo Baca Park.
Council President Dan Lewis and Councilors Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Renée Grout and Louie Sanchez are also requesting renovations and updates to the Albuquerque Shooting Range Park, which received some backlash from firearm instructors several months ago for its “unsanitary conditions.”
Councilors also approved Mayor Tim Keller’s administration’s legislative requests that include crime and homelessness initiatives. Those policy and program requests include expanding affordable housing, reducing gun violence and strengthening collaboration and procedures. Some of the specific requests include:
· Establish medical check protocols between the University of New Mexico Hospital and the Metropolitan Detention Center
· Require parole/probation officers to notify police and victims when offenders are released
· Implement “Duke City Stats” to other jurisdictions in crime strategy and tracking
· Establish vacant and dilapidated building policies
Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel told councilors that most requests for the mayor’s Metro Crime Initiative have been the administration’s focus for multiple years. Sengel said that the Metro Homelessness Initiative is the administration’s opportunity to ensure “we’re providing support for individuals that are unhoused as well as encourage our inventory of available housing.”
City ends contracts with housing voucher provider citing fund misuse - By Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
City officials confirmed this week that the Health, Housing & Homelessness Department (HHH) has ended its contracts with the Supportive Housing Coalition of New Mexico (SHCNM) — a longtime housing voucher service provider assisting those who otherwise might be unhoused or precariously housed. Officials said SHCNM misused $234,000 in funds for administrative and operational costs instead of making voucher payments to landlords.
SHCNM leadership said the nonprofit’s financial issues began after millions in housing voucher funds was cut from the last city budget, which was finalized in the summer.
Housing vouchers are considered an essential step toward more stable options for those who qualify. The city enters into contracts with nonprofit providers to administer the vouchers on behalf of clients who use it to cover up to 70% of their monthly rent.
The city said it has begun a “corrective action plan” to recoup the backpayments that were owed to landlords and ultimately paid by the city to avoid tenant evictions. The required backpayment amount, said HHH spokesperson Connor Woods, was determined through SHCNM reporting and verified by landlords.
Woods said the city has also notified the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor and the city’s Office of Inspector General about the issue.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, Councilor Reneé Grout asked city Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel if officials were authorized to make direct payments to landlords instead of through service providers.
“We made a decision to ensure that we did not allow any [rental payment] lapse and ensure that no one would be unhoused,” Sengel replied. “So it was essentially an emergency decision.”
Woods said no evictions took place due to the city’s payments.
Grout told Sengel she was concerned that almost $250,000 funneled through SHCNM was unaccounted for.
“We don’t know where it is,” she said. “How many people could this be housing right now if this money hadn’t been spent improperly? It bothers me greatly; I know it bothers you, too.”
REPAYMENT, CLIENT TRANSFER
Meanwhile, SHCNM interim director Debbie Davis told City Desk ABQ on Monday that the nonprofit was recently notified that the city had decided not to renew almost $2 million in permanent supportive housing voucher contracts, which it has administered for several years.
“They paid all the backpayments and now we have to enter into a payment agreement with them,” she said.
Davis said officials told her the nonprofit has 15 days to make repayment, but that a meeting was scheduled Tuesday to discuss the details. She’s been the interim executive director since Nov. 15 and was previously the chief operating officer for three and a half years.
“We used [voucher funds] to pay expenses for the company and rent — just not all the rent,” she said. “There wasn’t anything we could do but admit to [the city] that it was going on.”
Woods said the city first discovered there was an issue with SHCNM payments in July, and that direct payments to landlords began Nov. 1.
“Keeping people housed is the No. 1 priority,” Davis said. “We’re transferring the [client] files and doing everything we need to do. We still have community housing staff who will work diligently to get it done.”
SHCNM owns and/or manages three affordable housing properties in Albuquerque, and one each in Las Vegas and Gallup.
About 120 SHCNM voucher clients — representing families and individuals — are expected to be transitioned to other providers “in months if not weeks,” according to Sengel.
When asked which providers would absorb the voucher clients, Woods said the city was negotiating agreements.
“Once those contracts have been finalized, we will be able to share this information,” he said.
At the City Council meeting, Councilor Brook Bassan asked Sengel how the city knows that all the compromised tenants have been made aware of the situation and that their rent payments have been made.
“I ask because I had heard of an individual just this last weekend who found out about this — what I’m going to call a debacle — and they claimed that they were $4,000 in arrears and were in tears and not sure what’s going to happen next,” Bassan said. “So how do we make sure … that we’re helping those people that might not have even heard that the city might be helping them?”
Senegal said the city’s voucher tracking process ensured that landlords were being paid and that clients weren’t falling through the cracks.
In the meantime, the city has also set up a web page for housing voucher clients wishing to report issues with SHCNM.
Native American students miss school at higher rates. It only got worse during the pandemic — Cheyanne Mumphrey, Sharon Lurye, Morgan Lee, Associated Press
After missing 40 days of school last year, Tommy Betom, 10, is on track this year for much better attendance. The importance of showing up has been stressed repeatedly at school — and at home.
When he went to school last year, he often came home saying the teacher was picking on him and other kids were making fun of his clothes. But Tommy's grandmother Ethel Marie Betom, who became one of his caregivers after his parents split, said she told him to choose his friends carefully and to behave in class.
He needs to go to school for the sake of his future, she told him.
"I didn't have everything," said Betom, an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache tribe. Tommy attends school on the tribe's reservation in southeastern Arizona. "You have everything. You have running water in the house, bathrooms and a running car."
A teacher and a truancy officer also reached out to Tommy's family to address his attendance. He was one of many. Across the San Carlos Unified School District, 76% of students were chronically absent during the 2022-2023 school year, meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year.
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This story is part of a collaboration on chronic absenteeism among Native American students between The Associated Press and ICT, a news outlet that covers Indigenous issues.
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Years after COVID-19 disrupted American schools, nearly every state is still struggling with attendance. But attendance has been worse for Native American students — a disparity that existed before the pandemic and has since grown, according to data collected by The Associated Press.
Out of 34 states with data available for the 2022-2023 school year, half had absenteeism rates for Native American and Alaska Native students that were at least 9 percentage points higher than the state average.
Many schools serving Native students have been working to strengthen connections with families, who often struggle with higher rates of illness and poverty. Schools also must navigate distrust dating back to the U.S. government's campaign to break up Native American culture, language and identity by forcing children into abusive boarding schools.
History "may cause them to not see the investment in a public school education as a good use of their time," said Dallas Pettigrew, director of Oklahoma University's Center for Tribal Social Work and a member of the Cherokee Nation.
On-site health, trauma care helped bring students back
The San Carlos school system recently introduced care centers that partner with hospitals, dentists and food banks to provide services to students at multiple schools. The work is guided by cultural success coaches — school employees who help families address challenges that keep students from coming to school.
Nearly 100% of students in the district are Native and more than half of families have incomes below the federal poverty level. Many students come from homes that deal with alcoholism and drug abuse, Superintendent Deborah Dennison said.
Students miss school for reasons ranging from anxiety to unstable living conditions, said Jason Jones, a cultural success coach at San Carlos High School and an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache tribe. Acknowledging their fears, grief and trauma helps him connect with students, he said.
"You feel better, you do better," Jones said. "That's our job here in the care center is to help the students feel better."
In the 2023-2024 school year, the chronic absenteeism rate in the district fell from 76% to 59% — an improvement Dennison attributes partly to efforts to address their communities' needs.
"All these connections with the community and the tribe are what's making a difference for us and making the school a system that fits them rather than something that has been forced upon them, like it has been for over a century of education in Indian Country," said Dennison, a member of the Navajo Nation.
In three states — Alaska, Nebraska, and South Dakota — the majority of Native American and Alaska Native students were chronically absent. In some states, it has continued to worsen, even while improving slightly for other students, as in Arizona, where chronic absenteeism for Native students rose from 22% in 2018-2019 to 45% in 2022-2023.
AP's analysis does not include data on schools managed by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, which are not run by traditional districts. Less than 10% of Native American students attend BIE schools.
Schools close on days of Native ceremonial gatherings
At Algodones Elementary School, which serves a handful of Native American pueblos along New Mexico's Upper Rio Grande, about two-thirds of students are chronically absent.
The communities were hit hard by COVID-19, with devastating impacts on elders. Since schools reopened, students have been slow to return. Excused absences for sick days are still piling up — in some cases, Principal Rosangela Montoya suspects, students are stressed about falling behind academically.
Staff and tribal liaisons have been analyzing every absence and emphasizing connections with parents. By 10 a.m., telephone calls go out to the homes of absent students. Next steps include in-person meetings with those students' parents.
"There's illness. There's trauma," Montoya said. "A lot of our grandparents are the ones raising the children so that the parents can be working."
About 95% of Algodones' students are Native American, and the school strives to affirm their identity. It doesn't open on four days set aside for Native American ceremonial gatherings, and students are excused for absences on other cultural days as designated by the nearby pueblos.
For Jennifer Tenorio, it makes a difference that the school offers classes in the family's native language of Keres. She speaks Keres at home, but says that's not always enough to instill fluency.
Tenorio said her two oldest children, now in their 20s, were discouraged from speaking Keres when enrolled in the federal Head Start educational program — a system that now promotes native language preservation — and they struggled academically.
"It was sad to see with my own eyes," said Tenorio, a single parent and administrative assistant who has used the school's food bank. "In Algodones, I saw a big difference to where the teachers were really there for the students, and for all the kids, to help them learn."
Over a lunch of strawberry milk and enchiladas on a recent school day, her 8-year-old son Cameron Tenorio said he likes math and wants to be a policeman.
"He's inspired," Tenorio said. "He tells me every day what he learns."
Home visits change perception of school
In Arizona, Rice Intermediate School Principal Nicholas Ferro said better communication with families, including Tommy Betom's, has helped improve attendance. Since many parents are without working phones, he said, that often means home visits.
Lillian Curtis said she has been impressed by Rice Intermediate's student activities on family night. Her granddaughter, Brylee Lupe, 10, missed 10 days of school by mid-October last year but had missed just two days by the same time this year.
"The kids always want to go — they are anxious to go to school now. And Brylee is much more excited," said Curtis, who takes care of her grandchildren.
Curtis said she tells Brylee that skipping school is not an option.
"I just told her that you need to be in school, because who is going to be supporting you?" Curtis said. "You've got to do it on your own. You got to make something of yourself."
The district has made gains because it is changing the perception of school and what it can offer, said Dennison, the superintendent. Its efforts have helped not just with attendance but also morale, especially at the high school, she said.
"Education was a weapon for the U.S. government back in the past," she said. "We work to decolonize our school system."
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Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Lurye reported from New Orleans. Alia Wong of The Associated Press and Felix Clary of ICT contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Lawsuit against NM Military Institute over alleged sexual assault argues the school was negligent – Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
The New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell is facing a lawsuit for negligence after a series of reported rapes.
The Albuquerque Journal reports an earlier lawsuit involving an unnamed 15-year-old female was pulled after a criminal case was dismissed. But it was refiled in October, according the Arrazolo Law firm.
The female student reported being raped in 2019 and was told to “sleep it off” after reporting it, according to the suit, which now seeks to expand the pool of litigants. Arrazola Law officials say there is a pattern of negligence at the school.
The Journal reports the military institute in 2020 investigated three cases of rape and three cases of statutory rape by cadets. Attorney Gilbert Arrazolo says over the past eight years there have been 16 criminal rape offenses on campus.
Two cadets were criminally charged in the 2019 rape. New Mexico Military Institute did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment, nor did attorneys for the two cadets. In 2016 a former cadet was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession over videos of underage sexual activity.
The New Mexico Military Institute enrolls about 1,000 students each year. It’s a public school serving high school and college students.
Driver who crashed into an APS school bus pleads guilty — Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
The driver who crashed into an Albuquerque school bus in 2022, injuring several children, pleaded guilty to five felony counts Monday.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Mario Perez was charged with reckless driving resulting in great bodily harm after crashing into the bus full of students while racing another car.
Five people were hospitalized after the bus was toppled over and Perez’s Ford Mustang caught fire, according to police. Students and the bus driver were among the injured. Two middle school students had broken bones and one needed surgery.
Perez’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
Driver who crashed into an APS school bus pleads guilty — Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
The driver who crashed into an Albuquerque school bus in 2022, injuring several children, pleaded guilty to five felony counts Monday.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Mario Perez was charged with reckless driving resulting in great bodily harm after crashing into the bus full of students while racing another car.
Five people were hospitalized after the bus was toppled over and Perez’s Ford Mustang caught fire, according to police. Students and the bus driver were among the injured. Two middle school students had broken bones and one needed surgery.
Perez’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
Intel CEO Gelsinger retires; Zinsner and Johnston Holthaus named interim co-CEOs - By Michelle Chapman AP Business Writer
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired, the struggling chipmaker said Monday in a surprise announcement.
Two company executives, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, will act as interim co-CEOs while the company searches for a replacement for Gelsinger, who also stepped down from the company's board.
The departure of Gelsinger, whose career spanned more than 40 years, underscores the turmoil at Intel. The company was once a dominant force in the semiconductor industry but has been eclipsed by rival Nvidia, which has cornered the market for chips that run artificial intelligence systems.
Gelsinger started at Intel in 1979 and was its first chief technology officer. He returned to the company as chief executive in 2021.
Gelsinger said his exit was "bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career," he said in a statement. "I can look back with pride at all that we have accomplished together. It has been a challenging year for all of us as we have made tough but necessary decisions to position Intel for the current market dynamics."
Zinsner is executive vice president and chief financial officer at Intel. Holthaus was appointed to the newly created position of CEO of Intel Products, which includes the client computing, data center and AI groups.
Frank Yeary, independent chair of Intel's board, will become interim executive chair.
"Pat spent his formative years at Intel, then returned at a critical time for the company in 2021," Yeary said in a statement. "As a leader, Pat helped launch and revitalize process manufacturing by investing in state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing, while working tirelessly to drive innovation throughout the company."
Gelsinger's departure comes as Intel's financial woes have been piling up. The company posted a $16.6 billion loss and halted its dividend in the most recent quarter, and its shares have fallen by about 60% since he took over as CEO. Gelsinger announced plans in August to slash 15% of its huge workforce — or about 15,000 jobs — as part of cost-cutting efforts to to save $10 billion in 2025.
Nvidia's ascendance, meanwhile, was cemented earlier this month when it replaced Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Unlike some of rivals, Intel manufactures chips in addition to designing them. Under Gelsinger, the company has been working to build up its foundry business making semiconductors in the U.S. designed by other firms, in a bid to compete with rivals such as market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or TSMC.
Intel has benefited from tens of billions of dollars that the administration has pledged to support construction of U.S. chip foundries and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers, which Washington sees as a security weakness.
After taking over as CEO, Gelsinger unveiled plans to build a $20 billion chipmaking facility in central Ohio, and poured billions more into expanding in Europe, where leaders were also worried about dependence on Asia.
The Biden administration had said it would give Intel up to $8.5 billion in federal funding for semiconductor plants around the country, but last week it trimmed that amount, according to three people familiar with the grant who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Shares of the Santa Clara, California, company jumped in early trading Monday but ended the day down 0.5%.
Work at Downtown pedestrian tunnels at a standstill - By Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
It’s been six months since the city held an event to mark the beginning of demolition work at the pedestrian tunnels, located on Central Avenue under the railroad tracks to First Street in Downtown Albuquerque. Crews have demolished part of an Alvarado Transportation Center structure and some exterior walls near the south tunnel, but otherwise, not much has changed.
Both tunnels — north and south — are to be brought above ground (dubbed the “First Central Crossing”) as part of the beginning of the multiphase and multimillion dollar Rail Trail development, which is a planned 7-mile walking and biking trail eventually linking Downtown to historic neighborhoods, cultural destinations, entertainment options, mass transit and the city’s Rail Yards.
The pedestrian tunnels have frustrated multiple mayors and city administrations spanning decades, each admitting to the uncomfortable and often unsafe conditions experienced by those who use the option to access Downtown.
“I lived here in the ’80s and it used to be beautiful,” said one woman reluctant to use the still-open north tunnel late last week.
Part of the frustration stems from the need for significant bureaucratic coordination with multiple entities like Amtrak, the New Mexico Department of Transportation, Rio Metro Regional Transit and BNSF Railway. Nevertheless, officials say the project is on its original track to be completed by mid-2025.
City Desk ABQ checked in with Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency spokesperson Sarah Supple about the project. The MRA is the city entity overseeing the First Central Crossing and other phases of the Rail Trail. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
CITY DESK ABQ: WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED SINCE MAY?
SUPPLE: We’ve successfully completed the demolition work at the site and wrapped up the underground investigation. An underground investigation is done to ensure that critical infrastructure, such as utility systems or other buried structures, will not be impacted during construction.
CITY DESK ABQ: HAS THE TIMELINE SHIFTED?
SUPPLE: The completion timeline remains largely on track, though progress will depend on factors like weather conditions and the timing of project approvals.
CITY DESK ABQ: WHY HAS IT BEEN SO DIFFICULT TO GET THIS PROJECT DONE?
SUPPLE: This project represents the first major improvement to the bridge area in decades, involving coordination among different government and private entities. Addressing safety, construction and security concerns requires careful alignment across all parties, which adds complexity to the process.
CITY DESK ABQ: WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST ROADBLOCKS?
SUPPLE: The biggest challenge since May has been securing the necessary site approvals, which are critical to moving the project forward.
CITY DESK ABQ: WHERE IS THE MOST VISIBLE RAIL TRAIL PROGRESS TAKING PLACE?
SUPPLE: The Sawmill District is where we’re seeing the most progress right now. That section of the trail has been easier to advance because it’s relatively flat and the property is already owned by the city.