New Mexico to receive $17 million in federal housing funds – KUNM News
The New Mexico Congressional delegation announced Friday more than $17 million in federal funds are coming to New Mexico to support projects providing housing assistance and services for those experiencing homelessness.
The amount is a slight boost over last year’s amount of $16 million. It comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program. The money will support homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing.
The funds are also allotted for youth and survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The New Mexico funds are part of a nationwide total of $3.6 billion, the largest-ever amount of Continuum of Care program funding awarded to address homelessness.
The largest recipients include the City of Albuquerque, Youth Shelters and Family Services in Albuquerque, and La Casa Inc. in Las Cruces.
KRQE-TV reported a recent federal report found the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in New Mexico reached an all-time high in 2024.
NMDOH reports decline in alcohol-related deaths - By Source New Mexico
Alcohol-related deaths in New Mexico declined for the second consecutive year, according to data released by the New Mexico Department of Health on Friday. The state has posted a 17.3% decline in the age-adjusted rate of 102.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2021 to 84.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2023, with McKinley County showing the largest decrease: 38% between 2021 and 2023.
Statewide, NMDOH reported 1,896 alcohol-related deaths, a decrease from 2,067 in 2022 and 2021’s peak number of 2,274, at which time the state’s rate was twice the national average. In 2023, males in New Mexico had an age-adjusted rate of alcohol-related death rate two and a half times higher than females, which declined between 2021 and 2023 16.1% and 20.6%, respectively.
“The decline highlights the positive impact of targeted interventions, community partnerships and policy initiatives designed to address alcohol misuse,” NMDOH Chief Medical Officer Miranda Durham said in a statement. “While this progress is encouraging, we must remain committed to expanding access to healthcare, including substance use treatment, and implementing community-based interventions that address prevention.
A news release from the health department noted the importance of sustained collaborative efforts, and cited in McKinley County “a collaboration among multiple stakeholders including the City of Gallup, McKinley County prevention programs and the Gallup Indian Medical Center” to provide case management and behavioral health services, among other resources.
Free self-help videos on alcohol and other substances can be found through the New Mexico Health Care Authority Behavioral Health Services Division’s New Mexico 5-Actions Program website.
NM Supreme Court rejects utilities’ challenge to community solar rule - Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
The New Mexico Supreme Court upheld state regulators’ decision to prohibit investor-owned utilities from subtracting transmission costs from the bill credits that community solar subscribers will receive.
Subtracting transmission costs from bill credits could reduce the benefits that community solar subscribers receive for receiving power from a solar array. The Community Solar Act was intended to help low-income households and organizations access renewable energy.
However, the utilities argued that if the transmission costs are not subtracted from the bill credits, people who choose not to subscribe will end up subsidizing credits for those who do.
The three investor-owned utilities — the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), Southwestern Public Service Company, which is a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, and El Paso Electric — argued the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission violated the Community Solar Act by prohibiting the subtraction of transmission costs from rate credits.
The high court upheld the PRC’s rule and found it doesn’t violate the Community Solar Act.
This is not the first time the utilities have challenged the community solar rule the PRC adopted.
“We hold that the Utilities, in their various challenges, failed to meet their burden in demonstrating that the Rule is unreasonable or unlawful in light of the Act,” State Supreme Court Justice Briana Zamora wrote in the court’s opinion.
The Community Solar Act doesn’t mention transmission expenses, though it prevents utilities from passing along the costs of distribution to community solar subscribers.
Transmission involves moving high voltage electricity, usually across long distances. Distribution moves electricity shorter distances and in lower voltages.
The court opinion states “electricity generated by a community solar facility is distributed and consumed locally, without requiring use of a utility’s transmission system.”
The PRC found the exclusion of distribution costs from the formula for calculating bill credits “renders the Legislature’s silence on transmission costs as an intentional omission” and therefore decided the utilities cannot subtract the transmission costs from the bill credit rates.
The state Supreme Court ruled that doing so was within the PRC’s policy-making authority.
Public access victory for state - By Susan Morée, New Mexico Political Report
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced a victory for public access on Thursday when a federal district court judge dismissed a lawsuit to prohibit access.
Lucia Sanchez and four other landowners asked a federal district court judge last year to consider private landowner rights to try to stop the state from opening access to creeks or rivers that travel through their private land. Sanchez sought to prevent public access to a portion of Rio Tusas Creek, which runs through the Carson National Forest but also across her land in Rio Arriba County. Sanchez and the other landowners were represented by Pacific Legal Foundation, which did not respond by press time to a request for comment.
Another of the landowners involved in the suit, Erik Briones, fenced off a portion of the Pecos River upstream from the town of Pecos. But Briones entered into an agreement with the state last year to remove that barrier and signs that prevent the public from accessing the river.
Torrez argued that preventing public access to rivers and streams violates the state’s constitution by prohibiting access. The landowners argued that a New Mexico Supreme Court ruling in 2022, which reaffirmed the public’s right to fish and recreate on rivers and streams that flow through private land, violated the landowners’ private property rights.
The New Mexico Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling determined that while the public has the right to float, boat or fish in a stream or river that crosses private land, the public cannot trespass on the land to reach the water, nor can the public trespass from the water onto private property.
The state Supreme Court also said it was not creating a new public right in its 2022 decision. It noted that New Mexico’s constitution specifically says all waters in the state are public.
Torrez called the federal court’s dismissal of the landowners’ case a “decisive victory” and said the court’s dismissal affirms “the public’s constitutional right to access.”
“The court’s ruling sends a clear message: Individuals attempting to restrict public recreation in these waters are wrong on the law — both at the state and federal level. This outcome underscores the strength of our state’s constitution and the fundamental rights it guarantees to every New Mexican. We commend our exceptional legal team for their diligent and efficient work in defending these rights and ensuring that the law is upheld,” Torrez said.
Funding for electric school buses could be coming to a school district near you - By Leah Romero, Source New Mexico
Lawmakers are pushing to provide school districts throughout New Mexico financial support during the upcoming legislative session to replace their diesel school buses with zero emission alternative fuel ones.
House Bill 32, introduced by Reps. Debra Sariñana (D-Albuquerque) and Tara Lujan (D-Santa Fe), would give New Mexico school districts the choice of replacing diesel school buses with electric or other alternative fuel buses. It would also require that the Public Education Department provide the districts with funding at least comparable to what it costs to purchase a diesel bus.
State law requires that public school buses be replaced every 12 years. Public Education Department Spokesperson Martha Pincoffs said 198 buses will need to be replaced this fiscal year.
“This is just one little thing we need to do to make sure we are helping climate change,” Sariñana told Source. “Plus our kids, inhaling diesel when you get in a bus or around a bus is not good for them.”
Kristin Graziano, a family physician and member of the advocacy organization Healthy Climate New Mexico, explained that emissions from diesel buses release toxic particulate matter, ozone and other harmful gases which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and public health. The New Mexico Environment Department reports transportation as the second largest producer of climate emissions in the state.
Children are more susceptible to the health problems these fumes pose, Graziano said. “Their respiratory rates are higher than ours, they breathe faster. Their surface area on their lungs is actually bigger than adults … Their physiology is different. Also, they can’t often get themselves out of environments. They’re dependent on adults.”
Graziano pointed to lung diseases as the most common health impacts tied to diesel emissions, but said exposure has also been linked to heart disease, cancer and possible negative effects to neurodevelopment.
“The kids I take care of, if their asthma is uncontrolled or their asthma is triggered by noxious fumes around the school, that impacts their ability to attend school, so there’s more absenteeism,” Graziano said, pointing out the ripple effect exposure can have on families. She added that if kids are unable to go to school, that could also lead to parents having to leave work to care for them.
Charles Goodmacher, lobbyist and policy advisor for Healthy Climate New Mexico, said approximately six school districts out of roughly 200 throughout the state have electric school buses so far, including Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Lake Arthur, Dulce, Dora and Albuquerque school districts.
These districts have received federal or private funding in recent years to purchase electric buses and charging infrastructure. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program is currently reviewing clean bus rebate applications from around the country. Awards are anticipated to be announced in May.
According to Healthy Climate New Mexico and NMVC Action Fund, diesel school buses cost approximately $140,000 each, while electric school buses, or ESBs, cost about $400,000. However, ESBs do not require the same amount of maintenance as diesel.
ESBs can also be used as energy storage to support the local energy grid or as backup power in emergency situations, according to NMVC Action Fund. The proposed bill will allow school districts to work with local electric utilities to establish vehicle-to-grid agreements, where districts sell excess energy back to the grid. ESB supporters note that this can bring revenue to the schools and further offset the cost of the buses.
Sariñana, a retired math teacher, said she took a ride on an electric school bus in Santa Fe and found it to be very different from her past experiences on school buses.
“I remember going on field trips and you couldn’t even hear, everybody was yelling. But in this bus, it was so calm,” Sariñana said, pointing out that electric buses don’t have a traditional loud engine. “This is what our kids need and as a teacher, I think this would get them to school a whole lot calmer.”
Graziano said she thinks the proposed bill could “make a significant impact on the health and the lifelong quality of life for our kids.”
Lawmakers introduced a similar bill last year, but failed to make it on the governor’s call as an absolute budget item. Short 30-day legislative sessions focus solely on budgetary items or bills that receive special messages from the governor.
Performance Santa Fe closes after 88 years – Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
Performance Santa Fe is shutting its doors after 88 years of bringing music, theater, and dance to Santa Fe.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the organization made the announcement on its website Friday, but provided no explanation of why it’s closing. All remaining performances will be canceled and ticketholders will receive refunds.
Board Vice President Natalie Beller said in a statement that the closure reflects, “The broader challenges facing arts organizations across the country.” She said that includes shifting audience and entertainment choices.
Performance venues and regional theaters have struggled to recover after the pandemic, according to the New York Times. A bill in the U.S. Senate, the STAGE Act, was introduced last year and is modeled on similar successful legislation during the pandemic.
New data tool allows journalists and the public to track ‘wandering cops’ in New Mexico - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
A new database launching this week gives the public, journalists and policymakers greater insight into police officers in New Mexico who lose their jobs with one agency, sometimes for serious misconduct, and then find work at another.
The New Mexico Department of Public Safety in July 2024 launched its own disciplinary database lookup tool, but it only covers officers who have been sanctioned by the state.
The National Police Index complements that database, and provides more data.
A coalition of journalistic, legal and human rights organizations led by Chicago-based nonprofit Invisible Institute created the database, using officer employment history records from 26 states, including New Mexico.
The NPI’s data on New Mexico cops go back as far as the 1960s, according to information released by Invisible Institute Director of Technology Maheen Khan.
The data include 5,185 currently active officers in New Mexico. Of those, 811 have had three or more employers, 150 have had five or more employers and 252 were previously terminated, Khan said in a statement.
The number of previously terminated officers is only as accurate as local police departments reports turned into DPS, so it’s almost certainly an undercount, according to Khan.
The first systematic investigation of “wandering officers” was published in 2020. Since then, New Mexico lawmakers and law enforcement officials have twice called for DPS to “track” problem officers.
While the NPI does not contain reports of misconduct, it does track officers over their careers and shows the reported reasons for their separation from an agency.
New Mexico’s database followed the creation of the New Mexico Law Enforcement Certification Board in 2023, which oversees the agency responsible for investigating police misconduct, called the Law Enforcement Certification Office.
The LECB replaced an agency heavily criticized for allowing officers to jump around to different jobs with little transparency.
New Mexico’s decertification process relies on local agencies fully and adequately investigating and reporting misconduct up to the LECB.
But journalists from around the state have shown this is often not the case, and a court ruling three years ago blocked public and press access to even more misconduct records.
If a case reaches the LECB, then its members can control whether an officer can hop to another department, said Bobbie Green, the longest-serving citizen-at-large on the board.
Green, who is also president of the Doña Ana County NAACP and second vice president of the New Mexico NAACP, said as a person of color, she tries to limit her interactions with police.
“Most of my family members — most Black people that I know — we are afraid of interactions with the police for obvious reasons. So from that perspective, I’m happy that there is going to be such a database,” she said.
However, Green said it’s difficult because while the public is at risk, officers also have rights, as well. The LECB must follow the rules and regulations, or risk being taken to court. They can’t act on a case that doesn’t get in front of them, she said.
“If the case never reaches us, that is, in my opinion, the loophole,” she said. “If they retire or leave before we get the case, then there’s nothing we can do about officers hopping from one place to another.”
Joshua Calder, the LECB’s first-ever CEO, said in an interview that officers who resign in lieu of termination could be trying to escape accountability; however, state regulation is clear that’s not a way to circumvent the misconduct reporting process. Since Source’s interview with Calder for this story, an email documenting his concerns about the LECB’s independence became public.
“I know that in reality, that may not be the case, and certain administrators may be leveraging — ‘Hey, we won’t file,’ or something — but they’re still required to provide that information to us if it violates New Mexico administrative code or statute,” Calder said.
Daniel Williams, a policing policy advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, which helped craft the legislation that led to the LECB’s creation, said in an interview the ACLU advocated for a much more expansive state database when the legislation was up for debate.
“Having this database is better than nothing by a long shot,” Williams said. “This is one of the conversations we look forward to continuing to have with lawmakers about the need for transparency, in terms of law enforcement misconduct.”
All New Mexicans want to live in safe communities, and most see police as part of that, Williams said.
“They want to be able to trust in the cops who are going to pull them over when they’ve done something wrong, or going to come help them when something has been done to them,” he said. “Transparency is an essential part of that. We think everyone, including law enforcement, acknowledges that that trust has really broken down over the years.”
NM AG, senator to push for bills criminalizing hazing and cyberbullying - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Attorney General and a state senator are calling on lawmakers to create new criminal and civil penalties for those who engage in hazing and cyberbullying, the officials announced at a Thursday news conference in Albuquerque.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez and state Sen. Antonio “Moe” Maestas said prosecutors need additional legal tools to combat both forms of harm that affect young people. They cited recent hazing cases at New Mexico State University and a high school in Santa Fe, along with the scourge of suicides among young people for whom online bullying online was suspected as a contributing factor.
“It’s time to take a stand and protect our children in the digital space, just as we do in the real world,” said Maestas, a Democrat from Albuquerque.
Maestas, who said cyberbullying played a role in a childhood friend’s son’s suicide, announced he would be the primary sponsor on two separate bills at the legislative session beginning Jan. 21.
The cyberbullying bill would make it a fourth degree felony for a public or private school student, to cyberbully a peer who then dies by suicide, so long as prosecutors can prove the bully demonstrated sufficient “reckless disregard” for the peer’s well-being. The bill would also include lesser criminal penalties for cyberbullying that results in great psychological harm or interferes with a student’s academic performance.
Online bullying’s anonymous and pernicious nature requires its own set of legal tools, Torrez said. The threat of a misdemeanor or more serious penalty should deter students from reckless online abuse of a peer, he said.
“Now it’s easy enough for people to send out a text, post something on an app, post something on a platform and really start a snowball effect that amplifies the pressure on people,” Torrez said. “It’s pervasive, and that has to stop.”
The other bill makes hazing, or failure to report hazing, a misdemeanor, with stiffer criminal penalties for hazing that results in injury or death.
The one-and-a-half page definition of hazing mentions an initiation into a student organization that coerces a student into performing a sexual act, putting themselves in fear of bodily harm, or consuming food, alcohol or drugs, among other actions.
In December, Torrez’ office released a 70-page report on hazing by members of the NMSU men’s basketball team, finding that three players “engaged in a months-long scheme of sexualized hazing” against four teammates and two student-managers. The report also found a “toxic culture” and insufficient safeguards allowed the abuse to continue.
The bill would also require colleges and universities to implement codes of conduct, establish committees to prevent hazing and provide anti-hazing education.
New Mexico counts among one of just six states that lack laws criminalizing hazing, Torrez said. While some acts of hazing —such as battery or sexual abuse— can be prosecuted on their own terms, prosecutors are currently limited in their ability to charge people who coerce peers into inappropriate actions, he said.
“This is a comprehensive list,” Torrez said of the new definition of hazing. “And one that is flexible in terms of its definition, to cover all forms of inappropriate physical and psychological pressure or force that could be placed on a student under these conditions, in connection with some organization at their school or university.”
If you or someone you know is considering suicide call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
U.S. Interior Department announces $5.5 M for NM’s orphaned oil and gas wells - By Source New Mexico
The U.S. Interior Department on Thursday announced New Mexico and California will receive $14.5 million to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells.
New Mexico’s portion—$5.5 million—will go to “plug up to 10 orphaned wells on state-owned or privately owned lands and remove and dispose of associated surface infrastructure,” according to a news release.
The state will also perform analyses and remediation at about two well sites and surface restoration at up to 50 plugged well sites.
Both New Mexico and California’s awards are matching grants through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which includes funding for legacy pollution such as abandoned oil and gas wells, which can contaminate water supplies, emit methane and other harms.
“Toxic orphaned oil and gas wells have plagued American communities for generations,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “With this funding, California and New Mexico will continue the progress already made plugging wells and begin to turn the tide on these environmental hazards that are harming our lands, waters and air.”
The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department announced in 2022 an initial $25 million federal grant to work on orphaned oil and gas wells, and began its first plugging operation that year in October in Lea County; according to a EMNRD, the state at the time had approximately 1,700 orphaned wells.
The state received an additional $25 million last year.
Border app that became 'a salvation' for migrants to legally enter the US may end - By Elliot Spagat, Associated Press
A nurse who fled Cuba as part of the Caribbean nation's largest exodus in more than six decades needed a place to stay in Mexico as she waited to legally enter the U.S. using a government app. A woman who had lived her whole life in the same Tijuana neighborhood was desperate for medical help after a dog attack left her with wounds to her legs.
A mutual acquaintance brought the two women together. Nurse Karla Figueredo stayed with Martha Rosales for three days in October 2023, waiting for a border appointment booked through the CBP One app and treating Rosales' dog bites. When Figueredo left for the U.S., she got Rosales' permission to give her name to other migrants.
Word quickly spread and Rosales made her home part of a roster of at least three dozen migrant shelters in her hometown on the U.S.-Mexico border, temporarily housing people who use the CBP One app.
"I told God that if they didn't amputate my feet, I would help every Cuban," said Rosales, 45, who was using a wheelchair after being attacked by five dogs until Figueredo helped heal her wounds.
CBP One has brought nearly 1 million people to the U.S. on two-year permits with eligibility to work but could go away once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Figueredo, 25, now works as a medical assistant in the Houston area and keeps in touch with Rosales, who quit her job as a bank cleaner to focus on her migrant shelter. The people Rosales houses, mostly Cubans, refer to her as "'Tía Martha" (Aunt Martha) as she cooks pancake breakfasts, throws birthday parties and shuttles them to their CBP One appointments.
Supporters say CBP One has helped bring order to the border and reduced illegal crossings. But Trump has said he would end it as part of a broader immigration crackdown. Critics say it prioritizes a lottery system over people who have long lived in the U.S. illegally while paying taxes and people who have waited years for visas.
Dayron Garcia, a doctor in Cuba who heard about Rosales from a nephew, applied with his wife and children and plans to settle with a friend in Houston. He said Rosales' house "feels like family" and that "CBP One has been a salvation."
"It's a guarantee," Garcia, 40, said. "You enter with papers, with parole."
CBP One began under Trump and changed under Biden
U.S. Customs and Border Protection debuted CBP One near the end of Trump's first term as a way for customs brokers to schedule inspections and for visitors with short-term visas to extend stays.
The Biden administration extended its use to migrants to replace an opaque patchwork of exemptions to a pandemic-related asylum ban that was then in place.
CBP One is popular with Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Mexicans, likely because advocates in their communities promote it.
Illegal border crossings by Cubans plunged under CBP One from a peak of nearly 35,000 in April 2022 to just 97 in September.
Demand for appointments has far outstripped supply, with an average of about 280,000 people competing for 1,450 daily slots toward the end of last year, according to CBP. Winners must report to a border crossing in three weeks.
A night owl
Migrant shelters along Mexico's border with the U.S. are now occupied primarily by people seeking the online appointments.
Rosales' house is in a neighborhood with ramshackle homes where old tires are stacked to stop flash floods. Migrants watch television, play billiards, do chores and look after their children at Rosales' house or a rental home nearby. Those who don't yet have appointments work their phones for slots made available daily at eight U.S. border crossings with Mexico, a task likened to trying to buy Taylor Swift concert tickets.
Rosales works throughout the night. A helper drives to the airport in an SUV Rosales bought with retirement pay from her bank job.
Shortly after midnight, she shuttles guests from her house to Tijuana's main border crossing with San Diego for the day's first appointments at 5 a.m. She chats with them, smiles for photos and hugs people goodbye.
By 3 a.m., she is at a television station for a four-hour shift cleaning the newsroom and fetching coffee for journalists, who give her the latest information on immigration and the city.
She checks her phone for migrants needing shelter who heard about her on social media or from friends and family. Her contact list identifies them by size of party and appointment date: "3 on the 16th," "6 on the 17th."
Rosales, one of 13 children, dropped out of school in third grade. Reading the Bible taught her enough to barely understand texts, which she generally responds to with voice messages or calls.
Enrique Lucero was Tijuana's director of migrant affairs when she came to City Hall for advice. He helped Rosales establish a legal entity to raise money and made himself available for emergencies, such as when a woman missed her CBP One appointment to give birth. Lucero talked to CBP to make sure the woman and her baby got in.
"She worries about them. She cries for them," Lucero said.
The exodus from Cuba
Border arrests of Cubans increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and after anti-government protests in 2021. Nicaragua had recently eased rules for Cubans to fly from Havana, allowing them to avoid walking through the Darien Gap, a dangerous jungle in Colombia and Panama. By the spring of 2022, Cubans eclipsed all nationalities but Mexicans in illegal crossings.
"CBP One came like a gift from God," said Yoandis Delgado, who flew to Nicaragua in 2023, paid a smuggler $1,000 to reach southern Mexico and was repeatedly robbed by Mexican authorities while trying to reach the U.S. border. "CBP One gave us a sense of possibility, of hope."
Delgado, a cook in Cuba, said Rosales' home and neighborhood don't stand out for people seeking to prey on migrants, giving a sense of security he wouldn't get at hotels or other shelters.
"She lives in the same condition that we do, not any better," Delgado said after a pancake breakfast. "She cries for everything that happens to us, for what we have suffered to get here from Cuba."
A grim future for CBP One
Biden administration officials portray CBP One as a key success in its strategy to create legal pathways at the border while deterring illegal crossings. They note people in life-threatening circumstances can come to a border crossing without an appointment to plead their case.
Anxiety is spreading among migrants in Mexico who fear Trump will end CBP One. Even those in the U.S. are uneasy because parole expires after two years.
The Trump transition team didn't respond to a question about CBP One's future, but his allies say it's overly generous and encourages immigration. A bill that stalled in the Senate in 2023 would have prohibited using the app to admit migrants.
Figueredo, the nurse who helped Rosales, plans to get a green card under a 1966 law that applies to Cubans. She says she and her partner, a barber, came to "continue to grow professionally and support our future children."
She writes Rosales often, telling her that her job is "crazy" busy and asking about her health. "I hope you're very happy," she wrote.
BernCo’s newest chair looks to balance focus on ‘both sides of the mountain’ - By Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
Newly elected Bernalillo County Commission Chair Eric Olivas says his priorities will largely lie in what the entire county is looking at.
Olivas, elected in 2022, served as vice chair last year. He represents District 5, which includes Uptown Albuquerque and the East Mountains.
“The commission has been very clear with our legislative priorities,” he told City Desk ABQ. “Housing, public safety and behavioral health. We really have to double down and carry these to the finish line.”
Within his own district, Olivas said he wants to make sure “both sides of the mountain” are fairly represented.
His list of projects he’s focused on bears that out, including items such as the Hahn Arroyo Linear Park in Albuquerque and the Los Vecinos Community Center in Tijeras.
Olivas noted Los Vecinos has been around for decades.
“It’s so old and dilapidated,” he said. “The residents there, especially the kids, deserve a world-class facility.”
Olivas said one challenge is advocating for road projects in the East Mountains when roads elsewhere in the county carry much higher numbers of vehicles.
“A lot of the rural roads might have 10 or 20 cars a day,” he said. “But to the people who live there, it’s a lifeline. “
In addition to leading board meetings, the chair is responsible for making appointments to joint county and city committees, which include the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and the Hispano Chamber of Commerce.
Commissioner Barbara Baca, who was chair for the past two years, nominated Olivas at the start of Tuesday’s meeting.
Commissioner Walt Benson nominated the board’s newest member, Frank Baca, who respectfully declined to seek the position, saying he felt it premature.
Olivas said he thought his experience as vice chair helped prepare him to head the commission.
“I was born and raised and schooled in Bernalillo County,” he said. “I’m honored to represent the commission and the citizens of the county.”
Adriann Barboa was elected vice chair. Both expressed appreciation for Baca’s leadership.
“Over the last two years, we’ve been through a lot,” Olivas said. ”We’ve had a lot of issues and important discussions and challenges that this commission has confronted under your leadership. And I think that we are all better off for having you and your wisdom and your expertise and your steady hand here to guide us.