On Monday Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham held a town hall meeting in Albuquerque. It’s the second event to hear from the community on issues of public safety.
Over 300 members of the community attended the meeting at Central New Mexico Community College to hear from the governor and a panel of state and local officials, including Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, Senior Public Safety Advisor Benjamin Baker, Health Secretary Patrick Allen, Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina, City Councilor Joaquin Baca, Albuquerque Associate Chief Administrative Officer Mariela Ruiz-Angel and Chief Deputy District Attorney Joshua Boone.
Attendees raised issues ranging from affordable housing and mental health treatment, to tougher punishment for repeat offenders and domestic violence.
Lujan Grisham told them she treats public safety the same way she treats poverty, as a nonpartisan issue.
“It shouldn't be partisan,” she said. “It should all be about everyone cobbling and pushing together any number of strategies that make a difference in our community.”
This follows a recent special session that ended within hours, where the only lawmakers to sponsor the Democratic governor’s bills were Republicans.
Daniel Williams is a policy advocate for the ACLU of New Mexico, one of the groups that wrote a letter opposing many of the bills.
“We were very disappointed this summer that the governor called a special session with legislation that wasn't going to advance public safety and was actually going to harm our community,” he said. “And so we're glad that she listened to our organizations and realized that she needed to be listening more deeply to the community, and that's what she's doing here tonight.”
He added that he appreciated the governor's attentiveness to the needs of the community, but disagrees with her push for tougher criminal penalties.
“What we need to see from the Governor, from our legislators, from our leaders at every level, is a new approach where we invest in our community, care for our community, and seek alternatives to those policies that rely on prisons, police and punishment that simply won't keep us safe,” he said.
Olé New Mexico member Adam John Griego said one thing that was missing during the town hall were people who are unhoused.
‘I think for something to really be effective, you have to have the demographic that it's trying to either address or fix or repair. Those demographics have to be present,” he said. “Where's the community? Where's the representation?”
Erica Davis-Crump is an activist who responded to County Sheriff John Allen’s comment that he’s tired of town halls and wants more action. She said as an African American born in Albuquerque she’s not being seen or heard.
“I want to say that these town halls that the sheriff is so tired of are indicative that y'all have contact with the community but not connection,” she said.
There will be another town hall meeting in Española on July 30th starting at 5:30pm. The event will be at Northern New Mexico Community College and will be livestreamed and archived on the governor’s Facebook page.
Source New Mexico contributed to this report.
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