The Albuquerque City Council is expected to consider a bill Wednesday night to improve roads, run-down properties and add more infrastructure to certain areas on the city’s Westside. City councilors may also vote on a proposal to remove a section in the city’s charter that prohibits the city from building a performing arts center without voter approval.
Westside improvements
Councilors Joaquín Baca, Klarissa Peña and Louie Sanchez are sponsoring a bill that would create a list of guidelines to improve neighborhoods and businesses and possibly create more parks on the Westside.
Baca said the bill is a partnership with Bernalillo County and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. He said the western boundary of the area in question would include the Central Avenue Bridge going west toward Pat Hurley Park, and halfway toward I-40 on the north and south side.
“There is a lot of land next to the Bosque,” Baca said. “On the east side of the river, you have Tingley Beach, you have the Bio Park. On the west side, not so much, so we can put in a lot of park space.”
Ballot question to update the city’s charter
Baca is also sponsoring a bill that would send a question to voters’ ballots in November asking if the city should remove a section in the city’s charters that prohibits the city from building a performing arts center without voter approval.
A section in the city’s charter states “the city shall not appropriate funds for a performing arts center costing more than $10 million without prior approval of a majority of votes cast on the proposed performing arts center in a municipal election.”
“That’s actually an anomaly to have something like that in the city charter because the charter is essentially our constitution, that’s how the city runs,” Baca said.
Baca said the section was added to it decades ago when a group of people from Old Town “disliked Downtown” and “convinced the City Council at the time to get it into the charter.” He also said “there has always been talk of a performing arts center…I’m actually in favor of trying to build a performing arts center.”
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