By Damon Scott
If you’ve been to an Albuquerque City Council meeting in person or watched one online, you’ve likely seen Carla Martinez. The city’s associate chief administrative officer is regularly called on by councilors to answer questions and explain city policies and actions. Martinez serves under Samantha Sengel, the city’s chief administrative officer, and both are charged to speak on behalf of Mayor Tim Keller.
Martinez has been in her role for about six months, but is not new to government positions or to New Mexico. The native New Mexican was most recently the chief administrative officer for the New Mexico Department of Justice — one of many positions she held within the criminal justice system and at the state. Martinez earned her law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
She replaces former associate CAO Mariela Ruiz-Angel, the founding director of the Albuquerque Community Safety Department who is now a director at Georgetown University’s Center for Innovations in Community Safety.
City Desk ABQ asked Martinez this week about the city’s efforts to combat homelessness (she said it’s a “top priority”) and how she sees the year playing out. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
City Desk ABQ: What’s your take on the tension between those who feel the city’s encampment sweeps are ineffective and those who think it’s necessary?
Martinez: Especially now being in this position, I recognize that it is very complex and not an easy issue to resolve. I think if that were the case, it would be resolved across the nation. But I think the mayor and his administration are trying really hard to come up with solutions, trying to be innovative, and I think you see that as a result of the different components of the Gateway system. You have the larger shelter, but you’re starting to see some of these other pieces of the Gateway system being created to address what is a complex situation.
It’s been hard to nail down contractors for some Gateway projects, hasn’t it?
Martinez: We want to partner, and will continue to partner, with our local nonprofits and providers. But I think Gateway West is a good example of where I think sometimes we tap out the capacity of our nonprofits. Heading Home has done a great job of partnering with us and really trying to help us, but I think at times with how large the system is, with the different components, you have providers who may specialize in one area, but they’re not going to be experts in everything. So we’re finding that reaching out nationwide has given us an opportunity to look into other options.
In the case of [Chicanos por la Causa] who’s out at Gateway West, they actually have had presence in New Mexico for approximately the last 10 years, so they’re not new to our community. [We] always want to partner with our locals — but it gives us an opportunity to expand and make sure that we’re providing the services that we need to provide.
There’s a perception that projects at the Gateway Center on Gibson Boulevard move too slowly. How do you see 2025 shaping up?
Martinez: I’m excited to see where we’re headed with Gateway Center this year. As you know, we’ve opened up the medical sobering space, we’ve opened up the medical respite, we have women’s navigation online, we’re about to open the men’s navigation and then we’re expanding both of those later this year. So I think there will be quite a bit of activity and movement. I mean, we’re already seeing it, but there will be more of it happening.
And then we’re opening up the micro community (Recovery Gateway) here pretty quickly. We’re thankful that the City Council passed the Endeavors contract. At Gateway West, we have a new operator and we’ve been making renovations at the dorms. We’ll be fully completed with all of those renovations shortly and there will be work on the outdoor space.
I know things sometimes can take time. We have to design and plan and there are things that happen, like negotiating with the neighborhoods. But I really feel like this will be a year of really seeing a lot of that hard work and effort come to fruition, and I’m thankful that I will be here when all of that happens.
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