Incoming County Commissioner Frank Baca wants to foster an ongoing dialogue between residents and their government throughout Bernalillo County.
He says he’d also like to continue and expand collaborative efforts by the county and the City of Albuquerque for the benefit of the community.
Baca, born and raised in the South Valley, will take over Jan. 1, as the District 2 county commissioner, replacing Steven Michael Quezada. He won the seat in the Nov. 5 general election.
After graduating from Rio Grande High School, Baca earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University before attending the University of New Mexico School of Law. He worked as an attorney in private practice for more than 20 years, then joined the New Mexico Gaming Control Board as general counselor.
Baca next worked with the district attorney’s office in the 13th Judicial District and retired about five years ago.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
City Desk ABQ: What made you decide to run for office?
Baca: I ran four years ago — didn’t win — and I ran about 30 years ago. I have always been active in local affairs, activities, the various organizations, nonprofits, various community projects and initiatives. And I always felt that I wanted to contribute and to make a difference in my community — the place I was born, the place I was raised, the place I still live. And I think running for the office of county commission was sort of a natural progression in my community involvement to hopefully be in a position to really help make a difference. And being retired, I have the time. I have, hopefully, the energy, and so I just felt that it’s a good time for me and my life, because of being retired and having the time to really work on some of the issues that we have.
What are some of your priorities?
The number one priority for me is addressing some of the basic infrastructural needs of the community. The South Valley has certain sets of needs. There are parts of the district that are in the city, like the Barelas neighborhood, for example, Westgate Heights in the county. Each of these areas has their own unique sets of needs to do with infrastructure.
Have you met or talked with Commissioner Quezada regarding the transition?
I’ve had some meetings with him and with his assistants. I hope to have additional meetings before the end of the year. I’ve had a lot of meetings with the Bernalillo County leadership, the deputy county managers — quite a few conversations with a lot of those folks. Of course, as you know, there’s a new county manager. I haven’t had an opportunity yet to meet her. I think Commissioner Quezada and his staff have been very positive about providing me whatever information they can to help in the transition.
How is the relationship between the city and county?
Every city resident is part of Bernalillo County, and I think there’s some common issues and concerns that we can work on together, that we can collaborate on: the housing shortage, people living on the streets with substance abuse, crime. Those are all community-wide issues. I think we’re all in agreement that there’s some issues out there, and it just makes sense that we work together to address those issues. And I think that there has been some good collaboration with the city, and I would like to see that continue. The city, the county and also state and federal partners have to work together collaboratively just to get something done and to improve the situation. I look forward to that. That’s kind of my style. I like to work in a collaborative way, and so I really hope to promote that type of continued discussion with our other government entities.
How important is economic development? Are you thinking about development that respects air-quality concerns in the South Valley?
Economic development is important, obviously, for the community to provide jobs. My concern is making sure that we do that with quality projects, quality growth in the right areas. There’s a lot of parts of our community that are well-suited for growth, such as Mesa Del Sol. I’ve talked to a lot of people that live up in the Southwest Mesa area that are very much wanting new retail development in that area. But again, it’s a matter of doing it in the right place, with community involvement, and to do it right, to do it in a way that is going to be productive for the business community, but also complementary to the needs of the community.
I’ve been attending a number of meetings in the Mountain View community, where those [air-quality] issues are very real. And yes, I think you have to be mindful of the impact of your development on the community. Mountain View has been faced with a lot of issues over the years. I’ve met a lot of people that live in that area that are concerned. There’s an opportunity to engage — it doesn’t always have to be adversarial, but it really starts [with] sitting down at a table and talking about community concerns and hearing out the ideas of those that are in the development business, because I’d like to think they want the long-run quality developments that are going to be profitable and ultimately respect the community.