By Jesse Jones, City Desk in The Paper. — Burqueño workers and small business owners could soon feel the impact in their wallets as the City Council prepares to vote tonight on an overhaul of the city’s minimum wage law. As written, the proposal would break from the state’s minimum wage base for the first […]
City Desk ABQ
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ABQ tries to break its heavy metal habit with new copper theft law
By Jesse Jones, City Desk in The Paper. — Drivers and pedestrians are navigating dark stretches of East Central Avenue after copper thieves have ripped wiring from streetlights, prompting a pair of city councilors to tighten Albuquerque’s scrap metal recycling laws in an effort to curb the vandalism. Rather than creating a new law, Councilors […]
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Council said no to more safe outdoor spaces but Mayor Keller started one anyway. Now the funding and future may be in jeopardy.
By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — Almost a year ago, Mayor Tim Keller told reporters the city needs 100 more Safe Outdoor Spaces for its homeless population but the city council has never gotten on board with authorizing zoning and ordinance changes to get anywhere close. Even now, the city has only one privately run […]
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Why Burqueños might feel safer on buses
By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — Burqueños riding public transit may be feeling safer lately as new ABQ Ride data shows security calls across the transit system are dropping even while ridership continues to grow. Data reviewed by City Desk from ABQ Ride’s third-quarter report shows safety calls dropped 21% from last year, averaging 1,871 […]
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After mayor warns of budget woes, Council OK’s city’s biggest budget ever
By Jesse Jones, City Desk in The Paper. — The City Council passed the city’s largest-ever budget, $1.5 billion, Monday night overcoming earlier warnings from the mayor that future spending would have to be cut to meet slower economic projections. The spending plan, passing 7-2, with councilors Brook Bassan and Dan Lewis voting against it, […]
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Councilors will push $15 min. wage, increased tipped wage to meet affordability crisis
By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — Burqueños struggling to keep up with rising rent costs may soon see relief as a bloc of city councilors pushes to raise Albuquerque’s minimum wage amid an expanding affordability crisis. The ordinance would address Burque’s widening affordability gap, where average earnings per job are about 20% below the national […]
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Council says it found $11 million budget error by mayor. He says they don’t understand the budget.
By Jesse Jones — City Desk in The Paper. — Division has split Albuquerque City Hall as a clash is erupting between the City Council and Mayor Tim Keller’s administration over an $11.8 million discrepancy council staff uncovered in the city’s financial projections while reviewing the mayor’s proposed $1.4 billion fiscal year 2027 budget. It […]
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City Council considers stricter repair timelines for ‘Bad Actor’ landlords
By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — City councilors and landlords all agree that a handful of “bad actors” are giving landlords citywide a bad image, but a proposal before the city council to increase fines and require faster repairs by the worst offenders faced challenges in it’s first hearing. The city received more than 2,111 […]
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ABQ moves to permanently fund new safety branches without a rate hike
By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — Albuquerque voters may soon decide whether to modernize how the city’s Public Safety Tax is spent, all without seeing any increase in their actual tax rate. We all already pay the Public Safety Tax – 1/4 of 1%, or 25-cents on each $100 transaction – as a part of […]
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City quietly dropped plans for highly touted “Gateway for seniors” at Juniper Flats
By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — For Burqueños hoping for relief from the affordable housing crisis, the finish line just moved further away when a promised solution to turn a former hotel into long-term affordable apartments for seniors touted by the mayor during his election quietly fell through. During the April 6 City Council meeting, […]