This year, voters within Albuquerque's District 6, which encapsulates the University of New Mexico, will decide between candidates Patrick Davis and Gina Naomi Dennis for a seat on the City Council.
In interviews with the Daily Lobo, both candidates said they want UNM students to know that their vote can really make an impact on the community and the University as a whole.
Councilor Davis, the incumbent, said if he wins reelection his primary focus will be increasing the number of police officers on Central Avenue.
"Two years ago, I passed a law that required APD to bring back bike patrols and extra patrols on Central around the UNM campus," Davis said. "Last year, I added a million dollars to the city's budget for additional police officers for Central."
Alternatively, candidate Dennis said the community doesn’t need more officers but instead a decrease in drug addiction to prevent crime. Dennis said officers are not there to prevent crime but rather help with the aftermath.
"Our addiction rate is so high, 80-85% of crimes are committed by someone who is high or trying to get high. If we can lower our addiction rate, then we lower our crime rate — we don’t need a gazillion police officers," Dennis said.
When it comes to UNM, Dennis said there should be easy access to healthy, non-expensive food, fair treatment of all students and an administration not engaged in its own political agendas.
Dennis said one of her priorities is fixing the Albuquerque Rapid Transit system.
"We should restore our Route 66, bring business back, make A.R.T. functional, give people the ability to turn left again on Central and move the bus lanes to the side of the road," Dennis said.
In addition to adding more police officers, Councilor Davis said he is planning to bring a shopping center to South Campus. Davis filed to legislate this project with Councilor Isaac Benton of District 2 in partnership with UNM to bring more shops closer to students.
"This would be a huge new shopping center that can have big anchor stores like Target, Costco, some movie theaters and new restaurants, to be developed in the next couple years. So, folks won’t have to leave campus for all those things," Davis said.
In District 2, there are six people running for a council seat: Joseph Griego, Zackary Quintero, Robert Raymond Blanquera Nelson, Isaac Benton (incumbent), Connie Vigil and Steve Baca.
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According to the League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico guide for voters who asked candidates the question of "improving the quality of Albuquerque?":
Joseph Griego said his priorities are to increase the support for local businesses to grow money here in New Mexico rather than bringing in outside companies.
Zackary Quintero said Albuquerque needs to improve safety for families in public areas of the community — like in parks and downtown — specifically by adding more lights, new walkways and streets.
Robert Raymond Blanquera Nelson said there needs to be a connection from the Public Health Department to City Council to make informed decisions and solutions for steps to create equality in gender and race.
Isaac Benton, the current councilor for District 2, said Albuquerque needs more new homes that are affordable. This involves improvements in the infrastructure of historic neighborhoods to modernize the communities.
Connie Vigil said the city has major crime, drugs and homelessness problems, and Albuquerque must reduce these issues on a city, county, state and federal level.
Steve Baca said crime is number one in fixing problems — businesses and residents need to feel safe, he said, while adding that crime is the root of most issues.
For District 4 there are three candidates: Athena Ann Christodoulou, Ane Romero and Brook Bassan.
Athena Ann Christodoulou said she wants to work with other districts to improve the quality of living by creating safe communities. Ane Romero said Albuquerque needs to invest in teachers, students and schools to improve the workforce. Brooke Bassan said Albuquerque should create more indoor and outdoor recreational spaces to promote development.
There is only one candidate running for District 8: Maurreen Skowran. Skowran said there needs to be a source of assistance to people at risk of being homeless by providing affordable housing.
Bianca Hoops is a beat reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @bianca_hoops
