Governor Martinez Fails Yet Again on Jobs

Well the news has leaked out that the new gigafactory that Teslas is building will not come to New Mexico. Governor Martinez has failed once again to develop new jobs for the State of New Mexico. She has been failing in this area for the past three and a half years. Democrats don’t want to give her another four more years to drive all businesses out of this state. Ours is the only state, which is losing jobs in the Southwest. 

Governor Martinez will most likely blame the loss of this factory on the democratic candidate for governor because she refuses to take responsibility for her own failures. The governor has been airing advertisements blaming Gary King for not raising the minimum wage yet it was her veto pen that killed the last attempt to raise the minimum wage in the state. It has been Governor Martinez’s educational policies that have decreased the math and reading skill levels in this state over the past few years. And it is the governor’s inaction about water pollution issues at Kirkland Air Force Base that put the final nail in the coffin of any deal with Teslas.

Mayor Richard Berry has been no great help in attracting new jobs to the metropolitan area. He could not negotiate himself out of a paper bag even on the best of days. His inability to control his own police force has made national news and attracted the attention of the Department of Justice. His lack of foresight and culture has failed to move the state’s largest city forward on many issues. His total disregard when it comes to enforcing the city’s minimum wage does not set a good example. The City of Albuquerque at this point does not present a positive picture to businesses looking for a new location to build factories.

Was it only four or five short years ago that businesses were moving to the city thanks to Governor Richardson and Mayor Chavez. I am sure that there are a lot of families that would like nothing better than to turn back the clock to those bygone days. Governor Martinez says she wants to move forward but at what cost to the voting public of this state. She is attempting to portray Gary King as a supporter of the upper class but King is not the one taking the Koch brother’s money is he?  

National Night Out and the Decay of a Neighborhood

The entire purpose of National Night Out is to get people to care about their local community. If more eyes are on the street than less crime happens. You would think that a mayor would want communities on the edge of troubled areas to be the first to have gatherings on such a night. You would think that the mayor would reach out to community groups that were falling a part to help them to develop the network to have strong neighborhood associations. With Mayor Berry and the communities that surround the International district in the Southeastern part of the City of Albuquerque you would be entirely wrong.

Parkland Hills Neighborhood association is just one example of a group that has falling by the wayside during the administration of Mayor Berry due to a lack of caring and administrative support. The Parkland Hills Neighborhood Association has not updated it website since December of 2013. It did not put on a gathering during National Night Out. This neighborhood association is on the fringes of an area of the city that has been in a downward spiral since the beginning of the Great Recession. The first major business to go in that area was a movie rental store on the corner of Kathryn and San Mateo. Next was the Lovelace Hospital. Lastly, came all the small stores along San Mateo between Kathryn and Gibson along with the local branch of the Bank of the West.

The bank moved because it became unsafe for people to work in that neighborhood across for the old hospital site. Customers were being approached by aggressive homeless people at the teller machine. Drugs were being sold out of the local McDonald’s parking lot on the corner of Gibson and San Mateo. The local Seven-Eleven on Kathryn and San Mateo was selling tall cans of beer to individuals who clearly had a drinking problem. Police can be seen next to that store on a weekly base. The City would do nothing to stop the behavior. The Mayor moved a needle exchange into the neighborhood down the street on San Mateo. Businesses like payday loan companies started to move into the strip along San Mateo.

The homeless are beginning to spend more time moving into the Parkland Hills neighborhoods. It started a few years ago when people in the neighborhood notices that businesses along the West side of San Mateo were being broken into for their cash. Drug addicts were shooting up behind the stores. Within a few months one car wash was just out of business because of all the break-ins. Next it was the laundry facilities at a local apartment complex where individuals were breaking in to get the quarters. Before long groups of homeless individuals were crossing the streets every morning to invade the nicer neighborhoods looking for places to break into and just hanging out. On one occasion you would have saw a homeless women wrapped in an old dirty blanket ambling down Ridgecrest Drive while being passed by well-dressed joggers. Parkland Hills is an older neighborhood with residents in their later stages of life. This makes them a prime target for drug addicts looking for an easy mark. Yet, you see a mayor who cares nothing for the community. He is too busy dumping sex offenders in the streets across San Mateo to be bothered with what it is doing to an old neighborhood in that area.     

Young Dropout Students and Behavioral Health Services

Is the State Behavioral Health Services Division (BHSD) providing the services needed to youth at risk in the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico? Did Governor Martinez make a huge mistake by taking over the behavioral health services in the city? How well are our young adults being serviced by the current system? A system ran by outsiders from Arizona who has no understanding of what is going on in our city.

You have to wonder why the three young men that killed two Native American homeless men in our city did not show up on the radar of school officials when it came to their mental health status. Our society does not approve of children attacking adults from any culture in this city. The parent of one of these young men told a local news station that he did not know where to turn for help. Has budget cuts by Arizona companies caused an increase in violent crimes committed by young adults in our city. Should the Governor take the blame for failing these young adults? Where is the outreach to parents of children who drop out of city school early?

Should our communities really be surprised that young men who have no hope of getting jobs turn to violent crime as a way to make money?  Homeless individuals are among the most vulnerable in our communities. The homeless have no place to lock up the small amounts of money they have that would be safe. They are often on drugs and/or alcohol so that their judgment is impaired. Some are returning veterans who have difficulties due to brain injuries from the wars. Some of the homeless are just mentally ill themselves. Homeless individuals make prime targets for young possibility mentally ill individuals looking to harm others and make a few dollars in the process. The three young men who killed the two homeless men clearly displayed signs of antisocial behavior.

Where is the governor in all this mess? Why has the major not done more to deal with the homeless in this city? Crimes against the homeless have been around for a long time yet little has been done during the current recession to reduce the number of people on the streets of our city. Heading Home is a good program but it is far too limited in resources to handle the thousands of homeless in this city. Why is there not already an outreach program that makes sure that homeless individuals feel safe to report crimes committed in our city. Could these deaths have been prevented if other crimes had been reported earlier? Mayor Berry’s answer is always to deal with the crisis rather than to spend enough money on prevention.