ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller made his sixth State of the City Address to the community at the Albuquerque BioPark Zoo on Saturday night.
The mayor touched on different topics from public safety to housing and potential solutions for homelessness.
“Our challenges are formidable. Especially when it comes to crime, and when it comes to homelessness,” said Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller.
This year’s State of the City Address theme was “Future Worth Fighting For,” highlighting different initiatives and programs around the Duke City.
The mayor focused on crime and safety and mentioned different strategies to fight crime in the city including added technology like shot detection, license plate readers, and gun databases.
Since 2014, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) has been under the watch of the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a settlement agreement to reform the department. The mayor took the time to highlight the fact that APD is now in compliance.
The mayor also said the Albuquerque Community Safety Department, which sends social workers and trained professionals to 911 calls for mental health, has taken 80,000 calls: freeing up law enforcement.
Another focus of the address was housing. The mayor broke down how and where the city has added housing in the metro.
“We added 2,200 new affordable units since 2018; we’re building 400 new apartment units in Uptown that are connected to transit, and we just announced 300 new housing units in the International District.”
The mayor also said the Gateway Center could soon be seeing changes if funding comes through. The city hopes to create multiple Gateway Centers to help homeless youth and homeless fighting addiction.
There were over 3,000 people in attendance, according to the mayor, including some protestors who interrupted the speech multiple times.
