Richard Romero has worked in Albuquerque for the last 35 years, serving as a legislator in the Senate and as a teacher and principal in local high schools.
Daily Lobo: What plans do you have to make Albuquerque a more sustainable city?
Richard Romero: Well, you know, I think we are at a crossroads here in America and, in particular, in New Mexico. We really need to move in that direction rapidly. We are ideally situated. When I become mayor one of the first things I am going to do is to see if we can’t zero out on our energy use by getting into photovoltaic sun collectors. There is no reason that the (Albuquerque) Convention Center, which is a big, huge warehouse — we can reduce the energy consumption there just through the use of alternative energy. We could do the airport, we could do City Hall, we could do all our city buildings, and I really believe that the city of Albuquerque has to be a big customer. We have to buy and establish what is called market share. In other words, small businesses could begin to feed into it and begin to sell the retrofits, so to speak, with the city, and begin to grow that business. There is just no reason we can’t do that, but it’s going to take some leadership and it’s going to take us doing it. These are one-time costs that we would be investing in, and we would have to go to voters and ask them to support this initiative and do what ever we can to move it in that direction. And I know a lot of people will be complaining, “Oh, we are going to lose jobs here.” I think we are going to gain jobs, I really do. If you look back at our history, this kind of transition from fossil-fuel energy to alternative-energy sources is kind of like when we went from slave labor into the Industrial Revolution. And slave owners were complaining that we were going to lose jobs. We created more jobs, and that is what I think will happen here. I just visited a plant last week at Estancia on the north side of town, and, man, they were busy. They have 200 employees, and they have these huge machines where they will make the solar collectors, but they actually manufacture the standards, and they are busy, I mean, they are really busy — 200 people and good-paying jobs, so that is really great. Sheet-metal workers that maybe were doing typical air conditioning work now are doing this kind of work. Electricians have to get trained through CNM, possibly, to do those things, so I think the city has a big role. That’s just one area we can begin to look at, but it’s going to take, again, an investment and leadership to make that investment.
DL: As you know, water is a huge problem, and it is going to become increasingly more of a problem in the future. What kind of plan do you have to guarantee water in Albuquerque?
RR: We sit on top of a giant aquifer, and years ago, I think I was in the sixth grade in the mid-50s, we used to have a city-commission form of government, not mayoral but commissioner, and those people made a huge decision. At the time, they decided to buy the rights to the San Juan River Diversion Project, which we are now getting into. (It’s) surface water we are going to start drinking. We have this underground lake under the city that Albuquerque just had a straw there and we were drinking out of it, and people were saying, “We don’t need those water rights. We really don’t. First off, it is too expensive. Second off, we have this huge lake.” I am glad they did it. They took a lot of political heat. They had the will, the vision to get it done. They weren’t afraid to spend the money and I am glad they did that. But that’s not enough. Today Albuquerque is still using that straw, so to speak, but we have this river that now we are starting to take advantage of, so we are going to cut that off at some point. We are starting to use water that has been filtered into our golf courses. You can read about that in the paper, but that is not enough. What we have is this city called Rio Rancho that also has their straw in there. We have got to get them engaged in it so that they become a community that conserves water. You know, if I use too much water, Downtown, I get fined. If the University uses too much water, you know, if all of these different groups use water – you know, we all work together to conserve, but it is only Albuquerque. If you look at Valencia county, that is a huge county that is growing. If you look at Isleta, if you look at Sandia, all of us — everyone from Cochiti all the way to Socorro — are really drawing from this aquifer, but we are the only ones who are making the changes. So, my point is that we need to work with these communities and get them on board. Water belongs to all of us. It is like Native Americans say: “It is like air; it belongs to all of us, so we have got to conserve it.” We have got to do a better job. But you need a leader that can do it. I really don’t believe that Chávez can do it. He doesn’t have the skills. He is always fighting with people: “It is my way or the highway.” You’ve got to be able to collaborate, and I have demonstrated that I can do that as a high school principal, a state senator. I have worked all my life with people trying to achieve common goals, and I have those skills. That is what I bring to the table — the ability to work with the County Commission, the public schools, the University, CNM, Valencia County, Sandoval County, Rio Rancho — all of these communities have to be players in helping us conserve our water. We just have to do a better job. It is not just water either; it is air, too. These are common issues. In order to operate my car, I have to pay a fee to demonstrate that my car is burning cleanly. Those people don’t have to, yet they work in Albuquerque, they commute every day — I don’t think it’s fair, but, aside from saying that, that isn’t going to work. We have to work together.
DL: Tell me your ideas for reducing crime in Albuquerque.
RR: I am one of those that thinks crime is out of control. I really do. We have 38 to 39 homicides in Albuquerque, and that doesn’t count the bodies found on West Mesa. We are already at the level we were at a year ago, and it is only August. Property crimes — 30,000 in Albuquerque — (has) an 8 percent increase. Mayoral candidate Richard Berry had his truck stolen and burnt to a crisp. Crime is out of control. What we have to do is this: We need to get more police officers out on the street. We used to have over 50 percent of our cops on the street. Now, it is down to 42 percent. We need to implement community policing. We need to get police out there, out from behind desks and into the community. We probably need to hire more police, in my opinion. We had a gang unit that had 20 officers. It is now down to four or five people. Gangs are really a problem. In the old days when my dad was young … if you dropped out of school you could get a job, because we had a huge manufacturing base. We don’t have that anymore. All of those jobs are overseas now in India and China. They are not here. So, if a kid drops out of school now, they are going out into the streets. They are drawn into gangs, ranked into gangs. We really need to address the issues of crime in a more comprehensive way. This mayor is angry with the public schools. He is kicking them around. He is beating up on them. He wants to take over. Remember he wanted to do away with the school board? It is because he wanted control. He has to have control if he is going to work with people. So, it is important for us to work with the schools to reduce the dropout rate. And the dropout rate is high, but the dropout rate has always been high. In the old days, they used to go into a job, and now they go into the streets. They get into trouble. They are forming gangs, and we have a lot of gangs. There was once a statistic where we had thousands of kids in gangs, and once they get into gangs it is hard for them to get out, even if they want to. So, we need to do a better job. We need to admit that crime is a problem, and, by the way, crime is not a measure of the performance of the police. I am not saying that. Crime is a measure of the health of the community. Crime is up, dropouts are up and unemployment is at record levels. The health of the city is not good. We truly are sick. We really have to do a better job. Crime is a big issue that needs to be addressed, through community policing, more officers and more officers on the streets addressing the gang problem. By the way, I would not need three policemen guarding me or walking my dog. I would put those people out on the street. The mayor – you have seen him – when he walks into a restaurant he has his entourage. I do not need all that. I live Downtown. I walked here by myself. I do not need protection. Obviously, if the mayor feels threatened enough to have three cops with him, it tells you something about his feelings about crime. It must be out of control.
DL: What do you see is the role of the University within the city? And what do you have to offer to younger voters?
RR: First of all, the University is key to any economic development. We have to engage with the University, work with the Board of Regents, with the president. They are really the key to economic development here. There are 25 to 30,000 students here, another 30,000 at CNM. We are talking about two very large campuses, I think both campuses should have a part in developing the economic base here in the city. We have the brightest minds here; there is no reason that we can’t tap into that to help work on issues like crime, water, energy sustainability. If we don’t take advantage of the resources, the people here, I think we are missing the boat. We really need to work with the University. In regards to your other question, I am young at heart. I relate well to young people. If you talk to people about when I was a high school teacher and principal, you would hear I had great relationships with my students. I knew every kid in town. I like young people. They are our future, and they have a lot to offer. We have to make sure we are listening to our young people, because they really are our future. We have to help develop them to take over as leaders. Plus, young people are always up, they are always energetic, they always have this idea that they are going to live forever. That is a great feeling. I really relate to young people. Ask any student from when I was a principal. I wasn’t a bad guy at all. Even the bad guys used to like me, believe it or not. They would see me on campus, constantly in classrooms. I have a son. I have a grandson. I love kids.
DL: Speaking of your work as a principal, how do you think you will be able to apply your work with the educational system as mayor, and what are your priorities for education in Albuquerque?
RR: The city doesn’t run the school system, but I do know that beating them up isn’t going to help, and that is what has been happening for the last eight years. We have to work with our public schools. They have their own governing board, but we have to do a better job with educating our children. I am convinced that kids who come from middle-class families do well in school. It is our poor neighborhood schools that do not do a good job, and we have got to be able to work with parents to make sure that they can engage with their kids’ education and take an active role. Too many times poor parents have other priorities, surviving from day to day, and we have to be able to help them with that. I would love for us to continue to support the things the city already does, because I think they do some things well, like the middle school initiative. I would like to see a more active sports program at the middle school level, and maybe have the city play a role there. Other schools like the Wilson Citizen Schools, we need to expand those. We need to make sure that our schools are the hub of the neighborhood. We have a health clinic down at Wilson. We have one down at Branwood that I was involved in putting together with the New Mexico Community Foundation. They need to be the center of the communities and possibly funnel social services through the schools, with the city helping. We could even use community policing in our schools, to tie all of our services together to make sure that we do a better job. I just understand education. I think we have kids that do not achieve in school, because they do not come to school consistently. We have to make sure that truancy is something that we address positively. I remember years ago I did research with one of our high schools where we were losing 200 kids a day. We found if you tracked their attendance from kindergarten to ninth or 10th grade, they had missed anywhere from one year to a little over two years of school cumulatively. Anyone that misses that much school is not going to do well. That is a lot of school. We have to turn that around. We need to reverse the trends and the dropouts. As mayor, I am going to work with the schools to implement programs, support initiatives and work with them to make sure we deliver a world-class education.
DL: Where does higher education fit into that? What is your plan of action to see more Albuquerque students going to college?
RR: Well, our brains are here, our best and our brightest are here at the University. They have ideas. It would be great if we could set up a service corps with students and pay them a stipend to work in the community, especially with students who are not achieving as well as they could. Education programs have improved, but they have not changed much since I was trained as a teacher. We need to look at that, too. We need to pay teachers better so we can attract a higher quality of person in the teaching field. We need to work with the University in ways we have never worked with them before, in collaborative ways instead of in an adversarial role. We need to break those barriers down.
DL: In what ways do you think you can engage the community?
RR: I worked as a legislator. I served in the (state) Senate for 12 years. I received the first-ever James Madison Award for open governance, because I pushed for open conference committees, which we finally got this last session. I led the first and only legislative extraordinary session in the state’s history. The state has a lot of special sessions. There will be one here in October to fix the budget. There has been only one time when the Legislature has called itself into session. I led it. It was Gary Johnson who vetoed seven out of eight appropriations. I was able to get Republicans, and I am a Democrat, to join me in calling ourselves into session. I took on a tyrant in the Legislature by the name of Manny Aragon, who is now in jail. I think we have a tyrant at City Hall, and I am hoping we can knock him down now too. Open and transparent government is my signature issue. Our budget is going to be on the Web. Everybody is going to know what we are doing. There isn’t going to be any pay-for-play kind of things. We are going to operate very openly. I think that is what the public wants, and I think the public is fed up with some of the stuff that has been going on with public money. It is something that needs to change, a culture that needs to be turned around, and I am the guy to do it.
DL: I am sure you have heard of the memorandum of understanding (between CNM and UNM) – it is a research collaborative. What is your ideal role of the University in the community? If it is not that sort of research collaborative, what are you picturing?
RR: Who am I to say that I know best, I don’t. I listen to people and that is one of my strengths I bring to the table. I do not have a set agenda. The ideas are out there amongst people. What I want to do is give the people an open, honest government and do the best we can with our money, because we should be good stewards of the public’s money. The ideas are out there, and this institution has the smartest people in town. We should be paying attention to the University.
DL: What is your vision for the economic development of Albuquerque?
RR: That is a good question. Small business development is important to me. We need to do a better job of working with our small businesses. We are enthralled by going after big companies like the General Mills and the Eclipses of the world, which is good, and we need to be doing that. I believe that we need to look at our small businesses, too. We need to ask them what we need to do to help them and make them grow and prosper. These are home-grown businesses that grow roots in our community. They tend to stay with us; they will not desert us. They will stay with us and grow. We have thousands of small businesses here in Albuquerque. If each one would just hire one individual, then we would have people off the unemployment list. One thing I hate to hear from small businesses is that the bidding process to get contracts with the city needs to be opened up. It is almost like a pay-for-play kind of thing. The bidding process is not fair, is what I am told. I would propose that we make that more transparent and open. We need to give everyone a break. Recently, the mayor decided to purchase police car vehicles from Los Angeles and bypassed our local car dealers, some of which are going out of business. He should buy them from local people. We have had other areas where we have gone out of state. We should patronize our local folks and give them the business. They are struggling. They are fighting for their lives here in Albuquerque.
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