The city council election in Albuquerque’s district seven will see incumbent Tammy Fiebelkorn face write-in challenger Jaemes Shanley. The district makes up Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights, including parts of the University of New Mexico.
Tammy Fiebelkorn
Fiebelkorn is the sitting councilor for district seven and is seeking her second term. Elected to city council in 2021, she has 30 years of policy-making experience in different fields and described herself as a leader on “progressive issues” in the city, she said.
Over her last term as a councilor, she said she led affordable housing projects in her district, including a $50 million grant for the Uptown Connect project, climate change and on protecting the city’s immigrant-friendly policies.
District seven includes part of the University of New Mexico, and Fiebelkorn said she has had meetings between UNM officials and the neighborhood associations, and is starting to develop positive relationships between the two.
“UNM has a lot of land in our community, and I really think that we should be doing more in terms of utilizing those, particularly the empty plots of land, for safe outdoor spaces, for unhoused neighbors, but also potentially affordable housing development,” Fiebelkorn said.
She said she thinks the reason city government can be divided at times is the contrast between a more democratic city and a more conservative city council.
“There's going to always be tension when there are folks trying to move the city forward and other folks trying to regress the city, and I think the way around that is that we just continue to do the work we've done,” Fiebelkorn said.
Some of the capital projects Fiebelkorn has focused on and wants to continue on are new expanded sidewalks, speed bumps on streets with high levels of speeding, improvements for playgrounds and parks and increases for bike safety on bike paths, she said.
She said the most important issue facing Albuquerque is a lack of affordable housing leading to an increase in unhoused populations.
Jaemes Shanley
Shanley is a write-in candidate for district seven and will not appear on the ballot, but voters may still select him as their preferred candidate by writing out his name. He was a jewelry maker, among other things, before retiring in 2021. He became engaged in politics through giving public comments at city council meetings, he said.
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The city council election in Albuquerque’s district seven will see incumbent Tammy Fiebelkorn face write-in challenger Jaemes Shanley. The district makes up Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights, including parts of the University of New Mexico.
Tammy Fiebelkorn
Fiebelkorn is the sitting councilor for district seven and is seeking her second term. Elected to city council in 2021, she has 30 years of policy-making experience in different fields and described herself as a leader on “progressive issues” in the city, she said.
Over her last term as a councilor, she said she led affordable housing projects in her district, including a $50 million grant for the Uptown Connect project, climate change and on protecting the city’s immigrant-friendly policies.
District seven includes part of the University of New Mexico, and Fiebelkorn said she has had meetings between UNM officials and the neighborhood associations, and is starting to develop positive relationships between the two.
“UNM has a lot of land in our community, and I really think that we should be doing more in terms of utilizing those, particularly the empty plots of land, for safe outdoor spaces, for unhoused neighbors, but also potentially affordable housing development,” Fiebelkorn said.
She said she thinks the reason city government can be divided at times is the contrast between a more democratic city and a more conservative city council.
“There’s going to always be tension when there are folks trying to move the city forward and other folks trying to regress the city, and I think the way around that is that we just continue to do the work we’ve done,” Fiebelkorn said.
Some of the capital projects Fiebelkorn has focused on and wants to continue on are new expanded sidewalks, speed bumps on streets with high levels of speeding, improvements for playgrounds and parks and increases for bike safety on bike paths, she said.
She said the most important issue facing Albuquerque is a lack of affordable housing leading to an increase in unhoused populations.
Jaemes Shanley
Shanley is a write-in candidate for district seven and will not appear on the ballot, but voters may still select him as their preferred candidate by writing out his name. He was a jewelry maker, among other things, before retiring in 2021. He became engaged in politics through giving public comments at city council meetings, he said.
Shanley called UNM “the adolescent heart of Albuquerque” and said that he wants to keep as many “highly educated, skilled people” in the city as possible by making it a place they want to live and start a family.
Shanley pointed to the Albuquerque Rapid Transit bus system as an example of ineffectual communication within city government.
ART was established during former Albuquerque mayor Richard Berry’s administration, and has continued through Mayor Tim Keller’s tenure.
“We’ve had mayors who pushed their vision, rather than collaboratively and collectively build a vision, and ART was a good example of that,” Shanley said.
In appropriating funds for district projects, Shanley said he wants to hold meetings with the community to determine what they would want.
“It’s not that hard to bring people in the district together in either neighborhood association or coalition meetings, or just have some little town halls and encourage some dialogue and public discussion,’’ Shanley said.
He believes that the most important issue for Albuquerque is homelessness. Shanley said that the city needs to provide more transitional housing; however, he feels the current way transitional housing is built is ineffective.
Elizabeth Bolke is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
Jaden McKelvey-Francis is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on X @jadenmckelvey
