Wow. Yeow.
So there's good news, not-so-good news, and bad news.
I'll jump into the good news first. Most of the City Council races went the way I'd hoped, with Benton and Harris coming back for another term, along with Cook and Sanchez in no-contest runs. But those were no-brainers. The really good news is that the transit tax passed, along with every bond issue and proposition on the ballot.
Then there's the not-so-good news.
I'm definitely not thrilled about Berry's victory. As I said here a couple of weeks ago, I was really pulling for Romero, although I wouldn't have minded (and in fact, expected) a Marty win that much. Berry on the other hand, he's an unknown. Let's face it: this was a partisan race, and the Democrats were split between Marty and Romero here. Marty really ruined this for the Democrats - if he hadn't defied the term limits, I think Romero would have had a much better shot.
But I'm not partisan, and there is a silver lining to this cloud: Berry's an unknown. I don't think we really know how this is going to turn out, and it may be better than the Marty supporters (who today seem to be acting for all the world as if Albuquerque's glory days are over) expect. Sure, the ultra pro-development stance (which Marty definitely possessed) will carry over, but perhaps with less of the attitude. Maybe Berry will be more open to outside ideas. And don't forget: we just passed a bunch of amendments that reduce the mayor's power and gives the city council more control. This can totally work out folks: it's not the end of the world.
However, as far as I'm concerned, it is the end for district 5, where Dan Lewis trashed Michael Cadigan in the race for the city council seat. Cadigan was one of the few guys really sticking it to SunCal and other large developers, and he was one of the fiercer supporters of mass transit on the council. Cadigan wasn't a saint, but this was a vote bought by sprawl developers as far as I'm concerned. I can live with Berry, but Lewis is another matter. Michael, I'm going to miss you.
Overall, I'm a little bummed but still optimistic. I'm not yet ready to state that Albuquerque is about to go down the tubes and wind up another Phoenix - this can still work.
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1 comments:
I've been turning this over in my head, and here's my take (I'm a downtown, Romero kind of guy):
-Berry ran a single issue campaign on lowering crime. If he makes that a reality, we're all much better off. Even if everything else stagnates.
-Chavez's main problem was convincing the fiscally conservative to spend more money. If Berry says a new convention center, it'll carry a lot more weight.
-I'm not sure how to read his stance on public transit He's clearly a cost/benefit sort of guy, but the popular lines seem too well-used to get messed with. Maybe he'll streamline the rest of the system that really doesn't work great. This probably means no light rail...but never say never.
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