Neighborhood safety advocates gathered Tuesday to protest an Albuquerque policy that allows the expansion of sanctioned homeless camps, like those in Coronado Park, to as many as 18 locations across the city.
Colleen Aycock, a member of Women Taking Back Our Neighborhoods (WTBON), helped organize the demonstration and said the city’s approach to address homelessness lacks "specific plans" or budgets and will likely increase crime.
“We want to make sure everyone knows that the city has not given specific plans for how these lots will be used, where they will be located, what the costs will be, what the threat to security poses to the city and how the police will respond,” Aycock said. “No councilor should have voted to pass the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) as they did without these details worked out explicitly. The majority of citizens do not want these encampments.”
The activist group met at the corner of Academy and Eubank, Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., to protest the City Council’s vote to institutionalize “Safe Open Spaces” and motel conversions in the city’s zoning code, according to a press release.
“These camps will be extremely costly to the taxpayer,” Aycock said. “They will tax our already taxed police resources. The crime to businesses and neighborhoods will increase, as seen by Coronado Park. There are no specific plans given to the public by the city, nor specific budgets (although tents have already been purchased), and no planned protections against increasing crime.”
Aycock claimed businesses will suffer because of the actions the city is taking.
“Businesses will have to hire additional security and armed guards,” she said. “Taxpayers currently pay over $54,000 a month to clean up one Coronado Park. Multiply those costs by 18. More neighbors will have to hire more personal protection. Neighborhood grocery stores will not be safe, nor their local post offices. Property values will drop. These are all consequences neighborhoods (will) face. Do neighbors really want Academy to become another Central? All streets are important in Albuquerque and all neighborhoods should be safe.”
The New Mexico Sun recently reported that the Albuquerque City Council passed "Safe Outdoor Spaces" legislation approving the expansion of sanctioned homeless encampments.
Women Taking Back Our Neighborhoods is a citizen activist group founded in 2018 to inform the public and demand greater accountability from elected officials and civic leaders to prevent crime and keep communities safe, according to the release.