Albuquerque native and attorney Pete Dinelli is holding Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller responsible for the “cesspool of crime” that prompted the closing of Coronado Park to homeless encampments.
Keller closed the park at the beginning of this month due to rampant narcotics use, multiple stabbings, frequent thefts, sexual assaults, extortion and other crime.
During a press conference in late July, Keller said it was time to take a stand. “The condition of the park is getting to the point of no return,” Keller said during the press conference. “If we don’t close the park now it will never be a park again.”
In a recent blog, Dinelli said Keller is responsible for the chaos surrounding the city’s homeless situation and criticized the mayor’s handling of the Coronado Park closing. “Absolutely no one elected Tim Keller to decide to allow a once beautiful and pristine park dedicated to public use to become a festering blight for over four years on the community and creating a cesspool of crime,” Dinelli wrote. “Simply put, Coronado Park is an embarrassment with the city violating its own ordinances and nuisance laws by allowing overnight camping and criminal conduct in the park thus creating a public nuisance both under state law and city ordinance. Coronado Park became the symbol of Keller’s failure as Mayor to deal with the homeless crisis and now he has to deal with a nuisance property he created.”
Dinelli claimed Keller did not confer with city officials dealing with the homeless about his decision to close the park. “He told no one else about it, including the neighborhood area of Wells Park, other homeless care providers in the city, nor the city’s Mental Health Response Advisory Committee which advises the city on issues related to chronic homelessness,” Dinelli wrote.
He charged that Keller has essentially “pivoted” from a crisis he has created known as Coronado Park to another crisis he will have to deal with when it comes to dealing those that are being displaced. Dinelli did agree that closing the park was necessary but challenged the mayor to come up with a workable long-term solution.
“Mayor Tim Keller is to be commended for at least coming to his senses after a full 4 years of failing to exercise his authority to issue executive orders to clean up and remove unlawful encampments and permanently close Coronado Park,” Dinelli wrote. “Closure of Coronado Park is a good first step in announcing a new approach to the city’s homeless crisis. Now comes the real hard part to come up with a viable plan that will not make things worse for the area and the city and that will deal with the homeless in a compassionate manner.”
