On July 30, Dawn Legacy Point filed the first application ever for a ‘Safe Outdoor Space’ homeless encampment. On August 8, the City Planning Department approved the application for a homeless campsite at 1250 Menaul, NE. Dawn Legacy Point said the homeless encampment will provide accommodations for upwards of 50 women who are homeless and who are “sex-trafficking victims” and other vulnerable populations.  

The City Planning Department unilaterally reviewed the application behind closed doors with no notice to surrounding businesses or neighborhood associations, no public hearing and no public input. The application was “fast tracked” by the Planning Department to approve the application just 8 days before the City Council was scheduled to repeal the Safe Outdoor Spaces zoning use on August 16.

There is no getting around it. What the Planning Department did does not pass the smell test. The application approval was as sneaky and underhanded as it gets. The planning Department decided it had the authority to simply grant the application before the City Council votes to repeal Safe Outdoor Spaces on August 15.

With acquiescence from Mayor Tim Keller, the Planning Department approved the Safe Outdoor Space on city owned property valued at $4,333,500 to be operated by Dawn Legacy Point and subsidized by the City to house women in tents who are victims of “trafficking and exploitation”. It is something that progressive Democrat Keller should be absolutely ashamed of with “trafficking and exploitation” victims being housed in tents as a housing solution thereby being exploited gain by denying them proper housing.

What is being created at 1205 Menaul, NE is a location for victims to become victims once again. The actual location is troubling and has the potential of becoming a magnet for crime, prostitution or illicit drug trade. It’s located in close proximity to a truck stop known amongst law enforcement for prostitution and illicit drug activity. It’s directly across the street from a major call center, a motel suites and is walking distance of Menaul Boarding School and apartments. Occupants of the ‘Safe Outdoor Space’ are obviously not confined and would be free to go and come as they pleased and could easily wind up uninvited wherever they want to go. This includes the truck stop, and disrupting the peaceful use and enjoyment at nearby locations or engaging in illicit activity. 

Dawn Legacy Pointe board chair Kylea Good bragged that the approval represents years of “behind-the-scenes work” with the Keller Administration and others going along to get approval at the exclusion of the public. Why bother going public and being transparent when you can sneak around city hall with the Mayor’s support to get something you want and the general public be damned.

It's repulsive and irresponsible when applicants Kylea Good and Brad Day proclaim that the Safe Outdoor Space encampment will be for “sex-trafficking victims”. When the words “trafficking and exploitation” are used, what is being talked about are woman who are victims of crime such as kidnapping or forced prostitution. They are saying that they want to provide tents in city sanction encampments to women who have already been victimized believing they are somehow acting compassionate. Victimized women need actual, compassionate treatment and permanent housing that is safe and secured and not living in a tent city. 

Safe Outdoor Spaces are not the answer to the homeless crisis. “Safe Outdoor Spaces” will be a disaster for the city as a whole. They will destroy neighborhoods, make the city a magnet for the homeless and destroy the city’s efforts to manage the homeless through housing. 

The homeless crisis will not be solved by the city, but it can and must be managed. Safe Outdoor Spaces represent a very temporary place to pitch a tent, relieve oneself, bathe and sleep at night with rules that will not likely be followed. The answer is to provide the support services, including food and permanent lodging, and mental health care needed to allow the homeless to turn their lives around, become productive self-sufficient citizens and no longer dependent on relatives or others.

A Mayor loses credibility and public trust when they cram a political agenda down people’s throats. What Mayor Tim Keller has done is to cram Safe Outdoor Spaces down the throats of surrounding property owners. Mayor Tim Keller has mishandled the homeless crisis, including the closing of Coronado Park. Safe Outdoor Spaces and Coronado Park are Mayor Keller’s symbols and legacy of failure as the city deals the most vulnerable homeless population, female victims of “sex-trafficking”.     

Pete Dinelli is a native of Albuquerque. He is a licensed New Mexico attorney with 27 years of municipal and state government service including as an assistant attorney general, assistant district attorney prosecuting violent crimes, city of Albuquerque deputy city attorney and chief public safety officer, Albuquerque city councilor, and several years in private practice. Dinelli publishes a blog covering politics in New Mexico: www.PeteDinelli.com.