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Copyright © 2017 Albuquerque Journal

Two weeks after a prominent business in Downtown Albuquerque condemned a plague of crime, homelessness, drug addiction and trash at its doorsteps, the mayor unveiled a plan to clean up the area.

“The five-point plan came about because business owners came to us and said they want things to get better Downtown,” said Mayor Richard Berry at a news conference Downtown Wednesday morning. “… Today is about listening to businesses Downtown.”

Although residents, other businesses and the president of the Albuquerque City Council say they have previously asked police to address the crime problem Downtown, the mayor’s plan comes after tech startup Lavu sent a note to him and the governor warning that it may be forced to leave the area because of the crime.

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The plan includes a greater police presence in the area, as well as additional street sweepers, graffiti control and trash cleanup; services for people suffering from homelessness, substance abuse and mental health issues; partnerships with business owners; and more coordination between private security and police.

Berry said the administration wants to make sure the effort is sustainable and can be carried over to the next one.

Douglas Chaplin, the city’s Family & Community Services Director, said service providers are working with officers and APD’s COAST team of civilians to connect people with substance abuse treatment, homeless shelters and other resources. He said $10.5 million was allocated in the Fiscal Year 18 budget and some of it will be used to support these services.

Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said that since attention to the area was increased on June 26, police have come into contact with 329 people and visited 81 businesses in the area. He said police gave out 214 verbal warnings and 42 citations, and made eight misdemeanor arrests and 11 felony arrests.

A police spokeswoman did not respond to questions about how many contacts police had with residents during previous weeks.

Cmdr. Donovan Olvera of the Valley Area Command said officers began noticing an uptick in crimes, especially property crimes, Downtown about a month ago. He said they have since tried to adjust schedules in order to make sure more officers are patrolling the area in times of peak criminal activity.

He said two officers on the swing shift unit will be pulled out of other areas to focus on Downtown between 3 and 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Celina Espinoza, an APD spokeswoman, said eight bike patrol officers and the two officers on the Valley Area Command’s Police and Community Together team – which is focused on proactive community policing and doesn’t take routine calls for service – are going to be roaming the area, as well.

Request for action

Though APD has said its officers noticed a rise in crime about a month ago, community activists, businesses and a city councilor say they began to see an increase many months ago.

Councilor Isaac Benton, whose district includes Downtown, said he started hearing of more crime in the area around the Alvarado Transportation Center about three months ago.

And in mid-May, Downtown businesses, nonprofits and neighborhood associations sent a letter to Berry and Eden that said increasing crime in the city’s urban core was becoming “intolerable” and requesting government action.

The chief’s office responded with a letter saying officers are allocated based on an analysis of calls for service over the previous four years and the department could not put officers there now without losing coverage in other area commands.

It’s unclear what changed between when the letter was sent and a little more than a month later when Lavu Inc., a technology startup that employs more than 80 people in the Theater Block building at First and Central, warned it may be forced to abandon Downtown if authorities can’t reduce crime there.

“There was zero response from the mayor and a form letter from the chief before,” Benton said. “I certainly think it gets their attention when something comes out on the front page, but it shouldn’t take that.”

‘We love Downtown’

The mayor’s plan drew support from some prominent business representatives, including Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Terri Cole, whose headquarters are around the corner from Lavu, and veteran local developer Paul Silverman, whose commercial real estate firm Geltmore LLC helped build the new Downtown Imperial Building that now houses the area’s only grocery store.

And individual business owners said they’re encouraged by the mayor’s announcement and the noticeable increase in police patrols since last week, but the long-term impact of city efforts remains to be seen.

“I’m glad the problems are getting some attention,” said Wes Edling of HoldMyTicket, which occupies the fifth floor of the Sunshine Building at Second and Central. “There seems to be more of a police presence since the news has grown about the situation Downtown. But we’ll have to see how it goes, because it’s tough to solve these problems.”

Downtown residents said they were also relieved to hear that APD plans to have more officers in the area and that they had noticed there had been fewer patrolling the streets in recent years.

Michaela Bruzzese, who grew up Downtown, said she’s noticed that officers typically respond promptly only if someone calls them while a crime is being committed.

“When we met with police about crime, the individual officers have been helpful, but they’re just not around anymore,” Bruzzese said.

She said her neighbors have been sharing frightening stories through the website nextdoor.com almost every day of burglaries and assaults, and lots of petty crimes.

In response, she organized a neighborhood alliance against crime to meet and discuss how residents can work more closely with law enforcement and each other to keep the area safe. But while they were meeting, a resident’s bicycle was stolen from where he’d locked it up on the street.

Bruzzese said she’s encouraged to hear that the mayor has taken steps to curb crime, and hopes that it begins to restore the neighborhood she and others love so much.

“We love Downtown,” Bruzzese said. “The people who live here are committed to doing something about it.”