CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY FOURTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. F/S R-20-85 ENACTMENT NO. _____________________
SPONSORED BY: Klarissa J. Peña, Lan Sena
RESOLUTION
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F/S Supplementing Priorities For The Capital Implementation Program Of The City Of Albuquerque By Implementing A Community Equity Criterion To Be Used In The Development Of The Plan (Peña, Sena)
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SUPPLEMENTING PRIORITIES FOR THE CAPITAL IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE BY IMPLEMENTING A COMMUNITY EQUITY CRITERION TO BE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAN.
WHEREAS, laws and political priorities at all levels of government have resulted in community inequities in Albuquerque and elsewhere that have disparately impacted historically marginalized communities’ access to and leveraging of community resources, infrastructure investments, and other health and wealth-building resources; and
WHEREAS, social and racial inequities persist relating to educational attainment, encounters with the criminal justice system, jobs, housing, public infrastructure, health, and the community impacts of the current COVID-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, a focus on equity in capital investment by local governments is critically important in getting toward more equitable outcomes for communities across the City with respect to allocation of public resources and broader community success; and
WHEREAS, local governments have the ability to implement policy change at multiple levels and across multiple sectors to drive larger systemic change; and
WHEREAS, the City of Albuquerque became an active member of the Government Alliance for Race and Equity in 2018, and recommitted to reshape government by committing to and advancing racial equity initiatives to become an inclusive community where equitable success is the norm and race and ethnicity will no longer predict outcomes; and
WHEREAS, Resolution R-17-256 was approved by the City Council on January 17, 2018, and included a priority for the City’s 2019 General Obligation Bond Program to fund programs and projects in underserved neighborhoods relating to Public Safety, Senior and Community Centers, Libraries, Housing, Transportation, Economic Development and Community Enhancement; and
WHEREAS, prioritizing improvements for neighborhoods and communities that have been otherwise left behind is a step toward undoing this inequitable system that many of our communities live with today; and
WHEREAS, endeavoring to prioritize the City’s capital resources based, at least in part, on helping to address past inequities will help to raise the City’s overall quality of life and will move toward a more equitable common denominator for community and family health and success; and
WHEREAS, in order to reduce historic systemic barriers and elevate opportunities, the City needs to interweave equity evaluation tools throughout city operations in order to achieve better equity; and
WHEREAS, evaluating geographic equity as a factor, together with all other relevant factors, will also help ensure that the City is fulfilling its responsibilities to the City as a whole.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
Section 1. The City shall implement equity criterion that evaluates historic disinvestment in the subareas of the City with higher populations of people of color, and higher levels of poverty, to be included as part of the City’s overall criteria assessment for capital improvements project funding in the 2023 and subsequent General Obligation Bond Programs; The City shall allocate capital improvement funding in a way that prioritizes projects that will help remedy inequities identified by this evaluation criterion.
Section 2. The City shall implement a geographic equity criterion that evaluates the equitable distribution of capital resources throughout the entirety of the City for the 2023 and subsequent General Bond Programs; when considered together with all other criteria, this tool shall be used to promote equitable geographic distributions of Capital funding throughout the City.