Sep. 24 -- Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller began his remarks to a hotel ballroom full of business leaders and a handful of elected officials Tuesday by noting what he sees on his walk to work from his West Downtown home.
"We all know what's happening now. I see homelessness. I see vagrants. I see broken windows all over our city," Keller said. "All of the challenges we're facing, I absolutely feel. I feel them and I see them."
Keller used the grim anecdotal opening to his speech to create a rallying call of unity for those in attendance.
"I just want to make it abundantly clear that we are in this together. I don't know anyone in Albuquerque who doesn't have the same stories I just shared," Keller said.
The event Keller was speaking at was a "mayoral update" titled "A Future Worth Fighting For," hosted by the New Mexico chapter of NAIOP, a commercial real estate development association.
Keller began his speech talking about homelessness, crime and drug use.
"This, by far and away, is our biggest challenge. This is a generational challenge for America; it also is absolutely for Albuquerque," Keller said. "This is the challenge of our lifetime."
But Keller talked on more positive topics later on, touting violent crime rates dropping, the all-hours expansion of Albuquerque Community Safety and the effectiveness of speed cameras, which the city's municipal development department said in a news release Monday have created safer streets and recorded a significant drop in speed.
Keller also didn't spend all of his speech focusing on the issues Downtown, at one point saying, "Actually, parts of Downtown are awesome. Don't forget that."
He spent time touting the re-development of the railyards, and promoting his Downtown Tax Increment Financing proposal that the city announced in August, projecting it will create $200 million over the next two decades.
"That is more money than we have ever invested Downtown -- period," Keller said.
He said he hoped to work with Councilor Joaquín Baca, who represents the area, and "hopefully the rest of City Council."
"We've got to get on this," Keller said. "It is long overdue to finally do this Downtown."
Councilors Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers and Louie Sanchez were in attendance for the event. Bernalillo County Commissioner Barbara Baca was also in attendance.