Romero Questions Mayor on Soccer Park Costs.

On the day before Albuquerque mayoral candidates have to submit signatures to get a position on this October's ballot, former Senate President Pro-tem Richard Romero is questioning at least one of Mayor Chavez' capitol improvement projects.

On Monday, Romero called on Mayor Martin Chavez "to put an end to his legal wrangling with the City Council and stop fighting for his misguided SunCal soccer park."

"SunCal doesn't have the cashflow to build this park on their own land, so the Mayor wants the taxpayers to do it for them," said Romero. "His campaign manager is a registered lobbyist for SunCal and this $8M sports complex in the middle of nowhere just doesn't pass the smell test."

Romero says, "What the City Budget needs is the $6.6M appropriated by the City Council for the Ventana Ranch Community Park. This project will serve an area where THOUSANDS of KIDS already live. The Mayor wants to eliminate that park and build the SunCal park where NO KIDS live. Who is he looking out for? SunCal or the existing Westside residents that desperately need more parks and green space."

The Ventana Ranch project will be taken out of the CIP budget and the SunCal soccer field will be inserted into the budget if the mayor's legal opinion stands.

"The Ventana Ranch park has already been designed and gone through extensive community input and should be the priority," said Romero. "It's misguided for the taxpayers to fund an irrigation line and $8M soccer complex in the middle of nowhere."

Heath Haussamen published a guest blog today by freshman Senator Steve Fischmann regarding the SunCal TIDD. Fischmann wrote, "tax increment financing can be useful," but Fischmann says he's proud of the work he did in Santa Fe to defeat the SunCal Tidd.

Read why on Heath's blog here.



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