Mayor Marty and Montaño

It's no secret I dislike Marty.  But it isn't a knee jerk reaction.  Like others, I've watched him a long time, but not, like, in a stalking kind of way. 

The first time I saw him was at a North Valley community meeting about a land use plan.  The subject of the proposed Montaño  bridge came up as it did a lot in those days before it's construction.   Montaño  was a lynch(!) linchpin planning issue for Albuquerque much like the I-40 construction before it and the Paseo del Norte extension after it.  It created two distinctly uneven rallying points for opposition and support:  the impacted community and everybody else.

Marty was a  Senator in the NM Legislature representing the West Side.  He was very proud about his position in support of the bridge.  It was a popular idea among the developers, new commuters and voters west of the river.  Others  saw it as a measure of progress or bought into it as inevitable.   

But there were those also who knew and loved Albuquerque at the time who thought it preposterous to sacrifice the valley bosque for a bridge - to sacrifice the community for the car.    Of course, it happens all the time on sprawling city edges.  Highway construction is almost taken for granted - that is until you either keenly want or don't want a particular road.

Marty stood up in the audience after being cordially introduced and announced that the bridge will be built.  He went on a while with a signature sneer, a rude tone and vaguely insulting remarks about opponents.  He was punching the air with a pointed finger and swaggering.  He got a small stir of support from bridge proponents and loud grumbling from others.   It was at that meeting I heard someone say over my dead body.   

Some there that night had spent years analyzing and discussing the issues.  They had worked with other elected and appointed officials who had weighed alternatives, modified designs, talked about more bridges, fewer bridges, wider bridges, narrower bridges, no bridges and all the time respectfully listening to constituents.  Did Marty think he was still on the Senate floor?  Did he realize he was in the North Valley?

The room got quiet and people just stared at him, incredulous.  Maybe they were thinking, like I was, rude bully.  Maybe they were thinking, like I was, I'd never vote for him.

 

Comments

[Maggie]

I get giddy at the idea that all of Marty's many and varied sins in ABQ will come back to haunt him in the primary and ever-after. Thinking about Marty permanently out of a job is enough to make me want to fly back to ABQ and rejoice the moment he no longer holds elected office. It's going to be a great day for so many people.

[Lo]

Hear, hear! So many people predicted the mess that is Montano now. So sad. And I've known since at least 1992 that I would vote for a toaster oven coated in Republican party slogans before I would ever vote for him.

[bleve]

I grew up in the North Valley and I remember my mom damn near chained herself to the tree at Montano and Rio Grande. She always said "he thinks and acts like he's the Don of the city."

Marty likes to throw around his native roots ... apparently there's one thing he never learned, The Valley has a good memory... and a strong voting block.

[Benny the Icepick]

Coco,

Nice running into you yesterday. Oddly enough, we're talking about this issue in my Ethics class right now as an example of stakeholder engagement (or lack thereof). I looked up some background info and yours was one of the first hits.

Hope al lis well.