How the Albuquerque Journal Develops its Editorials Concerning Transportation Issues in New Mexico

1. How the Albuquerque Journal Develops its Editorials Concerning Transportation Issues in New Mexico BY D’VAL WESTPHALAssistant Editorial Page Editor Institute of Transportation Engineers, New Mexico Section Thursday, April 3, 2008

3. Stop the Streetcar Tax, We Want To Get Off    Almost as distasteful as sneaking a 10-year tax extension past Albuquerque voters is not repealing it as promised.     Last fall, Mayor Martin Chávez and six city councilors pushed through a 10-year extension of a quarter-cent sales tax set to end in 2009. They reallocated the $34 million annual take so 45 percent would go to a proposed Central Avenue streetcar starting July 1, then garaged the streetcar when voters’ alarm bells went clang, clang clang.     But the council hung on to the tax. Monday they decided to keep it on the books until May 21.     Councilor Sally Mayer says councilors have until July 1. Why do today what can be put off ’til tomorrow?     Councilor Ken Sanchez says the extension would pay for many other road projects. Why focus on the cornerstone of the legislation when you can do an endrun around the issue that derailed? continued NEXT PAGE

4. Streetcar Taxcontinued from PREVIOUS PAGE     Councilors Martin Heinrich, Debbie O’Malley, Isaac Benton and Craig Loy also voted to delay repeal.     The bottom line is there is no streetcar project, mostly because of the public uproar that the extension was not put before voters like the original tax and that the reallocation was not what voters approved. The fact that the council couldn’t muster the seven-vote super majority necessary to bypass voters clinched the decision for more study.     Councilors Brad Winter, Don Harris and Michael Cadigan — who all voted against the extension in the first place — wanted it repealed Monday. Winter says the new allocations and the added 10 years are “hanging over the taxpayers’ head.”     The rest of the council should get on board, stop taking taxpayers for a ride and repeal the tax.

6. Wake NMDOT Up To Paseo Drive-Time Woes Two years ago, the Paseo del Norte/Interstate 25/Jefferson corridor was a enough of a bad dream that the feds ponied up $20 million toward designing a fix. Two years later, negotiating the route has become a nightmare. Around 100,000 vehicles go through Paseo/I-25 daily. And two years later, there’s still just $20 million in the Paseo-fix kitty — although rebuilding the interchange will run at least $200 million more than that. And two years later, there’s still no definitive plan to rebuild the intersections, no environmental assessment, no right-of-way preservation, no timeline for construction. Maybe the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s bigwigs should schedule a field trip from their Santa Fe offices and see firsthand what their I-25/Paseo-based District 3 office deals with twice every weekday. continued NEXT PAGE

7. Paseo Woescontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE Mayor Martin Chávez has, and he knows it is “the single greatest need the city has in terms of traffic infrastructure right now.” He proposes helping fund $1 million in interim fixes that could be in place in eight months. But, while it’s commendable to step up to a job the state should already be doing, the fixes are nowhere near enough. Terry Doyle, an assistant district engineer for NMDOT, says they “will provide some level of improvement, but I don’t think it’s going to relieve the congestion. … The delay may go from sitting there for five minutes to sitting there for four minutes and 15 seconds.” And that’s 45 seconds saved today. How many seconds will be saved in two years, when the rebuild could be completed if there was funding? Or in seven, if it’s phased in while NMDOT has car washes and bake sales to come up with the cash? continued NEXT PAGE

8. Paseo Woescontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE Our governor talks a lot about how he’s making New Mexico a “clean” state. If he’s serious, those 100,000 vehicles idling every day should put the Paseo/I-25/Jefferson corridor on NMDOT’s front burner, right next to the $400-million Rail Runner, whose ridership equals about one or two percent of the interchange’s daily load. And Albuquerque’s goodwill gesture for an interim fix — born in the desperation of its drivers — shouldn’t be used as an excuse to keep the heat off.

10. Get a GRIP on State’s Transportation Cash It’s great to have a vision that keeps New Mexico moving. One that shores up the transportation infrastructure of roads, bridges and highways. One that embraces mass transit as the wave of the future. But even visionaries need to read the fine print, need to realize every vision has a price tag and payment often comes due sooner rather than later. To date, New Mexico’s leaders have been far-sighted when it comes to transportation projects and in need of a set of bifocals when it comes to paying for them. The Department of Transportation’s mailbox must resemble that of a credit-card junkie addicted to retail therapy, with bills piling up for Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership — phase I ($1.6 billion) and phase II ($180 million). In addition to road work, GRIP includes the Rail Runner Express commuter train, with a price tag of $400-million-plus. That figure is pretty close to GRIP’s total shortfall. Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught told the Legislative Finance Committee last week that DOT is more than $500 million short of what’s needed to complete more than 20 projects. continued NEXT PAGE

11. GRIPcontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE Coincidence? Perhaps. But the state missed out on a $75 million federal grant for the train nobody got around to applying for, and GRIP I was already in money trouble when the governor ordered lawmakers back to a special session this spring, in part to get GRIP II passed. Sure, they pared it down from his original $250 million, but when you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money. Now, some lawmakers are suggesting the state put the brakes on the $250 million — oops, price just went up to $259 million — Santa Fe leg of the Rail Runner. That’s the stretch that promises to serve the greatest number of commuters and take the most vehicles off the state’s already-at-capacity asphalt. Halting the project is almost as short-sighted as not realistically budgeting for it in the first place, for a couple of reasons. Faught says “a moratorium (on the train) puts us in a risky situation.” That’s because the state has already let contracts and ordered trains without knowing how to pay for them. continued NEXT PAGE

12. GRIPcontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, says “the longer we wait, the more the construction will cost.” And while both are likely correct, the time to figure out how to pay for it was back in 2005 before plans left the station. Two years later, Faught is unabashedly telling lawmakers — and the taxpayers who elected them — that “all the projects have been started, but we will need extra revenue to finish them.” Some of that “extra revenue” should come from the vehicle-generated taxes that are currently diverted to the general fund. Some could come from cuts, projects that were funded but never started or new regional taxes. A new poll shows voters in the train’s service area would support a sales tax to help pay operating costs despite candidate Richardson’s reluctance to back a tax increase while running for president. That shows some vision on taxpayers’ part. It’s past time for political leaders to show some of their own.

14. New Red Flags Raised On Red-Light Program Albuquerque officials have always maintained the city’s red-light camera program is designed to squeak by as self-sustaining. Instead, it’s taken in an extra $5.8 million, with another estimated $5.6 million on the way. And while officials have also maintained any profits will stay in public-safety programs, all that “excess” cash has ended up in the general fund. Do they really have to wonder why taxpayers have trouble trusting the government? Albuquerque’s red-light camera program is relatively new — it went live a little more than two years ago. But the concept isn’t. System operator Redflex has about half the U.S. market and is alive and clicking in 150 cities, according to Jay Heiler, the company’s director of government affairs. Since the outset, city officials have predicted quick drops in citations and fines as motorists straighten up and drive right. They have estimated a need for $63 from every citation to break even. continued NEXT PAGE

15. Red-Lightcontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE They have anticipated growth in red-light camera sites and added technology to record and fine for speeding violations. And they have vowed to keep every penny in this or related public-safety programs. Funny how somehow, an extra $5.8 million to $11.4 million got by them. And funny how it then got into the general fund with nothing more than a “strong commitment” as its spending mechanism. Mayor Martin Chávez says “this program was never designed to make money.” But now that it has, a public already skeptical of $100-plus fines and Big Brother technology deserves some real answers. The same internal city audit that turned up the “excess” cash also turned up large drops in violations and mixed results on accidents. More than two years in, officials should be able to provide some real numbers showing the impact the cameras have had on safety. And they should provide more than a pat on the head and an assurance the cash will be used as promised.

17. Regional Taxes Should Fund Spaceport, Train One of New Mexico’s very ambitious multimilliondollar projects will take off into the upper atmosphere. The other will run on tracks. And when arguing about how to fund each, the differences end there. The Spaceport America complex could make New Mexico an intergalactic destination. The Rail Runner Express could get thousands of commuters off the state’s roads. But each primarily benefits its own locale. House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, can claim “the Rail Runner benefits the whole state.” Sen. Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces, can contend the Spaceport “absolutely is a statewide project.” And legislative appropriations acknowledge that to some extent. But the reality is people who visit the Spaceport will stay/eat/shop in Sierra, Doña Ana and Otero counties. And those counties will get the direct benefit of economic development launched by the project. Likewise, the Rail Runner primarily benefits Santa Fe, Bernalillo, Sandoval and Valencia counties. continued NEXT PAGE

18. Regional Taxescontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE And anybody who claims otherwise is as high as the Spaceport’s $225-million tab or as off track as the Rail Runner’s $400-million-plus funding. The Southern New Mexico counties are expected to put together a regional taxing authority to help support the Spaceport. Doña Ana voters have already approved it; Sierra and Otero have yet to schedule elections. A similar formula always was planned for the train’s $20 million in annual operating costs — and polls have shown voter support in the region — until governorturned-presidential-candidate Bill Richardson decided to scrap it and have the state pick up the tab. House Minority Whip Dan Foley, R-Roswell, wants to know “how are we for a tax in southern New Mexico and not for one in northern New Mexico?” That’s a very good question.

20. State Learns the High Cost of SHARE-ing Before the state Department of Transportation signed up for SHARE — a $28 million computer system designed to unify more than 100 state payroll, accounting and human resource programs — officials knew it didn’t do what they needed. The people in charge of building our roads decided to plow ahead anyway. The department “made a conscious decision to participate in SHARE,” according to spokesman S.U. Mahesh. Wouldn’t it be something if the people involved now had to make a conscious decision to crack open their own piggy banks? Back in May, with almost a year of operations and payroll/audit/billing glitches under its belt, SHARE still wasn’t billing the feds for almost $50 million due on highway construction jobs. Now it appears SHARE can’t track expenses, either, putting another $250 million in federal aid in peril. Mahesh says NMDOT officials “expect to receive every penny of this money as we move forward and address” the federal agency’s concerns. continued NEXT PAGE

21. SHARE-ingcontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE Sixteen months after SHARE went live, and with hundreds of millions in funding threatened, state officials are finally talking about how to fix a system that hasn’t fully computed since Day 1. State finance secretary Katherine Miller and state controller Anthony Armijo don’t know what that patch will cost. Probably not as much as the $500 million the state is short for transportation projects. Probably not as much as the $300 million in cash it may not get from the feds. Then there’s the $935,000 the state Department of Information Technology wants to train state employees on the SHARE system, the $280,000 state Treasurer James Lewis wants for an analysis of how to get SHARE to finally do an average daily balance on the state’s 150 self-earning accounts, and the $82,000 it took to analyze why the system can’t bill for NMDOT reimbursements. Fixing SHARE will likely cost much more than it would have to do it right from the start. But there’s far too much money at stake now. In for a penny, in for a pound — the state needs to hurry up and learn to SHARE or stop it.

23. Excuse Me, Ociffer, Was That a Shiny Arrow? Last year the Legislature asked the Department of Transportation to get to the bottom of how to prevent wrong-way freeway crashes. And after a year of digging deep for answers, NMDOT has come up with … better signs and brighter pavement markers. We waited a year for this? Some comfort for the folks involved in the 19 wrong-way wrecks over those five years — the six people who were injured, the families of the nine people killed. Most of the crashes between 2001 and 2006 — 63 percent — were alcohol-related. Realistically, the only thing that stops a drunk from driving is physically stopping a drunk from driving — taking away the keys, installing an ignition interlock on the vehicle, placing a barrier between the vehicle and the road. And while the state mandates ignition interlocks for first-time DWI offenders and license revocation intended to get repeat offenders out of their cars, it’s reluctant to go on down that ramp to spike strips. continued NEXT PAGE

24. Wrong Waycontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE State and Federal Highway Administration officials rely on a California study that says spike strips across off-ramps — like the ones that prevent drivers from entering parking-lot exits — don’t work. Sometimes they break, jam, delay emergency vehicles, freak out right-way drivers or fail to deflate a wrong-way driver’s tires before they make it to the freeway. Because of the study, the agency warns “it is extremely unlikely that FHWA would approve the use of permanently installed spike strips on the interstates or other federally funded facilities in New Mexico.” But that study was done in 1965. The FHWA acknowledges wrong-way fatalities have been a “persistent, nagging traffic-safety problem … despite four decades of highway striping and sign improvements.” So how about evaluating the feasibility of circa-2008 spike strips or other barriers making our freeways safer from chronic DWI offenders? How about a pilot program at the most dangerous ramps to test the theory? All signs and pavement markers should point in that direction.

26. DOT Project Takes Toll on Public Trust Nobody should have needed an inspector general’s report to tell them the state Department of Transportation lacked expertise in massive public-private development projects. DOT bit off a proposal to build its new headquarters, a Rail Runner depot and mixeduse private development near central Santa Fe. In retrospect it’s hard to imagine how any government agency could have choked any worse. But should DOT have had sufficient expertise to see signs of developing trouble long before they were reported by Thomas J. Cole’s investigative series in the Journal last summer? According to officials in the Governor’s Office, Gov. Bill Richardson expects his cabinet secretaries to be bold and innovative. Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught boldly jumped out on an innovative limb to use the value of state land — instead of tax dollars — to finance construction of DOT headquarters and a depot. The builder would get a lease on the balance of 25 acres of some of the most prime real estate in New Mexico for commercial and residential development. continued NEXT PAGE

27. DOT Projectcontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE But when government gets more creative than the norm of competitively awarded contracts that specify paying cash for services, it goes outside the safeguards built into the procurement process. For help in navigating unknown territory, DOT hired the Sutin Thayer & Browne law firm “to ensure that the highest level of compliance with procurement requirements was maintained in order to stand to the expected level of scrutiny.” A department head can put somebody in charge of compliance but can’t delegate away the accountability. What level of scrutiny did Faught herself maintain over the deal as it developed warts? Faught now blames the law firm for many of the problems. Sutin advised DOT that the Procurement Code didn’t apply to the public-private project. But that advice didn’t mean the department had to abandon the spirit of prudent purchasing practices to the extent it did. continued NEXT PAGE

28. DOT Projectcontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE In some cases, decisions about purchasing were made by lawyers at Sutin and the department’s Office of General Counsel without consulting DOT procurement officials, sometimes even without disclosure to Faught, according to an inspector general’s report. Decisions at a couple of stops along the tracks to the project’s derailment shouldn’t have required all that much specialized expertise. The department should have done a complete analysis of its office space needs, drawn up building design requirements and estimated construction costs before it asked developers for proposals. That lack of a solid conceptual foundation may be responsible for the radical downsizing of headquarters office space that, in turn, made the developer’s cost side of the equation more attractive. At that point, prudent purchasing practices should have dictated rebidding the deal. You don’t need 20-20 hindsight, expertise or a high-powered law firm to know that. continued NEXT PAGE

29. DOT Projectcontinued fromPREVIOUS PAGE The governor expresses satisfaction with Faught’s response to the postmortem of the failed deal and confidence in her ability to restore public trust as he considers whether to proceed with the development. That may be underestimating what it takes to maintain public trust, much less rebuild it. The depot in the project was supposed to serve the Rail Runner, a commuter line that is costing far more now, in terms of money and transportation projects deferred, than what voters bought into. And public trust in government projects took a big hit from the Metropolitan Courthouse Case. At least four of the figures involved in alleged skimming from that project were on the edges of or involved in the DOT development. Expertise in big development projects would help get this deal done. But, getting it over the hump of cynicism will take someone with a reputation for unimpeachable integrity.