Minority Politics in Albuquerque
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Minority Issues in Albuquerque 

The issues in Albuquerque, New Mexico, range from high school dropout rate among the city, crime rate, and having an all-male Districting Committee.

High School Dropouts

In recent reports, about one-third of high school students in the Albuquerque Public Schools dropout of school before graduating, and just more than half of the students report graduated within five years of entering high school.  One report was done on 7,020 students who entered high school in August 1995.  The report indicated that 55.3% graduated, and another 34.4% dropped out or could not be accounted for by 2000.  The remaining 10% transferred out of the high school, were expelled, are still in the school system or did not graduate from the APS system for some reason other than dropping out.  Dropouts are a troublesome, uncomfortable matter because they come from every part of Albuquerque, are from diverse backgrounds, and range from poor to affluent.  

 In the 1999-2000 annual report, of the 2,508 students who left school, 1,455 were Hispanic, and 763 were Anglo.  Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in the school system, and they account for 49% of the 84,000 students in K-12 in one of Albuquerque's school districts. Hispanic students also represented 58% of the dropout rate in that same district.  Research has indicated that students are dropping out because of low self-esteem, low educational ambitions, discipline problems, drug use and teen-age pregnancy.  Since his appointment to Superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools in July of 1998, Brad Allison has been making headlines.  Brad Allison had proposed a six year plan to achieve the dropout rate of zero percent.   He even hired Associate Superintendent Joseph M. Vigil, an expert with a Harvard Ph. D, to help him with this continuing problem.  Allison also expresses concern about the performance of minority students and has activated an equity audit system to track the academic performance of students by ethnic group.  

Here is an example of the dropout rates in Albuquerque's 11 high schools during 1997-1999:

Sources:
http://www.abqtrib.com/extras/education/121699_dropouts.shtml

http://infoweb5.newsbank.com

Crime in Albuquerque

Albuquerque can feel safer than it had been in the previous five years. The Albuquerque Uniform Crime Report indicates that the overall crime rate has decreased 17.8 percent from the past five years. Crime committed in 2000 has decreased a little more than 4 percent in comparison with 1999-from 41,197 incidents in 1999 to 39,641 in 2000. The crime with the largest decline in 2000 was homicides with 33 cases investigated compared with 48 cases in 1999. Mayor Jim Baca and Police Chief Gerald Galvin are pleased with the currant decline in crime. Galvin is greatly satisfied with his departments' 70 percent clearance rate in homicides. However, 10 cases of the 33 homicides in 2000 remained unsolved. Auto theft cases have decreased 7 percent, with 4,349 cases in 2000 from 4,693 in 1999. Galvin indicates that this decrease is a result of strengthened auto theft unit and a variety of other tactics such as the Albuquerque Task Force formed in 1999. Unfortunately, the same Uniform Crime Reports show increases in other crimes. In 2000, rapes increased by 9 percent, with 239 cases; in 1999 they were 220 cases reported. Arson rates increased a dramatic 19 percent, from 163 cases in 1999 to 194 last year. Burglary increased 5 percent, from 6,809 cases in 1999 to 7,120 in 2000. Despite the increases in some crimes, Baca and Galvin both feel that the decrease in crime is good news. They also give credit to the hard work of the police force along with crime-fighting efforts within Albuquerque's communities.

Source:

http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news01/012401_copstat.shtml

Albuquerque’s Districting Committee

  Albuquerque has a rich ethnicity among its population, but it is not reflected in the structure of its committee in charge of redrawing the city’s political boundaries.  The Districting Committee is made up of 18 males, mostly Anglo, with a few Hispanics but no other minorities.  During a public meeting held this year, several audience members criticized the lack of representation of women and minorities within the committee; some women asked that some men to resign so there is room for more female representation.  No one would volunteer to give up his seat.  Some members of the committee recommended setting up an advisory committee to gather information from minorities, but the audience rejected the notion.  The all-male committee defends itself by stating they were asked to be on the panel; they are currently making efforts to draft suggestions for future redistricting committees so that race and gender of the committee’s membership should be taken into serious consideration.

Source:

http://infoweb5.newsbank.com