Archives for May 2016

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson made personal jabs and jokes about who has the better city during an informal conversation that delighted a sold-out crowd during an event hosted by NAIOP-New Mexico.

The program, held at Albuquerque Marriott on Monday, was a discussion between the two mayors about innovative cities. Johnson, who was previously a professional basketball player in the NBA, has been friends with Berry for some time, both having participated in the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The two were also on a panel at South by Southwest in Austin earlier this year.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, left, talked about innovative cities with Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, right, during a NAIOP luncheon Monday afternoon.

Johnson said like Albuquerque and Sacramento, many cities are pushing forward this idea of Cities 3.0, which are hubs of innovation, entrepreneurship and technology. And the way cities are jumpstarting that vision is though innovation districts.

Albuquerque has its own innovation district, which roughly spans the length of Central Avenue from Downtown to the university area. The city’s innovation district is anchored by Innovate ABQ, a mixed-use campus on the corner of Central and Broadway.

“We’re going to have over $100 million in investment between Innovate ABQ, the development on First and Central, and the Imperial Building,” Berry said.

Similarly, Sacramento has a 244-acre innovation district adjacent to its Downtown core that used to be home to its rail yards. Johnson said its anchor tenants include a Kaiser Permanente hospital, a University of California, Davis campus, and hopefully, a major league soccer team.

Johnson said the idea behind the innovation district is to diversify Sacramento’s economy. Sacramento is similar to Albuquerque in that its economy relies heavily on government-based jobs.

Both of these developments are aimed at attracting one particular subset of the population—millennials.

Berry said many cities are facing a similar problem, that native millennials are leaving for bigger cities.

“I think we just need to create those magnets so people can go and come back,” Berry said.

Johnson said beyond retaining millennials, cities need to do a better job of engaging everyone in the community. He said innovation districts won’t work if they’re not inclusive.

“When technology is affordable and accessible at every level, we’ve done a good job,” he said.

Beyond talking about innovation districts, Johnson praised Berry for being a positive leader for Albuquerque. He said the two have enjoyed learning from each other, even though Johnson is a Democrat and Berry is Republican.

“In a 3.0 city you need open source leaders,” Johnson said. “That’s what your mayor is. He doesn’t care where the best ideas come from, he says ‘Just bring them to me.’ What an open source leader does is they just want to solve problems and get things done.”

By: Stephanie Guzman (Albuquerque Business First)

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New Mexico just got the opportunity to share its tourism story with up to 20 million households. Read on for more on that and five more things to know for Tuesday.
What’s next for Sports Authority’s ABQ locations?
Richard Holcomb is the president of CliffDweller Digital.

The sporting goods retailer has two locations in the Duke City, one at Winrock Town Center and one at Cottonwood Mall. Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, and lawyers for the retailer recently said the company abandoned its reorganization plan, which creditors wouldn’t accept, and instead will sell its assets to a number of interested buyers. So what happens if Sports Authority closes its Albuquerque stores? Reporter Stephanie Guzman talked with brokers about what might happen with those high-profile spaces.

Duke City company lands $25M for military tech

A new piece of military technology is slated to be produced in Albuquerque in 2016 and 2017, and one local company will see $25 million because of it. The technology, which will be produced by Aquila Group, consists of 2,860 radiation kit readers and 282,000 dosimeters for delivery to the Army National Guard. The dosimeters are worn on a service member’s wrist when he or she is in the field. Reporter Joe Cardillo has more.

Viewpoint: ART ‘bus boondoggle’ faces legal scrutiny

We’ve heard more reader feedback about Albuquerque Rapid Transit than any other issue in my time at ABF. Readers are talking about a Viewpoint submissionwe published Monday from D. Dowd Muska of the Rio Grande Foundation about two lawsuits that were filed over issues regarding ART.

Bryan Cranston still loves Albuquerque

So he told the Albuquerque Journal’s Washington bureau chief Michael Coleman at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Cranston said he comes back to New Mexico frequently and may be in town again soon. (And yes, he still has a house in the Duke City.)

NM launches anti-child abuse campaign

New Mexico has one of the lowest child well-being rates in the nation, and business leaders are getting involved in the conversation about how to change that in hopes of building a better future for our state. Now, the state Children, Youth and Families Department is launching a new anti-child abuse campaign with the aim of bringing the community together around the issue, the Associated Press reports. Commercials for the campaign will star UFC fighter Carlos Condit. But high-profile New Mexico Catholic leaders are already telling the AP that the state should instead be spending its resources on education and fighting poverty.

AND: NM’s tourism story goes national

The weekly TV show “New Mexico True Television” will be distributed to a national audience starting July 1. The show, produced by CliffDweller Digital in cooperation with the New Mexico Tourism Department, has aired regionally for two years. Now, it will air in multiple time periods weekly on a new cable channel, Fun Roads TV, which will be distributed to 20 million households nationally through DISH Network and in Florida via Comcast. “The New Mexico True brand has been hugely successful in bringing visitors to New Mexico, and we’re proud to share the brand and all it represents with the entire nation through this popular TV show,” said Executive Producer Richard Holcomb.

By: Rachel Sams (Albuquerque Business First)

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July 14, 2016 | 7:30 a.m. Check-in | 8:30 a.m. Shotgun Start | Paako Ridge Golf Club
Register to Golf! Print Flyer | Register Online | Contact CARNM
Interested in sponsorship? Print Flyer | Register Online | Contact CARNM
Care to donate? Donate Online | Call CARNM 505.503.7807
Proceeds benefit local charities:
Special Olympics New Mexico and Saranam

All too frequently the argument is made that government assistance programs subsidize low wage employers.  That is, firms like Wal-Mart, McDonalds and Target, to name just a few, are able to pay very low wages precisely because management knows that their low paid employees will qualify for Medicaid, food stamps (officially known as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) and other such public assistance.  As a result, it’s assumed that these public programs allow firms to pay lower wages than would be possible were these programs not to exist.  To be blunt, this position is completely wrong.
Rather than subsidizing low-wage employers, public assistance programs generally reduce the supply of low-skilled workers who are willing to work for low pay and poor benefits.  This is because in many cases, benefits are more generous when family incomes are very low or zero.  As family income rises, benefits are frequently cut back or eliminated entirely.  By reducing the pool of workers willing to take poorly paying jobs, Medicaid and most public assistance programs tend to increase, rather than decrease, wages at the bottom of the pay scale.  Were these programs not to exist, the unemployed would be more eager to work than they currently are, and thus more willing to work at a lower wage.
Again, the availability of health insurance, food stamps, and other assistance when work is not a requirement means that paid employment is somewhat less attractive than would otherwise be the case.  Moreover, the fact that in many cases benefits are reduced as earnings rise means that work is financially less rewarding to these households than it is to unsubsidized households.  In short, programs that offer more generous payments to those with no earnings than to those with higher incomes reduces the supply of workers willing to work at very low pay.  This is quite the opposite of a subsidy to low-wage paying firms.
Two programs that are exceptions to the above are the Earned Income tax Credit (EITC) and childcare subsidies targeted at working families with low incomes.  Because benefits are only paid to families with a parent who is employed, these programs encourage work.  By boosting the supply of low-wage labor, these programs increase labor supply and thus decrease wages.  However, these programs are not really subsidies to low-wage employers.  Rather, they are programs that offer inducements for low-wage workers to enter the job market and take jobs that do not offer adequate pay by making it financially advantageous to do so.  The goal of the EITC is to improve the standard of living of low-income families and encourage work, without fear that as a result of a rise in earned income, public benefits will be lost.  In this way, the EITC makes work pay.
In conclusion, public assistance programs that offer benefits to non-working Americans reduce the incentive to work, thus boosting wages.  Similarly, programs that dramatically reduce benefits as household income rises also boost wages by making work less attractive.  There are no subsidies here.  While programs that incentivize work, like the EITC, increase the supply of workers and thus decrease wages slightly, calling such programs employer subsidies is essentially mistaking the bathwater for the baby.
By: Elliot Eisenberg, Ph.D. (GraphsandLaughs)

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