County Commissioner voices support for Netherwood Park playground, leaves meeting before vote
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Tuesday, the battle over a playground for a local park continued, as one Bernalillo county commissioner jumped into the conflict, expressing his support for the controversial playground. News 13 first told you about the controversy two weeks ago.
Story continues below
KRQE Investigates: What’s the point of CYFD’s Policy Advisory Council?
Space: The day the Space Shuttle Columbia landed in New Mexico
News: Albuquerque medical practice frustrated after thieves leave them in the dark
Neighbors battled to get a playground installed at Netherwood park near Indian School and I-40. They even had the support of state Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino who secured $200,000 in capital outlay funding for the project during the legislative session. But a single phone call from a powerful neighbor scuttled the plan.
Former Lt. Governor Diane Denish lives near the park and opposed the playground. She admitted that she called her friend, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and asked to her to cut the funding for the project. The governor followed through, and vetoed the earmarked $200,000 . Neighbors who fought for the playground were outraged.
County commissioner Steven Michael Quezada is stepping in to show support for the project, even though it isn’t in his district. “I really thought that, you know, there’s nothing wrong with putting a small park and such a huge, you know, I mean, a small playground in such a huge park,” said Quezada.
Quezada introduced a resolution of support during tonight’s county commission meeting. But in a twist, Quezada defends former Lieutenant Governor Denish reaching out to the governor. “I guess I agree with the former lieutenant governor that, you know, she does have, you know, connections, and she does have relationships with people, and she did have a whole lifetime of service…but I think that if she was going to be democratic about it, then the voice should actually have been in support of the majority of the people who were for the part, and not for the minority of the people who were against the park.”
In another twist Tuesday night, Commissioner Quezada walked out of the meeting before his resolution could be heard, after an argument with the commissioners involving the county manager selection process.
In his absence, the resolution failed to get a second.
In explaining the veto, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said the community seemed to lack consensus over the playground. KRQE News 13 asked the governor’s office if she would reconsider the funding if the resolution passed. She sent the following statement:
“The neighborhood wasn’t unified behind the Netherwood park playground proposal. Gov. Lujan Grisham suggests the crafting of a proposal that generates greater consensus before the next legislative session.”
