Albuquerque City Councilor Debbie O’Malley seems to fancy herself an architect and urban planner (subscription):
O’Malley is proposing rules for the location and design of stores that are more than 60,000 square feet. The rules are meant to ensure that large retail centers are built where the road system can best handle the traffic. O’Malley says she also wants to improve the visual appeal, walkability and impact on neighborhoods.
I took a look at Councilor O’Malley’s bio and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that she is an architect or urban planning professional. Yet, she wants to have her rules adopted before they are even reviewed by professionals:
It could take months for O’Malley’s proposed rules to get through review by the Environmental Planning Commission and City Council, but her interim policy would take effect immediately. In essence, that would put the rules in place while the EPC and council work on the final version.
Yeah, that makes sense. Look folks, we already have a zoning system in place, so you can stop trying to micromanage the situation from the City Council level. There are an awful lot of new rooftops out there on the Westside waiting for convenient retail locations. It seems blatantly unfair for a city councilor, who lives in the North Valley, to keep those good folks from getting the convenient services they want because they are not aligned with that councilor’s aesthetic sensibilities.