Tonight at ABQ City Council: Red Light Cameras & TIF

You may recall that the last Albuquerque City Council meeting was bereft of the erudite presence of Councilors Sally Mayer, Trudy Jones, Ken Sanchez and Don Harris, who had run away to Capo's restaurant because they were mad at Brad Winter for voting for himself for City Council President. In their absence, the remainder voted to approve Michael Cadigan's TIF amendment that would ban such funding for developments in "greenfields" on the edges of the city. They also passed Brad Winter's bill to suspend the red light camera ticket fines until Mayor Chavez's hand-picked task force reports on their study of the cameras' effectiveness in decreasing accidents at intersections. Mayor Marty has vetoed both bills.

Tonight the Council will take up attempts to override the Chavez vetoes on both bills. Any guesses on their success? Among other things, they're also scheduled to decide whether the City can charge those holding loud parties for the services of APD officers sent to break them up -- a bill proposed by Ken Sanchez. Of course the most compelling mystery about tonight's meeting is whether or not Sally Mayer can get time off from her new, beloved, $7 an hour part-time job at Kmart to make the meeting. Baited breath.