Albuquerque families may soon see greener parks after City Councilor Dan Lewis introduced an emergency resolution to spend $2 million from city reserves on immediate turf replacement, saying budget cuts left fields patchy and overrun with weeds.
The proposed resolution, R-25-183, introduced Aug. 18, targets parks citywide that are suffering from dead grass and weeds, making fields unsafe or unusable for children and seniors. Lewis blames Mayor Tim Keller’s administration for requesting $1 million less for park maintenance in the FY2026 budget, while city officials say staffing shortages, weather and other factors caused the decline.
Lewis said residents are documenting the city’s declining parks. “I actually asked a lot of people from the community of Ventana Ranch around Cottonwood to send in pictures of neighborhood parks right now,” he said at the Aug. 18 council meeting…