What's going on, Albuquerque?

Shame on Run for the Zoo and the City of Albuquerque

What an absolute joy it was yesterday morning (Sunday) to leave my apartment off of 14th Street to head out towards the morning's Church of Beethoven show only to find out I was locked into my own neighborhood with NO WAY to get to Central Ave, let alone past it, as the Run for the Zoo people had the cops blocking every possible way out of the neighborhood. I was so furious I couldn't even see straight; the cop working the intersection of Park Ave and 14th was not letting any cars get through, at all. I turned around and tried to head down Silver to bypass the runners - no dice, Silver was blocked off, too. I tried heading down Lead towards the park past the country club - no dice, that was blocked off, too. Eventually, after a half-hour of driving around and calls to the police department, some bright bulb decided that maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe it might be a good idea to let a few cars go through.

Shame on the Run for the Zoo people, and shame on the city for poor planning.

What if I or my girlfriend had had a medical emergency, and needed to drive out of the neighborhood and to the nearest emergency room? We would not have been able to get out.

What if I'd had a flight to catch? I would not have been able to get out.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Krista on May 4, 2010 at 11:41am

I'm sorry, what is third world mentality? This just sounds offensive on several levels...

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Permalink Reply by Joe on May 4, 2010 at 4:33pm

by third world I loosely meant underdeveloped. Not sure why its offensive to you, I was speaking in a general term not specifically to you.

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Permalink Reply by LaGuera on May 4, 2010 at 2:05pm

Joe, thy name is troll.

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Permalink Reply by Joe on May 4, 2010 at 4:36pm

Um whatever I guess. Have a nice day

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Permalink Reply by meeko on May 4, 2010 at 7:33am

For what it is worth, I would have been VERY irritated if I was stuck in my neighborhood for 30 minutes while being told by police there was no way out. Those of you who wouldn't have been are MUCH more zen than I.

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Permalink Reply by Lion Caldwell on May 4, 2010 at 7:49pm

Having both run in and organized races over the decades (other than running in I have never had anything to do with Run for the Zoo) I know what effort it takes to organize a large community event. And I also know that things don't always work out perfectly. And if you were to send a constructive letter to the race directors they would take your comments seriously. We should all appreciate the effort it takes to organize any event whether it be the Church of Beethoven or the Zoo Run.
Finally if one had a true medical condition needing an emergency room one should call 911 and I guarantee you an ambulance would have been let through.