Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM
What are your expectations for the City?
In Albuquerque we don’t have the same urban density as larger cities but I would argue that we have parts of the City that are more urban than others.
In the past month I have heard people who live in what I consider to be the urban parts of the city( uptown, near heights) complaining about things that I think are normal city things. New buildings that are the same kind of buildings as are currently there, traffic, too many people, the fact that the City has changed over the past 50 years are all complaints I have heard. I just wasn’t getting it. I live near a busy street and I expect regular street noise, the occasional clanking dumpster , some traffic. I also expect that the vacant lot across from our subdivision won’t stay that way. It will become housing or shops or offices or some combination there of.
I admit that I am getting grumpier as I age and may need to go live in a cave by myself before I hit 40, just down the road.
I just think that even here in ABQ you can tell where the urban bits are.
I would like to know what other people who live in the City proper expect.
In the past month I have heard people who live in what I consider to be the urban parts of the city( uptown, near heights) complaining about things that I think are normal city things. New buildings that are the same kind of buildings as are currently there, traffic, too many people, the fact that the City has changed over the past 50 years are all complaints I have heard. I just wasn’t getting it. I live near a busy street and I expect regular street noise, the occasional clanking dumpster , some traffic. I also expect that the vacant lot across from our subdivision won’t stay that way. It will become housing or shops or offices or some combination there of.
I admit that I am getting grumpier as I age and may need to go live in a cave by myself before I hit 40, just down the road.
I just think that even here in ABQ you can tell where the urban bits are.
I would like to know what other people who live in the City proper expect.
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jay Brotz on -
This isn't the best map, but it's something. It shows the persons per square mile for the ABQ area by census tract. This information is from 2000, and it's very likely that some of these tracts have grown in density since then. As you can see, all the areas that are light yellow are below 1000 p/sqmi and all the dark yellow and blue areas are above. (The tract with 12 000 p/sqmi is just north of the Air Force Base, between, I think, Wyoming and Louisiana.)
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Permalink Reply by amanda judith on -
i expect that the public transportation system, which is making great strides (hee hee) will continue to improve and i hope that albuquerque will continue to express its flavor (hee hee again) in all of the small and diverse restaurants. i love the relaxed, big "small town" feel here and i would be sad if that fades.
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Permalink Reply by Rodney on -
Nail hit squarely on head. New Mexico is a small town. I don't know how many times we've met folks we know in just about any bar or taco stand in any given hamlet of the state. You're slogging down a trail in the Sacramentos and run smack into someone from Gallup. Or emerging from a lava tube south of Grants you trip over a friend from Raton. I love NYC, but there are far more people in a single burrough than in all of this state. Like you say, when you decide to "go into town" here, you don't have to park miles from your intended destination and take a train to get to your favorite restaurant (unless you actually want to, AND it's within walking distance of the Rail Runner).
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Permalink Reply by Doug R on -
Mombat - my wife and I have debated this very topic on our visits back to ABQ. She is absolutely convinced that we might as well stay in California if I was considering the NE Heights and/or the Westside. Those portions of the city mimic Sacramento and much of the suburbs in the Bay Area. Out here, we live about 3 miles from 880. I can hear the constant "hum" from the freeway every time I go outside.
We are really seeking variety after living in the one dimensional Bay Area (you have to drive 100 miles to escape humanity in many cases or have to hide out with pot growers in the Santa Cruz Mtns). We think we've found that variety in Valencia county.
We want to be able to get up early on a weekend, head into ABQ for breakfast, hit the garage sales and stores if needed, sip a latte in Nob Hill or Downtown, hit the various neighborhoods and get the heck out before the streets get crowded. Then we can relax in rural setting and enjoy some peace and quiet. We're just not fans of one style of living. We need to have it all available for when our mood changes.
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Permalink Reply by jeff on -
funny - when we were living in venice beach and trying to make a decision on where to buy, i realized that affording to purchase in LA meant living about 45 miles east. i then realized that we might as well add on another 850 miles and move to abq since our daily life wasn't going to be much different and we'd be around her family.
so we moved here and thought, if we're gonna buy in abq, why not buy into something that we couldn't get in la, so we targeted a 2.5 ac plot with water rights in the south valley. about 6 months after moving here, we realized that we were both happier living in a more urbanized area than fulfillign some 'green acres' idea; some place with easy access to services, shopping, the university, nob hill, etc.
so here we are.....
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Permalink Reply by Doug R on
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Flaca - I have looked at BF and UNM V. That would be a great option as well. It is VERY nice to get out of ABQ, when visiting, and go down to VC. Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know about Meadowlake, the relocating meth labs, snakes, spiders and other worries (ha ha) but I remember that New Mexico (the entire state) scares the hell out of most of my fellow Californians. So, if VC scares Albuquerqueans, so be it.
Don't be too envious of our plans. We both made mistakes (marriages and financial) early in our adults lives. We're just trying to make up for that and have options later in our lives. There is no secret or special magical potion. We're addressing the basics and figuring out what is important to us. And the list covers about four things. Beyond those four, it's just for show.
I can't wait to have my own rocks, tumbleweeds, crazy neighbors, dust storms, varmits and other New Mexico benefits once we move. I am really hoping be "under the radar" so to speak when I move. I have nothing to prove and am simply looking for a change from what I face today in California.
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Permalink Reply by Dennis Osorio on -
My expectations for the City are:
-- having access to goods and services;
-- being able to walk places, if I can't walk, to be able to bike, if I can't walk or bike (this should be rare, like going to Wal-Mart or something) I should be able to take a bus, if I can't do one of those things, I don't live in a "city";
-- various neighborhoods with "character";
-- economic and cultural centers that foster a sense of community
-- diversity in terms of race/ethnicity and class
With more and more people realizing the depths of their vulnerability (car dependency, strip malls, core areas that have been dis-invested by fringe development, climate change), I think more people are sharing my vision.
In response to Jeff who spoke of the "unlimited personal freedom of autopia", I would argue that it's more like slavery.
In response to Phil_O, you're my new hero! Especially with your comments about preserving semi-rural lifestyles.
In response to Doug R, I think having to drive 100 miles to escape humanity in the Bay Area is evidence of the low-density sprawl surrounding the cities. I also think that your vision of hitting up the Albuquerque's goods and services before the streets get crowded is very 1930's, but the problem is that as others desire the same thing, everyone gets stuck in traffic. Finally, I think ABQ has a lot to offer that's different/better than California than simply cheap land.
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Permalink Reply by jeff on
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yeah - my turn of phrase about autopia was in relation to mombat's friends who had been here for years and were lamenting the encroaching density as a threat to their use and enjoyment of suburbia. i'm making a bit of an assumption...
slavery or not - it just depends upon the frame of reference. the same was said of traditional urban neighborhoods when streetcar suburbs were first developed.
autopia does, however, give adults of driving age who can afford a vehicle prime status at the detriment of others, which is a real problem.
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Permalink Reply by Gabriel Nims on -
Jeff--
Agreed about the serious drawbacks of "autopia". Imagine the $$billions of infrastructure, lives lost, health/environmental impacts spent to maintain the auto-centric system that begat sprawl, etc
--All of this investment and sacrafice for the 'freedom' of driving your car. A sytem that ignores or does not easily accomodate the needs of elderly, poor, disabled, youth or those who simply would like to save a few bucks on gas or event save the planet.
It's a real travesty- now we need to go back and fix it.
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