There is much to love about living in Albuquerque — a climate with seasons, yet none of them extreme; affordable real estate and manageable traffic; a simple, yet attractive airport; red and green chiles.
And, as with all places, there are things worth lamenting — more than our share of violence; a police force that fails to police itself; awful newspapers (despite some good local writers); failing schools; no Crate and Barrel.
And there are three comparatively minor things that annoy NewMexiKen and that I would change in a second if I were emperor.
1. New Mexico’s largest and most comprehensive community college goes by the deplorable and self-defeating name Technical Vocational Institute (TVI). Could there be three words strung together that could possibly make its students feel more second class? And this despite programs in Business and Information Technology; Communications, Humanities and Social Sciences; Health, Wellness and Public Safety; and Mathematics, Sciences and Engineering that demonstrate a reasonably broad curriculum.
If I were emperor TVI would be renamed Albuquerque Community College, or Rio Grande Community College or Bernalillo Community College.
[Update: A name change is in the works, possibly Central New Mexico Community College or Community College of Central New Mexico. Thanks for getting me to do my homework, Kelly.]
2. The Rio Grande is (Sandia Crest notwithstanding) simply the best thing about the Duke City. America’s third longest river passes through the entire length of the city from north to south. And yet, at no place along the river can one stroll at the river’s edge. Yes, there are paths parallel to the river through the bosque (groove) that borders the river, and one can occasionally push aside the bushes and bugs and find the river’s edge. But nowhere can one stroll, or paddle, or stop and drink some wine or enjoy some New Mexican cuisine and watch the river roll by. With lesser rivers, San Antonio and even Oklahoma City have made attractive river walks. Why not here?
If I were emperor I would forget about pandas for the zoo and new arenas and re-zone a few appropriate areas of the Rio Grande waterfront for commercial development. Inviting developers to such an area would, I believe, be so attractive that no public funding would be needed and safeguards to protect the natural beauty of the riverfront could be easily enforced.
3. For more than half of its 299 years this community was known as Alburquerque after the Spanish duke — note that the fifth letter is an “r”. When English-speaking settlers began arriving in the mid-to-late 19th century Alburquerque was corrupted to Albuquerque.
If I were emperor the name would revert to its orginal — AlbuRquerque. What the hell, most strangers can’t spell Albuquerque anyway — what’s another letter?
You will get your wish about TVI soon, Ken. The venerable institution is planning to change its name soon to reflect its comprehensive nature.
Here, here! There’s nothing nicer than a restaurant with a riverfront deck. No self-respecting river city should be without at least one. As nice as the bosque is, I’ve always thought it a bit strange that it’s showcased more than the river itself.
Consider this, if we leave the spelling as “Albuquerque”, our fair city is the only Albuquerque in the entire world. 🙂
Once we change it back to “Alburquerque”, we become one of three: Alburquerque, New Mexico; Alburquerque, Spain; Alburquerque, Philippines. 🙁
Plus Weird Al and Neil Young wouldn’t have to change their lyric sheets.
The item which struck me most strongly of the three that you outlined was the river access. You mention San Antonio as an example of what we could do here. I recently read a book called “Water Follies” by Robert Glennon and I highly recommend it as a survey of the current conditions. Although it does not provide solutions there are some rather sobering items covered. The city of Tucson used to have a nice river flowing through that had many similarities to our own Rio Grande until the thirsty city pumped enough water out of the ground that it dried up and eventually all of the cottonwoods died. Look at the pictures then and now.
San Antonio however has done the most Disneyesque job of recreating a fake river. They also pumped all of the water out of the ground to the point that their river died. However they have been more creative. They have made a fake river! Where once there was an uncontrollable force of nature, which could change from a flood to a trickle, they have engineered it and now pump water from one end to the other. Occasionally they do have to drain it to clean the muck but isn’t that so much better than having do deal with random nature which might overflow the banks and occasionally mess up your picture perfect “River Walk”?
Albuquerque has spent monies on projects adjacent to the river that provide the water element in a controlled fashion. Recent renovations to Tingley beach, the Zoo, the Aquarium and Biopark are all relatively close and places one very near the river. To go any closer would require an environmental impact statement, management plans, disruption of the current Bosque and wildlife and would have to include a plane to deal with the high flows and low flows that we experience currently.
I’m totally with you on the river thing. It’s always amazed me the way this city turns its back on its river. The old Alameda bridge, turned into a pedestrian/horse/bike crossing, is an accidental delight.