I've been wondering about the status of the Build Back Better Challenge and when the winners would be announced. I went looking this morning on Google to see if there were any updates. I found that the winning proposals were announced at the beginning of the month and, unfortunately, neither of the two proposals from Albuquerque were among the winners. Thus, the Space Valley Center and initiative would appear to be no more.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-...nal-challenge/
I'm disappointed, but the silver lining is that the Civic North site can still be put to a better use. I liked the Space Valley Center project and thought that it was very much worthwhile, I just did not like the design at that site. I doubt this mayor will try to salvage the Civic North RFP, but perhaps a new mayor in the future will finally get something great built there. It's unfortunate to see so much squandered and missed opportunities in Downtown Albuquerque these past few years. I pray that we get the leader we need and gain back the great momentum we've had in the past.
As an aside, can I just say how annoying it is that this wasn't reported on locally. I understand that we weren't among the winners, but you'd think our local media would see that perhaps people here were interested in the status of the competition and interested to know who the winners were even if we were not among them.
I'm sorry to constantly rag on our local media, but it frustrates me that so much worthwhile stuff goes unreported and falls by the wayside in this city.