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Posted Jun 21, 2022, 4:44 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 578
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KRQE reported on Friday that the APD Downtown substation in the Rosenwald Building has been completed and that APD has moved into the space.
https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerqu...ding-downtown/
• Video Link
Downtown Albuquerque News on Friday had a lengthy piece with a breakdown of the city's strategy for Downtown Albuquerque that it is crafting and getting ready to unveil. It is called "Downtown Forward" and it includes tackling crime and vandalism, addressing homelessness, and attracting new residents and businesses. Many of the programs and initiatives in the plan are already existing, such as the Downtown Storefront Activation Grant program.
The strategy also calls for re-instituting a special Downtown tax district and agency that would carry out many of the programs and initiatives. The Downtown Action Team was the previous entity, but it was disbanded about a decade ago after frustrations about its effectiveness by Downtown property owners, led by Jim Long of Heritage Real Estate, the owner of Albuquerque Plaza.
It also says that the city would try to raise funds from private donations to help pay for parts of the strategy, specifically a larger police presence through overtime. The plan also calls for allowing Tax Increment Financing as a way to spark and help pay for redevelopment projects in the area. Downtown Albuquerque is currently a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area, which under state law gives it certain redevelopment tools and financing mechanisms for projects, but it is thought that TIFs would be a more effective tool to add to the redevelopment efforts.
https://downtownalbuquerquenews.com/
Quote:
Seeking to address long-standing complaints about safety and insufficient police presence in the Downtown core, the city is asking for donations to help fund special overtime patrols, according to a draft plan obtained by Downtown Albuquerque News detailing that and a suite of other city center initiatives both old and new.
The program, called "Downtown TEAM" (Targeted Enforcement and Active Monitoring), would be a co-production of APD, the One Albuquerque Fund, and "Downtown leaders."
"The city seeks to partner with Downtown businesses to provide additional police presence during times of greatest call volume and according to a data-driven approach to crime and traffic safety," the plan states. "By pooling private and public resources, we will amplify the security presence and reduce crime Downtown."
The initiative would seek to hire off-duty police officers for shifts as part of an APD program called "chief's overtime" that is commonly used by major retailers looking to beef up security - at a cost that can top out at around $70 per hour. It has also been used in recent years by The Rock at NoonDay at its Near North Valley day shelter and by the Huning Castle Neighborhood Association, which has channeled donations from residents and visiting film crews into its own program.
For officers, however, the overtime shifts are voluntary, pointing to a possible sticking point in the plan. For several months, even the Huning Castle group has been unable to find any takers for its requested patrols, board member Len Romano told DAN this week.
The draft planning document, titled "Downtown Forward: An Implementation Plan to Create a Safe, Vibrant, and Inclusive Community," has been in the works for several weeks, and was previewed briefly by Mayor Tim Keller at a June 1 event at the KiMo Theatre (DAN, 6/6/22). It has been the subject of at least two meetings this week with prominent Downtown core developers, business owners, elected officials, and neighborhood leaders.
A number of the initiatives detailed in the plan have been in the public eye for months or even years, including a new police substation at Fourth and Central (DAN, 3/25/22), gunshot detection technology (DAN, 1/27/21), the Block by Block street cleaning program (DAN, 3/25/21), a grant program designed to encourage people to open or expand businesses in the core, new housing (DAN, 12/9/21), a streamlined development incentive program (DAN, 4/25/22), the new Marble-Arno Pump Station, and ongoing work at the Rail Yards.
Other programs mentioned in the plan apply to the city as a whole but may be of particular interest to the Downtown core, including an expansion of the Clean City litter removal program funded by the recent increase in trash collection rates, the forthcoming homeless shelter and service center on Gibson, the newly-launched Albuquerque Community Safety Department, solar installations on prominent landmarks like the Main Library, the deployment of electric buses, and the zero-fare pilot at ABQ Ride.
But in addition to the overtime patrols idea, some of the plans detailed in the document are new, including the following:
• Creating a Downtown-focused "management organization" that would provide "sustained leadership" for redevelopment efforts.
• Funding redevelopment and other projects through a tax increment district called a "transformational metropolitan redevelopment area" (DAN, 6/13/22).
• Newly-installed license plate readers and additional security cameras along Central.
• Expanding the shuttle service that transports homeless people between various shelters and service centers "to minimize loitering and congregation at pick-up locations."
• Spending $500,000 for "cultural activation including events, markets, fairs, and art installations" in the coming year.
• Temporary art installations along the future route of the Rail Trail meant to "celebrate the corridor's history."
The plan also leans on two projects that are to a large degree out of the city's hands. A proposal from a group called the New Mexico Space Valley Coalition would include a new headquarters building just north of Civic Plaza, but that will depend on winning a $75 million grant from the federal Economic Development Administration. The Next Generation Media Academy, meanwhile, is a state-funded film education initiative that is considering building a major facility at the Rail Yards, among other possible locations (DAN, 4/12/22).
The Downtown Forward plan concludes with a list of long-term strategies that the city "is committed to exploring," including establishing a parking benefit district, "providing a safe and clean public restroom facility for visitors that is staffed with welcome ambassadors," and extending the Rail Trail into a seven-mile loop through Wells Park, Sawmill, Old Town, the bosque, and the National Hispanic Cultural Center, returning to the Rail Yards, where construction has already begun.
City officials are presently scheduling meetings with neighborhood groups to discuss the Downtown Forward plan. DAN also understands that the city is planning a formal announcement and rollout of the initiative in the coming weeks.
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Here's a quote from Downtown Albuquerque News' recent article about the Tax Increment Financing element of the strategy.
https://downtownalbuquerquenews.com/
Quote:
Welcome to the obscure and occasionally controversial world of tax-increment financing. In New Mexico, it has traditionally been used for suburban development projects like Mesa del Sol. But city officials are presently shopping around the idea of extending the concept to existing metropolitan redevelopment areas (MRAs), something they believe will require a change in state law.
MRAs are special districts that New Mexico cities can draw around areas they believe need extra attention due to blight, high unemployment, low income levels, or an above-average quantity of vacant buildings (more background here). There are about 20 such areas in Albuquerque, including one newly created along Menaul, but roughly half of them are in Greater Downtown (map above). Within the areas, cities can use a variety of financial tools to subsidize development projects while avoiding the usual strictures of the state's anti-donation clause.
But in terms of financial heft, tax-increment financing would likely be an order of magnitude greater than that: The outline of the city's proposal would let local city councils and county commissions designate "transformational MR areas" that would divert 75 percent of any increase in property and gross receipts collections for a period of 25 years. A portion of the funding would also be set aside for affordable housing.
Though Albuquerque could in theory carve out lots of areas for such treatment, Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency Manager Karen Iverson had the Downtown area at the top of her mind during a recent presentation to the Barelas Community Coalition. Attracting investment to the area is extremely difficult, she said, noting that even a recent offer of up to $2.2 million in subsidies to build new housing Downtown attracted just two interested parties - the Downtown area stalwart builders Jay Rembe and Mark Baker (DAN, 5/20/22). "If I want to build, the developers have to have subsidies," Iverson said. "The economy is really good and capital goes where it's easy."
Besides incentives for builders, the money generated by tax increment financing could potentially be used for any number of other projects, including enhanced public services, such as more regular street and sidewalk cleaning, or public infrastructure, which could include anything from planters and benches to work at the Rail Yards.
At this early date, exactly how much money a tax increment arrangement could generate is far from clear. It would depend on such factors as how much property values rise overall, how much values for redeveloped properties rise in particular, and where exactly the boundaries of such areas were drawn.
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The head of the MRA says that attracting investment in Downtown Albuquerque is difficult but doesn't realize or consider that the actions of the administration in tossing aside and canceling previous proposals and RFPs is greatly to blame for that. The Skyline Competition and Civic North RFP both attracted proposals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, proposals that would have transformed Downtown Albuquerque like never before. But the mayor tossed both aside like nothing, with lame excuses each time.
And over the last year businesses are opening up left and right Downtown. I need to compile an updated list but I'm sure it's in the range of about three dozen new businesses that have opened over the last year Downtown. This is in the midst of the most challenging time for small businesses and yet we are seeing such investment and interest in being Downtown and opening up businesses down here. It truly is amazing and gives me great hope in the future of Downtown Albuquerque!
The Downtown Storefront Activation Grant program has helped with all of this, which is one of the few compliments I can give for the mayor's Downtown revitalization efforts. More awardees have been revealed in recent months and the program has apparently given out its entire $500,000 in funding. The program's page on the city's website says that there is now a wait list for funding, which I take to mean that it will be replenished with more funding.
https://www.cabq.gov/mra/storefront-...-grant-program
Below is the list of all the program awardees that I know about so far:
Blue Door Patisserie
Flamenco Works
Narke's Greek Food
Echoes Brewery
Electric Playhouse
Southwest Makeup Institute
Buds & Beans
Flyby Provisions
The Mouse Hole
The story about the Downtown Forward strategy mentions the recent "For the Love of Downtown" event held at the KiMo Theater. DAN also recently reported about it and included a transcript of the mayor's speech at the event.
https://downtownalbuquerquenews.com/
Quote:
Keller: Despite problems, 'the good news is we still have a Downtown to work on'
Mayor Tim Keller was one of several speakers preceding Peter Kageyama at last Wednesday's KiMo event, and he took the opportunity to lay out where he thinks things stand in the area. He also tipped a forthcoming Downtown-focused city initiative that other officials have been hinting at (DAN, 5/27/22) and that last week's event, as well as a recent report on the value of Downtown discussed in an article below, seems to be a part of.
Keller covered a lot of ground, so here's a partial transcript, edited for brevity and clarity:
Great to see everyone here. And wonderful to sort of reinvigorate our discussions about Albuquerque's Downtown.
We do love our city. Sometimes it's that sort of family-type love where you get in arguments, or maybe sometimes you're like "actually, I really wish we weren't at the same dinner table tonight." We know we've got challenges. Sometimes they're very deeply rooted, and sometimes they're modern incarnations. We have both of those - layers upon layers of history and of people and of culture in Albuquerque. That's who we are. And we love who we are, even if there are parts of us that we want to change, parts of us that we need to work on and help out a little bit. That's how I view Downtown.
I remember in my own lifetime not really appreciating the fact that Downtown was New Town. There was Old Town, and that was Downtown until the railroad came and then all of a sudden this new area of the city grew up and became what now we call Downtown.
Why were those tracks there? Just as a quick homage: Part of that was because the Camino Real ran right through here, because it was a clear passage and following so close to the river.
Then we had Route 66 - the mother road comes through at the turn of the century. And of course, that creates our main street that creates sort of the modern incarnation of Downtown beyond just the railroad station. Now in that era, of course, there was all sorts of vibrancy, and some folks who've been here might remember this, but you know, I always heard stories of department stores Downtown. We never had that in my lifetime. But I want to let you know, this was a strong vibrant Downtown as it was in many places in America, really up until the 80s. (I actually do remember the 80s.)
And I will tell you, I remember being afraid to go Downtown. I remember also loving Downtown in high school when I could go to the bars, even though I wasn't 21 - Downtown has also been a lot of fun for a long time.
And I also remember the 90s. I went away to college, so I came back for Christmas, and I went to meet my high school friends and college friends in Downtown Albuquerque at Anodyne, which is still there. And I felt like, "Wow, this town is incredible. The streets are filled with partiers at 1 a.m."
We had that era, going sort of 1999ish to the year 2010. And we were very fortunate. We had, frankly, some visionaries at the city as employees. We had mayors who believed in Downtown - emphasis on plural mayors. We had city councilors who believed in Downtown and made a general city consensus that we had to invest in Downtown.
That era is what created the Downtown that you see now, which is the redone Alvarado Transportation Center - which none of us think of as redone because this was 30 years ago. But I remember when that was redone. I remember when the movie theater came, of course it's now closed. But I remember also when we invested in all of the built environment around there. And reinvested in buying things like this theater, the KiMo.
So I just wanted to acknowledge that that era, I think, saved Downtown in Albuquerque. So for those of you who were a part of it, or those of you who weren't, if we had not made those investments, back in that era, we would have nothing almost to build from. Downtown truly would have died.
But we did that. And of course somewhere in that era too was the last two new skyscrapers. We got the two pyramid buildings. That era saved Downtown and we actually traded on that for a good 20 years. Even though Downtown needed help, it was safer. It had at least minimum levels of activity, whether it's hotel rooms, the convention center, and all of these things. And we've been able to keep Downtown alive. That is a good thing.
And so I want to acknowledge kind of where we're at now. Again, we'll talk about some of the problems. But the good news is we still have a Downtown to work on. And a lot of cities lost theirs. Ours is still alive. And if it's Art Walk on Fridays, I encourage you to see that, or if it's joining me for a heavy metal concert - our Downtown is vibrant. It's got its challenges, but I will tell you, it comes alive, just like other downtowns. And it comes alive in a way that I think in many ways - not in every way - but in many ways, does compete with Austin and with Denver and with other cities.
The question is, how do we make that accessible regularly? And how do we make it the centerpiece of the city, the state's largest city, the largest city in 1,000 square miles. And of course, that heartbeat in that radius is our Downtown.
Now, of course, we're coming on the heels of the pandemic. Look, downtowns are once again being crushed all over the country, because of work-from-home or because of wider workspaces - all of these issues that are facing Downtown. So now we actually have a sort of a new challenge that is paired with a new opportunity. Because as troubled as downtowns are with office spaces and high-rise condominiums and high-rise workplaces, we do know that we're in a much better place than all our neighbors, for the first time in a long time.
Compared to Phoenix, Denver, and Austin, all of a sudden, we do have spaces available. Yes, prices are on the rise, but they're nothing like those cities. We also know we don't have the traffic issues that they have. And we also know that because of our city and the way it's built, you can also leave Downtown and recreate in the bosque within 10 minutes. And that's something that those other downtowns desperately struggle with.
So we're actually sitting in a really good place. We have enough to build on. All of a sudden, we have a competitive advantage we didn't have pre-pandemic compared to these other cities.
That's why we're convening together. This is part of a broader initiative over the spring and summer for a community opportunity to think about what we can do to lift up our Downtown. The city is working on this. We want everyone who cares - not just lives - everyone cares about Downtown to participate in that process.
What we're going to be doing over the next few weeks is we're going to roll out a series of ideas. They're just starting places, and they're things like, "Okay, what do we actually do about public safety Downtown?" And how do we actually make sure that we're not just enforcing the most minimum things - like how we can't have shootings and military-grade weapons Downtown. How do we actually make sure that we're not having stolen cars, that we're not having drive-bys? But also, how do we make sure that we celebrate cruising culture, because that is part of who we are. And it's part of what we love.
So we're going to be rolling out ideas around this, and we want your feedback. We want your input on how to balance these issues out.
Similarly, around homelessness, and even vacant buildings, we're going to say, well, how can we make sure to maintain our historic culture and our historic buildings and make sure that we're not tearing them down and we're not gentrifying. We don't want to do that. But we do want to make sure that the Gizmo Building isn't empty for another 20 years, right? And we want to make sure that we have somewhere to take homeless folks or a place where homeless folks can get help that is 24/7, which is what the Gateway Center is all about. We have to have that. It's related to Downtown because a lot of the services are nearby. So until we have services in a way that works for everyone - the right kind of service at the right time - there's nowhere else for people to go.
We're going to try and do our part as the city. We're going to keep pushing forward. And so stay tuned for more about how to move Albuquerque Downtown forward.
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Here's the event on YouTube. The mayor's remarks begin at about the 28 minute mark.
• Video Link
I just cringe at some of the mayor's words and his way of talking about Downtown, especially simple facts and general knowledge that he doesn't seem to possess or get right. It's also just not inspiring in any way. There's some effort to seem genuine in his "love of Downtown" but a lot of it just seems aloof and not really love at all. I have memories and experiences of Downtown Albuquerque all my life that can move me to tears. And I'm constantly looking for knowledge about it, especially its history, and looking to see what's going on down here now. I want a mayor or somebody in charge of its revitalization to have that same kind of passion and drive for Downtown.
The biggest way that the mayor let me know he didn't really care much about Downtown Albuquerque is after the riots two years ago where it was reported that the KiMo Theater was almost set on fire by the people who smashed in its windows. That would have been an unimaginable loss. The KiMo Theater is Downtown's most iconic and beloved building. It is the one that stands out the most to visitors of our city and Downtown. Losing it would be absolutely catastrophic for the area, on the scale of the loss of the Alvarado and Franciscan hotels.
But months later when people were complaining about the boards still being on the windows of downtown buildings and the overall state of Downtown Albuquerque that was left in the wake of the riots, the mayor dismissed it all as minor damage. This was unbelievable to me. And it showed me once and for all that the mayor just doesn't care about Downtown Albuquerque and how it looks or how it is doing. It's quite horribly ironic that this event was held at the KiMo Theater, was about loving Downtown Albuquerque, and that the mayor so casually brushed off the damage and incident that might've caused the theater to be destroyed and no longer be here.
I feel he just pays lip service to things and does what he needs to in order to appear to care and actually be a good steward for the area and its revitalization. And he's always so desperately trying to appease those who would rather have our city and Downtown be a downtrodden and stagnant place than see new development or "gentrification" occuring. Just as he was lukewarm in pushing the Downtown soccer stadium and completely bailed on it once it became clear that it was unpopular with those kinds of people, he bails on anything else with the slightest bit of opposition or roadblocks that could revitalize and improve Downtown Albuquerque.
Speaking of fires, I was absolutely sickened to learn earlier this month that one our great historic buildings that is left in Downtown Albuquerque suffered a fire that was most likely arson. KRQE had a report about the fire at the Hudson Hotel building on Central just east of the tracks. The building is in the process of being renovated for Warehouse 505, and the non-profit's director says the fire will set the renovation back about six months. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help with the added repair costs brought about by the fire.
https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerqu...re-breaks-out/
• Video Link
As I said, this makes me sick, especially if it was arson. We can't lose anymore historic buildings like this in Downtown Albuquerque. The boarded up windows that went up recently have bothered me until I learned just what exactly was going on with the building from this story. It's quite sad that they were there in the first place, most likely due to all the creeps that continue to break windows Downtown and along Central Avenue. It's hard to say for sure whether the boards helped protect against or made the fire worse. It does look like the fire was started on the boards, and a broken window would be less catastrophic than a fire, so I'll say they made the damage worse.
Stuff like this can't continue to be tolerated or brushed off. The mayor's new strategy really needs to address and do something about this. So many Downtown and Central Avenue business owners have had issues with broken windows and fires, especially over the last couple of years since the riots. They all complain that the city does nothing to address the problem and they feel helpless. I commend all the business owners and people who are trying to stick it out and still open new businesses despite all this. I'm sure they have a true love for Downtown Albuquerque and a belief in what it can become one day.
I love the Hudson Hotel building and I've always dreamt of it having a store on its ground-floor and apartments above. Thankfully it wasn't lost, but we need to do everything we can to protect it and ensure nothing like this happens again.
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