New Renderings + Favorable Report for Events Center

ABQ Journal reports today (October 29) that initial consultant report on the proposed downtown events center is favorable: "Albuquerque's young, growing population looks strong enough to support a Downtown event center." Top image is overall design; middle image is of retail; third image is of hotel. For more info see: ABQ Future

New Plan to Market Gold Avenue to Retailers

From the September 12th edition of the New Mexico Business Weekly:

Frustrated by the empty storefronts at 100 Gold Ave. SW, retail tenants in the historic Downtown district are taking marketing matters into their own hands. They have come up with a new leasing campaign called “Slivers of Gold” to entice successful retailers throughout the Duke City to open more stores along Gold Avenue.

Mayor Martin Chávez will host an invitation-only Sept. 30 Slivers of Gold gala that will invite established retailers to see the vacant 14,000 square feet at 100 Gold as well as the entire Gold Avenue shopping district.

Traffic Circle Success

Bruce Andriatch of the Buffalo News on that areas new traffic circles...

A funny thing happened to traffic on Harlem Road in Cheektowaga the other day: It kept moving.

Cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses approached the intersection with Cleveland Drive from the north and the south — even as vehicles were coming from Cleveland in two directions toward Harlem at the exact same time — and the wheels never stopped turning. They slowed down, but they never stopped. It was mesmerizing...

In his just-published book, “Traffic,” Tom Vanderbilt notes that the traditional intersection is where fully half of all road crashes occur, partly because there are 56 potential points of conflict where your car can hit another car or a pedestrian. In a roundabout, the conflict number falls to 16. One study he cites found that at 24 intersections that had been converted from signs and lights into roundabouts, the number of crashes fell by 40 percent and fatal crashes by 90 percent.

Our Spectacular Sandias

Saturday, August 9th. Gee, no billboards to block the view. How nice.

No Car Nob Hill (This past Sunday anyway)

Nob Hill from Richmond to Carlisle was closed to traffic this past Sunday (8/3) from 1 pm - 7 pm. I'm all for anything that makes walking safer but this event seemed less than well thought out. A merchant remarked that he only heard about it that morning. For these events to work there needs to be things happening in the street — there were a couple of bands, but there also needs to be art, vendors, food etc.). Possibly because of the heat (99 degrees) the streets were rather empty. I salute the organizers for the effort but it seems for this to work it needs to be more of an event. Ultimately the answer for Nob Hill, I believe, is at least one more light between Richmond and Carlisle (this seems so obvious) and more bulb outs.

Imbibe: Great Vibe on Central

Excellent new bar on Central and Richmond in Nob Hill. Superb roof top patio.

Consultant Recommends Downtown to San Mateo Streetcar

Dan McKay of the Albuquerque Journal reports that consultants are recommending a streetcar line between Downtown and San Mateo. He writes that "Albuquerque should focus on building a modern streetcar system along Central Avenue between Downtown and San Mateo if it decides to proceed with the project, according to a consultant’s report.
That stretch of the city is the best bet for a successful start to the system, the presentation from Leland Consulting Group said. Demographics and market forces in the area would support the project, the group said."