Albuquerque Downtown Arena (Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Las Vegas: credit rating, loan, new home)

[elevationnation]

Originally Posted by rwjoyak

First off, yes, zoidberg likes to....

Moderator cut: No need to quote an entire paragraph unless you really need to

....influence folks.

Yawn.

[NMHacker]

That was such an amazing response to a well thought out post.

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by elevationnation

Wow, you love to argue. ... .

Yes he does, but more importantly, he knows how to use his editor.

He wields it like a finely-honed sword.

This, above all, is his strongest, er, .... strength.

[elevationnation]

NMHacker, I try. I feel asleep reading all of it. I can't help it.

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by elevationnation

NMHacker, I try. I feel asleep reading all of it. I can't help it.

I tried that excuse in college, but it didn't work.

Later on, I grew up.

The truth is that rwjoyak simply made points that you were incapable of
answering intelligently and had you tried, your head might have exploded.

[Dan from NM]

Originally Posted by elevationnation

People only see building an arena and money. What they don't see is the increase in construction jobs, increase in jobs at the facility for the events it holds, the increase in retail sales near the site, etc. People seem to think this is ABQ of 1950. We are out of land, and given that we grew almost 100,000 people in the last census in the city alone we have to build up. Uptown is full. No other areas will allow a build up. There are a few pockets here and there and Mesa Del Sol. After that? Even a city planner said they will have no choice but to build up downtown. So with that said, yes an arena is a good investment if done correctly.

Are you kidding me. Albuquerque will remain a suburban city, till we are both gone. And probably after our bones become dust. The city will expand out west even further, this will happen slowly, but it will be the direction Albuquerque takes. Westland owns all the land up to the indian reservations. Room is what we have, Albuquerque won't become that 'urban' place I want it to be, in my lifetime anyway...

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by Dan from NM

Albuquerque won't become that 'urban' place I want it to be, ...

I wonder why people who want an urban place don't just move to one?

Maybe it is because the cons outweigh the pros.

[Dan from NM]

Originally Posted by mortimer

I wonder why people who want an urban place don't just move to one?

Maybe it is because the cons outweigh the pros.

I like Suburbs, thats why I live on the NW. Do I wish Albuquerque was a little more urban? yes, but I will settle for what I got.

[JBM]

I *might* vote for an arena in some form, or some type of civic development, but I am not convinced. I keep swinging from "anti" arena to "pro" arena. I see both sides. But I doubt simply constructing an arena downtown will turn Downtown ABQ into Montréal or DC or Boston or somewhere distinctly "urban." Personally, I'd like more housing and retail and things of that sort, maybe a less schwanky and larger-scale version of Nob Hill? It all seems silly to discuss when from what I understand this is no longer on the table (at least for now) and wasn't it very unpopular with our city (something like 70% contra the project)?

I've 'heard' there may be a new grocery store locating to the area though that remains to be seen. These smaller developments I sense will do more direct good to the area than a full-scale arena. We'll see what happens but I wouldn't hold my breath for such a thing. I'd love to be somewhere more urban, but that's why I'm hoping to work in Montréal after my degree is in hand, for now I am perfectly happy and content with ABQ, though I certainly welcome new developments and ideas. One thing that bothers me about the arena debate is that those that fight most vociferously for the project seem to think it will be the rebirth of downtown and all its maladies will cease to exist with its construction without also paying attention to the need for an actual base of people down there, improvements to safety, more 'amenities...' If we paid for an arena, how much money would that cost in total and would that large sum detract from improving the rest of the city as a whole? Would we have less development and improvement elsewhere? I get excited when I see medians being landscaped or the freeway being beautified, would we lose these nice things if we chose an arena instead? In effect I suppose there's more ways to approach improving downtown than just a giant arena (some of which in our fair country are actually eye-sores) and the way that such a chunk of change would effect us needs to be evaluated more thoroughly. That's my current 2¢ on my ever-changing view on the matter.

[Rob Martinez]

Well, here we are, June 2013 and Albuquerque is nowhere near getting a new arena.

Omaha has the 17,500 seat CenturyLink Center, and down the road, they are getting ready to open a new 15,500 seat arena in Lincoln, NE.

Let's see: Albuquerque has the 11,000 horse barn Tingley Coliseum, built in the mid 50s. The once mighty 18,000 seat Pit is now a 15,000 seat 47 year old gym (not an arena in the modern sense), and Las Cruces has the dated 12,500 seat Pan American Center.

Wichita, KS has a new 15,000 seat arena, Fresno, CA has a 15,500 seat state of the art arena.

Tulsa, OK has the fairly new 18,000 seat BOK Center.

Des Moines, IA has a 15,000 state of the art arena.

I guess Albuquerque belongs to a pretty "elite" group of cities who are "too smart" to fall for that old trick of building a nice arena for citizens to enjoy sports, concerts, and other large scale entertainment, and to help attract major business to the area and compete with those cities listed above.

If our goal it to be El Paso, we are getting there.