Albuquerque/El Paso Questions

[Trisher]

Mortimer, I'm sorry if I struck a nerve. I've never participated in something like this, so I don't know the protocol. I'm learning, I guess.

[rotorhead]

Observe this....I wish I was back up in Alaska right now. This hundred degrees stuff bites.

As far as the grafitti goes, I have the city grafitti hotline on speed dial I use it so much. I take my kid to the parks around the Altura and Ridgecrest neighborhoods and N. of the Nob Hill area all the time and there's constant vandalism in all of them. Lets not mention how things typically look downtown, despite the citys repeated attempts at gentrification. And lets not consider at all the recent half-million or so in damage to the aquarium by a handful of schoolkids on a supposedly chaperoned field trip.

If I sound like I'm down on ABQ... it's because I am. I do give credit for improvement but frankly it still has a long way to go and sometimes it seems as if things just never move in the right direction. If I sound like I'd be just as happy never again to see my home address in El Paso, its because that's also true. Asarco or not, its grubby and low-rent at best and well into sordid and filthy at worst.

ABQ has its positives and its negatives. I grew up here, went to school here, and have lived here off and on since 1969 so I ought to know. At the currenty time and in my current situation, the negatives outweigh the positives. This is no place to raise a kid, for instance. The schools default to the lowest common denominator and the violent crime rate is sky-high, as just two reasons why. When I'm old and grey(perhaps more correctly older and grayer) and tired of shoveling snow, maybe the balance will change and I'll want to move back. You never know. It's actually not a bad place to live in as long as you don't have children to raise, provided you don't mind the summer heat and you remember to pack a concealed weapon everywhere you go.

One thing though, before you start touting what a great city ABQ is and how much its improved, make sure you have lived in enough places to make a valid comparison. I've met plenty of lifetime ABQ residents who just haven't traveled enough to know how shabby ABQ really looks in comparison to other cities of a similar size. However great the (obviously non-summer) weather might be or how beautiful the sunsets can get, a drive down Central from Tramway to San Mateo should cure any overwrought nostalgia about this place.

[abqsunport]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

a drive down Central from Tramway to San Mateo should cure any overwrought nostalgia about this place.

Yeah, but if you drive through Aurora, you aren't going to get a great taste of Denver. If you drive through Compton, you aren't going to get a great taste of LA. Obviously you should avoid seedy parts of the city. Everywhere in every city has some undesirable part of it. Your last point really is very shallow.

[mortimer]

Trisher mentioned:

> Mortimer, I'm sorry if I struck a nerve. I've never
> participated in something like this, so I don't know
> the protocol. I'm learning, I guess.

Not at all. I was just trying to help you get informed.
If you don't research the old stuff, you won't get the
full picture.

I've been there (where you are) before and just lurked
a while to get the feel of things.

If you just make a quick post and then sit back, you'll
not get the full story. That's all I was trying to say.

Again, it's best to revive the old threads by asking more
specific questions there.

[mortimer]

rotorhead complained:

> drive down Central from Tramway to San Mateo should cure
> any overwrought nostalgia about this place.

I kind of like that drive, but then again, I lived on Cornell drive
just down the block from the Frontier and I loved it there despite
having to clean up human feces from time to time.

abqsunport reported:

> the majority of smokers are a lot more considerate than people
> give them credit for.

I tend to disagree, but then we are just comparing anecdotal notes.
My estimation is that most smokers think the world is their ashtray.

[abqsunport]

I tend to disagree, but then we are just comparing anecdotal notes.
My estimation is that most smokers think the world is their ashtray.

I think you kind of proved my point. It only takes one rotten egg to give a bad smell. Out of the dozen smokers I am good friends with, I honestly think I have only ever caught one tossing buds and ashes out their window. Believe me, it pissed me off just as much as you

[rotorhead]

It's ironic, isn't it? One of the most hoidy-toidy parts of the city (the Nob Hill corridor) is literally just down the street from E. Central with all the flea-bag hooker hotels and booze-n-cruise liquor stores. Kind of gives you the whole gamut of experience in just a few blocks right on old Rt. 66.

[EnjoyEP]

Greetings Trisher -

Check out this link -

El Paso vs. Albuquerque

It is from the El Paso forum. Seriously...someone started an El Paso v. Albuquerque thread in that forum literally right around the same time that you did here! So you'll find alot of perspectives in that one.

I am biased to my own opinion of course! Check out "EnjoyEP"'s posts in there for my take on the whole comparison. Bottom line: Both cities - to me at least - are great. Just depends on what you are looking for.