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I don't think NM residents are particularly friendly or generous. --snip-- I just never felt that people in Albuquerque care about others that much or making things better as a city. .
This is a long thread and it may be covered already but after almost two years here I've come to realize that native New Mexican people are much more family oriented than anyplace I have ever lived. More so than the new arrivals. An outsider can have a casual friendship but it is hard to crack that family shell. I've hired a few local people to work on some home improvement projects and we have a good rapport and are engaged in various conversations but when the topic turns to family there is much more of a feeling that comes out. For example...that grandma is making tamales or something special for Thanksgiving...that goes into family stories or what the little brother is doing in school...to an uncle that just died and how the family is helping his kids...and so on. Attention is inward toward the family....not so much outward toward civic involvement. These are extended families that seem very close.
I appreciate the family focus but sometimes I wonder if that has a bearing on the education and economic situation here. If one gains an education and a college degree that requires them to move far away from Albuquerque for employment, how does that disrupt the family connection? If career advancement causes a strain on family ties, is there any conflict that would influence the decision. It might be easier now to stay connected electronically than in past decades. People seem very comfortable inside the family shell.
48% of Albuquerque metro residents were born in other states (37%) or other countries (11%), so be careful about how much you attribute to the 'natives'.
I visted ABQ back in December, my gf and I went to the New Mexico Bowl. I didn't really know much about ABQ before going, but I left quite impressed. Definitely a lot of culture, good food, and had a laid back vibe. The weather was nice, 32 degrees in ABQ felt different then 32 degrees here in Colorado. Maybe it was the sunshine that helped. I definitely would like to go back and visit. ABQ has made my list of possible moving destinations in the future. Oh and the other thing I liked was that places to rent are a lot cheaper in ABQ than here in Aurora. Which rental prices have skyrocketed in the last year or so.
Rwjoyak sums it up. I am nep321's cousin. There are TONS of things a bout Abq that just suck. But the reality is all the little "enchanting" things are the ones that those who love being here focus on and surround themselves with. To ME.....the worse thing is the crime in the metro area....which ONLY concerns me when it comes to worrying about your house getting burglarized....which is all too common here. This is something that is largely out of one's control in a blue collar neighborhood although I do everything I can to prevent it. All of the other high crime statistics don't take into consideration location, circumstance, and culture.....which is part of life anywhere and can be avoided by conscious decisions in your lifestyle
choices and economic status. Yes there are negatives here....but for those of us who naturally see the glass as half full....it's an amazing place to live.
Yes there are negatives here....but for those of us who naturally see the glass as half full....it's an amazing place to live.
I'm not even convinced it's simply a matter of optimism or pessimism, but rather an issue of expectations when people move here.
People who move here from smaller cities both in and out of NM (but maybe particularly out of NM) are getting exposed to the bigger city sort of environment, maybe for the first time, and the crime is surprising to them. Then IMO there are the people who move here from bigger cities who expect that since they are moving to a smaller city, the crime will be less than what they knew in the former homes, but the fact that this is still a relatively large city that still has similar crime to what existed back home, coupled with the smaller city's media that publicizes all of it (even if it may have been overlooked or ignored in larger media markets), it looks worse comparatively.
This is all IMO of course. I might just be more glass half full kind of guy like you said, I've also never felt like I was in danger at subway stations in Queens at 1 a.m. (I probably wasn't, but I'd guess the people who think ABQ is dangerous would balk at the prospect).
I grew up in Northern NM and when I moved here for college a couple of years ago, I think my expectations from what I saw on the news and the stories I had heard about ABQ growing up was that I was going to be shot if I ever got near Central, but alas, 3 years later and probably the only area in the city I would avoid after dark is the area around the fairgrounds, but I don't really have any reason to be there at any time of day anyway haha. Maybe the South Valley but honestly I've never really been to the South Valley so I don't think I can say that with any conviction.
Being rated in any of these publications means nothing more than bragging rights for a fews days or weeks. They change daily and are simply based on one persons overall view. Just a few weeks ago, AR was ranked the worse place to retire in the nation while being rated one of the best all in a period of a day or so.
Now, as for Abq, we lived there for 7 years. I think the weather and beauty of the state is as nice as any we have ever seen, especially the sunsets. The cost of living was among the lowest of anyplace we have lived and we didn't find it isolated at all, but it just wasn't for us. The crime rate is a little higher than most places we have lived and we did not find the people particularly friendly. Our church and neighood was, but otherwise, overall not so much so.
I don't think there is a perfect place and I think everyplace can be rated friendly by some and not by others.
Crime in Albuquerque is played up by the media. It is more dangerous in Salt Lake City, San Antonio and Tulsa than in Albuquerque but you would think that this is the crime capital of the nation. It is a small town with way too much media time on TV devoted to local incidents that would never make it on the news in other places.
That being said...there are some pretty outlandish and bizarre things going on occasionally that get a lot of attention.
Now, as for Abq, we lived there for 7 years. I think the weather and beauty of the state is as nice as any we have ever seen, especially the sunsets. The cost of living was among the lowest of anyplace we have lived and we didn't find it isolated at all, but it just wasn't for us. The crime rate is a little higher than most places we have lived and we did not find the people particularly friendly. Our church and neighood was, but otherwise, overall not so much so.
I don't think there is a perfect place and I think everyplace can be rated friendly by some and not by others.
Didn't you live in the East Mountains? That is not the same as living in Albuquerque.
This is a long thread and it may be covered already but after almost two years here I've come to realize that native New Mexican people are much more family oriented than anyplace I have ever lived. More so than the new arrivals. An outsider can have a casual friendship but it is hard to crack that family shell. I've hired a few local people to work on some home improvement projects and we have a good rapport and are engaged in various conversations but when the topic turns to family there is much more of a feeling that comes out. For example...that grandma is making tamales or something special for Thanksgiving...that goes into family stories or what the little brother is doing in school...to an uncle that just died and how the family is helping his kids...and so on. Attention is inward toward the family....not so much outward toward civic involvement. These are extended families that seem very close.
I appreciate the family focus but sometimes I wonder if that has a bearing on the education and economic situation here. If one gains an education and a college degree that requires them to move far away from Albuquerque for employment, how does that disrupt the family connection? If career advancement causes a strain on family ties, is there any conflict that would influence the decision. It might be easier now to stay connected electronically than in past decades. People seem very comfortable inside the family shell.
In my experience here (40+ years), it is very difficult for a New Mexican native to move away. It is also very difficult for someone who has lived here for a while to move away. It's just that way...
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