Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Crime is the reason that we left. We lived there from 2003-2007. I just got tired of all the graffiti all over all parts of the town. Tired of so many robberies and racial intimidation events. Just too much.
Crime is the reason that we left. We lived there from 2003-2007. I just got tired of all the graffiti all over all parts of the town. Tired of so many robberies and racial intimidation events. Just too much.
I'm sure....everyone leaves Albuquerque because of the rampant graffiti and racial intimidations, never because of a job transfer!
Crime is the reason that we left. We lived there from 2003-2007. I just got tired of all the graffiti all over all parts of the town. Tired of so many robberies and racial intimidation events. Just too much.
I'm sure....everyone leaves Albuquerque because of the rampant graffiti and racial intimidations, never because of a job transfer!
There are alot of issues wih this city. Rampant graffiti and racial intimidation is not anywhere near to top. I have a feeling the person that wrote that found the lost city of Utopia and is keeping it to themselves.
There are alot of issues wih this city. Rampant graffiti and racial intimidation is not anywhere near to top. I have a feeling the person that wrote that found the lost city of Utopia and is keeping it to themselves.
Yes, there were other issues, too. I always felt like the whole city needed a power wash. Just clean up all the streets, buildings, everything. Sorry, that's just how I felt. I really liked the people, though. Good people, very friendly.
Looking at the forums for some of the cities with higher crime rates the issue doesn't get nearly the play it does on the ABQ. forum. While there are positive and negative attributes to Abq. the crime issue is used way too often to unfairly bash Albuquerque.
^^^THIS^^^
I've tried to figure this out. I think A LOT of it has to do with it's growth cycle. Since 1990, which is WELL within the "memory span" of many long term residents, the city's growth has grown rapidly by about 45% (385K to 555K). I wasn't here back then, but adding more then 170,000 residents to an area over a relatively short time will move a city from medium-sized to large. Crime rates go up correspondingly.
When you live in a LARGE city, you experience large city problems. Guns, gangs, crime, etc.... It exists EVERYWHERE in cities of this size. Many long-term residents probably compare (unfairly) crime today, to when the city was much smaller and there was "less crime". Seems like crime is out-of-control, but the bottom-line is that it's pretty normal for cities of this size (as judged by the list of cities with similar crime rates).
I think it gets more play here (and is VASTLY overblown IMO), because "big city crime" is relatively new here, as compared to MANY cities that have been large for longer periods of time and are used to it. For example, I moved here from an similarly sized (larger actually) county in western NY (Rochester - Monroe County), which since 1990 has grown only about 2% (to 760K). Crime rate is high (similar to ABQ), and has, with the ebs and flows, remained reasonably the same over time. Its kinda always been that way, so people are used to it. Go to the Rochester forum on this site, crime is almost NEVER mentioned. I just think the folks that live there have always lived with it and modified their life around it.
Here though, Bernalillo Cty has gone from 475K to 665K (close to 40% growth) in the same time, which has ushered in a whole different level of problems (i.e. crime). Citizens have to get used to it, cops have to get used to it, etc.... It's a front and center issue. Bottom line though, when you look at the two forums on this site, one seems like an idyllic western NY community, and the other reads as a gun-slinging war zone, where woman are raped the moment they leave their home and kids gunned down daily ridding their Big Wheels.
From a practical "living" matter. I feel equally safe here as a did back East (no surprise, since both areas have similar crime rates). In fact, I may feel safer here, because with lower taxes then NY, I was able to get a nicer home in a nicer (gated) neighborhood. I generally when people talk about how "bad" it is here and my first thought is "you don't get out much, do you?". I think the same thing when they talk about traffic...... I laugh, because back east, frustrating traffic and crappy commute as SO MUCH a part of daily life, is that it's never a topic of conversation. It's just "life in the big city".
Not sure if my theory has any merit or not, but it's definitely something that puzzles me (how much play the crime rate gets here). My advice to anyone thinking of moving here is; You are moving to city with almost 1M people in it's metro area. Expect all the things (good and bad) that come with it.
Yes, there were other issues, too. I always felt like the whole city needed a power wash. Just clean up all the streets, buildings, everything. Sorry, that's just how I felt. I really liked the people, though. Good people, very friendly.
Funny you say this....... coming from El Paso, one of the dirtiest cities I've ever visited.
Sounds more like a shot at the fine city of Albuquerque, but whatever floats your boat!
People here longer than me say that the 70's were the worst decade for crime in ABQ, but I think that was true across the country. I remember New York City in the 70's and it was pretty horrible. Since then, with ABQ's growth, as far as I can tell the crime rate has been going steadily down.
Out-of-town visitors have remarked to me how clean ABQ looks, but I have also met the kind of people who claim it's "dirty." Even natives have said this kind of thing. I have been downtown at times and felt it needed cleaning up, it does get pretty scummy when it hasn't rained for a long time. But ABQ is still in the top 10 for cities with cleanest air which is more important to me than what might be left on the ground.
Albuquerque is much cleaner if you compare it to Los Angeles. The freeway signs are not covered with razorwire to keep graffiti off...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
