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As a history guy from back East who is used to rough city neighborhoods being in rundown neighborhoods very near downtown with buildings a hundred years old (or more), Albuquerque's "war zone" is an interesting study:
1) When did it start to "get worse?"
2) What caused the downward slide? The only thing I can figure is proximity to military base apartments: common in towns/cities with cheap military offsite housing.
3) I'm still getting used to "bad neighborhoods" west of the Mississippi. In the War Zone, the housing is all postwar, ranches, no falling-down tenements or mid-rise storefronts and apartments like in Chicago or Cleveland, long bombed out and abandoned and very, very old, with some neighborhoods having been ghettos for nearly a century or more. In contrast, some houses look only 40-50 years old in the War Zone, almost suburban in style.
4) was it "White Flight?" If so, when and why? Or was it always an immigrant center, an "International District" since the beginning?
5) the neighborhood seems to have Central as its main artery, and the rough stuff seems to continue all the way to Tramway. It is amazing to me that it continues so far out into the periphery of the city far from downtown. (To some extent, Central on the west side shares many of the same issues as far out as Unser)
I've been in NM for a decade. Fascinating and interesting stuff, from a historical and/or sociological urban perspective!
We have to get over using that term, local residents there resent it. I lived near there for 18 years, have friends there, and there is no war going on.
Wikipedia has a decent article on the history of the International District:
"In the 1960s, the area struggled economically after Kirtland transferred much of its personnel to on-base housing and Interstate 40 took most of the long-haul traffic away from Route 66. The International District's abundance of low-cost motels and apartments made it a landing place for immigrants and other newcomers to the city, including refugees from Southeast Asia (especially Vietnam) and later Central America. However, the neighborhood also attracted a significant amount of criminal activity, which led to its notoriety as the "War Zone" by the late 1980s. A 1991 article from the Albuquerque Journal described East Central as "a loose-jointed carnival of sex, drugs and booze" with drug dealers and prostitutes operating openly. Violent crime was a problem as well, with 34 homicides recorded in southeast Albuquerque in 1996 (more than half of the city's total) and 11 in Trumbull Village alone. In 1997, the city put up barricades in the neighborhood to make it harder for criminals to get in and out.
"Eventually, thanks in part to efforts by neighborhood residents, the crime rate decreased and the barricades were removed. In 2009, residents who resented the War Zone name persuaded city leaders to officially re-brand the area as the International District, highlighting its diverse community rather than crime."
Not because of the "war zone." We loved the area, but our 1950's house was getting old and after I retired I didn't need to be close to work. So we looked for a newer house that would be lower maintenance and moved to a newer development in the NE. There was also the airport/KAFB noise in the SE part of town that grated on us after a while, especially after the Ospreys moved in.
Not because of the "war zone." We loved the area, but our 1950's house was getting old and after I retired I didn't need to be close to work. So we looked for a newer house that would be lower maintenance and moved to a newer development in the NE. There was also the airport/KAFB noise in the SE part of town that grated on us after a while, especially after the Ospreys moved in.
Makes sense. I'm always interested in why people leave a neighborhood in the city. A lot of people say bigger yard but not always.
Of course, the original houses from that era in the SE part of town need a lot of updating. They generally have tiny bathrooms (by current standards), 1-car garages, and swamp coolers. The plumbing and electrical can be dicey. But the nice part is they have hardwood floors (over a crawl space) and larger yards with mature landscaping.
The house there suited us well at first and we considered it our "starter home". We stayed longer than we intended because we liked the area, and it's very bikeable. Eighteen years is a long time to stay in one house!
As a history guy from back East who is used to rough city neighborhoods being in rundown neighborhoods very near downtown with buildings a hundred years old (or more), Albuquerque's "war zone" is an interesting study:
1) When did it start to "get worse?"
2) What caused the downward slide? The only thing I can figure is proximity to military base apartments: common in towns/cities with cheap military offsite housing.
3) I'm still getting used to "bad neighborhoods" west of the Mississippi. In the War Zone, the housing is all postwar, ranches, no falling-down tenements or mid-rise storefronts and apartments like in Chicago or Cleveland, long bombed out and abandoned and very, very old, with some neighborhoods having been ghettos for nearly a century or more. In contrast, some houses look only 40-50 years old in the War Zone, almost suburban in style.
4) was it "White Flight?" If so, when and why? Or was it always an immigrant center, an "International District" since the beginning?
5) the neighborhood seems to have Central as its main artery, and the rough stuff seems to continue all the way to Tramway. It is amazing to me that it continues so far out into the periphery of the city far from downtown. (To some extent, Central on the west side shares many of the same issues as far out as Unser)
I've been in NM for a decade. Fascinating and interesting stuff, from a historical and/or sociological urban perspective!
Ok, so number 4, it seems you don't know the history of the area if you think there could be a "white flight" from the downtown area.
Number 3 - the air force housing is further east and a bit further north than the "war zone". Why don't you do some research and see who actuallly founded Albuquerque and who lived in the dodwntown area 100 years ago. There is no such thing as "white flight" in New Mexico, some of us might wish there was and that the flight might go as far as back to Texas/Missouri or where ever you came from.
Number 5 - Central was the main artery until I-40 and I-25 replaced route 66.
Number 3 - of course, it is a culture shock for people to move from the cities east of the Missisppi to anywhere west of Texas.
We have to get over using that term, local residents there resent it. I lived near there for 18 years, have friends there, and there is no war going on.
Wikipedia has a decent article on the history of the International District:
Of course there is not a war going one. You are being pedantic and you know it.
I have a ton of family in the area. Most have been there since at least the 70's and some even earlier. Do they like the term "War Zone"? Of course not. Do they know how it came about? Of course and don't get all bent out of shape because of it. They know that the area is the worst area in the city for crime and they also know that it is getting progressively worse. Even for me, someone who grew up in east LA, the International District, aka "War Zone" makes the hairs on my neck stand up.
Probably I-40 being built killed Route 66 or Central Ave.
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