Do not move to abq.. Avoid at all costs !!! (Albuquerque: insurance, violent crime)
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I just left ABQ after a 3 year stint and all I can say is whatever you do.. DO NOT COME TO ABQ !! Consider this a public service announcement.. If you value your safety and that of your family stay away from New Mexico..especially ABQ !! The city is completely WRETCHED !!! Crime ridden is the understatement of the century! There is an entire portion of the city known as the WAR ZONE...Every single person I met had their home broken into or car stolen at least once. I had to sleep with a loaded AR-15 next to my bed with my bedroom door locked because the threat of home invasion is so high. My girlfriend put it like this.."The crime is not so bad my house has only gotten broken into once, my neighbor has gotten broken into 6 times but its his fault he keeps replacing all his stuff"
And that is the problem with ABQ they blame the victim.. when your car windows get bashed in they say "oh its your fault because you left something on your seat" I'm sorry that does not give you the right to violate someone's property. In Albuquerque they literally steal everything.. every year during Christmas our mail boxes were broken into and the mail stolen because people are looking for gift cards and personal ID. Forget about having packages delivered to your home the neighbors will steal them off your front porch. I met an uber driver who told me that just last year someone stole his mail and wrote themselves a $5000 cash advance on his credit card. The bank did not ask for ID and the thief cashed it personally..
Why is the crime so bad well lets see.. ABQ has some of the worst schools in the country. The majority of the population is uneducated and there are no jobs. The city has imposed a gross receipts tax on businesses making it unfriendly to small business. ABQ police are so overworked and undermanned that they can't possibly keep up. If you have a traffic accident the police are not coming.. they are to busy chasing drug dealers, gang members and murders. My girlfriend worked for the local news and she told me that they stopped reporting all the murders and violent crime because there were just too many.
The people of Albuquerque are extremely unfriendly..Being from the south, when I first moved into my neighborhood I knocked on my neighbors doors and introduced myself.. everyone of them looked at me like I was crazy. In 3 years living in that neighborhood I had one person wave hello.. most of the time they just stare at you.
ABQ drivers are the worst ever.. Don't even think about putting you blinker on to make a lane change.. that is a challenge to the next guys machismo and they will speed up to block you. They would rather put you in a ditch then allow you to get over or change lanes. Then comes the yellow/red light nonsense.. A yellow light is like dropping the checkered flag at the indy 500.. don't even think about slowing down. Running Red lights is a local pastime in ABQ and its so bad that when I went to my first day of work they had to show us a video and tell us that its not uncommon to have 5-7 cars run the red light after it changes.. they were not exaggerating. This leads to the next problem.. nobody has insurance and therefore your insurance rates are sky high. ABQ is a sanctuary city meaning people flow into the city illegally and then are given drivers licenses and allowed to vote.. How do they vote you may ask well it is illegal to show an ID to vote.. All you have to do is give a name and an address and that is good enough.
The climate is hostile to your existence. ABQ is roughly 5000-6000 ft elevation and extremely dry which leads to dry sinuses, bloody noses and dry stinging red eyes. The New Mexico eye as I affectionately call it usually sets in overnight so you wake up the next morning with one eye swollen and red and stinging which causes you to have to live on visine. IF you come from sea level expect to feel light headed and dizzy for a few weeks to a few months. The sun has a brightness 10x everything you could possibly be used to and will burn your retinas out on your daily commute and at sun set.
Last but not least the unholy obsession with red or green chile..they pollute EVERYTHING with it. It DOES NOT go in Ice Cream people !! Its so bad that you can't go to a potluck or get invited over to someone's house and eat normal food.. green chile in mack and cheese.. green chili in every ****ing thing!! I went to a chili cook off at work and expected to see a tomato base chili and beef and beans.. nope New Mexico chili is ****ing white with corn and white beans and tastes nothing like chili.
So to summarize, CRIME, Drugs, unfriendly people, terrible food, hostile climate. STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!!!
I Just feel bad for the military guys who are forced to come here.. you will just have to keep your head down and enjoy the suck..try not to become a victim.
I know the OP is a troll because he mentioned terrible food.
Actually, chili is one of the bright spots in ABQ. I like it.
And 2nd , the weather/ climate is great in ABQ, and most of NM in general. I'd much rather have the dry weather, than the sickening humidity of the east and Gulf coast areas.
Sorry the OP had such a miserable [supposedly] experience.
The climate is hostile to your existence. ABQ is roughly 5000-6000 ft elevation and extremely dry which leads to dry sinuses, bloody noses and dry stinging red eyes. The New Mexico eye as I affectionately call it usually sets in overnight so you wake up the next morning with one eye swollen and red and stinging which causes you to have to live on visine.
I think the "New Mexico eye" you are encountering may be caused by what you are eating, drinking and or smoking....
I know the OP is a troll because he mentioned terrible food.
Actually, chili is one of the bright spots in ABQ. I like it.
And 2nd , the weather/ climate is great in ABQ, and most of NM in general. I'd much rather have the dry weather, than the sickening humidity of the east and Gulf coast areas.
Sorry the OP had such a miserable [supposedly] experience.
Exactly. My life consists of periods of time between trips to NM.....
I know the OP is a troll because he mentioned terrible food.
Actually, chili is one of the bright spots in ABQ. I like it.
And 2nd , the weather/ climate is great in ABQ, and most of NM in general. I'd much rather have the dry weather, than the sickening humidity of the east and Gulf coast areas.
Sorry the OP had such a miserable [supposedly] experience.
I agree with the OP, that chili in EVERYTHING gets old fast, to outsiders. The food co-op puts chili even in recipes that normally are not SW recipes. They think they need to do that, in order for their prepared foods to sell. I knew the owner of a small Russian restaurant, who said the same thing; he had to Southwest-ify his recipes, adding black beans, tomato and chili to his Russian dishes. I told him, "This isn't Russian food!" And he acted helpless, as if caught in the grip of overwhelming public demand. At least the Chinese restaurants haven't caved.
As to the medical issues the OP mentioned, dry-eye problems and ear-nose-throat problems are widely acknowledged by primary care doctors and ENT specialists as being endemic to the Southwest.
Still, for me in Santa Fe, the town has enough to offer, and is orderly enough, relatively speaking, that it's worth whatever minor medical discomforts the dry environment may cause. I think the OP should try Santa Fe, before he gives up on NM altogether. He could even keep his job, and commute; plenty of people make the reverse commute daily, for jobs in SF.
But it sounds like it's too late to persuade him; he's made up his mind.
Just for the record (in case someone considering a move did not already take the OP with a mound of salt), here has been my personal experience.
1. I have never had my house or car broken into. I have lived here for 10 years. I live in a "good" area of town though (about as far NE as you can get), have a security system, and park my cars in my garage. Over the past 10 years, I have heard stories from two of my acquaintances who have personally experienced an attempted home invasion, and I don't recall hearing any first hand accounts of car break-ins.
2. I agree that the state of the public school systems is sad. I'm not sure that unemployment is a bigger issue here than most places though.
3. My husband has been in a car accident (rear ended) and a witness to another. In both cases the police were fairly responsive. I agree that drivers tend to run red lights like it is their job and are otherwise mediocre drivers.
4. My neighbors in both of the neighborhoods I have lived in are friendly (i.e. wave and smile) but are not very close. Over the course of time we got to know our immediate neighbors in our last neighborhood and we did things for each other like close garages if they were accidentally left open, pull in trash bins while out of town, etc. Neighborly, but I wouldn't consider them my friends. In our new neighborhood, we mostly smile and wave but have had brief chats with all of our immediate neighborhoods and some others in the neighborhood who we met at the neighborhood park. We even received welcome to the neighborhood cookies from one of our neighbors. I think this is very neighborhood and person specific.
5. It is super-dry here. I don't have a huge problem with it (a bit of dry skin, my hair loves it though) but my husband's hands get really dry and my son can get bloody noses. A whole house humidifier + regular lotion application helps a lot, especially in the winter.
6. Even though I never tried green chili before coming here, I like it. I eat it occasionally and have never felt that I can't get away from it. I think you have to look really hard to find a place that sells green chili on ice cream.
I don't love Albuquerque like some people do (I wouldn't live here if my husband and I didn't have great jobs here). I don't hate it either though. There are definitely many pros to living here. Albuquerque has great year-round weather that is perfect for getting outside a lot, good cost of living, and a nice city size balance (big enough to have most of the amenities/comforts you want but small enough not to have the crazy big city traffic and prices). I am not blind to the drawbacks though. The education system is concerning, crime is high but thankfully most of it is concentrated in certain areas, and it takes 6+ hours to drive to a true big city (Denver, Phoenix, etc.) so it feels very isolated and takes 1+ stops to fly anywhere. It's not for everyone, but isn't the dump the OP makes it out to be either.
Last but not least the unholy obsession with red or green chile..they pollute EVERYTHING with it. It DOES NOT go in Ice Cream people !! Its so bad that you can't go to a potluck or get invited over to someone's house and eat normal food.. green chile in mack and cheese.. green chili in every ****ing thing!! I went to a chili cook off at work and expected to see a tomato base chili and beef and beans.. nope New Mexico chili is ****ing white with corn and white beans and tastes nothing like chili.
oh man that is my favorite part about NM and CO-we miss it dearly now living in FL. Trying to grow our own Hatch over this winter in FL.
I studied in Soccorro and went up to the U of NM campus a couple times. There some pretty rough parts of town I would concur heading up to COSTCO, but my wife and I enjoyed the time we spent there visiting.
I really miss the food-nothing like it
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