Albuquerque number 1 for business... (Rio Rancho: buying, store, office)

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by Informer

Oh, you're one of *those* people.

If you mean, "*those* people now proven correct," then yes, I am.

Originally Posted by Informer

I appologize for disturbing you.

I'm in no way disturbed. Chill, mon.

[Informer]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

If you mean, "*those* people now proven correct," then yes, I am.

I'm in no way disturbed. Chill, mon.

Cool.

I never said I didn't concur with your statistics - however, they are just statistics that are NOT endemic to Albuquerque only (every cities local media assures us of that fact) and its only one slice of a large statistical pie of which there are many slices.

In general it all amounts to what you personally want to deal with and what you left behind or want to leave behind.

I just get annoyed at people trumpeting all the doom and gloom.

I also comprehend that it's not a personal attack on myself but on the city of which I'am a citizen of.

You would swear that after reading some of these threads that this city is nothing more then a culdren of corruption and crime. Which is not a fair assessment of the whole.


Cheers...

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by Informer

In general it all amounts to what you personally want to deal with and what you left behind or want to leave behind.

Very true. There are definitely nice parts of Albuquerque if you're fortunate enough to have enough money to live there. But it's just not my cup o' tea. I can get more bang for my buck elsewhere. But everyone's situation is different. To each his own.

Originally Posted by Informer

You would swear that after reading some of these threads that this city is nothing more then a culdren of corruption and crime. Which is not a fair assessment of the whole.

Of course it isn't. But, in regard to its population, Albuquerque does have a pretty severe crime problem that seems to be getting worse. It's certainly no Detroit or South Central L.A., but I've certainly been to places that I would recommend far and above Albuquerque. But again, everyone's situation is different and my own likes and dislikes may not jibe with someone else's.

And most of the corruption is in Santa Fe.

[Disenchanted]

Crime is a subtheme of this thread.
Informer, could you address the matter of jail over-crowding throughout the state? My observation is that "if you build, it they will come". when a local government builds a new facility tripling the capacity, it is filled to capacity (and more) within months.
Please discuss.

[Informer]

Originally Posted by Disenchanted

Crime is a subtheme of this thread.
Informer, could you address the matter of jail over-crowding throughout the state? My observation is that "if you build, it they will come". when a local government builds a new facility tripling the capacity, it is filled to capacity (and more) within months.
Please discuss.

Well, I will admit that I'am certainly no expert on criminal justice - I may take a stab at it. (pun-not intended)...

I'am going to go out on a very limber limb on this one.

- Fear - I whole-heartedly believe it's fear. The incaceration rate I believe is 60 - 70 percent for non-violent offenders, many of these people are in jail for just holding ( drugs), or who are unfortunate to have a drug problem. We should be incarcerating people we are fearful of ( violent-offenders ) not the people with values we do not approve of.

Also the general public demands that something be done about crime - so we
construct more "holding facilities" to contain the above mentioned.

Violent - offenders should be contained and not the other way around. This should free up the "holding facilities" and ease over crowding.

Also if I may elude to another fact - the incaceration system is being privatized. This means it's metamorphosing into a business. Business equates to - must make money. The "holding facilities" are thus filled with mostly non-violent offenders. Thus, we need more facilities - and so on, and so on.

Like it or not - criminal justice is turning into big business.

Capitalism in the USA - you have to admire it and scorn it equally.

[Disenchanted]

Originally Posted by Informer

Well, I will admit that I'am certainly no expert on criminal justice - I may take a stab at it. (pun-not intended)...

I'am going to go out on a very limber limb on this one.

- Fear - I whole-heartedly believe it's fear. The incaceration rate I believe is 60 - 70 percent for non-violent offenders, many of these people are in jail for just holding ( drugs), or who are unfortunate to have a drug problem. We should be incarcerating people we are fearful of ( violent-offenders ) not the people with values we do not approve of.

Also the general public demands that something be done about crime - so we
construct more "holding facilities" to contain the above mentioned.

Violent - offenders should be contained and not the other way around. This should free up the "holding facilities" and ease over crowding.

Also if I may elude to another fact - the incaceration system is being privatized. This means it's metamorphosing into a business. Business equates to - must make money. The "holding facilities" are thus filled with mostly non-violent offenders. Thus, we need more facilities - and so on, and so on.

Like it or not - criminal justice is turning into big business.

Capitalism in the USA - you have to admire it and scorn it equally.

Upon what do you base some of your notions? Do you know how much it costs a local government in NM to house a prisoner? Are you aware of the many diversion programs in place in the criminal justice system? Probation and rehab are far more common than incarceration. The cities and counties are going broke housing prisoners. Even with the increased privatization, the costs are enormous, and local (not state, but I'm sure the pressure there is as great) work very hard with the prosecutors to keep the numbers down for incarceration. A local government can contract with a private jail corporation for $92.50 per day. Many local lock ups, still run by the local government and not a mega-corp, are under federal orders to keep numbers down as numbers greatly impact prisoner safety and prisoner constitutional rights to just incarceration.
How does your capitalizm theory jive with this?

BTW -

One skill that must be mastered is the correct use of the English language. IMHO it is the most powerful tool anyone can use.

Money, some have it - some don't...big deal.

"However - lack of "it" (money) is no excuse for being like an unemployed school teacher, - No Class."

My above statement is not a personal attack on anyone just a statement.

Also I'am one of the - "some-don'ts"...

You mispelled "Cauldron" in another thread.

[Informer]

Originally Posted by Disenchanted

Upon what do you base some of your notions? Do you know how much it costs a local government in NM to house a prisoner? Are you aware of the many diversion programs in place in the criminal justice system? Probation and rehab are far more common than incarceration. The cities and counties are going broke housing prisoners. Even with the increased privatization, the costs are enormous, and local (not state, but I'm sure the pressure there is as great) work very hard with the prosecutors to keep the numbers down for incarceration. A local government can contract with a private jail corporation for $92.50 per day. Many local lock ups, still run by the local government and not a mega-corp, are under federal orders to keep numbers down as numbers greatly impact prisoner safety and prisoner constitutional rights to just incarceration.
How does your capitalizm theory jive with this?

BTW -

One skill that must be mastered is the correct use of the English language. IMHO it is the most powerful tool anyone can use.

Money, some have it - some don't...big deal.

"However - lack of "it" (money) is no excuse for being like an unemployed school teacher, - No Class."

My above statement is not a personal attack on anyone just a statement.

Also I'am one of the - "some-don'ts"...

You mispelled "Cauldron" in another thread.

Ouch,

In my prior statement I did make it perfectly clear that I was no expert on criminal justice, I was just entertaining your challenge.

My ramblings above are just my personal views. I hope you can accept that. However, these problems are *not* endemic to NM, they happen to be a serious national crisis. Hopefully conditions will improve.

BTW - I appreciate the catch in my spelling, I'll be more careful in the future! Touche to you.

[ABQLifer]

Originally Posted by Informer

Greetings,

The latest issue of Forbes magazine has selected the city of Albuquerque, NM as the number 1 place for business.

This prestigious recognition will surely bring many more business upstarts and business expansions into the city as well as the state.

Two major hollywood studio deals are in the works which should bring a few thousand well paying jobs to the city.

Albuquerque's day has finally arrived.

Albuquerque (and the whole of New Mexico for the matter) has traditionally catered to big businesses by giving taxbreaks and other incentives to setup shop. However.....both the city and state have been burned by some of these companies as they have abruptly closed up and left or severely cut their workforce after making promises to create hundreds of jobs for people (Think AOL, Gateway or Philips Semiconductor). On the other hand, the city and state make it extremely hard for small businesses as they must still pay taxes and worker's comp without any incentives or taxbreaks despite their loyalty as longterm tenants. Therefore, ranking Albuquerque as #1 (for business) really depends on your point of view from which your business stems. Personally, I would like to see more support for the little guy instead of giving free lunch to the corporate giants all the time.

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by ABQLifer

Albuquerque (and the whole of New Mexico for the matter) has traditionally catered to big businesses by giving taxbreaks and other incentives to setup shop. However.....both the city and state have been burned by some of these companies as they have abruptly closed up and left or severely cut their workforce after making promises to create hundreds of jobs for people (Think AOL, Gateway or Philips Semiconductor). On the other hand, the city and state make it extremely hard for small businesses as they must still pay taxes and worker's comp without any incentives or taxbreaks despite their loyalty as longterm tenants. Therefore, ranking Albuquerque as #1 (for business) really depends on your point of view from which your business stems. Personally, I would like to see more support for the little guy instead of giving free lunch to the corporate giants all the time.

This practice (tax breaks for larger companies) is not only a basic "getting the most bang for your buck" tactic (lobby one company but get potentially several hundred jobs/taxpayers added to your community), but also one of survival. As you pointed out, a company can leave or just go under anytime. ABQ has to make competitive offers to attract new companies (like The Gap, Emcore, Tempurpedic) or keep others from leaving. This is a common practice across the USA, and unfortunately the game the city must play if it wants to grow.

Chap

[ABQLifer]

Originally Posted by Chaparral

This practice (tax breaks for larger companies) is not only a basic "getting the most bang for your buck" tactic (lobby one company but get potentially several hundred jobs/taxpayers added to your community), but also one of survival. As you pointed out, a company can leave or just go under anytime. ABQ has to make competitive offers to attract new companies (like The Gap, Emcore, Tempurpedic) or keep others from leaving. This is a common practice across the USA, and unfortunately the game the city must play if it wants to grow.

Chap

It is definitely a game the city must play....I agree. But the city needs to be more competent to avoid the losing side of these deals. For example, in the Philips Semiconductor fallout, the City of Albuqurque lost out badly:

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...4/daily21.html