Need safe place to live in ALbuquerque...help!!! (Rio Rancho, Ruidoso: condos, violent crime)

[6 FOOT 3]

I always roll my eyes when people say the area around Kirtland AFB is dangerous and terrified to live there. Yes there is some bad areas that i will tell you where not to live as i wouldn't live there either but there are also some nice areas arround there also.

My advice is not to live along the Central Ave and Zuni Ave corridor from San Pedro to Wyoming. Also the Trumbull neighborhood area south of Central/Zuni and east of Louisiana and lastly areas east of the State Fairgrounds.

But there are nice areas like Eubank and Juan Tabo south on the Manzano Mesa/ Four Hills area east of Kirtland and also the Ridgecrest area along Carlisle from Central Ave to Gibson Blvd. Even Gibson Blvd has vastly improved from I-25 to Kirtland over the last 10 years and even now with new apartments and shopping center currently under construction across from the Airport.

So if you want to live close to Kirtland AFB there are nice areas but looking at the A.M. bumper to bumper traffic on Gibson Blvd going to the base i assume alot live elsewhere in ABQ.

6/3

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by mortimer

I assume you meant Los Lunas. The town was named after a family of the same name - Luna. Luna is also the word for moon in Latin, Spanish, Italian, Romanian (lună) and kind-of French (lune).

Hey Mort -

Sound the DUMB QUESTION ALERT here!! But ol' EnjoyEP has a dumb one, and you seem like the type of fellow that might be able to give me the answer. I realize this is slightly off topic and I am a mod and thus should be setting a better example, however, since this thread was revived recently from a nearly 1 year hiatus, what the heck:

Why is is named "Los Lunas!? I don't know much Espanol, however, the little I do know is that "os" is a masculine ending and "as" is a feminine, and rarely would you throw them together like that; even my father-in-law, who does know Spanish quite well (but is not familiar really with ABQ other than visits) noted that he thought that was incorrect grammar.

Again though, we are somewhat dumb (very dumb?) to the language and the reasoning. Do you know why it was named as such with that grammar (other than "The Moons" meaning?).

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by 6/3

But there are nice areas like Eubank and Juan Tabo south on the Manzano Mesa/ Four Hills area east of Kirtland and also the Ridgecrest area along Carlisle from Central Ave to Gibson Blvd. Even Gibson Blvd has vastly improved from I-25 to Kirtland over the last 10 years and even now with new apartments and shopping center currently under construction across from the Airport.

Yep 6 FOOT, I couldn't agree more. In fact, when I am giving advice about ABQ, I need to remember these areas of ABQ as even I often omit them and I shouldn't. These are some of the really nice areas of ABQ, and especially for those working at SNL / the base, so convenient.

I know my one friend in ABQ ended up buying a virtually brand new house in a really nice new development area in far south-east ABQ (around Eubank) minutes from the base and was really happy with the area / the house, etc.

And Four Hills is great too.

Kudos 6 FOOT!!

[ziaAirmac]

I think mortimer already gave a clue in his original Los Lunas answer. In this case, although the word means moon, it's a family name. The town is named after the family and not moons. The families are referred to in the masculine.

[abqsunport]

It is Los because a family's name is mascaline (this was addressed in my freshmen year of high schools spanish class, and I still remember it like it was yesterday!). The city is not named after serval moons because it would be Las Lunas, and if it is just one family it should be El Luna. So why it is the plural verison of the luna family, that question will have to be answered by somebody else.

[mortimer]

abqsunport left us dangling a bit:

> ... one family it should be El Luna.

One member of the Luna family would also be El Luna wouldn't they?
Unless, of course the member was Adelaida Luna in which case, she would be La Luna, I assume.
( I assume, but I don't know for sure.)

> So why it is the plural verison of the luna family, that question will have to be answered by somebody else.

Wouldn't it be that there were many members of the Luna family living there.

In English: [The Lunas] live on that land grant.
In Spanish: [Los Lunas] ...

[ziaAirmac]

I guarantee it was due to the many individual Luna families in the area. They were powerful and prolific in Valencia County.

[abqsunport]

mortimer, you may be right about "The Lunas" but I was under the impression that formal spanish you always refer to the Lunas as The Family Luna or
"La familia luna". However, this is just a gander, I could be completely wrong.

[lisdol]

to pennie

Honestly, if you don't have school age kids, living on base is the best option for you. We turned down a 1600 sq ft townhome that would have been nice, if not a very tight squeeze for my family of 6. That was for NCO grade. Senior NCO and higher level officer (I can never get field and company grade straight) housing is larger.

We live out in Edgewood and my husband has a 60 mile per day commute. We love being out of the city, but gas is a big issue. I go to the commissary once a month for a big shopping trip and try to stay on this side of the mountains the rest of the time.

We chose to live out here so we could buy a house, not have to pay at least $4500/yr per kid for 3 kids to go to private school (b/c Sandia Base Elem and Van Buren Middle School were not acceptable choices for me), and give the kids lots of room to play.

If we had the cash to live in the city, I would probably pick Sandia Heights - but I know that is beyond our price range. It depends on your husband's rank and if you work how much rent or mortgage you would be able to afford.

[ChasP505]

Originally Posted by stupac

You should look into Rio Rancho, a suburb to the northwest of ABQ. It will be about a 30-40 minute commute for your husband, but it fits the bill for what you are describing.

Ditto this... There are many lovely NEW homes for sale or rent in the Cabezon community. It's divided into several smaller neighborhoods by several different quality builders. There are both single family homes and townhomes. It's MUCH more affordable than most of the east side of Albuquerque, a fairly quick commute to KAFB and all your shopping and services are right here!


BTW... One of the highest crime rate areas is right by KAFB.