What is it about Río Rancho? (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: homes, neighborhoods)

[vegaspilgrim]

I keep hearing a lot of people say that Rio Rancho has no southwestern "flavor." I'm not really sure what these people are talking about, I don't see it like that at all.

Here were some pictures of RR from my photo tour, http://www.city-data.com/forum/albuq...buquerque.html:



Yeah, let's just discount one of metro Albuquerque's biggest employers. Don't want to bite the hand that feeds you:


This place has AWESOME "southwestern flavored" food:




Here's the dirt roads everybody keeps talking about:


Here's a nice, mature neighborhood in RR with a lot of southwestern character, IMO:











The edge of the sprawl:

[berncohomes]

Vegas - where did you take those photo's of the mature neighborhood?

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by berncohomes

Vegas - where did you take those photo's of the mature neighborhood?

I don't remember exactly where for sure. I know it was just a little bit west of Rio Rancho Blvd, definitely north of Intel... beyond that the names and addresses are fuzzy.

[nmguy]

One thing that concerns me about RR is the fact that it will be the largest city in New Mexico in the not-too-distant future.

Where are the plans for infrastructure? How are people going to get in and out during rush hour? Will brackish water quench the thirst of all the folks who live there? What will local taxes be like?

[AlisonL]

I have to go with EnjoyEP 100%. Who gives a damn.

We're in our early 50s, living in RR, and we like it here. We have a 4.5 yr old grandson who lives with us.

We don't want to live in the middle of ABQ, its not required for us. We do not need to be "where the action is" ie clubs, bars or whatever.

Not everyone WANTS to live in the middle of the city. I hate cities as a whole, but I love ABQ.

We like living in RR, due to its openness. I am one street away from the desert and love it. I can walk out there any time I want and the only ones I might see are some cows.

Am I defending RR? No, but dammit, I will defend MY RIGHT to live where I want to live. Not where someone else thinks I should live. I am still holding out hope that my husband might get transferred to Grants. That is more like the area we want to live in.

So until I give someone else permission to run my life, then I will live where I damn well please.

[abqsunport]

Originally Posted by nmguy

One thing that concerns me about RR is the fact that it will be the largest city in New Mexico in the not-too-distant future.

Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! Good Luck:

Albuquerque: 518,271
Las Cruces: 89,722
Las Cruces Metro: 198,791
Rio Rancho: 75,978

Ha, You got a ways to go to catch the rapidly growing Albuquerque. I am not going to say it is impossible, but keep in mind that Mesa Del Sol will put another 100,000 in the city limits and if the city annexes Sun Cal's westside project, you can add another 30,000 homes.

I like Rio Rancho, but it has a ways to go to be New Mexico's top dog.

[nmguy]

You may be right abqsunport, but remember: Rio Rancho owns land that stretches halfway to Cuba.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Originally Posted by abqsunport

Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! Good Luck:

Ha, You got a ways to go to catch the rapidly growing Albuquerque. I am not going to say it is impossible, but keep in mind that Mesa Del Sol will put another 100,000 in the city limits and if the city annexes Sun Cal's westside project, you can add another 30,000 homes.

I like Rio Rancho, but it has a ways to go to be New Mexico's top dog.

[abqsunport]

I agree, indeed it will. It will be interesting to see the metro 30 years down the road.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by nmguy

One thing that concerns me about RR is the fact that it will be the largest city in New Mexico in the not-too-distant future.

No it won't. Ever (or at least for a century). Albuquerque will lay claim on that title for a very, very long time.

I do think that it is obvious that RR will be the 3rd largest city in NM...and it'll probably rival Las Cruces for #2 although I think with 'Cruces growth and - due to its ideal geographic setting - will probably continue to be bigger than Rio Rancho.

Originally Posted by nmguy

Where are the plans for infrastructure?

This is an issue that most any quickly-growing-suburb / booming town - especially in the US Sunbelt - faces.

It'll certainly be a challenge, and that'll be why it'll be incredibly important for the citizens of Rio Rancho to elect good, competent, pro-smart-growth leaders. Elections matter, and you can't put head-in-the-sand boobs in office. You have to realize that you have a gem of a town where many people desire to be, and plan for infrastructure and growth accordingly - in ways that protect the element of the town but still allow for ease of access, etc.

And hand-in-hand with this is that the citizens of both ABQ and RR need to get past this ridiculous / absurd almost-fued-like "competition". Seriously. ABQ's elected leaders will play a vital role in this too - Mayor on down.

Seriously...go to much bigger towns like Denver or Chicago. In these towns, the efficient synergies between suburbs and city need to be present, because in many cases, the suburbs are almost as big as the city and are numerous (20 or 25 "Rio Ranchos"). Leaders need to realize that people don't view "Atlanta" as "Atlanta city"...no, they view "Atlanta" as "Atlanta metro area". Same for Denver. Population wise, Aurora (suburb of Denver) isn't terribly smaller than Denver itself (I think in the range of 350,000 to 550,000). But you don't think as an outsider of "Aurora, CO"...you think of "Denver".

Inter-connected suburbs of cities are just as important in several ways to the city as the city itself is unto itself.

Originally Posted by nmguy

How are people going to get in and out during rush hour?

I was in RR all the time during rush hour and never had a lick of a problem. Were there substantial delays occasionally? Sure. However, I live just north of the land of Chicagoland where I hear of 3-hour backups from some burbs to the city and vice/versa during rush hour...RR isn't even in that same league.

I guess my quesiton here is:

If people would be concerned about rush hour commuting, and it would be a big concern, then yes, no one is forcing them to live in RR. Some in RR are retirees that just don't drive during rush hour (or other). Some in RR (yes, believe it or not) are bikers. Some work in off-hours and don't commute during rush hour. Some work at home and don't ever encounter "rush hour". And some just don't mind some longer drives.

Like most towns, everything is a tradeoff. For folks that want to work deep and far away from Rio Rancho but commute during rush hour, then that'll be something they'll just have to deal with living there. We all have choices on where to live. I should know, I am living in Milwaukee right now, wishing I'd have stayed in ABQ. However, I made my choice.

Originally Posted by nmguy

Will brackish water quench the thirst of all the folks who live there?

Water is always a hot button word in the Desert Southwest. People get always all up in arms about it.

Look, I am no regional water authority or expert, however, I do strongly believe that if Albuquerque and its 500K residents or Phoenix or Tucson or Scottsdale or Las Cruces or Socorro or El Paso can find a way, surely RR will find a way too. Will they need to be smart about it? Absolutely. Will they need to treat water as a precious resource? Absolutely.

Originally Posted by nmguy

What will local taxes be like?

That is strictly up to the voters of Rio Rancho eg: Rio Rancho's citizens. They decide that and decide that alone based upon who they decide to elect into office. Elections matter.

They could elect fiscal conservatives into office who treat tax dollars like water in the desert - a precious, limited commodity - run efficient-but-lean services, and keep tax dollars very low. Or, they could elect spenders who'll have higher taxes but more elaborate, sexy services.

It'll be all up to Rio Rancho voters. But remember all you no-growthers...the bigger the tax base, the lower taxes are unless you elect those that choose to raise taxes irrespectively.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

I keep hearing a lot of people say that Rio Rancho has no southwestern "flavor."

Well, after all of my ranting and raving, the thing is, I *sort of* understand where those folks are coming from.

Again, when it was time for my wife and I to buy a house in ABQ, my wife totally was more pro-buying in the NW Albuquerque / Rio Rancho area due to the bang for your housing dollar, the relative newness of the homes (we aren't handymen at all), etc. However, I really pushed hard for a smaller, older home in the Northeast Heights and that's where we ended up in an area around Osuna Rd. and Wyoming Blvd.

We a) lost out on size, b) had more maintenance issues and less efficient heating/cooling, and c) lived in a less-family-oriented neighborhood. But the tradeoff to me was (and still is) worth it, as you lived amongst more - here is where I agree with Rybert's reference to history - etablished homes, neighborhoods, infrastructure, restaurants, etc. I will fully admit that the older sections of ABQ have much more "character" than, say, Rio Rancho.

But again, it is all a tradeoff. To say that Rio Rancho has "no southwestern flavor" is a misnomer. Compared to much of Albuquerque? Sure, it is much more - IN GENERAL - cookie-cutter, bland, etc. Albuquerque's been around 300+ years...Rio Rancho essentially since the 1980s. One would expect this.

But to say it has no southwestern flavor somehow would imply that a) no cacti grow in Rio Rancho, b) no roadrunners gallop around in Rio Rancho, c) none of that glorious desert sunshine shines 300+ days a year in Rio Rancho, d) one can't fully enjoy the beautiful, bountiful glory of the Sandia Mountains or the West Mesa or the Petroglyphs from RR, e) one can't experience all of the desert sunrises / sunsets from RR, f) one can't eat and acquire gobs of chile in RR, ....and....here is the real kicker...g) one can't drive the 10 to 30 minutes to get anywhere the heck into Albuquerque they want; I mean heck, if you live on Tramway and Spain in Albuquerque, you have to drive that to get down to UNM / Nob Hill, right?

Sure, Rio Rancho is what it is - a very nice, relatively safe, clean, new rapidly growing suburb of Albuquerque. It was inevitable though. Growth was going to come to the gem that is the area of Albuquerque - and whatever that new growth was, in whatever burb they would've called the place - it wasn't going to be as "colorful" or "flavored" as the aged and historic city.

But to act like if you move into Rio Rancho all of a sudden you are moving into a surburb of Cincinnati or Portland is just false.