Fearful (Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe: renting, public schools, college)

[leavingaizona]

I lived I Albuquerque for 20 years. There are better parts of town than others. I was told once that if you live in sertan parts you can't get home inshurance. The west side seems to be growing the fastest and feels relitivly safe. Albuqueque is close enough to the bourder to have bourder problems (Towns neer the canadion border have poblems to).

That being said, I spent much of my teenage years downtouwn at night and never had a problem. But my old junky car got stollen from my quiet nighberhood in the hights.

If your gut is telling this city is to dangorous, than definatly listen.

[katavar]

Wow. "Fearful" really opened a vein! I lived in Albuquerque last summer and fall. I loved it. I'm a single older woman, white. I don't know why some (many evidently) people get racist unfriendly responses from people here. I totally did not. I road the busses, and walked. I lived near the university and near Central--which is where I wanted to live. I met a few people, and among them both Hispanic and "First Nations" people. I just felt like one of the people. I think there might be tension between Hispanic and Indian, but I don't know. And I didn't go out after dark...I didn't have my own car and I was alone, so it didn't seem smart to do that. I'm not sure the Albuquerque stats, but I think that when a white person who is not used to being a minority moves to a place where they are decidedly a minority--and some places in New Mexico you will be--I think its like visiting another country and its important to leave arrogance and ownership at home, and be respectful of the idigenous people. There's something else though. Albuquerque is located not only in a border state, but also at the junction fo two main freeways, "the Big I" its called. This location is a magnet for drug traffic and I'm sure the crime rate is high because of that, and probably only that. Live where you want to live, pay attention, make friends, choose where to hang out and with whom, be nice, be a respectful, loving, person, and forget fear, its useless, maybe even worse than useless, might even set you up for trouble.

[MOHIllbillyWoman]

It is easy to fall in love with NM from a visit. Living here is a whole 'nother part of the problem. YES, there most certainly is racism and it runs rampant in the whole state. My goodness, even the governor, who happens to be running for President, said that he is Latin o first and foremost. He has dual citizenship with our country and Mexico, which happens to be where he was raised. The governor is very intelligent and a damn good n egotiator and for that I give him kudos, but when he flat out tells people that he is Latino first then he has lost any and all confidence in him as a non-racist person.

There is gang and crime all over this state and of course we must not forget the drunk driving problem in the state. I mean, ev en plenty of the judges get caught driving drunk and using drugs. The racism and such is blatant and in your face and they don't care what anyone thinks about it either. The worse part of the whole state is the blatant graft that goes on throughout the whole state. Now, we all know that politicians and government employees have always been part of the graft system, no matter what state of the country, but here it is just in your face and it seems the majority of them are into some sort of crime.

Now, when it comes to illegals...the whole state is basically a sanctuary state, in that they will not go out of their way to arrest and deport illegals. They are knowingly hired anywhere in the state, and this includes places like White Sands Missile Range and such as that.

If anyone is planning on moving here then I would suggest that you rent for a while so you can leave if you decide it is not for you. Otherwise, you may lose lots of money. Just know that you need to have your eyes wide open if you do move here because it is not what it seems at first glance and the people who have said that they have never seen racism, the kind toward white people, are either lying or quite blinded to what the facts are in this state.

[designer]

Albuquerque is not user friendly. I think we all pretty much agree on that
but there are some smaller towns in New Mexico that are really scary.
I just talked to some people in Tucson the other day and they asked where
I lived and they said they had a very bad experience here in New Mexico.
Someone sideswiped their car and then came and beat up the man with
a ball bat. The police came and told them they were lucky that they were not killed and said they should leave town and soon. This was in Taos which
I thought was quite laid back but these people said they will go to great lengths not to even drive through New Mexico. You really should consider
renting before buying a house here. I have lived here for a little over three
years and at first I couldn't figure out why some many people were really
down on NM. I guess I'm a little slow as I am now getting the big picture.
Now I'm parinoid and think everyplace might be this way. This is the land of
drugs and political corruption big time. I hope other places are better.
Maybe the northern midwest???

Good luck.

[mortimer]

Northern Midwest? Do you mean, uh like, Chama?
... or closer to Dulce?

[LLD]

Well goodness I see this thread is still going.... I'll just put in some positives here. I've been living here almost three years and found Albuquerque and the surrounding area to be as safe as most other cities it's size. And the people are friendly. Is there some crime and racism? Sure. But it is NOT rampant or out of control as some seem to be implying here. As to illegals, New Mexico is a border state and like all border states is going to have more issues than some other states. But believe me illegal immigration is NOT unique to New Mexico either.

People must make their own assessments of a place. I've lived in several towns and cities in various states and I feel perfectly safe and welcome in Albuquerque as I have everywhere else I've lived which includes Houston and the DC Metro area.

I would caution anyone reading some of the extremely negative threads on city-data to take things with a grain of salt. I've seen very negative posts in many of the forums that seem to have a theme -- crime, racism, illegals etc. If every place were as bad as some claim, there would be no good places in America left -- and there are plenty of good, safe, friendly places in America and that includes most of Albuquerque. There are so called "bad parts of town with high crime" in every medium to large size city in the country.

All this said, I'm not taking away from anyone's experience of being victims of crime or racism etc. because of course that happens. It is unfortunate but a reality. And when those things happen, they definitely affect people and their attitudes. But there is no utopia that I'm aware of.

[6 FOOT 3]

Originally Posted by MORedneckWoman

It is easy to fall in love with NM from a visit. Living here is a whole 'nother part of the problem. YES, there most certainly is racism and it runs rampant in the whole state. My goodness, even the governor, who happens to be running for President, said that he is Latin o first and foremost. He has dual citizenship with our country and Mexico, which happens to be where he was raised. The governor is very intelligent and a damn good n egotiator and for that I give him kudos, but when he flat out tells people that he is Latino first then he has lost any and all confidence in him as a non-racist person.

There is gang and crime all over this state and of course we must not forget the drunk driving problem in the state. I mean, ev en plenty of the judges get caught driving drunk and using drugs. The racism and such is blatant and in your face and they don't care what anyone thinks about it either. The worse part of the whole state is the blatant graft that goes on throughout the whole state. Now, we all know that politicians and government employees have always been part of the graft system, no matter what state of the country, but here it is just in your face and it seems the majority of them are into some sort of crime.

Now, when it comes to illegals...the whole state is basically a sanctuary state, in that they will not go out of their way to arrest and deport illegals. They are knowingly hired anywhere in the state, and this includes places like White Sands Missile Range and such as that.

If anyone is planning on moving here then I would suggest that you rent for a while so you can leave if you decide it is not for you. Otherwise, you may lose lots of money. Just know that you need to have your eyes wide open if you do move here because it is not what it seems at first glance and the people who have said that they have never seen racism, the kind toward white people, are either lying or quite blinded to what the facts are in this state.

I didn't know that Missouri is a haven of Pureness itself.

I'ved lived here since 1970's as a kid and never seen RAMPANT racism as you suggest. Yeah there's racism anywhere including East St.Louis and Missouri also.

Secondly Gov Richardson is not Racist because he's stating he's Latino...its called Pandering as we in NM know his tactics well...

Sure there's gangs and drugs and crime here just like East St.Lous and Kansas City and Missouri in general.

As far as illegals...... they work picking Chilli Peppers, Pecans and labors as Roofers and at the Dairies.Most want to leave here as the wages are too low for them here along the border. Where at White Sands missle range are they thriving...as dishwashers at the EM club or landscapers??

Do we have problems here in New Mexico...YES...but i'd look real good at your own state of Missouri before judging us here.....

[MOHIllbillyWoman]

Listen harry-o, I understand that you feel the need to protect your state, but the facts are exactly what many of have said about it and even worse because most of us have held back to be nice. The facts are that Richardson is indeed racist and that would be why he said he was willing to give Gonzales more than a few chances. He stated himself that Gonzales was a Latino and because of that should have more chances than others. That was very racist and I know you must have read or heard that statement from him, especially since the local news stations reported on it.

I don't care what the illegals do. The fact that they are illegal is all that is necessary to know. They are criminals and nothing else. In fact, I can show a number of illegals in the Las Cruces area where they hav e fine construction jobs making darn good money and living rather nicely.

BRW, I do look at my state of Missouri and I let them know when I see something that seems out of line or wrong in some way. That does not seem to be anything you and many others do. In fact, you seem to make excuses for your state and all that is wrong with it.

[MOHIllbillyWoman]

The best thing about NM is the green chili and it is addicting, to say the least. There are plenty of great things about the state but it really bothers me when people try to say that things are not what so many say they are.

[designer]

Well said MOredneckwoman. I think a lot of what you have said is true but
I also agree with a lot of what the others are saying as well. I also think
that LLD has it right about almost all mid to large metro areas have their
problems. I think one should look at it city by city and see how they stack up. What I see missing here in new mexico is a good supply of hi tech corporate employers. I know Albuquerque is forging ahead with some nice
newer companies but most of the other cities or towns have not. Santa Fe
is all about tourism for the most part and Las Cruces is mostly about retired
people and some high tech at White Sands. Most of the other towns here in
new mexico are pretty much poverty stricken. I was in Socorro today and if
it wasn't for the tech college there I'm not sure how it's economy would survive. I could be wrong but I think a lot more mid to high paying jobs
could help this state a lot. Maybe the spaceport will help the southern part
of the state where I live but many here think it will be a bust. I guess time
will tell.