Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm not sure about Albuquerque's skyline but it almost doesn't matter. Their downtown is cool. The main drag which I believe is Central Ave/ aka Route 66 has great architecture and has a cozy, vibrant feel with lots of genuine character and personality. To me it's actually one of the better downtowns I've seen in terms of street-level character and personality.
As Central Ave goes eastward out of downtown it goes towards University of New Mexico. The city has put in a fancy bus line that functions sort of like a train system through the city. They have tried to play up the traditional Route 66 vibe which emphasizes the 1950s-era neon signs which I'm sure are especially pretty at night.
The buildings get further apart as you get further from downtown but they still have cute, charming little clusters of shops and restaurants and mainly what struck me was just the sheer potential for growth, just based on what they have done already which is impressive.
Albuquerque's main downside from what I could see had more to do with safety and general cleanliness. I couldn't help but notice some of the people along the main road, not necessarily homeless people but just the everyday people that were visible walking around and by gosh some of them really did look like the tweaker characters straight off of Breaking Bad. My instincts to hold onto my wallet kicked in even though I was driving safely in my car.
Part of what makes their area different also probably has to do, to some degree, with the unique diversity of that state. They have only a few black residents but you could observe Native Americans in town who seemed to be visually distinct from say Mexicans, or other people from Latin America. Somehow I found that aspect of the area both moving and interesting. But they do need some time as a state to develop additional wealth overall for the area.
When I finally made my way over to the northeast corner of the city (Sandia Heights), you start seeing women in Lululemon outfits out with their baby strollers, and bankers, doctors, and lawyers out jogging etc, and I must confess I breathed a sigh of relief to finally make it over to the fancy/ ultra-safe part of town. It was nice just finding it and knowing it was there for safe keeping, not that everyone, needless to say, has to be stuffy and put together in that way.
The mountain backdrop in Albuquerque is also stunning and the weather is ideal. If city and state leaders would get serious about public safety, and set out to say quadruple the police force and make it something along the lines of America's safest large city, etc, I think the Albuquerque / Santa Fe area has the ingredients to be one of the best places to live in the world.
Jackson is a completely different beast. Jackson is quite spread out actually as a metro, but in the central city area it gives off the charm and vibes of a large small-town. I must admit that I melt every time I go there because the historic neighborhoods and restaurant/shopping areas (Belhaven, Fondren, Eastover, Highland Village, Banner Hall) are so darned cute and vibrant. I do love it.
Downtown Jackson has a pretty good urban footprint and quite a lot of the buildings have already been renovated and turned into apartments etc, but what Jackson really needs is for the feds to give final approval for converting the Pearl River into a 10-mile lake through the heart of the city. The city will then have a magazine-beautiful downtown waterfront and miles of trails, parks, and charming waterside, mixed-use neighborhoods by the lake.
The city is already soon to open the 3,000-acre Fannye Cook park, which will connect the new 10-mile lake to the 30 square mile Ross Barnett Reservoir and the scenic Natchez Trace with great bike and walking trails. The new park will have miles of trails along with facilities for private events, kayaking, and other park-related activities. When all of that is completed, the city essentially will center around a 25-mile waterfront of parks, islands, and trails, with cool neighborhoods and residential areas feeding directly into the park area.
Jackson's suburbs are already great, both to the north (Madison County) and east (Rankin County). In recent decades suburban mayors have been busy planning these small cities with booming commercial growth but with small, low, tasteful commercial signage; landscaping; architectural guidelines; zoning; schools; roads; and town centers, several of which are under development now. The suburbs are filled with wealthy households living on lakes, golf courses and on huge, wooded lots as well as giant 10-20 acre spreads, with horses and ponds.
Jackson and Albuquerque are wildly different and not really comparable. But I must say Jackson is quickly evolving into a top-flight quality of life (central Jackson plus the adjacent bustling suburbs which are just beginning to fill out and develop their personalities), with a terrific location with 60-degree winter weather and an easy drive to New Orleans, Florida, and big metros like Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, Ocean Springs/ Bay St Louis, (plus Oxford and Starkville) all within just a few hours. drive.
I haven't been in Jackson in probably 30 years. Like others, I assume it has grown and modernized a great deal. Albuquerque has a geologic factor that might limit the height of its buildings. It sits on the Rio Grande Rift, a still active rift zone that is something like 20,000 feet deep and filled with sand or other alluvial fill. I'm sure that structural engineers and architects could build taller buildings but at what cost? There also is reluctance to build up to compete with the spectacular presence of the Sandia Mountains on the east edge of the city.
A lot has been said about public safety in Albuquerque, but its violent crime rate is similar to Indianapolis and lower than Kansas City and we don't hear a great deal about those places being unsafe. Breaking Bad did not help the image of Albuquerque.
The city, like others, does have a serious homeless problem that needs federal attention. The cities did not create the homeless problem and can't fix it.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
