Reimagining Albuquerque

I left Albuquerque in the mid-2000s. It felt like the only option at the time as my partner had a job offer in Denver. I wanted to live somewhere I could walk to get coffee or buy things instead of having to drive so it was a win-win. I can’t drive at night, so a walkable neighborhood was liberating.

Back then, transit in Albuquerque wasn’t really a thing. There was no ART. Downtown was quiet most nights. The jobs we wanted didn’t exist.

We thought we’d be gone a few years to build our careers then come back when it made sense.

Denver was different. When we arrived, they were adding light rail lines constantly. It felt like the city was on the move. Stations popping up and then with apartments going up near them. Shops opening in old buildings. Sidewalks were busier. Capitol Hill and now Downtown Denver have given us an active life where we see friends and can walk to work. That energy is still accelerating it feels like.

We got used to it fast.

We still miss Albuquerque though. We visit once or twice a year. We walk around Nob Hill and Downtown. We see the ART stations and we try to ride the new buses. It’s strange to see it all now and how far it has come.

Every time we visit, we say the same thing. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is what we’ve been waiting for. But it’s not there yet.

The hard part is work.

We are both professionals. One of us could find a job in Albuquerque pretty easily. Both of us? That’s still hard. That’s what happens in a city that hasn’t grown much in a long time. You either figure it out on one income or you leave. We left.

But ART makes it easier to picture coming back.

If Albuquerque keeps adding jobs and keeps improving transit, I think it could happen. The city already has so much of what it needs. Walkable neighborhoods and old streets that still work with ART tying them together.

I know ART isn’t perfect. It stops running too early. It needs more buses/frequency/lines. But it’s something real and It feels like a step forward. I think Albuquerque is ready for change and ready to “grow up”.

We talk about it a lot. What it would be like to live near Central, to ride ART to work, and to walk to the grocery store. To be near family again.

It’s hard to explain that pull unless you’ve felt it before.

I want Albuquerque to do well. I want it to be a place where people don’t have to leave to find the things we left for.

If ART ran later, if Albuquerque built more especially on Central and Downtown, and there were jobs for both of us, I think we’d come back or at least be able to consider it.

Every visit, I see the ART bus on Central and I think about it again. Maybe it’s a possibility.

I know we’re not the only ones thinking about it.

Thanks

—M. in Denver