ABQ Downtown Desertion and Rail Runner

It is kind of hard to figure out why government jobs continue to leave downtown Albuquerque. I was saddened to read yesterday that a state of New Mexico agency with 160 jobs will be moving out of downtown for the north I-25 corridor. This is just another hand grenade tossed at continuing the so far successful revitalization of Albuquerque's core. This will effect many other business people in the downtown area, from cafe owners to office supply companies. This state agency joins numerous Federal agencies that have split the scene in the last few years despite a Presidential executive order that prohibits this. I would say that well over 1000 jobs have moved out in the last few years. Our local politicians were just not willing to stop it as they continue to support sprawl development on the west side. Just today in the Albuquerque Journal there is a story about a new elementary school under construction for the west side that will be over capacity when it opens. Also, as the City of Las Cruces struggles to implement their Downtown Revitalization will their investors look at this trend in the Duke City of government abandonment of downtown?


Hopefully, our Governor can meet with the business groups in downtown to see if this latest move can be stopped. It especially makes no sense when looking at the Governor's visionary plans for the Rail Runner commuter that will be starting up in January. One of the main stops is in Downtown Albuquerque where commuters could easily walk to their jobs.

In fairness, the downtown property owners are going to have to get real about competing for government tenants by setting reasonable rents and parking fees. They must shoulder some of the blame for this.