Suggestions for open-minded liberal-leaning ABQ neighborhoods? (Albuquerque, Las Vegas: catholic schools, incomes, live)
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thanks! i'd read the liberal lesbian moms one, but since it was 4 years old i wanted fresher info and the last thread is almost 10 yrs old (think i saw that one too).
and to be clear, for me, LGBT tolerance is just one measure of social acceptance of a social climate... i think the measures change with the culture and the years and the laws and the presidents!
chickens, oh yeah. this girl, when she's not yammering about where will we have the horse and what she will feed the horse and how she can take care of a horse and its not that hard to take care of a horse mom and we need a saddle for the horse and maybe we can take walks with the horse and i can feed the horse in special horse bowls and also give the horse water and brush the horse..................... (it goes on for hours, i'm not kidding), she is talking about having many chickens she can feed every day and we can eat the eggs. she would also like a cheetah and a giraffe in the backyard but i have explained to her why that might not be a great idea but she says HER cheetah will be nice and will "not bite anyone." and she will build a special barn for the giraffe "with a hole in the roof so it can stick its neck out." kids are so funny.
we've had stick bugs for pets. she brought in an especially long worm yesterday and was fascinated by it (in a dish with dirt) for hours. any and all animals will make her happy. and even if we don't have a horse in our backyard, it seems like maybe a 15 min drive at the longest to some horse farms where we can lease or board one.
no bees. mommy doesn't like bees. or tarantulas. oh yeah. are there a lot of tarantulas? like, in suburban areas, not rural ones.
The closer you are to the mountains/rural areas, the more you will contend with wildlife including tarantulas, but I think they're cool. Rattlesnakes, not so cool. In older parts of town both are non-existent.
The only place where I've known people who had troubles with harassment from conservative neighbors was in the far Northeast Heights. Albuquerque is notably devoid of "snooty" people (most of those flock to Santa Fe) although some do exist around Sandia Heights and Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. Speaking of Santa Fe, some friends from Berkeley have settled there and fit right in (in their million-dollar-plus home). For the most part, people here are not in-your-face about anything. That was an adjustment for me coming from Boston, where you had to wear your liberal credentials on your sleeve.
Your daughter would love the new Bugarium at our Botanical Gardens. The new leaf-cutter ant exhibit is fascinating.
I live in the Southeast part of town which is very diverse (please do not say "the whole area" is not good--it varies a great deal from neighborhood to neighborhood), with several LGBT neighbors on my street alone who have been here for decades. Bandelier Elementary is considered one of the most desirable schools. You might look into the area around Hyder Park.
I'm glad you're visiting first and then planning to rent before buying. Albuquerque is a different place, and certainly different from the Bay Area and NYC. It's hard to appreciate the different feel of the neighborhoods and the unique culture of ABQ without being on the ground.
I think you've gotten good advice on this thread as to different potential neighborhoods. The North Valley and Corrales are both good if you want more rural, farm-like neighborhoods. Nob Hill/the university area/"Midtown/University" on that map will probably feel the most like Berkeley, have closer shopping/dining, but are more urban (all relative to ABQ) with smaller lots. The Northeast Heights has some very scenic neighborhoods especially as you get towards the foothills. The Northeast Heights and Rio Rancho can both feel like cookie-cutter suburbia at times, with the NE Heights wealthier. Neither area is particularly conservative, but they do elect Republicans most of the time. To me, the NE Heights feels culturally like Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill. FWIW, I wouldn't live in the South Valley as a newcomer. The South Valley has too many unique issues, from poverty to being unincorporated to small town type dynamics, that I wouldn't live there without having gotten your feet wet in NM first.
Some quick thoughts on other issues:
- Schools - Test scores reflect demographics more than school quality. But you may not want to send your daughter to a school where the demographics are such that no one cares about learning or her peers are dangerous influences. So I understand looking at test scores. Most of the areas you are considering have at least decent elementary schools, test-score wise for NM. Public schools generally in NM suffer compare to parts of the country, although less so compared with CA as opposed to the Northeast.
- Bugs - In the city, the most frequent bugs are roaches, spiders, and ants. There are fewer mosquitos than in CA, especially away from the river. More rural areas will have more wildlife, including bugs, however.
- Crime - There are *long* crime threads on here. ABQ has higher crime than the national averages, but coming from Berkeley/Oakland I don't think you'll feel unsafe. There are poverty/drug addict related property crimes like burglaries and car thefts. But the violent crime rate is similar to SF and half of Oakland's. I don't think Central Avenue is particularly unsafe and threatening, contrary to the thoughts above. And I don't think you will regularly hear gunshots unless you are in the worst neighborhoods.
Bottom line, I think you will like and enjoy Albuquerque. Coming from the East Bay, the biggest drawbacks/changes, will probably be the much slower pace (for better and worse), the isolation - ABQ is a long drive from any other major cities, and the much worse job market/economy (maybe the biggest drawback, but not an issue for you). But there is lots of authentic culture, great access to nature, and a very livable city. I also think you can find like-minded people based on your descriptions. Good luck!
hey all! i've seen some threads about this topic but they all seem to be about 8 years old... and more recent ones don't seem to reference neighborhoods. sorry if i'm blind, if there are already threads about this, please link me to them!
i was born and raised in berkeley, went to santa cruz, lived in NYC for a few years, then back to berkeley, and i am ready to leave the hustle and traffic and pretentiousness and PRICE of the bay area behind me. i have always loved the southwest and i feel like albuquerque is calling me for a good number of reasons. i'm a single mom with a 4 year old daughter. i have a good job making $100K+ (poverty wages in the sf bay area if you're a single mom), and i can work remotely from anywhere in the US near an airport, so jobs are not an issue (knock wood).
i've been spending approx 3 hours a day on zillow recently, and then everytime i google for the kind of neighborhood i would like, i end up on this site. so i thought i'd finally sign up and ask my question
i AM coming to visit soon but i am wondering if any of you have advice for neighborhoods.
what i'm looking for:
- a single family home (3 bd probably) with a backyard, maybe with a view or close to the river or parks, but i know natural beauty is everywhere in NM. maybe somewhere near horse farms (north valley? corrales?) those places in the NE overlooking the sandia mountains look gorgeous, but are they mostly conservative? i've also read that rio rancho is more conservative as well.
- i'd love one of those pueblo style houses - they are so beautiful - are they only clustered in certain areas like sandia heights or... paradise hills, maybe? sorry, been on zillow too much.
- can be close to town or on the outskirts, i like the idea of a place with a more "country" feel, but i don't want to be super isolated and would like to be able to walk to a nearby park or store or something. i could do suburbs too as long as we have a big backyard
- good schools (7-8 or higher on greatschools) that are also diverse and balanced... maybe roughly equal percentages white and latino (i've seen there are not many black or asian people in ABQ). and that are not super conservative.
- not a super high crime rate (i've read the SE can be not so great), but not a super-wealthy gated community, either. just a regular house on a nice street with chill neighbors.
- a neighborhood that's more democrat-leaning than republican. i know NM is a purple state, and ABQ is a purple city, and i'm actually looking forward to living in a place with a more easy-going, balanced view of politics. but... i was raised in berkeley, and don't want to live or raise my kid in a neighborhood that's filled with gun racks, SUVs, blocks of Trump signs and/or homophobia. i'm not looking for some burning man-farmers market-barefoot-bernie-drum circle scene either (although i'm sure there are areas like that near the college and nob hill that we can visit!)
i guess i'm looking for... a neighborhood that's just open minded and chill, where no conservatives will look at me weird or call me a muslim-sympathizer for putting clinton signs in my yard or hanging rainbow crystals in my windows, and no ultra-liberals will lecture me about how childhood vaccinations are a conspiracy created by big pharma or give me dirty looks for buying non-organic produce (i've definitely had enough of that here).
a place where i can find *some* like-minded folks, with a big yard where we can have cats and a dog and maybe some chickens (my kid LOVES animals), and maybe near horse barns/ranches where we could board a horse. in a good school district.
ok... i think that's it. thank you for your attention
Honestly, if open minded and liberal is what you want, you'd probably be much happier in Santa Fe.
You'll probably find what you're looking for to an extent in the Nob Hill area, (near UNM) but that area can get a little pricey and might not be the best area for raising a kid.
Politically, I'd have to say Albuquerque is pretty moderate / middle of the road. Santa Fe on the other hand is a bastion of left-wingers.
is it hotter by the river, then? also, does that mean lots of mosquitos there?
What the valley has, in spades, is flies. Mainly in summer. Mosquitoes are uncommon anywhere in the metro, and tend to show up only in rainy years, where abandoned swimming pools and old tires act as breeding grounds.
Another critter than seldom gets mentioned but we have a surplus of are lizards. I like our lizards, because they eat all sorts of things I don't like. They stay out of the way (though the cat would often bring them in).
West of the river will yield scorpions. For some reason, have never seen them east of the river here.
An explosion of black widows happened a few years ago and it's waning, but they still show up here and there.
Moths, grasshoppers, and even the occasional scarab show up in my area. Mice, turtles, and cornworms have also been spotted on my property but now seem to be gone. We get sparrows, mourning doves (how I hate them), and robins. Hummingbirds can be quite busy in some areas. Pigeon infestations occur around town as they do most places. Never seen rats here (except as pets).
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i'm feeling like the NE area might be good for us, higher elevations, it's been pointed out as more liberall-y, but is it filled with rich people? i don't want my kid to live in the ghetto, but i also don't want her raised with snobby rich brats. looking for a happy medium, i suppose. but you guys have given me so much more to work with! thank you all, so much.
The richest, brattiest, most entitled people in Albuquerque would probably rank about a 6 for California. That place doesn't have the market cornered but it is definitely overrepresented for that sort of thing.
Don't use demographics as a basis- you'll find down to earth people in every neighborhood. The smart move is probably to pick a dwelling near an elementary school you like. As somebody new in town who works at home, that will probably be a primary vector to local social activity and should be treated as importantly.
Others have tried but the closest analog you'll find for Albuquerque in the bay area is Livermore. It has houses and lots of similar size and construction, similar employment base, same big employers, and it has more similar weather.
Honestly, if open minded and liberal is what you want, you'd probably be much happier in Santa Fe.
You'll probably find what you're looking for to an extent in the Nob Hill area, (near UNM) but that area can get a little pricey and might not be the best area for raising a kid.
As someone who was raised in the Nob Hill area and is raising my own kid there (after spending about 15 years away living in the Bay Area, Oregon and Tucson), I heartily dispute that comment. There are safe neighborhoods, good schools, walkable streets, lots of green parks, many kid-friendly events, businesses and restaurants within easy walking distance. My daughter - who is also 4 - loves walking or biking to her favorite places to eat, doing grocery shopping at the co-op, or hanging out in the park at one of the farmer's markets. The weekly Tasty Tuesday event in Hyder Park - where two or three food trucks serve food at the park accompanied by live music, yoga classes, tightrope walking, or whatever else people happen to bring with them when they show up - is one of the highlights, with bands of kids roaming and playing on their own (under the watchful gaze of observant but laid-back parents) all evening until the sun goes down.
What the valley has, in spades, is flies. Mainly in summer. Mosquitoes are uncommon anywhere in the metro, and tend to show up only in rainy years, where abandoned swimming pools and old tires act as breeding grounds.
Another critter than seldom gets mentioned but we have a surplus of are lizards. I like our lizards, because they eat all sorts of things I don't like. They stay out of the way (though the cat would often bring them in).
West of the river will yield scorpions. For some reason, have never seen them east of the river here.
An explosion of black widows happened a few years ago and it's waning, but they still show up here and there.
Moths, grasshoppers, and even the occasional scarab show up in my area. Mice, turtles, and cornworms have also been spotted on my property but now seem to be gone. We get sparrows, mourning doves (how I hate them), and robins. Hummingbirds can be quite busy in some areas. Pigeon infestations occur around town as they do most places. Never seen rats here (except as pets).
We get scorpions here in Placitas, the small beige ones. We also have centipedes and, sometimes, millipedes. We've seen only 4-5 black widows over the last 15 years. We see tarantulas for about one week every fall when the males prowl for mates. They are harmless. We also regularly see the tarantula hawk wasp.
We have snakes, usually bull snakes but also see 3-4 rattler snakes each year, mostly the desert rattler although we saw a sizable western diamondback last year. We don't mind the snakes because they eat the mice and pack rats. We've always had coyotes, and the newer residents are bobcats. We regularly see them about. We seem to have more bunnies and jackrabbits right now, so I expect to see more predators abound until they thin out. We've seen a couple of types of owls, including the great horned. Hawks regularly do a fly through, although much of their prey vanishes about 5-10 seconds before a hawk appears.
We used to see the wild/feral/escaped/? (fill in your adjective) horses on the BLM land north of us, but not so much any more.
Saw our first hummer of the season a few days ago. They're around all summer.
As someone who was raised in the Nob Hill area and is raising my own kid there (after spending about 15 years away living in the Bay Area, Oregon and Tucson), I heartily dispute that comment. There are safe neighborhoods, good schools, walkable streets, lots of green parks, many kid-friendly events, businesses and restaurants within easy walking distance. My daughter - who is also 4 - loves walking or biking to her favorite places to eat, doing grocery shopping at the co-op, or hanging out in the park at one of the farmer's markets. The weekly Tasty Tuesday event in Hyder Park - where two or three food trucks serve food at the park accompanied by live music, yoga classes, tightrope walking, or whatever else people happen to bring with them when they show up - is one of the highlights, with bands of kids roaming and playing on their own (under the watchful gaze of observant but laid-back parents) all evening until the sun goes down.
I apologize... I looked it up, the schools are much better than I realized. Which was a pleasant surprise because I always believed the good schools were more or less limited to parts of the NE. I think of Central Ave when I think of Knob Hill... college kids and bars... which is okay, but maybe not great for an 8 year old. Clearly there's more going on than I realized.
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and the last thread is almost 10 yrs old (think i saw that one too).
but she says HER cheetah will be nice and will "not bite anyone." and she will build a special barn for the giraffe "with a hole in the roof so it can stick its neck out." kids are so funny.
