Favorite Town or Downtown area in New Mexico (Albuquerque, Rio Rancho: to live in, restaurants)

[bradly]

Originally Posted by loborick

Maybe in 20 years. Right now it is a joke. It looks like this will be the last year for the Scorpions because of moving out to the middle of nowhere. Their attendance fell over 1000 a game moving to RR. Numerous concerts have been cancelled there at the Santa Ana Star Center because no one will buy tickets to drive all the way out there. They are millions of dollars in the hole.

RR needs to build a direct access to their downtown area from I-25 if they want people to go there. I have only been there four times, and once was for a concert that was cancelled because of poor ticket sales. Getting to "downtown" RR right now is a nightmare and a headache.

Well thats why I said in the future, I'm a planner for Albuquerque.. and what your saying now will be different in the long run, we have done our fair share of studies.. Rio Rancho will boom like a non-stop growing weed, predictions are in 2060 or 2070 Rio Rancho will pass Albuquerque.. the thing about Rio Rancho is that it has the land. The plan is back tracked becuase of the recession. Rio Ranchos downtown will soon have two college campuses and a mainstreet full of shops and a movie studio in the long run, high rises are also in the works, and belive me the plans for Rio Ranchos downtown are amazing! If I find the plans in my unorganized messy laptop I will show you them.. For now the Santa Ana Star center sits empty but soon that whole area will be covered with homes and businesses.

[sandiaman]

My favorite downtown area would be Las Vegas, NM. It has acutally two downtowns separated by a few blocks, which is quite unique for anywhere. It is chock full of history , and has many different styles of architecture, including territorial, and Romanesque. The older Las Vegas around the plaza, is the more traditional, hispanic community, while the somewhat newer Las Vegas looks more Midwestern, with more brick buildings, and was the center for the Anglo Las Vegas. That was predominately Jewish at the turn of the century. It rivaled Albuquerque for awhile as the largest city in NM.

Now there is a mild rebirth of new business in both of the downtowns, with art galleries, bars, cafes. It is neat place to visit. There are no large malls in Vegas, itis too small, but the population always stays constant. It doesn't grow, but doesn't die either.

[mikereznm]

Mogollon,kinda kidding,kinda not. Nob(KNOB ?) Hill/Central area Albuquerque for it's eclectic shops, proximity to UNM, street people, great eats, etc.etc.
P.S., Any of you into day of the dead, there is a great shop( name escapes me) one block up from Wells Fargo that has an extensive inventory of Mexican D.O.D. dolls. Best in NM. Wife is running thru our retirement funds! Gotta stop going to Abq. as often.

[Lainy]

I wonder if some sort of a bypass is in the long range plans for RR from I25 to their new downtown. I saw the plans for the downtown on the RR City website but couldn't tell if access to the area was planned or not.

[mortimer]

loborick advised:

> RR needs to build a direct access to their downtown area
> from I-25 if they want people to go there.

Oh don't worry. They will. After a whole bunch of infrastructure
such as electric power lines, underground piping, roads and businesses
have gone in, someone will have the bright idea of carving out a new
highway and, of course, a light rail line at 100x the expense.

Laying out the right-of-way now would make too much sense.

[Old Gringo]

I like the town square in Old Mesilla.

[mike0421]

No one picked Lordsburg yet?

[mrkool]

I've always found downtown Lordsburg to be quaint and historic.
And Gallup has it's own unique charms.

[catman]

sandiaman: Thanks for reminding me. I too like the character of Las Vegas' business district. It is quite unlike anywhere else in its variety.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by 6 FOOT 3

Favorite Town :Las Cruces/Mesilla Park

Favorite Downtown: Cloudcroft

No fair! Those were mine!