I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
What do you think about the proposed arena for downtown Albuquerque? In official parlance, the "downtown events center" would include an arena, a retail and entertainment district, and a new hotel. And just last month, the City Council allocated $700,000 for an impact study of the idea.
This project would change the landscape of downtown Albuquerque dramatically. We’re talking bigger and denser.
The main impetus is increasing the capacity in the city for conventions. Albuquerque currently just simply isn’t able to compete for conventions beyond a certain size. Given the many attractions we offer here in New Mexico, additional space should bring a lot more people and money to Albuquerque, which would do a lot for the tourism sector. In the midst of today’s economic climate its an enticing thought.
But do we really need a stadium with all its attendant public subsidies? Why isn’t a convention center expansion and additional hotel space good enough? And how will the city provide parking for all those people coming to an arena that will be right next door to some of the cities most historic neighborhoods?
I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I intend to pay a lot of attention to the discussion.
One way to find out more is to attend a New Mexico First special town hall on July 17 devoted to this topic. We’re sure to hear a lot of cheerleading for this project, so I was glad to see they’re bringing Haywood Sanders to give his perspective on stadiums and cities. He wrote a book called Field of Schemes, in which he critically looks at the (lack of) public benefits derived from enormous public dollars spent on arenas around the nation.
According to Megan Kamerick of the NM Biz Weekly, Councilor Ike Benton said this about the impact study: "I think people realize this is a very compelling idea," he said. "It’s compelling enough as an idea that we ought to look at it and give it fair consideration."
Very true — it’s compelling. It’s also a huge investment with a lot of consequences, and deserves a lot of scrutiny.
