City worker takes down black tape from a downtown Albuquerque vacant motel, spelling out a message to city leaders. (Photograph by Marjorie Childress)

“Why is this building still here? Give us a grocery store!”

That was the message that downtown Albuquerque residents and workers who travelled down Park Street this morning saw spelled out in big black letters on the back of the Silver Moon Lodge.The Silver Moon Lodge is one of the historic motels along Albuquerque’s old Route 66, which is Central Avenue as it snakes through Albuquerque. The motel has been sitting vacant for a number of years now. Park Street runs along the back of it, and is home to a popular local breakfast and lunch spot–Java Joe’s–as well as office buildings.

Ever since I moved to downtown Albuquerque in 2001, residents have been asking for a grocery store. And the general wisdom is that it won’t happen until more residents live downtown or in its surrounding historic neighborhoods. With each passing year, residents watch condominiums and apartments being built in and around the city’s core, but no grocery store yet.

Word is that the Silver Moon Lodge is going to be redeveloped into housing. I’ve also heard one local architect estimate that another 500 housing units would do the trick of luring a grocery store to the area.

The $700,000 viability assessment commissioned by the council has now been completed and, despite stated concerns about the economic downturn we’re in, the council doesn’t seem opposed to the project. At least that’s the impression I got from councilors who spoke up at the council meeting. It would be a big investment of public dollars that would spur new jobs and a revitalized Downtown. That’s the hope of proponents anyway.

Councilors heard presentations from independent analysts who had examined the various viability reports about the event center proposal. Noting that the council was hearing the presentations after 10 p.m. on a Monday night, with few people in the audience, Harris said the project might not get off the ground without a public education campaign.

“Someone is going to have to do an education campaign,” he said. “I’d like an idea if that is going to happen. If someone doesn’t do that, it’s going to be difficult to make it happen.”

This New Mexico Independent reporter was watching from home, and was glad to hear him say it. I’d been wondering throughout the presentation whether any of the councilors would address how the public was going to be educated about the details and given an opportunity to weigh-in before the almost $468 million dollar project was put to a vote.

Back in July, City Councilor Debbie O’Malley, a primary booster of the project, told the Independent there would be more public outreach planned (beyond the New Mexico First town hall that happened that month:

“We’re already asking ourselves how to create a meaningful discussion with the public,” she said. “The New Mexico First town hall will provide some insight, but obviously can’t be the only avenue given that it’s an all-day event during the work week.”

A big question now is how the council and Mayor Martin Chavez intend to synthesize all those big reports — which you can see on this “Duke City Boost(er)” Web site — and present them to the public in a meaningful way, such that the public can give some input about the details of the project, and so that when the idea is put to a vote the electorate has a real understanding of what they’re committing to.