On Feb. 27, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce held its February Board of Directors meeting in the Chamber’s offices Downtown.
Board members got an update on Leadership Albuquerque’s “Government Day” on Feb. 19, as the trip exposed the cohort to several different vantage points on government in New Mexico, including:
- Meeting with the Legislature’s top budget official, Legislative Finance Committee Director Charles Sallee.
- Touring the New Mexico Supreme Court’s chambers and historic library, led by an information session by Senior Justice Michael Vigil.
- Hearing the unique perspectives of three influential state government lobbyists.
- Witnessing the Legislature in action, which included an intense Senate floor debate.
- Visiting the governor’s Cabinet room and talking with her chief of staff about the executive’s legislative priorities and exploring the role of political appointees and advisors up to high-level decision-makers.
- Meeting with the Albuquerque Journal’s most experienced government reporter inside the Santa Fe City Council Chambers and discussing the relationship between the press and those in power.
- Having an informational session with Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber about what politics is all about from a small-town perspective.
Terry Brunner, Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency director, told the board about all the news regarding Downtown and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the University of New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque.
Brunner said with the opening of Hotel Arrive on Central Avenue, there are opportunities to grow the city’s Downtown Forward Plan.
The city provided an Industrial Revenue Bond (IRB) for the property, and the Public Arts Board helped fund the lowrider mural on the side of the building.
“The city has talked about closing Central Avenue up to Eighth Street between Hotel Arrive and the Farmer’s Market so programming can be done at a later date,” Brunner said.
The city’s Public Art Program helped with funds for a lowrider mural to be painted on the side of Hotel Arrive in Downtown.
Brunner then talked about a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the University of New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque in helping the university expand its presence into Downtown on a four-acre location north of Civic Plaza.
He said the general concept is to bring students, faculty and employers Downtown.
“The move Downtown is happening because UNM is completely renovating everything north of Lomas Boulevard,” he said. “This means KNME and the UNM School of Law will move – with the law school possibly moving Downtown to be closer to the courthouse.”
The board then heard from Martin Chavez, an advisor to the governor for the Expo New Mexico project.
Chavez said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has a plan to convert the grounds at Expo New Mexico into mixed-use housing, retail and entertainment areas. A request for proposal was issued this month for a master plan to redevelop the 236-acre, state-owned parcel.
“The area where Expo New Mexico is located on Central Avenue is just ‘human misery,’ Chavez said. “(Over six months) I met with every elected official whose district touched the area, and all agreed it needed a change.”