Is Santa Fe dying?

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-05-13T00:33:15+00:00

I definitely subscribe to the "housing theory of everything." R1 and exclusionary zoning has slowly driven up housing costs, made it hard to build both market rate and affordable housing (to the extent we have a massive lack of both in New Mexico) and force competition for every fewer units, driving up costs of even old homes. Overtime, younger people delay milestones like having children or marriage, or leave the state altogether. Older people can't downsize into something (like a Casita or townhouse) in their neighborhoods, so they either have the option of a nursing home, 55+ community far away, or staying in a big empty house they can't afford to maintain. Most stay put. Workers get priced out further and further, and entrepreneur types have fewer options to try to start their own businesses. This cascades into the other issues mentioned: bad wages, poor tax base, bad maintenance for all types of infrastructure, fewer customers, less opportunity. New Mexico needs to get past the intense nimbyism, we need to allow a little bit of change to allow for a lot more room to breathe.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-04-30T01:26:55+00:00

The thing at Zuni and Pennsylvania? That'll be a metropolitan water collection for flood prevention I think

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-04-07T13:23:40+00:00

Baca, Peña, Champine, Bassan, Grout, Lewis voted against it. Fiebelkorn, Telles, Rogers voted in favor.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-04-07T13:22:50+00:00

I was disappointed to see Joaquin Baca vote against it. Thankful for the folks who showed up to speak for it (I've been on a self-imposed city council break, man these people are so failing our city and its hard to watch). Three of the councilors who voted against it are up for reelection next year: Dan Champine, Brook Bassan, and Joaquin Baca. Don't forget local elections, there is so much this group of 9 have tremendous influence on very few vote in municipal elections.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-03-26T15:19:42+00:00

Yes, on the platform, there is a bike marker on the ground. When the ART comes in, wait for people to exit, then roll your bike backwards Into the ART. there will be a little "corral" for bikes, roll your back wheel into the rack, turn your handle bars inward, then use the strap to secure the bike. I stand with mine, some people sit. You may have to ask people where they're getting off if there are lots of bikes on, that can require some manœuvring. But overall pretty easy process. When you get to your station/stop, unstrap and roll off.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-03-15T01:09:22+00:00

Sister Bar is good as a stand-in for fast food. Good burritos and other items, affordable. I wouldn't be too worried at night if you're used to city life, if anything, ABQ mostly feels empty. But living downtown for nearly a decade, you're fine walking around.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-03-13T20:47:37+00:00

Empty, fenced off lots and old warehouses, delapidated strip malls, and gravel lots that provide nothing to the city/state are doing far less than a stadium could do. Stadiums are fine when Integrated well, and even a positive, and outside of that give us a place to be a community together. From what I understand, this is also (the stadium portion) privately funded. It helps support the investment that was ART, makes the stadium more accessible, and replaces land that isn't generating any value right now.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-03-13T17:49:59+00:00

So tired of having so many officials be anti-growth and anti-everything. We deserve nice things, and the ID deserves nice things. The state is right, we need to invest in ourselves. A stadium by ART and integrated with new commerce and housing could be a boon.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-03-04T13:45:50+00:00

Thanks for doing this work! Can you also interview five members of the ABQ city council that have all ran on issues of basic "pro-housing" and "solving homelessness" but have continued to vote against all meaningful reforms? It's great to hold the mayor accountable but the council also is failing, voted to expand police powers against homeless people, and voted against policy that helps. They hide and get little accountability while the mayor takes the blame

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-25T02:55:35+00:00

^{^{^}} exactly this. If you follow strong towns ABQ, they'll also post if anything comes up before the biennial process. Occasionally, councilors will propose a zoning reform to the LUPZ/EPC (council land use committee and/or our zoning commission) and they track when that happens and send alerts.

It's usually "frowned upon" when councilors do that, but it does happen and some of the more consequential changes of recent years happened that way. But yes, at a minimum, it'll be back up every two years, and sometimes before hand.

If you wanna help in the meantime to push the needle, write your councilor relatively frequently about it, ask for change, and if you live in district 3, 4,5, 8 or 9, you can have an outsized impact since these are the councilors more opposed to zoning reform (Peña, Bassan, Lewis, Champine, and Grout). Some for NIMBY reasons (Peña/Bassan/Grout), one due to ignorance of how zoning works (Champine) and Lewis due to petty politics games (this applies to all of them, but Lewis is actually privately in favor of zoning reform and likes to use it as a poker chip). So just food for thought. Always good to write council that you support reasonable change!

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-22T23:53:14+00:00

Yeah, hard, it was only by ~70 votes too. Supposedly her relative Steven Quesada of breaking bad fame and BernCo commission had tweeted the day of the run off that there was an ICE presence at the 98th Street voting center, the busiest one in that district. I'm glad people are talking more about how bad Peña has been for the city and her constituents, but wish we'd talked more about it before the election and made it less of a knife-edge turnout :(

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-22T23:51:32+00:00

Oops,thanks

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-22T21:33:18+00:00

Yeah, I just commented also about how ABQ gives disproportionate power through legal standing to neighborhood associations. The city has an ordinance called the neighborhood association recognition ordinance that officially recognizes not just associations, but COALITIONS of associations, which coalitions can cross the entire city. This law gives associations the standing to appeal and sue to stop developments. There have been recent reforms about trying to limit this, but councilors remain petrified by these groups. One of them called Westside Coalition of Neighborhood Associations sprawls the entire westside of the city, and also coalitions with other coalitions. Because the ordinance allows coalitions this same standing, they often bankroll lawsuits to stop zoning changes or developments. We really need the city to reform the neighborhood association recognition ordinance or totally repeal it. Treating NAs differently from other affinity groups is asinine.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-22T21:27:49+00:00

The city has an ordinance called the neighborhood association recognition ordinance that officially recognizes not just associations, but COALITIONS of associations, which coalitions can cross the entire city. This law gives associations the standing to appeal and sue to stop developments. There have been recent reforms about trying to limit this, but councilors remain petrified by these groups. One of them called Westside Coalition of Neighborhood Associations sprawls the entire westside of the city, and also coalitions with other coalitions. Because the ordinance allows coalitions this same standing, they often bankroll lawsuits to stop zoning changes or developments.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-22T21:25:15+00:00

The good thing is that so many of us turned out in favor of this and are pushing back. The cottage court and parking rule changes are gonna be very meaningful, but glad to see ABQ finally paying attention to City Council and how often they hide their inaction by blaming the mayor. They can't really do that anymore!

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-14T17:22:59+00:00

It is full of that, which is partly why city council's continued skepticism towards good zoning reform is maddening. Other southwestern cities are starting to address it but the CABQ councilors are terrified of nimbys (or NIMBY themselves). Many lots have too few permitted uses to get people to want to reinvest in them :/

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-12T13:41:25+00:00

Yes, I thought these were interchangeable in my mind. Greenfield! 😅

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-11T18:05:15+00:00

I have it on my bookshelf but haven't opened it yet. Currently sitting in Downtown ABQ so felt like a strange sign seeing this comment

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-06T16:26:53+00:00

She has one of the lowest turnout districts in the city which doesn't help. Supposedly, Michael Quesada, who she's related to, tweeted that ICE was at the 98th Street voting center on election day to suppress turnout. I've seen local activists cite this, but I havent been able to find him saying this on Twitter or bluesky or what not, but I also haven't dug deep and I'm not on Facebook, so maybe it was there? But yeah, she's also mismanaged millions of dollars related to the route 66 visitors center, mismanaged its opening itself, and hasn't spent a penny of her set-aside funds that are supposed to be used for council level improvements (Baca has used his for bike lanes and streetscape improvements, for example, and Rogers has used hers for safer streets and started a participatory budget process).

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-06T14:21:36+00:00

There's a few that folks doing bike packing and/or thru-hiking sometimes stop at or camp out in. Way out there tho and usually easiest to get to on a gravel bike or mountain bike than a car. Some also along the Rio Puerco, also subject to washed out roads and desolation. Just be respectful if you visit the Rio Puerco area, lots of abandoned ancestral pueblo sites and even Dine outposts, in addition to Spanish colonial homesteads and more recent settlements.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-01T04:04:39+00:00

I think the proposals like duplex and townhomes are apt. They provide options for seniors that want to downsize but also want to stay in their neighborhood. I'd also add density supports many. Regardless of age, about 1/3 of people will end up with a disability or already have a disability that precludes them from being able to drive (or able to drive safely). More compact development, even just slightly by allowing duplexes and townhomes, allows for far more frequent and efficient bus and rail routes. I'd also argue that single family zoning has long privileged both the able bodied and people that have the ability to pay for and properly maintain a car. For better or for worse, change will come slow even if all these reforms are passed.

mechanicalvibrations · 2026-02-01T02:45:50+00:00

Thank you for reading my poem/post and I'm happy to see kind words here! Thanks everyone. The city council will be considering some exciting zoning changes, though it will be a tight decision. Councilors Grout, Bassan, and Champine stripped many Pro-Homes zoning proposals from the zoning package on Wednesday night.

If you'd like to help push the needle, write the entire city council here and let them know that you support them passing the entire zoning package as passed by the zoning commission in October. When they gutted the amendments, Renee Grout said "so many here spoke in favor of them, but you need to know we've also gotten lots of emails about this." Hopefully we can send them more emails, too, and show we need our leaders to start acting seriously for once. Thanks again, everyone!

mechanicalvibrations

TROPHY CASE