October Meeting Minutes
6:30pm | Preservation Station | Bonnie Anderson presiding | Prepared by Secretary Howard Dobin
APD Report
Lieutenants Higdon and Hernandez attended. Lt. Sean Higdon is the Watch Commander for the Swing Swift of the Valley Area command. He provided the crime statistics for Historic Huning Highlands covering September 2024: 2 auto burglaries, 1 residential burglary, 4 auto thefts, one robbery, 3 thefts/frauds/embezzlements, 3 assaults/batteries, 4 disturbances, 2 vandalisms, 7 DWI arrests, 11 warrant arrests and no shots fired in the 308 calls for service in the month. Lt. Hernandez reports that APD gets around 1,800 calls per day citywide.
Lt. Higdon confirmed that there were many homicides last month in downtown Albuquerque. There is now a dedicated Downtown District Patrol to attempt to handle the increase in downtown crime. This unit also performs some patrols in our neighborhood, as far south as Coal. He also confirmed Salley’s observation that there has been an increase in assaults and shootings recently in the South Broadway neighborhood, most stemming from one address. The city is working on evicting the perpetrators.
The officers reported that APD is very understaffed due to retirements, resignations and a lack of recruits to replace those that have left. It takes 6 months to train a recruit and then additional months of field training until a recruit can patrol on their own. Staffing makes it difficult to free sworn officers to attend our monthly meetings. This is why Brittany Martinez, a civilian Crime Prevention Specialist, has been attending. Brittany can access the same statistics that they provided. APD is moving to a new crime statistic system, but the stats are limited to property crimes and do not report most violent crimes.
Lt. Higdon can be reached at shigdon@cabq.gov or by phone at (505) 761-8800.
701 Coal NE
Santiago Aceves reported updates on his project. They have reduced the number of units to 12 from 18, with “plaza level” green space and larger setbacks to permit balconies, among other enhancements, based upon our feedback. There will be four 2-bedrooms and eight 1-bedroom units. He is open to suggestions for the name of the building. Currently the front-runner is “High Gardens” in part because the structure will reside on High and Coal. The target renters remain healthcare workers and not low-income households.
Weeds, trash, etc., have been cleaned up. Neighbors report that this has inspired those nearby to take his lead, snap into shape, and properly arrange their trash and recycling bins. He is committed to buying the adjacent lot and has been in contact with the owners. Santiago aims to break ground in mid/late January 2025. When new drawings are available, he will provide them to us. He can be reached at santiagoaceves@gmail.com.
501/601 Central Ave NE
Moises Gonzalez has volunteered to draft a letter of support from the board for David Blanc’s proposed project. Some reservations were noted, especially with the 501 Central plans being shoehorned into the lot. There was disappointment that the buildings do not conform to the historic nature of the neighborhood. Many hope that David Blanc might return to the idea of retail space as was included in the original pitched plan. The neighborhood remains in need of small businesses such as a small grocery store, a bakery, etc.
HHHDA Web Presence
Krista Smith introduced Nick Fanion as our new webmaster. They aim to improve and enhance our web presence, such as the inclusion of a search feature for monthly minutes, making the Jane’s Walk pages more accessible and easier to use, and connecting our different social media accounts.
Nick explained that there are two costs to our website: The domain name, which cannot be decreased, and the host site fee, which he offered to host himself at no cost to us. Our Facebook account is not connected to our Instagram account since they were established as being under two different “owners”.
A motion was made, and unanimously approved, that the Facebook account be closed, restarted to connect it to our Instagram account. Current followers will be solicited to join the new site. Additionally, the web team were given authority to remove extraneous information, such as linked resources that do not work, and rearrange the webpages as they best see fit. The consensus of the gathered was that our association should not be promoting such resources. Nick can be reached at nick.fanion@me.com.
Jane’s Walk 2025
It was decided that our time and energy would be invested in another Jane’s Walks over returning to the Mother’s Day Open Houses we did in the past. Bonnie is looking for help to “punch up” the descriptions for Tour II, which we hope to add this year. Email Bonnie if you are interested in enhancing Tour II. Bonnie and Krista will work out if a copy of the draft will be emailed or if a shared Google document will be used. Ann Carson spoke on the resources available at the Special Collections Library located in our neighborhood, once the sole public library in Albuquerque. It was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Coyote Attacking Pets
A coyote has been spotted in the Coal and Walter area. Attendees who witnessed the coyote reported their observations. Residents are warned to keep pets inside, especially at night.
Holiday Hijinks 2024
Bruce Redford reminded the gathered about the upcoming festivities planned for Saturday December 14th at the Press Club. The website is targeted to be live on November 21st, with bidding to begin around the 3rd or 4th of December. The committee extended thanks to those who helped and contributed items and services to the auction. Any goods or services will be welcomed, big or small.
Lead/Coal Avenues Project
Janet and Carlos attended the city’s presentation. Those conducting the survey admitted that the road diet engineering study compared Lead/Coal Avenues to other, non-similar road arteries. The planner’s proposal is still expected in January 2025.
Other Issues
Bonnie thanked Ben Sturge for installing the lights in our outdoor meeting space.