ten cuidado -- it ain't paradise
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6/1/2012
Albuquerque might be right for you if you are self-sufficient: have a perfect partner, are self-employed or have an on-line job, are backed up by a decent trust fund, find the internet intellectually stimulating enough and like to get outdoors.
All in all the weather is quite pleasant, four mild seasons each of about 3 months length. The dryness helps with aches and pains, and it is easy to spend a lot of time outdoors.
A big draw for Albuquerque is the remarkably inexpensive real estate (based on national standards.) You get more for your money and the swings in value are tame compared with almost any where else in the US.
But all this 'easy living' comes at a high cost. I wouldn't want to find a job or a mate in this location. Educating a child would be expensive or perilous or both. The Abq. Public Schools are rock bottom bad in a state that between 45th and 47th every year over and over.
This long history of poor education year after year means an uninformed, untrained and, frankly, under-socialized population to live with and among day-to-day. One result is that many, many front-line employees have no idea what they are doing.
They: We couldn't send it because we don't know your fax number.
I: Mail it!
T: By mail?
I: Yes, it would have been here two weeks ago.
T: Ok, well, give me your fax number and I will send it now.
I: I don't have a fax number. I am a patient, not an office.
T: well, we can't fax it to you without a number.
I: Mail it!
T: Now?
I: Yes.
T: You could pick it up.
This goes on all day every day.
Of course, these folks are the ones with jobs. Many others deal drugs, drink heavily, drag down more motivated relatives or clog overworked social services.
Albuquerque has no history of wealth and social commitment to provide the city with cultural institutions. The symphony has recently gone out of business; the Abq Museum is poky and largely irrelevant. Any "art scene" or "theatre scene" generally consists of amateurs, some better than others, some dreadful.
Thank the merciful heavens I no longer need find a job here. A good education is a decided disadvantage; an excellent education is an extra disadvantage. No matter how badly prepared, locals have an edge. An outsider will consistently find her/himself being interviewed by someone with a notably lower level of competence. There are few exceptions to this, possibly nationally significant institutions like Sandia Laboratories. The University of New Mexico often has outstanding choices among candidates largely because academia is so over-supplied. Yet, time and again, the University makes wrong choices; the turn-over and in-fighting is significant.
This is a driving city with little in the way of alternatives for transportation. Yet, by national standards, the driving is easy. Because it is, drivers are lulled into distractions and text and chat constantly. It is strangely exhilarating to go to Southern California and experience clogged highways where people drive faster and ferociously, but on the whole, more competently.
If you've lived on the East Coast or the West Coast you will invariably miss the quick-wit and can-do spirit, the often world-class everything, restaurants, shopping, museums, style, music, and ideas. Albuquerque offers mediocrity, a kind of blandness with just enough distinctive Southwest veneer to either deceive you or keep it a little interesting.
Albuquerque is a good alternative if you are being forced to choose among it and Little Rock or Tucson, Birmingham, Wichita, McAllen, Salt Lake City or Duluth, Indianapolis, Dayton, or Richmond. My friends from Pittsburgh love being here!
ted | Albuquerque, NM