Was nice desert town, years ago, not so much now

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3/24/2021
Been here since 70s. ABQ was a laid back desert town then. Civility, community, quality of life were exceptional even with the underlying poverty and undereducation. The three cultures, Hispanic, Anglo, Native respected one another, tolerated one another. Somewhere along the way the old school hardworking, family-oriented Hispanics were replaced with recently arrived immigrants who have more allegiance with Mexico than America, hence the proliferation of gaudy descansos that litter the highways. The hippie/ cowboy anglos were replaced with relocated east/ west coasters and midwesterners who drive up housing prices and want it to be like where they came from. The Indians build casinos for better or worse, harvesting most of their profits from the local community. Even though NM government has always been a good ole boy network it was far more honest than today’s crop of globalist vetted morons. Property tax will rise dramatically in the next few years because we’ve destroyed what diversity we had in the economy. Brew pubs can’t be the main driver of the local economy in the future, neither can casinos. On top of it all will be the long term drought which has already started. Fortunately we’re able to relocate to SW Colorado for retirement, where the environment is clean and folks are proud and supportive of preserving something good.
Ray | Albuquerque, NM