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Spent all of last week in Salt Lake City: highly impressed. With everything.
But the whole time I was there I was wondering why Albuquerque couldn't do some of the things that SLC did. Excellent light rail, a bustling downtown (even at 9 PM on a Wednesday night), events with music and bands on the common plaza (and packed, and beer and wine and food trucks as well, compared to the rest of the state, Salt Lake City is minority Mormon and the bar scene in SLC is thriving), indoor downtown shopping mall (an urban trend from 20 years ago but still thriving in SLC), clean, friendly, secure. Neighborhoods (even poorer ones) seemed to be a step up in maintenance, upkeep, appearance, and overall vibe.
Salt Lake City is smaller than ABQ in population (though you'd never know it from looking at it), though the metro populations are similar. Even have the mountains to the east like ABQ, the flagship state university is in town in both SLC and ABQ, and I saw a Salt Lake City Bees minor league baseball game at their ballpark south of downtown where they played...Albuquerque. A lot of commonalities.
Drove back and landed in ABQ yesterday....before going home I had dinner at the Andaluz and walked around downtown (didn't want vacation to end), and just got a bit disappointed in walking around. Salt Lake City was downright thriving and cosmopolitan in comparison.
I have lived in over 10 U.S. states and a few years overseas...
I've been to Salt Lake City in the past, over 20 years ago on business trips. I never had a desire to live there.
If you like SLC so much, then move there... I have always enjoyed the great Southwest, to not only include New Mexico, but Arizona and parts of Texas and Colorado.
If anyone tried to put in a light rail in ABQ I'm sure there'd be riots in the street. You can be sure SLC didn't build theirs without the blessing of the Mormon Church. Even the redevelopment in downtown SLC was backed by the church.
Albuquerque will have to develop in its own way, and there is development going on in the Nob Hill to Old Town corridor. Many new hotels & apartments, redevelopments of derelict motels, etc.
Metro SLC is 30% bigger population than ABQ, and the combined statistical area is double that of ABQ-SF-LV
If you like SLC so much, then move there... I have always enjoyed the great Southwest, to not only include New Mexico, but Arizona and parts of Texas and Colorado.
It's possible to enjoy what other cities have to offer while still wanting to live in Albuquerque and work to make Albuquerque its best self.
As funky points out, there are more people in the SLC area than ABQ area (1.34 million vs. 900,000). And, those people have much more money than us in the ABQ area. The Church also contributes financially to civic improvements.
I lived in SLC for 3 years ('82-'85) and loved it. But I would never compare it to Albq.
One of the major changes since I lived there occurred when they held the winter Olympics and built all sorts of new facilities, both in the city and at the nearby ski resorts. One of the biggest differences with Albq, is in fact the number of world-class ski resorts within a short drive of the city. Those bring in a huge number of skiers from all over the world every winter. There are also a number of large fresh water lakes in the immediate area (the Great Salt Lake excluded).
SLC is also MUCH cleaner/greener in every way. It also has much longer winter seasons. In fact many years it has just two seasons - winter and summer. I've seen it go from snowing heavily on May 5 to being in the 80s a day later.
Spent all of last week in Salt Lake City: highly impressed. With everything.
But the whole time I was there I was wondering why Albuquerque couldn't do some of the things that SLC did. Excellent light rail, a bustling downtown (even at 9 PM on a Wednesday night), events with music and bands on the common plaza (and packed, and beer and wine and food trucks as well, compared to the rest of the state, Salt Lake City is minority Mormon and the bar scene in SLC is thriving), indoor downtown shopping mall (an urban trend from 20 years ago but still thriving in SLC), clean, friendly, secure. Neighborhoods (even poorer ones) seemed to be a step up in maintenance, upkeep, appearance, and overall vibe.
Salt Lake City is smaller than ABQ in population (though you'd never know it from looking at it), though the metro populations are similar. Even have the mountains to the east like ABQ, the flagship state university is in town in both SLC and ABQ, and I saw a Salt Lake City Bees minor league baseball game at their ballpark south of downtown where they played...Albuquerque. A lot of commonalities.
Drove back and landed in ABQ yesterday....before going home I had dinner at the Andaluz and walked around downtown (didn't want vacation to end), and just got a bit disappointed in walking around. Salt Lake City was downright thriving and cosmopolitan in comparison.
Bustling and SLC in the same sentence!? I visited a few years back and NEVER got that impression. Felt it was a slow environment.
The mall in Salt Lake City's downtown wasn't built 20 years ago, it was opened in 2012. Many people actually blame it for Downtown Salt Lake City not having the foot traffic of even a place like Downtown Boise. Downtown Salt Lake City also shares some of the same problems as Downtown Albuquerque in terms of homeless people and vagrants as well as competing with suburban areas for business activity and office users.
Albuquerque can look at other cities all day long, but the fact is the only way we will change our city is to change ourselves. Feeling inferior to other places is one of our biggest flaws. Feeling like we aren't good enough is one too. Outdated perceptions and worn out ways of thinking about Downtown Albuquerque are the biggest thing holding it back from truly blossoming.
Downtown Albuquerque is actually at the best point it ever has been since the 1960s. There's an awful lot of cool things going on and lots of people working to help it reach its potential. Albuquerque already has commuter rail and will have the nation's best BRT line up and running soon. We need to focus on making sure these things are successful rather than looking at what other cities have with envy.
When combined with census estimates, the new data show that Utah was 62.8 percent Mormon in 2016, the same percentage it was in 2009. But during those years, Salt Lake County dipped from 51.5 percent LDS in 2009 to 50.07 percent last year.Jul 16, 2017
Quote:
The 3 million-strong Beehive State, as a whole, remains roughly 62.8 percent Mormon.
If you like Salt Lake City that much, I suggest you move there... January would be an excellent time, there is some good skiing then.
This is the Albuquerque forum... Are there now going to be hundreds of other Non-Albuquerque posts here?
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 08-01-2019 at 08:51 AM..
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