[Neighbors] CABQ Land Use Facilitated Meeting Re 4501 Central Ave NE

[Robert L Anderson via Neighbors_nobhill-nm]

The money for adequate north/south public transit bus routes was spent on the fiasco called A.R.T.  Many, many people said to our elected leaders to not spend money on A.R.T. but on improving the feeder routes north/south off Central.   Did they listen, No.  What we have now is again obvious from Susan’s comments is a huge non-functioning Central Ave. for moving people living in the area.  It will not be long, imo, before we will be discussion plans for how to take out this A.R.T. and return Central to its historic character.
Bob



On Oct 17, 2019, at 10:02 AM, Susan Beard via Neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:

I spoke at the meeting about the impact on traffic from cars originating from the Santana Apartments and the already approved apartments at Central and Montclaire/Morningside. I anticipate at least 350 or more cars needing to travel north from Central on a daily basis.  The only way to go to Smiths, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, stores on Menaul etc is to go north. The closest north/ south arterials are Carlisle and Washington. Both streets are narrow with only one lane going each direction. Already there are huge backups on Carlisle at rush hour. Already it is difficult to make a left turn from Washington onto Lomas. Copper is also one lane going in each direction and is used by bicycle riders. To exit the Santana project it is not possible to turn east on Central. The only choice is to turn west on Central and then go north on either Washington or Carlisle. Cars can to east on Copper to San Mateo but again Copper is a narrow road. Even if residents do not own a car, they will most likely use Uber or Lyft of Taxi's to get to stores that are north of Central.  I also fear that if there are traffic backups on Washington, Carlisle and Copper, drivers will start cutting through residential neighborhoods.

Any argument about good bus service is hollow. Yes, it is easy to travel by bus going east and west on Central. However, it is time consuming and difficult to travel north on a bus from Central in the area of Washington or Carlisle. I have an 82 year old playwright friend who lives near San Pedro and Lomas. She has to take 3 buses to travel from her house to the corner of Central and Girard and spends about an hour in travel time each way. The buses she relies on also stop running a little before 8:00 pm. She has had to walk home at night  from a playwright meeting near Washington and Lomas which is far from safe. In my opinion a 111 apartment building belongs on a major arterial like San Mateo. There are large vacant lots on south San Mateo. Of course the project as designed would not be economically viable without the allure of Nob Hill. I doubt if it is possible to attract tenants who will pay $1300/month to live on south San Mateo.

If the neighborhood wants to stop the project, I feel that objecting on the basis of traffic congestion and streets not designed to handle approximately 230 extra households using the existing streets. My  230  number includes the new apartments at Montclaire and Central. Of course the DeAnza apartments will also add to this traffic problem. The apartment is zoning compliant under the new IDO. The only valid argument is to object on the basis of traffic. Thank you, Susan Beard

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