Brendisimo's Page

If you think like I do then you'll want to come out and support the passage of the Great Streets Facility Plan. A hearing with the EPC is scheduled for this Thursday, May 8th from 3:30pm to 6:30 in the Plaza del Sol building at 2nd and Roma downtown. The Great Streets Facility Plan would help guide the design of future as well as existing streets around Albuquerque. Keeping more than just cars in mind, the plan calls for wider sidewalks, slightly narrower car lanes, more trees, more crosswalks,… Continue

With the news that Trader Joe's is opening their second Albuquerque location in the Uptown mall, I thought it was time to really visualize a grocery downtown. Now I could go for a TJ's, a Sunflower Market (love that place), or a locally owned store like the Co-op, just as long as we get some healthy food DOWNTOWN. And I thought the empty lot on Central between 6th and 7th would be a great location. There is plenty of space, enough for parking and some residential units (gotta love the infill!).… Continue

The lively discussion a couple of weeks ago concerning the re-striping of Lead and Coal was great. It seems most people supported the idea of a dedicated bike lane, but some were unconvinced that turning these streets into two-lanes (with a lane for parking) was a good one. The bottom line for me is this: we all pay taxes for roads, so why not make these streets more pedestrian friendly? If you need to zip around town in your car, use the freeway. These streets are in a residential area, and one… Continue

With the news that the city council approved the funds to start work on Lead and Coal avenues, I decided to focus the next few weeks to those two thoroughfares. In case you haven't heard, Lead and Coal will be re-striped to hold two traffic lanes, a dedicated bike lane (yay!) and a parking lane. They will both stay one way streets, but hopefully with one less travel lane, cars will travel a bit slower. I also think they could use a stoplight at Edith and a few more crosswalks. Lead and Coal migh… Continue

This site, just south of Central on Broadway, is actually two buildings. The Storehouse next door is part of the lot, but this amazing brick building is where I focused my attention. I envision some sort of art center like Harwood. It would be big enough to have art studios, a gallery, a performing arts space and maybe even a cafe. The windows are huge and would let lot's of light in. There is a parking lot across the street for visitors. The back portion of the roof is flat and could house a ro… Continue