Rio Grande Vision- Nature center or amusement park? – New Mexico Mercury #abqbosque

The redoubtable V.B. Price joins the chorus against Mayor Berry’s “Vision Plan” for our treasured bosque, a thin ribbon of green between desert and river, the largest vestige of a riparian habitat that used to flank the entire Rio Grande. I think Price makes a good point about how the plan ignores the Nature Center (which is showing its age) while the plan tips its hat to urban development in other locales. His reference to Elena Gallegos overlooks the development there, which seems to work. We might also compare the rough-hewn trails of the foothills and crest with the ski area and tram. Who opposes those? The bike trail and trailhead parking at Alameda are all the development I want or need. peace, mjh

What’s happened to ABQ? Part 5: Rio Grande Vision- Nature center or amusement park? – New Mexico Mercury By V.B. Price

Modeling itself on duded up urban rivers in Texas and other places, the Vision seems to have overlooked completely the ideal model right under its nose – the Rio Grande Nature Center, a masterwork of architecture so inconspicuous and respectful of its place that birds and other creatures have no fear of us when we’re visiting. …

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry’s Rio Grande Vision Plan is a complete contradiction of the long range vision of the people who battled and struggled for decades to preserve the Bosque as a wild place in the middle of the city that could teach us all that we live in a fragile natural world that needs to be cared for and conserved, rather than exploited as a resource. That battle was part of the Open Space movement that preserved our volcanoes, most of the Sandias, and many wonderful spaces like the Ellena Gallegos Open Space. No one would dare suggest viewing platforms, cafes, and the like in such pristine spaces. The Bosque, for all its human presence, is the same kind of place. The symbol of that founding open space vision of the Bosque is one of Albuquerque’s great works of architecture — the much praised and awarded Rio Grande Nature Center, designed by Albuquerque’s Antoine Predock, FAIA, and completed in l982. …

The Bosque doesn’t need improvement. It needs love, respect, and attentive care. It’s stressed enough by climate change as it is. It’s doesn’t need us to burden it further.

What’s happened to ABQ? Part 5: Rio Grande Vision- Nature center or amusement park? – New Mexico Mercury