Of Bosques and Men

Today I am blogging not about the law per se, although I will touch on to that, or even about anything I am involved in directly. Today I am writing because I am proud of something my Dad did this week. Dad lives in Albuquerque now, and in his retirement he's gotten (even more) involved in local community issues.

According to their own website, it seems that Walmart has a dozen or so stores in and around Albuquerque. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. They are a retail chain, and they have as much right as anyone to build a store and see if they can make a profit selling their wares.

Bosque is the name given to areas of forest found along rivers, streams, and riparian flood plains in the Southwest. The Paseo del Bosque is Albuquerque's premier multi-use trail system. Dad got involved when Walmart sought to build a store on private land that is not only adjacent to this recreation area, but also to a local prep school also known as the Bosque school. This land lacked adequate access to major streets that could handle both the truck and car traffic expected from a "big box" store. As it turns out, Walmart's bid to develop here was denied primarily because of the access issue. In my opinion, all of these issues are good reason to deny the permit in a location such as this.

Understand, I recognize that we need jobs. We all need retail locations where we can buy our toothpaste, anti-freeze, &/or sunglasses. I just don't buy the argument that one always implicates the other. Here, there are Walmarts within a couple miles in either direction from this site, and there are other retailers available as well. People will continue to shop--either here, or at the other retailers that service this neighborhood. People shall not want for inexpensive goods simply because there isn't another Walmart here. If the Walmart is built, probably other stores will close. It is not as if people will now buy more goods because of the Walmart, they'll simply buy them from someone else.

However, this habitat adjacent to the Rio Grande is rare. Special. Locating a store here would degrade what little of it remains--and this loss cannot be easily mitigated. Further, many the kids being educated nearby also spoke against locating a big box store (of any type) so close to their school.

I applaud the Albuquerque City Council for rejecting this proposal. Perhaps the city or a non-profit organization needs to step in and acquire this land so that the private land owner does not suffer financially from this decision. This is only fair. Depending upon what the City ultimately does, or does not, ultimately let them do with their land could lead to a takings issue later on. If the people of Albuquerque do value the unique nature of this land, they should take steps to preserve it in perpetuity for future generations to enjoy,

There's plenty of room for the Home Depot's, Macy's, and Wal Mart's of the world. Let's be sure not to lose sight of the forest--and especially the forest itself--in the meantime. Dad, I'm proud of you for lending your voice to this cause!