Editor’s note: To read the first in our series on the visitors center — A visitors center with no visitors: When will the taxpayer-funded project open? — click here. The second installment — Former city councilor on the still-closed visitors center: ‘It’s a boondoggle and a money pit’ — is available here.
Toward the end of an eight-hour Albuquerque City Council meeting Monday, councilors approved legislation to create a commission for the West Central Route 66 Visitors Center.
Councilors were in favor of it — voting unanimously (8-0) for its creation.
The commission is intended to inform how the city, now the sole owner of the still gated-in center, will operate it and develop programming. Councilor Klarissa Peña, the force behind the center and sponsor of the legislation, has said the commission would help steer the city to operate it like it does Explora and the Albuquerque Museum.
The commission will consist of seven voting members and two nonvoting advisory members to be confirmed by the City Council at a yet to be determined meeting.
Yes: Joaquín Baca, Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Tammy Fiebelkorn, Renee Grout, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers, Louie Sanchez
Did not vote: Dan Lewis
It will include Mayor Tim Keller, two city councilors, four representatives designated by the West Central Community Development Group — the nonprofit that previously held a contract to manage the visitors center. It will also include advisory members from Visit Albuquerque and the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce.
Councilor Nichole Rogers asked Peña why the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce was the only chamber included as an advisory member.
“Because I think the work that they do is related to the community that they’re serving, the vision, the overall vision for the visitors center,” Peña replied. “We didn’t necessarily need to include them, but I think it was part of, you know, just being inclusive of additional members and input that would bring value to a center like the visitors center.”
City support
During Monday’s public comment period, an Albuquerque woman said she is “one of the many excited and eager artists” awaiting the center’s opening.
“It’s a destination, a communion with nature, its vistas, the mountains; performers, troupes and musicians are attracted to the quiet that will be filled with the joy of live performances. Please build it, please open it,” she said.
Joe Chavez, a board member of the West Central Community Development Group, also spoke in support of the legislation.
“This is a project that’s been in the works for a long time by a lot of people,” Chavez said. “Our corporation is anxious to work with the city of Albuquerque. I know that you took over the facilities out there, and we are anxious to be able to work with you. This has been a long time coming. We just want to be part of it and make it into a success.”
The legislation was also supported by Keller’s administration.
Amendments added
Peña added three amendments to the legislation at Monday’s meeting.
The first gives commission members an initial term of five years, followed by a three-year term. Vacant positions from expired terms will be filled by the entity that appointed the outgoing member.
Peña also amended her proposal to add the director of the city’s Arts & Culture Department, as a commission advisory member. The visitors center is one of the assets of the department and it is now under its purview.
Her third amendment states: “The city shall carry out the original vision of the community members who first conceptualized the Route 66 Visitors Center in the 1990s.”
Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn asked Peña to give an overview of that original vision.
“That’s tough, it’s been 30 years of work,” she said before spending several minutes talking about the history of the center, dating back to when I-40 was built.
Peña’s complete response can be found here.