May 27, 2010 In This Issue Primary Elections Tuesday EDO Board Meets with Mayor EDo "Dinner & A Movie" Coming: Panda Robot HUD to Score Transportation Beautiful Lofts For Sale $119,500 - $219,000 Sale Pending Classroom 209 Call 247-DWELL (3935), or click here for more information. Lease A Loft Starting at $600 Call 247-DWELL (3935), or click here for more information. Lease An Office for $500/Mo. Retail and office space available in EDo ... call 247-DWELL (3935) or click here for more information. Rob Dickson Qualifying Broker (505) 301-7997 Lara Simon Associate Broker (505) 710-6672 Quick Links... AbqHigh.com Own Lease Presented by Vote Tuesday for Jerry Ortiz y Pino for Lieutenant Governor The primary elections are this Tuesday, June 1st. We encourage you to PLEASE vote, and we heartily endorse our State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino for the Democrat nomination for Lieutenant Governor.  Jerry has effectively represented the greater Albuquerque Downtown district since 2004.      His resume is most impressive. He is a native of Santa Fe, and a UNM and Tulane graduate. For many years Jerry was a social worker, college professor, newspaper columnist, and community organizer. He lived and worked in Las Cruces, Taos, and Las Vegas before settling in Albuquerque 31 years ago. He has founded five charter schools for drop outs, and is a fluent Spanish speaker.      His goals as Lieutenant Governor: � Eliminate "pay to play" by having an open, honest, and candid government. � A fair and progressive tax structure. � Get serious about improving our health care and public education. � Make New Mexico the national leader in renewable energy. � Equal access to legal protections for all New Mexicans, regardless of ethnicity, beliefs, or orientation.      We thank all the other candidates who made the commitment to run for this nomination. We know all of them will appreciate our loyalty to our State Senator who has served us and New Mexico so well for so long.      To find out where to vote on Tuesday, and get a sample ballot, please go to http://www.bernco.gov/wherevote/. EDo Board meets with Mayor Richard Berry Our 10-member neighborhood board welcomed Mayor Berry and his staff to a lunch at The Artichoke Caf� on April 26th.        An orientation to the EDo Master Plan from 2004, and a discussion of our goals for 2010 was openly and enthusiastically welcomed by our new Administration.      Specifically, we asked the Mayor to assist us in our goal to become Albuquerque's most walkable, diverse, and successful neighborhood by: 1. Purchasing the First Baptist Church site (4 city blocks) for private/public redevelopment, including possibly an Events Center, rather than allowing it to be purchased by Albuquerque Public Schools. 2. Implementing a parking management plan whose goal is to bring an ideal mix of neighborhood retailers to EDo. 3. Establishing a Business Improvement District who purpose would be "clean & safe" and "marketing & image enhancement" services.      The Mayor encouraged a continuing dialogue. He believes that government's role is to help businesses, residents, and their neighborhoods be successful.      Also in attendance were Chief Administrative Officer David Campbell, Economic Development Director John Garcia, and Planning Director Debbie Stover. Mark the Date!  Saturday, September 18th The first annual EDo Neighborhood "Lovin' Summer Party" will be held on the evening of Saturday, September 18th.      While there are many details to work out, the theme will be "Dinner & A Movie in EDo."  Food samplings from our 5 area restaurants will be provided along with a cash bar and an outdoor film showing in the parking lot of The Grove Caf�. Tickets will be $25 and will be purchased in advance via Pay Pal.      Please mark your calendars and plan to attend! Coming Soon - Panda Robot That's right, Panda Robot Boutique & Gallery is EDo's newest exciting retail business. It will open this Summer at 514 Central SE near Pizzeria Farina.      It will offer designer toys, local & international art, jewelry, fashion apparel, and accessories. It's the brain child of William & Leslie Acosta-Isengard.  Check it out at www.Panda-Robot.com. Feds to Start Scoring Transportation Potential of Grant Applicants Last Friday at the Congress for the New Urbanism 18, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan said that his agency will soon start gauging the "location efficiency" of its grant applicants, determining each project's potential for connecting residents to surrounding neighborhoods -- and mirroring the recommendations of a recent report that found a correlation between homeowners' foreclosure risk and their dependence on car ownership.      Donovan depicted the integration of "location efficiency" measures as a way to encourage housing developers to pursue more mixed-use, denser construction.      "[I]t's time that federal dollars stopped encouraging sprawl and started lowering the barriers to the kind of sustainable development our country needs and our communities want," Donovan said. "And with $3.25 billion at stake in these competitions, that's exactly what they will start to do."      Let's hope Albuquerque pursues these grants, and begins to more strongly support walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented neighborhoods like EDo!