Policy Cut–Duplicate follows this one
Albuquerque: In 1940 Bernalillo County housed a little more than 65,000 residents, with Albuquerque around 35,500. Ten years later the county had grown to 146, 000 and the city, 97,000. It would, indeed, be hard to argue that the war decade had not been kind to both. Albuquerque, a relatively late-starting railroad town, had not grown dramatically in its first fifty years of modern life., living off of its alleged virtues of being a cure for TB, tourism, its Route 66 access, and a small, semi-desert hinterland. The war changed this dramatically. “World War II, and the Cold War that followed, led to the establishment and rapid expansion of Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia [National Laboratory]and Manzano bases which specialized in special weapons development and atomic research. By the mid 1950’s the military and military-related activities … had replaced the declining Santa Fe Railroad as the city’s most important source of economic growth[1]. The University of New Mexico also expanded from 1800 to about 5,000 in that decade.
Politically, Albuquerque during the forties (until 1953) was dominated by “Boss” Clyde Tingley, a former governor and New Deal Democrat, who served as Chairman of the City commission government from 1940 to his death in 1953. Friends with Roosevelt, Tingley garnered federal monies from the federal Civil Works Administration and Public Works Administration which he put to use by constructing infrastructure/public works—mostly roads, underpasses, bridges, viaducts, and public buildings. Despite the increased military presence, located largely outside city limits at the time, the downtown core, except for a 1939 Hilton hotel, generally deteriorated during the 1940’s. Very little wartime housing was constructed, despite the increased numbers of workers and military dependents.
Suburbanization occurred simultaneously during (even previous to) the forties with the growth of the central city—a factor to be discussed in detail in a later chapter. In an effort to capture suburban residents in the 1940 census, the City and the Chamber of Commerce launched a Greater Albuquerque Campaign—to little effect. The City restricted the provision of city services and infrastructure to its outlying communities during this period, attempted a few small annexations during the war years, and in 1946, after supported state legislation was approved, conducted a major series of late-1940’s annexations. “There are no accurate figures with which to gauge the impact of annexation on city population growth during the 1940’s, although at least twenty thousand residents were immediately added when the city tripled in area between 1946 and 1950”[2]. Rabinowitz further comments that post-1950 annexation, unlike the 1940’s annexation, annexed land which was largely unpopulated “at the request of developers who hoped that city services would make their subdivisions more attractive” prompting a snide comment that apparently there is such a thing as “central city sprawl”.
[1] Howard N. Rabinowitz, “Albuquerque: City at a Crossroads”, in Richard M. Bernard and Bradley R. Rice (eds), Sunbelt Cities: Politics and Growth since World War II (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1983), p. 256. Rabinowitz also cites the federal location of its regional offices in the city which prompted a local nickname of “Little Washington”.
[2] Howard N. Rabinowitz, “Albuquerque: City at a Crossroads”, op. cit., pp.258-259. Despite 1947 permissive state legislation, Albuquerque did not create a planning department or zoning ordinance until the middle 1950’s. Rabinowitz alleges that land use policy previous to 1970 was controlled by developers and “boosters:–presumably the Chamber.
=====
Bernalillo County housed 65,000 residents in 1940, including Albuquerque’s 35,500. Ten years later the county had grown to 146, 000 and the city, 97,000. War years had been especially kind to Albuquerque. A late-starting railroad town that had not grown dramatically in its first fifty years, lived off of alleged virtues as a TB cure, and Route 66 tourism. The war (and Cold War that followed) prompted construction/expansion of Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratory, as well as specialized weapons development and atomic research nearby. Military-related activities substituted for declining Santa Fe Railroad as the city’s most important source of economic growth (Rabinowitz, 1983, p. 256). The University of New Mexico also expanded from 1800 to about 5,000 in the 1950’s.
Until 1953, Albuquerque was dominated by “Boss” Clyde Tingley, a former governor and New Deal Democrat, who served as Chairman of the City commission government from 1940 to his death in 1953. Friends with Roosevelt, Tingley garnered federal monies from federal Civil Works and Public Works Administration which he put to use by constructing infrastructure/public works—mostly roads, underpasses, bridges, viaducts, and public buildings. Despite the increased military presence, located largely outside city limits at the time, the downtown core, except for a 1939 Hilton hotel, generally deteriorated during the 1940’s. Very little wartime housing was constructed, despite the increased numbers of workers and military dependents.
Suburbanization occurred simultaneously during the forties alongside central city growth. In an attempt to capture suburban residents for the 1940 census, the City and Chamber launched a Greater Albuquerque Campaign—to little effect. The City restricted provision of city services and infrastructure to its outlying communities, attempted a few small annexations until1946. In 1946 election, however, things began to change. The Albuquerque Citizens Committee, a young businessman civic association captured a majority of the city commission, effectively ending Tingley’s reign although he still remained on the Commission. The middle class Citizen’s Commission, arising out of Albuquerque’s “Heights” neighborhoods wanted the prototypical city efficient and honest municipal government. Joining forces with a separate Charter Committee, they fielded candidates, raised funds and pressed for a city manager and nonpartisan elections. Their 1946 “Better Government” campaign “swept into office on a platform of ‘business growth and municipal expansion’.
It was then that the Chamber pressed for the 1946 annexation, state legislation was approved, followed by a series of major annexations –at least twenty thousand residents were immediately added when the city tripled in area between 1946 and 1950 with additional annexations after 1950. Post-1950 annexation, unlike the 1940’s annexation, annexed largely unpopulated land “at the request of developers who hoped that city services would make their subdivisions more attractive” prompting a snide comment that apparently there is such a thing as “central city sprawl” (Rabinowitz, 1983, pp. 258-9). Despite 1947 permissive state legislation, Albuquerque did not create a planning department or zoning ordinance until middle 1950’s. Rabinowitz asserts pre-1970 land use policy was controlled by developers, “boosters” and their Chamber. In 1946, Albuquerque was 11.6 sq. miles; by 1960 it reached 86 sq. miles.
Annexations were frequently brutal and contentious affairs, fiercely resisted—leaving in their wake an active, fearful ring of suburbs determined to preserve their autonomy against the imperialistic central city (Logan, 1995, p. 104). Under dominance of the Citizens Committee, the City built a number of freeways during the fifties. After 1953, the reformers approved a planning department and adopted the city’s first zoning ordinance; budgetary and fiscal initiatives kept the city’s finances on a sound footing. Whatever its positive features, however, the reformer driven city hall and chamber “booster” alliance eventually was dubbed “the growth machine” that “hum[med] along contentedly even as resistance began to materialize” (Logan, 1995, p. 105).
Ron W. Coan 