Downtown business and property owners will likely see some fresh faces at their doors this month. The city — through its Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency (MRA) — is on a mission to collect the email addresses of Downtown stakeholders through face-to-face contact in order to build better relationships and communication. 

The emails would be used to send out notifications on a variety of Downtown-related subjects: street closures due to events or security incidents, TV and movie filmings, new business openings, MRA incentive programs, and information about other city departments.

The project is being led by Arlana Gottwald with help from Aaron Nieto, formerly the city outreach associate in the Office of the Mayor. The two have recruited a group of students at Siembra Leadership High School to help. They’ll canvass the heart of Downtown — making contacts from Broadway Boulevard to the east, Eighth Street to the west, Lomas Boulevard to the north and Coal Avenue to the south. 

“We’re going to start really aggressively walking the streets within the next day or two,” Gottwald said Tuesday. “With the student interns, we’re trying to make sure they’re getting experience talking to their neighbors and experience being a part of the community and getting an opportunity to work with the city of Albuquerque.”

Siembra Leadership High School is located at 606 Central Ave. SW.

Gottwald, Downtown outreach program manager in an MRA contract position, is no stranger to the corridor. She’s the operations manager at Sister — the popular Downtown bar, music venue and restaurant at 407 Central Ave. NW. Last September, Gottwald saw firsthand frustration from business and property owners related to a street concert that involved major street closures and thousands of attendees. She said even though the Sister-produced concert received considerable news coverage and social media mentions, some were caught by surprise. 

“When you work these events you talk to fire, talk to police, then you need to talk

to the neighborhood association,” Gottwald said. “I was brought in [to MRA] as someone who understands how Downtown works.”

Gottwald said the challenge will be tracking down the correct point person at a given business or property. She said owners aren’t always on site or even living in Albuquerque.

“But some of them have very hands-on property managers who are really good with their email listservs and make sure that they communicate with everybody in their building. Some of them only have a security guard at the front,” she said. “The idea behind going door-to-door and making face-to-face contact is to get the right person who can disseminate information. This approach, I think, is really the only way.”

‘Hopefully reduce frustration’

MRA director Terry Brunner said the project should help to dampen misinformation and frustration. 

“Our communication back and forth with the Central [Avenue] group of businesses Downtown hasn’t always been great,” Brunner said. “This is a more comprehensive way to get in touch. One thing we’re trying to cure is people just not knowing which city departments do what and they get frustrated.”

For example, he said some owners don’t know to call the Solid Waste Department for graffiti removal, or what issues fall under Code Enforcement or Arts & Culture.

“So hopefully it will reduce the frustration and prevent them from going down rabbit holes or getting lost in the process,” Brunner said.

The MRA expects the email list to be used by other city departments that want to relay relevant Downtown information. Gottwald said it’s also an effective way to market events.

“We’d love for them to come out and join us at events; to take an active stance with living and working Downtown,” Gottwald said. “I think there’s a perception that there’s nothing going on Downtown and that’s just not true. We want to let people know that Downtown is still vibrant, it’s still viable.”

Added Brunner: “Downtown had a rough time during [the pandemic]. We’re trying to give it a bit of a resurgence. We want people to be feeling positive about things that are going on, feeling like there’s momentum. We want to tell people about the good stuff that’s happening Downtown and make them feel positive.”

Gottwald hopes to have a report completed by the end of March detailing the project’s progress. She can be reached at agottwald@cabq.gov.