On growth - and the lack of it

New Mexico Business Journal, July-August, 1999 by Bob Cochnar

Growth is the only evidence of life.

- JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN

When Barbara Garaygordobil arrived in Albuquerque not too long ago after spending a number of years in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, at least two things impressed her: the proximity to skiing and the astonishingly high land prices. She was interested in the former for personal reasons, in the latter for professional reasons. Garaygordobil is president of the New Mexico division of Kaufman & Broad, the country's largest home builder.

Land values in the Albuquerque area approximate those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, she says, which is surprising since the income level here is substantially below Dallas. It's tough to build "affordable" housing here as a result, although it hasn't stopped Kaufman & Broad from creating popular small, scale developments in the heart of Albuquerque, well within urban service areas. So why is land so dear? One reason is that the bulk of the real estate is held in major parcels, the result of the Spanish land grants and monster ranches of an earlier period. The big landowners aren't selling off acreage at bargain-basement prices, which generally makes housing more expensive than in many other parts of the country.

That, of course, makes it harder for developers to provide entry-level housing to people who want to live and work in the Albuquerque area. We're a far cry from the incredibly high housing prices in, say, Silicon Valley, but we're more expensive than, say, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Boise and Las Vegas - cities that are growing at a far faster clip than Albuquerque.

Land values, of course, aren't the only growth inhibitors. Taxes, an uncertain infrastructure, a less-than-acceptable educational system, frequently complex and confused zoning and a general lack of focus in broad-based economic development all make contributions. And so the Middle Rio Grande Valley, with all its promise and potential, isn't growing much, if at all. Add to this the NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) element and factions that actually want to put the brakes on growth, such as it is, and you have a set of circumstances that is, at best, disquieting.

The nation as a whole has been enjoying boom times for a number of years. Unemployment is down, people are more prosperous than ever before - the economy is hitting new levels of productivity. But not necessarily in New Mexico, which remains among the poorest of states by any number of measurements. But when there are booms, there are busts (ask anybody in the oil industry). Phoenix and Dallas, for example, are currently riding high on the wave, but it wasn't all that long ago when they were wallowing in the trough. Albuquerque, in contrast, has been one of those slow and steady places: No big booms. No big busts, either. Should we be satisfied with this? Should we be an island of calm in this sea of frenetic activity?

It's all very well that artists like O'Keeffe and Lawrence and others of lesser ilk could find serenity in the cerulean skies and crisp desert air (that's what made - and makes - New Mexico a special place), but bread must still be placed upon the table.

Growth, despite the apparent lack of it, is becoming a major issue. Nobody professes to be against it, per se, and yet the divisions of philosophy and approach are becoming sharper. The spectrum ranges from folks who seem to like things just as they are (actually, I suspect they'd prefer them just as they were in, say, 1890) to those who'd like to build on anything that doesn't move, thus turning the Rio Grande Valley into a canyon of concrete. The more sensible among us are seeking that elusive middle ground.

The growth issue tends to turn on somebody's definition of the quality of life and the role of government in helping to determine that quality. Most of us - maybe even all of us - are not purposeful despoilers of the environment. We know there must be clean air to breathe, pure water to drink. But we must also grow, for Cardinal Newman ("growth is the only evidence of life") was right. If there are no good jobs for people, the people won't come or, if they're already here, they'll go away. And New Mexico will be condemned to remain at the bottom of the list. That's not rank speculation, that's a fact.

To create jobs, there must be infrastructure to support those jobs and affordable homes for the people who have or want the jobs. But does this mean houses and places of business should be plunked down just anywhere? Does this mean we should encourage free and unfettered growth? Of course not. But neither should we embrace restrictions and covenants that impede economic development.

Americans have always believed in capitalism, despite sad times in our history when rogue capitalists and robber barons ran roughshod over the rights of people who weren't rogue capitalists and robber barons. We have always known that the private sector is the engine of our economy. And we have always wanted a part of the American Dream, which almost universally includes that home and patch of yard and proverbial picket fence. And despite arguments put forth by planners and other social engineers, the people will not be denied.