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Residents and business owners urge county not to support downtown 2025 plan changes they say would shift MRA boundaries and raise property taxes
Summary
Public commenters told commissioners the newly released Downtown 2025 ABQ redevelopment plan risks gentrification and that the county and city did not consult adjacent neighborhoods before proposing boundary changes affecting Martinez Town/Santa Barbara MRA parcels.
Two speakers during public comment at the Bernalillo County commission meeting on May 13 urged the commission to refrain from supporting recent changes in the Downtown 2025 ABQ redevelopment plan, asserting those changes would remove parcels from the Martinez Town/Santa Barbara municipal redevelopment area (MRA) and shift tax benefits away from the neighborhood.
Bianca Encinas, owner of El Chante Casa Cultura and a longtime downtown business owner, said she was "here because I have some growing concerns" about the plan the city released in May 2025, particularly potential boundary changes and a proposed business improvement district. Encinas told commissioners that commercial property taxes downtown have risen about 40 percent over the past three years under the current county assessor and said she feared proposed tax mechanisms would disproportionately harm people of color and indigenous residents.
Loretta Naranjo Lopez, president of the Santa Barbara Martinez Town Neighborhood Association, said her neighborhood was not informed about including 101 Lomas Boulevard NE and 229 Broadway NE in the downtown boundary. "The neighborhood association was not informed about the recent change to include a portion of the Martinez Town Santa Barbara MRA boundary in the downtown," Lopez told the commission. The association asked the county not to support the Downtown 2025 plan as drafted and requested that the MRA boundaries remain as they are so gross receipts tax revenue continues to benefit Martinez Town.
Commissioners accepted the public comments. No formal action was taken at the meeting related to the Downtown 2025 plan; speakers asked to meet with commissioners for follow‑up.
