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We started our year preparing for the 75th Anniversary of Route 66 with a history poster in store windows project (funded by Scenic Byways) and the launching of the rt66central.com website (funded by the Mayor's Office of Economic Development). With New Mexico MainStreet paying conference fees, our program manager was able to attend the National Town Hall Meeting in April where the workshops in cultural tourism, hi-tech recruitment, and foundation grant writing were right on the money. We see an immediate benefit to enhancing our tourism business and so are working more closely with Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau. We co-hosted (with the Nob Hill Business Association) a breakfast to bring the ACVB volunteers up to speed on our attractions and worked with a committee looking to improve transportation options for visitors (since not all conventioneers can or want to drive for in-town sightseeing.) Early in the year the Parking Study update, paid for by the City's Family & Community Services Department and Flying Star Cafe, was also completed. The survey and study told us we do indeed need parking improvements in our Nob Hill Carlisle-to-Girard segment, validating the discussion of having one or two off-street parking structures in place of surface parking. Building parking structures we know may take some sort of public-private partnerships like Downtown used. We would want to be sure any parking> structure was wrapped with retail or other uses that made it attractive and safe, and that our transit was well linked to it. The biggest question asked was---who would manage the parking? That led us to more serious discussion of a Business Improvement District ("BID"). Keith Kjelstrom and Maryellen Hennessey of New Mexico MainStreet conducted an initial workshop on BID's for NHHRC and a Task Force is forming to see how feasible it is in our commercial area. It would be headed up by property owners and there is a lot of interest in Clean & Safe programs and in parking improvements. The City's financial picture being as dim as it is makes a BID more interesting to our business and property owners. The BID would be able pay staff to offer the services we have so far struggled to provide. The other major movement has been to establish a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA) in the eastern two-thirds of our district. It was surprising to City staff to realize how much that area fit the "blighted" profile with high vacancy of buildings and land, high crime, high rental vs home ownership, and low income. If the City Council approves the MRA, we can move ahead with a community-wide planning charrette and completing the Strategic Plan for turning the area around. We also have taken steps to have the historic De Anza Motor Lodge purchased and operated as an historic "boutique" motel, conference center, and museum. The De Anza project, along with our City-funded street lighting and streetscape improvements, will be a catalyst for a major turnaround in the area's decline, and we hope to have many public as well as private partners for this exciting project. 
Other awards that went to NHHRC's district were: Volunteer of the Year--Robert Strell (Strell Design); Honorable Mention for Retail Promotion---Nob Hill & Highland Business Activities for the Route 66 Jubilee Celebration; and Honorable Mention for Merchant/Business Of the Year--Off Broadway Vintage Clothing. Awards were handed out by Secretary John Garcia (right) and Peter Mitchell (left) of the New Mexico Economic Development Department. Paulette McKay of Verde Studios and Marianne Dickinson of NHHRC accepted the award Alibi's "Best of Burque" Poll 2002
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