Politicians sink $13M in closed New Mexico tourist attraction

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BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) – 'Build it and they will come.' It's not just a memorable line from a movie. Consider a weed-choked vacant lot on Albuquerque's West Mesa. Beginning in 2021, construction crews transformed barren acreage into a multi-million-dollar, two-story architectural masterpiece. And then, a year later, a parade of community leaders and politicians celebrated with a marathon ribbon cutting ceremony complete with music, food, specially designed t-shirts, and a host of political and community leaders. Among the 36 guest speakers, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller. 'This is a celebration bigger than the West Side, bigger than Albuquerque. This is about the Land of Enchantment and about the story of America,' Mayor Keller proclaimed. And, State Senator Michael Padilla. 'You're going to be able to tell your children, your babies, your grandbabies, your great grandbabies, 'I was there the day that they opened the Route 66 Visitor Center'. I'm so excited,' Senator Padilla said.
Welcome to Albuquerque's newest government attraction, the Route 66 Visitor Center. But don't be deceived by the enthusiastic ribbon-cutting crowd. Once the hoopla died down and the politicians headed home, reality set in. It has been three years since that ribbon-cutting celebration. However, as a tourist destination, the project has been a bust. Today, the parking lot is empty, the gates are locked, and the building is closed.
Over the last decade, city, county, and state politicians have poured more than $13,000,000 into a facility plagued by mismanagement, financial improprieties, and procurement violations. In fact, from the very beginning, the Route 66 Visitor Center had all the tell-tale signs of a pricey government venture gone wrong. 'This was probably not the best use of public funds, but officials pushed forward with it anyway,' said Bernalillo County Commissioner Eric Olivas.
The concept was for a revenue-generating complex that included a lowrider museum, amphitheater, banquet hall, commercial kitchen, tap room, and gift shop. But the Visitor Center is not your typical public works project. In this case, millions of public dollars were allocated to a venture that had no master plan, no budget, and no oversight. It was only after funding the visitor center that county officials got around to a feasibility study. And then they ignored glaring red flags and went ahead with the project anyway.
'No one [read] that report. That's really the crux of the problem here. We didn't listen to the facts and ultimately went forward with something without fully understanding the repercussions,' Commissioner Olivas said. Eric Olivas was elected to the Bernalillo County Commission after the Visitor Center had already been constructed. 'We had a series of failures,' Commissioner Olivas said.
Once construction was complete, Albuquerque's City Council spearheaded the purchase of equipment and furnishings. Armed with a generous Capital Outlay checkbook courtesy of the State Legislature, the City Council embarked on a grandiose shopping spree at taxpayer expense. But behind the scenes, something was amiss. According to the City Council's new Budget Director, Mark Motsko, the Council's equipment expenditures were not by the book.
'The state has a process with Capital Outlay dollars that requires us as a municipality to ask permission before we actually spend the money. In this case, that permission was never asked. They just did it. That is not by the book,' Motsko said. He added, none of the Route 66 purchases were questioned or justified.
For example:
$151,000 for an old Route 66 motel sign. The sign was donated to the visitor center, but it cost taxpayers $151,000 to have it moved, transported, refurbished, and installed at the new building.
$58,000 for audio visual equipment including microphones, speakers, clamps, lights, mixers, and cables. The electronic gear has been sitting in storage, unused for three years.
$5595 for a large-format color printer that's never been plugged in. Today, no one at the Council recalls a justification for the purchase of a commercial printer.
$5263 for fixtures from a defunct East Central honky-tonk, the Caravan East. Council staffers purchased at auction dozens of saloon relics, including signs, chandeliers, a shoe shine bench, a gumball machine, and even a $200 claw-foot cast iron bath tub. The material has been stored at the visitor center for nearly a decade. Except for the bathtub tub which has disappeared.
$8612 for specially designed visitor center t-shirts given away at the ribbon-cutting.
$15,712 for iPads, thermal printers, cash drawers, installation, set-up, and staff training. The equipment was never delivered, and the firm has since gone out of business.
The list goes on and on. Add it all up and, since 2022, Albuquerque's City Council has shelled out more than $320,000 to furnish the newly constructed building. 'There was no oversight of these (expenditures). I have not seen any records justifying the purchases.' City Council Budget Director Mark Motsko said. The Council's former Budget Director was responsible for ensuring purchases were compliant with the law. According to Motsko, he screwed up 'big time.' 'Those purchases have been discovered, reversed, and now we're making sure this doesn't happen again,' Motsko said.
Albuquerque City Councilor Klarissa Peña supervised the acquisition of the building furnishings, although she said she does not know who authorized the expenditures. Councilor Peña also said she did not know at the time that the equipment purchases failed to comply with state law. 'Unbeknownst to me, I didn't know that that was occurring. It's concerning. I think that there was probably a level of errors throughout all our procurement within City Council,' Councilor Peña said.
Bernalillo County Commissioners hired the non-profit West Central Community Development Group to manage the facility. The first visitor center appropriation came in 2015. $13,000,000 later, the building opened for business. That was in 2023. Fully equipped and furnished, the visitor center had everything it needed to be a successful tourist destination, everything except tourists, employees, revenue, a brew pub, banquets, weddings, catering, concerts, or a gift shop. Rather than generating self-supporting income and boosting the local economy, the visitor center has turned into a significant drain on taxpayer dollars.
What went wrong? For starters, Bernalillo County's lack of planning is a factor. And then there's the location. The county built the visitor center a good half mile from the nearest interstate exit, well off the beaten path. And then last year, the county terminated its contract with the West Central Community Development Group, citing mismanagement and financial improprieties. The building was closed shortly after it opened. Last year, Bernalillo County walked away from the project and donated the entire Route 66 Visitor Center building to the City of Albuquerque.
'Today, the benefit (of the Route 66 Visitor Center) to the taxpayer right now is nothing,' said State Senator Pete Campos. Senator Campos has long been an advocate for reform of the Legislative Capital Outlay process. He said, 'very clearly it's not responsible at all' to fund a project that doesn't have an operational budget, feasibility study, or master plan. 'The failures were a lack of planning. As legislators, it's up to us to ensure that that particular project be best utilized for the people of that region, for the people of New Mexico,' Senator Campos said.
'If you build something without a plan, it's almost impossible to make that thing functional and having it succeed,' Legislative Finance Committee Chair Senator George Muñoz said. 'It's the cart before the horse. How do you know you're going to really need something before you have a study or a plan? It's like building a house with no plan,' Senator Muñoz said. He said, in his opinion, legislators who appropriated Capital Outlay money towards the Route 66 Visitor Center 'did not do their homework.'
'Having something in this realm is a luxury. (State Legislators) had better do their homework and make sure that they want their name on the Capital Outlay sheet when it fails,' LFC Chair Senator Muñoz said.
The City of Albuquerque has appointed a Route 66 Visitor Center Commission to determine how the center can best serve the community. While the Commission contemplates a future usage of the building, city work crews have spent some $600,000 performing repairs and upgrades to the three-year-old structure. Albuquerque officials hope to reopen the building later this year. Until then, the Route 66 Visitor Center remains closed to the public.
'As policymakers, it's not our money, it's public money. We have an obligation to make sure that we review all the facts and all the information that we can possibly get our hands on, and then make an informed decision,' Bernalillo County Commissioner Eric Olivas said.
'This is a big deal. It's (your) tax dollars. You need to know that your dollars are spent on things that you need: water, infrastructure, roads, streets, parks, things that add quality of life,' State Senator George Muñoz said.
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