OPINION: Every State Fairgrounds plan is good for the International District

The State Fairgrounds District Board, created in 2025, has committed more than $90 million — with more to come — to revitalize the heart of Albuquerque.

It's the largest investment the area has ever seen, a once-in-a-generation opportunity that builds on decades of community work to revitalize the International District. In December, the state released three development concepts, all including housing, parks and pedestrian safety improvements. No matter which design is chosen, this investment will transform Central Albuquerque.

Each design prioritizes what our community needs most: mixed-income housing to address the affordability crisis, green space to cool the heat island and retail infrastructure to address grocery store closures.

Pedestrian safety improvements include crosswalks, widened sidewalks and better lighting at the two most dangerous intersections in New Mexico. A mixed-use event space promises year-round events for the community. Whether the State Fair stays or moves, this investment will benefit residents every single day.

For decades, this community has fought for itself. The Talin Market arrived. Neighbors organized big anti-drug marches. The city demolished numerous East Central motels and drug houses. A community center and Albuquerque Police Department substation were built. It all added up to substantial progress — and then the fentanyl epidemic struck. This deadly scourge, coupled with skyrocketing homelessness, only intensified the public safety challenge.

Today, City Council District 6 is home to 68% of homeless services in the city — a crushing burden for the poorest area of town, where median income is half the rest of Bernalillo County.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham believes that those who live and work in the International District deserve better, so she pushed for this investment. None of these historic improvements would be happening without her vision and determination to deliver housing, parks, economic development and safer streets for families who have always deserved this level of support. Other legislators, like Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Janelle Anyanonu, D-Albuquerque, have rallied behind the vision, and we are grateful for their support.

Yes, there are still details to debate — housing density, park size and whether the State Fair stays or moves. These conversations matter. But let's not lose sight of what's at stake.

After decades of disinvestment, Central Albuquerque finally has resources that match the scale of the challenge. The fundamentals — safer streets, mixed-use housing, green space and the promise of new economic opportunity — are locked in to the ambitious plan now before us.

The real question isn't what we're losing — it's what the community is gaining. Will we create the kind of neighborhood where families see opportunity, not decline? Where the International District gets the investment it so desperately needs?

I imagine an International District in which parents are excited to cross San Pedro or Central Avenue to go to the park with their kids. An International District in which communities can gather over shared hobbies, where businesses flourish and no one is afraid to walk home after dark.

Engage with the public process. Provide input on design concepts. Push for what your neighborhood needs. But recognize that this investment is already transforming our community's future. Let's make sure we're arguing about how to maximize that transformation — not whether it should happen at all.

Dr. Peter Belletto has lived in a Southeast Heights neighborhood near the State Fairgrounds for more than 20 years. He is the president of the District 6 Coalition of Neighborhood Associations and is the community member representative of the New Mexico State Fairgrounds District Board.