ABQ street goes unpaved and unnoticed

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - It's the street the City of Albuquerque forgot although its neighbors and apparently some criminals know it well.

Quentin Place NE is hard to find on a map and you can rarely find its name despite it being a city street for 50 years.

The problem is that the city and the developer never paved it. The reasons for that remain unclear.

But over the decades the 300-foot-long street near Central Avenue and Louisiana Boulevard has attracted all kinds of crime.

"It's a constant flow of prostitutes," said one neighbor who didn't want to be identified.

"You just don't play out," another neighbor told News 13. "The kids don't come out. We don't play in the front yard. We don't do a whole lot in the front yard,"

Neighbors don't want the city to pave the road saying that would add to the traffic and the problems.

So a couple of years ago the city put up temporary barriers to keep cars from passing through. Residents still are not happy.

"I've tried to get them to block the street at the entrance, put a gate since my garage is in the back," one resident said. "They refuse to do anything."

He's called the city 200 times to complain about the street, he added.

However the city can't just block of Quentin Place, according to Mark Motsko, who spoke for several city agencies that have looked at the problem.

"There is a very large storm drainage pipe underneath the street, and to vacate the street would mean closing access," he said. And if there were a leak, crews must be able to access the road, he added.

Motsko said the city also can't afford to move the drain.

"It would be in the bond cycle three or four cycles from now," he continued. "It would be something that we could look at though."

If the city wanted to turn the street over to a private owner, that would be a long process requiring approval by the city Planning Department.

Police have promised to step up enforcement, and Motsko said the Weed and Litter Patrol will hit the street. Still neighbors are doubtful anything will change.

"Obviously very frustrated, but I'm still trying to get it resolved," said one of the neighbors.