Residents hope gate will curb crime

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Residents living in southeast Albuquerque's Juan Tabo Hills Area said they're sick of crime in their neighborhood, and now they said a developer has the power to stop it.

The residents are working with an Albuquerque city councilor to get city officials to take action.

Neighborhood Association President Kevin Smith said people are driving onto the city owned arroyo and causing problems through the only access point at Via Pasado.

The road is on private land which is owned by a housing developer.

Smith said that residents have been asking to block the road for some time.

"After a year of complaining, we have been ignored," he said.

Smith said that it's not going to happen anymore.

"We love it out here and people spend a lot of money on these homes out here," Smith said.

District 9 City Councilor Don Harris is proposing a resolution to submit to the Albuquerque City Council.

He's asking city administrators to work with developer to block the road, or to take legal action to address the problem on their own.

"What happened back in January in front of the environmental planning commission as a condition of continuing this development they were required to block the access—and they haven't done it," Harris said.

Harris, and the neighborhood residents, want the developer to put up a gate.