Barelas Mainstreet: Community Economic Assessment
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BARELAS MAINSTREET: COMMUNITY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT Gillian Joyce and Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell June, 2015 Funding Provided by: New Mexico Economic Development Department New Mexico MainStreet Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................4 2. Demographics ..............................................................................................................................5 3. Education .....................................................................................................................................8 4. Housing ........................................................................................................................................10 5. Income .........................................................................................................................................12 6. Economy .......................................................................................................................................14 7. Challenges and Opportunities .....................................................................................................17 8. Appendix ......................................................................................................................................19 List of Tables Table 1. Ethnicity by Geography…………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Table 2. Ethnicity by Geography LocalComparisons……… ...............................................................6 Table 3. Reading Math and Science Proficiency, 4th and 11th grades ………………………………………...9 Table 4. Housing Vacancy in Barelas by Type ...............................................................................10 Table 5. Household Income by Income Type ................................................................................12 List of Figures Figure 1. Age by Age Bracket: Barelas , Albuquerque, Bernalillo Co. and New Mexico ................7 Figure 2. Education Among the Population Over 25, Barelas, Abq, Bernalillo Co., N.M. ..............8 Figure 3. Educational Attainment,Population Over the Age of 25, Comparison Communities. ....9 Figure 4. Housing by Age, Barelas, Albuquerque, Bernalillo Co., New Mexico………………………….11 Figure 5. Household Income: Barelas, Albuquerque, Bernalillo Co., and New Mexico………………12 Figure 6. Barelas Employment by Sector…………………………………………………………………………………..14 Figure 7. Employment by Occupation, Barelas, Albuquerque and New Mexico………………………..14 Figure 8. Trade Area Map of Barelas Trade Area, 0.5 miles, 1 mile and 2 miles………………………..15 1. Introduction The history of Barelas is closely tied to the history of transportation in the area. Originally settled as the private estancia of Pedro Varela, the community was established as an official settlement by the Spanish government in 1662. The original settlement boundaries included an essential river crossing along the Camino Real – where now stands the bridge across the Rio Grande on Bridge Boulevard. Growth of the community was slow, with just 350 residents according to the 1880 census and the economy of the community was primarily agricultural until the coming of the railroad in the 1880’s. At the time, Albuquerque was a mile and a half from the train station, whereas Barelas was quite close. Barelas’ location just south of New Town and just west of the rail yard lead to Barelas’s boom years, as the Barelas’ economy pivoted from agriculture to railroad related industries and Barelas’ boom years began. By 1900 Barelas’ population was up to 1200. In 1891, Barelas was incorporated into Albuquerque, ending its era as a self-standing village. Until 1937 Route 66 ran along 4th Street, Bridge Boulevard and Isleta – providing an important local and tourist base for commercial development along 4th Street – where local residents could find services including grocery stores, drug stores, etc. The re-routing of Route 66 along Central Avenue in 1937, the supplanting of US 85 with I-25 as the major north-south route through Albuquerque in the 1950’s further decreased outside traffic through the area, and was a blow to the businesses along the corridor. The final blow to the 4th Street businesses was the converting of 4th Street into the Civic plaza in 1974, resulting in the total loss of 4th Street as even a secondary artery through the city. It was also in the early 1970’s that the Santa Fe Railway shops closed, eliminating 1500 jobs from Barelas and negatively affecting the ability of the Barelas community to support 4th Street businesses . As the Barelas business community along 4th street struggled and closed in the ‘70’s, Barelas’ residents looked to the South Valley Bridge corridor for their needs – until this business district too hit hard times with the widening of Bridge from two lanes to four – the construction process, razing of buildings, and resulting speeding up of traffic had deleterious effects on business in the area. 2. Demographics 2.1 Population The total population of Barelas, as of 2010, was 3,362, down from 3,534 in 2000, for an annual total population loss of 4.9%. This is quite different than the larger geographies within the state– over the same period in the city of Albuquerque, the total population grew at an average annual growth rate of 2.0%; in Bernalillo County the population grew annually by 1.8%; and in the state overall there was 1.3% annual growth. 2.2 Households There are 1,341 households in Barelas, of these 46.8% are family households, and roughly a third of all households (34.3%) are family households with their own children under 18 living in the home. Nearly one-fifth of all households with children are single parent households, a higher rate than in Albuquerque (14.5%), Bernalillo County (11.3%) or New Mexico overall (11.2%). 2.3 Race and Ethnicity Barelas is predominantly Hispanic – nearly three-quarters of the population identifies as such (72.7%). Conversely, the percentage of the population identifying as Hispanic in Albuquerque (46.7%), Bernalillo (47.9%) and New Mexico (46.3%) is a little less than half. Using Census Bureau ethnic origin data, it is possible to get a sense of what percentage of the Hispanic population identifies with New Mexico’s Hispano population present in the state since Spanish and Mexican colonial eras, and what percentage of the Hispanic population identifies as being of more recent Mexican or other national identity. These numbers are an imperfect representation of Hispanic identity due to the fact that some among New Mexico’s traditional Hispanic population may identify as Mexican and some among the ‘Other Hispanic’ group may indeed identify with groups other than New Mexico’s traditional Hispanic population – however it does give us a sense of the size of these populations within a community. Over a third of the population of Barelas identifies as being of Mexican origin (38.2%) – and 34.5% of the population identifies with the ‘Other Hispanic’ group. Table 1. Ethnicity by Geography Barelas Albuquerque Bernalillo New Mexico Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 72.7% 46.7% 47.9% 46.3% Mexican 38.2% 26.8% 27.6% 28.7% Other Hispanic 34.5% 19.9% 20.3% 17.6% Not Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 27.3% 53.3% 52.1% 53.7% White Alone, Not Hispanic 20.2% 42.1% 41.5% 40.5% Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, annual average Only 20.2% of the population of Barelas identifies as White Alone, not Hispanic – compared to 42.1% of Albuquerque, 41.5% of Bernalillo County, and 40.5% of the state. While 2.8% of the Barelas population identifies as Black, just barely lower than in Albuquerque or in the county (3.3% and 3.0%, respectively) and barely higher than statewide (2.1%). Another 4.1% of Barelas identifies as Native American or American Indian – similar to the percentage in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, (4.6% and 4.8%, respectively), but notably lower than statewide (9.4%). The Asian population is extremely small, just 0.4% of the population of Barelas, compared to 2.6% in Albuquerque, 2.3% of the county and 1.4% of the state. 30.6% of the population identifies as ‘some other race’ – this category is dominated by those of Hispanic identity who do not identify with any of the other race categories. In order to offer a comparison between Barelas and similar neighborhoods with a long tenure of population settlement, BBER compared Barelas with other distinct Albuquerque neighborhoods. For this purpose, BBER examined data for the South Valley, Downtown Albuquerque, Martineztown/Santa Barbara, Los Ranchos and the North Valley. Table 2. Ethnicity by Geography – Local Comparisons South Martineztown/ Los North Barelas Valley Downtown Santa Barbara Ranchos Valley Hispanic 72.7% 81.1% 21.1% 60.6% 37.0% 55.9% Mexican 38.2% 51.7% 6.5% 30.8% 17.4% 23.2% Other Hispanic 34.5% 29.4% 14.6% 29.8% 19.6% 32.7% Not Hispanic 27.3% 18.9% 78.9% 39.4% 63.0% 44.1% White, not Hispanic 20.2% 16.4% 68.4% 29.3% 58.6% 37.7% Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, annual average Only the South Valley has a higher density of people identifying as Hispanic, which is primarily due to a higher density of Hispanics identifying as being of Mexican origin (51.7% in South Valley versus 38.2% in Barelas); however, a larger proportion of the population identifies under ‘Other Hispanic’ in Barelas than in the South Valley (34.5% versus 29.4%, respectively) or in any other listed geography. Only the North Valley (32.7%) comes close to the