News

We’d like to extend our thanks to the UNM Men’s Rugby Team for coming out and doing a whole bunch of yard work for us.  We really appreciate all the hard work!  

An interesting performance piece that’s part vaudeville, part modern commentary. It’s perfect for our members!

Congratulations and welcome to our 2017 Board of Directors President: Kevin Fuller Vice President: Frank Serriani Treasurer: Maynard Cowan Secretary: Courtney Foster Directors: Ken Hargis, Justin Cumley, Kristin Elliott, Christopher Lock, Steve Satchwell and Steve Fye

Club Members! The Annual Membership meeting will be December 11th (the second Sunday in December) at 2 pm.  Please mark it on your calendarys, and plan on attending!

A short stroll around the neighborhood. – David Donaldson I like to think of Huning Highland as a walking neighborhood and at this point in time, I’ve established several short routes that I follow when I feel like getting out of the house for twenty minutes or so,, or, whenever I want to give guests and visitors an overview of the neighborhood. I live on Iron Ave, which “technically” is the southern edge of The historical district, so sometimes I walk south— and believe me, there are some cute little houses in the South Broadway neighborhood, but more often than not, I head north- cutting down alleys, or strolling along Walter to Central. I don’t know why, but Central seems to be the dividing line for me, even though I happen to like the houses along Copper, and I frequently use the library on Edith between Central and Copper. It’s one of the neighborhood’s hidden gems.. I retreat to it quite often with my lap-top when my twice a month, cleaning lady comes and I don’t want to be under-foot. (Or, more accurately, struggle with my not so fluent Spanish!) I discovered another hidden gem during one of my peripatetic meanderings back in November 2013, when I came across the Albuquerque Press Club. It’s that quirky, wooden structure with wrap around balconies that sits atop the hill in the neighborhood park. Of course I’d seen the building before, but I always assumed that membership was limited to reporters or journalists,. However on that afternoon stroll, I had no particular agenda nor was I rushed for time, so I decided to explore the building. At first it seemed a bit intimidating. A sign clearly reads members only.” and, after climbing the wooden stairs leading to the balcony, I confronted a sturdy wood door with an unusual log-latch. Once inside. I felt as if I had been transported back to the nineteenth century. I found myself in a cavernous great-room with a raised ceiling and heavy wooden cross beams. Most surprisingly, it appeared as if no one were there. (At least on the day I decided to venture in.) The walls are lined with well stocked book cases. To the right I spotted a huge field-stone fireplace, and an upright piano, and I noticed an organ on the left. I heard sounds coming from within the building so I decided to pass through a dimly lit doorway ,and step down a short flight of stairs. I could hardly believe my eyes: I encountered a well-stocked Irish “pub” but most importantly, I met Seth Hall, the bar tender. As it turns out, Seth is also on the membership committee of the Press Club, and since no one else was around that afternoon, he explained the history of the building, as well as the clubs membership policy. In short: the building was the home of George Whittlesby, an architect for the Santa Fe railroad, who based his design on a Norwegian country house. More important for the purpose of this article, Seth explained that the club is officially part of the world-wide Press Club network, and while a certain percentage of members is associated with newspapers, magazines, the media, and marketing, he elaborated that the Board offers “Associate membership” for individuals who are not associated with the press, and approximately seventy percent of overall membership falls within that category. Seth had time to show me around the building that afternoon and he pointed out the card-room; the comfortable lounge area that serves as the game-room; the dart-room, the billiards-room and the expansive outside patio. I was impressed with the quirkiness of the building; the expansive outside balconies; the cozy atmosphere inside, and particularly, Seth’s warm-welcome. The fact that I can walk to the club in about eight minutes, was an added feature. I made up my mind to join. Seth sponsored me for associate membership, and after the board reviewed my application, I became an official Press Club member. Board members later told me,that they are delighted when “local” people join the club. As it turned out, I was elected to the board of directors myself this past January and I now serve as the Press Club Secretary. And, because I live in the neighborhood, I volunteered to act as chair of the Community Liaison committee. One of the benefits of belong to the Press Club as far as I am concerned, is that I can take friends up there on summer afternoons and we are able to sit out on the balcony with our drinks. For the record, a dry gin martini at the Apothecary Bar (same view) is approximately twice what the Press club charges. The Press Club doesn’t have a restaurant, so they permit “carry-ins”. I often bring chips, cheese & crackers; pizza, or pot-stickers that I’d seamed at home. Another advantage is that members can use the Press Club facilities for meetings and since my home is too small for large gatherings, I’ve held pot-lucks for twenty eight at the Press Club, and a few months ago, I arranged for two guest lecturers to speak to a group of eighteen men. In other words, The Press Club is a lot more than a bar. It’s a place to meet and to socialize with neighbors and friends. It’s also serves as a great “pit-stop” during my neighborhood walks, and I inevitably find someone interesting to chat to. If you are reading this news letter and would like to see the building for yourself, I, or some of the other board members, would be more than happy to show you around. In my experience, The Press Club is definitely part of our neighborhood, and I for one, would love to see more neighbors recognize that the quirky building atop the hill is one of Huning Highland’s “hidden gems.” And, while I certainly have ulterior motives, I wouldn’t mind seeing an increase in neighborhood members.

Members! Our awesome bar manager, Maynard, has decided that he would like to show his, and our, appreciation for our Membership. This Friday, April 10, starting at 6:30 PM, he will be serving up a whole LOT of BBQ, including brisket, ribs, pulled pork and chicken. We would love to have a whole bunch of you come down and help us eat this.  Thanks!    

We are in the process of finalizing the agreement with the City of Albuquerque in regard to our parking lot. Here are the minutes, including the text of the agreement, from the special Board meeting March 02, 2015: Special Meeting 03_02_2015

We are negotiating an agreement with the city that will, if we can work this out, provide the APC with key access to the bollards that will close off the “multi-purpose” area. This area is what is currently the east parking lot (scroll down to see the designs). Key access will provide us parking when needed. This will provide us the same amount of parking we have now. Though things are not completed, there is still some work to do, it appears we will be OK.

The meeting was held, the city presented its proposed plan to renovate the park to the commission. Representatives of the APC spoke in favor of including findings with the decision that would recognize the relationship between the park and the parking/access and the history of that relationship. Dave Smoker spoke of dealing with this very issue 30 years ago when he was president of the club and the current parking situation being the the agreed result of that series of meetings.     The way the system works, the city presents it’s side, we respond with our side, then they get a final rebuttal. After that, testimony is closed and the commission decides.     During their final rebuttal, city staff, including a representative of city legal department, presented new information, their contention that it would be improper for the LUCC to consider our proposed findings. We were unable to challenge that, though we believe the law is on our side.    The LUCC did not include our findings. The point of these findings is to insure that we have constructive access to the multi-use area. Without that, the city may refuse us access by refusing to provide a key to the bollard(s).     We have filed an appeal with the city. This appeal appeals the decision of the LUCC to the city council. The reasons for the appeal are specifically that the process itself was flawed by allowing the city to present new information during their “rebuttal” time while not allowing the APC the opportunity to respond.     We are in contact with the city parks department and will be meeting with them early in January 2015. The hope is that we can reach a written agreement that satisfies both the parks department and the APC so that the appeal of the LUCC decision to the council may be withdrawn.   A copy of our appeal may be found here.

We hired an attorney with significant experience working with the city in similar situations. He has been quite helpful. We have participated in a number of meetings with city parks department and other interested parties. We have raised the awareness of our members and our community to the value the APC provides to our community and the critical need for parking. In doing the above, we changed the dynamic, the parks department has changed the designs to something that will work for us. The city parks and recreation department presented the most recent set of revised plans to the city Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission for their approval on December 10.  We supported that plan but, we asked that the commission also approve findings that would support our continuing right to parking and access. We believe that, as a direct result of an abuse of process, these findings were not approved. We will appeal that decision. We feel this is important. Dave Smoker had to deal with this same issue back in 1981 when the city truncated Elm St. We hope to preclude this from happening again. The current design presented to the Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission. Note the vehicle graphics parked. The area that is now our parking lot gets converted to a multi-use plaza, available as overflow parking when needed. It will be blocked with a bollard that, presumably, we will have a key to.     This graphic portrays the revised plan in black, overlayed on the existing configuration in gray.   Note, the circle at the West end of Highland Park Circle becomes parking, a smaller circle is created at the East end where it meets Elm.       The parking surfaces will be permiable pavers. The grade at the current lot area will change from ascending to the east to descending to   the east with a walkway out to the street at the east end. The multi-use plaza will have a dense canopy of trees, allowing casual recreation, or parking, between the trees. Providing we can get an agreement that will allow the APC continuing use of the overflow parking with key access for the club, we believe this is an equitable plan that preserves our parking while incorporating community uses.