the el vado motel is saved (for good!)

this sentence alone bears offsetting and italics:

the city of albuquerque did the right thing.

period. and i have to say, i am surprised. i don't have a ton of faith in government acting in the best interest of the population, especially in cases like this where there is a historic issue at stake (and a lot of money to be made from taxes on expensive condos), but this time they absolutely came through for the city. after years of negotiations, the city of albuquerque finally condemned the el vado motel and seized it. prior to this the city had made the owner a perfectly legitimate and reasonable offer for the property, which he not only refused but added that he would never sell it to the city on principal. former owner ("developer" richard gonzales) is no doubt stewing over this latest chapter in the el vado saga. he will, however, be compensated appropriately in the end--a judge is to determine actual value of the site soon in order to finalize this deal.

i, and many others, have been fighting via email, city council meetings, and however else we could be heard to have this structure saved from demolition. i wrote about the plight of the el vado here; ron at route66.com wrote about the most recent developments here. yay for preservation!