'It's starting to get worse': Eight days into August, Coronado Park still not closed
When will Coronado Park actually close? Target 7 works to get answers.
When will Coronado Park actually close? Target 7 works to get answers.
When will Coronado Park actually close? Target 7 works to get answers.
Rio Bravo Brewery sits at 1912 2nd Street in North West Albuquerque.
“Some people don't like the idea that it has concertina wire across the top,” said Rio Bravo Brewery c0-owner Denise Baker.
The brewery didn’t always have wiring.
“They've thrown trash. They've slept out here. And so, we've had to add cameras. You'll notice we have cameras almost every spot in the place,” Baker said.
The precautions at the brewery are now needed.
“It's starting to get worse,” Baker said.
That's because the business is right across the street from Coronado Park.
“The vandalism has increased. We've had people smoking fentanyl in our bathrooms,” Baker said.
The increased vandalism and drug use in the area are affecting business.
“You ask, does it hurt our revenue? Well, definitely,” she added.
The problems with the park and the areas surrounding it are known.
“At some point, you just have to say you're going to do something and that's what we're doing,” Mayor Tim Keller said at a press conference at Coronado Park on July 26, the day he announced the park was going to close.
“We must get started doing it, and that's what August is going to be all about,” Keller said.
Keller said the park would begin to be cleared in August.
“It is still open and it's worse now,” said Baker.
Baker says since the announcement was made, more people experiencing homelessness have moved back into an area of the park they once were not camping in.
“Now that they know the park's closing, they're taking residency in the dog park,” she said.
Target 7 wanted to get some clear answers. After a press conference yesterday about the recent violence against Muslim men, we confronted Keller about the park.
“Just given what we've been dealing with on Sunday, I don't have nothing new. So stay tuned. You know, obviously, I have certainly been dealing with this for the last few days, so I do not have the latest on that. But I do know that everyone is working on a plan,” he said when asked for an update.
Baker says that with an answer like that, she is skeptical if the park will close this month, or at all.
“I just feel like he is pushing it down further, hoping it'll silence the masses and we'll quit asking for it,” Baker said.