Editor,
Never having seen or read your paper, I have no way of knowing whether you have any concern in printing this type of public interest letter. I am sending you this letter in the hope that you can publish it and help your readers get an idea of what some people think about the conduct of UNM's campus, and some of the slip-shod ways public events are being handled.
On March 19, I took advantage of attending a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - a friend and I went to the University of New Mexico and spent a pleasurable evening listening to the fabulous Glenn Miller Orchestra in Popejoy Hall. For those of you who are under the age of 30, this is probably a "Who is that?" situation. For all of those in the 50-to-90 age range, you are probably wishing you could have been there and reminisced with the rest of us.
I do not know my way around Albuquerque, and I had no way of knowing where Popejoy Hall was or how to get there. I immediately jumped on my trusty computer and called up the Albuquerque city map and looked for Popejoy Hall. The computer told me that Popejoy was on the lower southwest side of Albuquerque near Mountain Road. I printed out the page and headed for my friend's home, where she said the computer was wrong, so she called some friends and got better directions. It would appear that whoever had programmed the computer map didn't know where something as famous as Popejoy Hall was located.
I have discussed, with many individuals, how poorly the Albuquerque streets are marked, but what follows is pathetic. You would expect that something as important as a concert hall on University property that brings in families from all over New Mexico and other states would be thought of as an outstanding feature by some of the higher-ups in the University staff.
We were told by a friend to turn left at Stanford Drive, which would take us directly to the parking area and the hall. There are no streets except Yale Boulevard and Stanford going into the campus. After you pass Yale, however, there is a sign stating that Stanford is closed because of major construction. We had to go to the next intersection, turn around and come back down Central Avenue and try to figure out how to get into the University.
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Any idiot should have had the sense to put up signs on Central between I-25 and before Yale informing motorists about the construction.
These are supposed to be college graduates running this thing. That means they have more creases in the gray matter of their brain than the average person, and they should know how to think ahead.
There is not a single sign inside or outside of the University stating "Popejoy Hall this way" - but, after you finally drive into Yale you come to a T-intersection, where you have to turn either left or right. There are two signs reading "Popejoy Parking," and they have an arrow pointing left. If you turn left, you will go deeper into the campus and there are no parking lots in that direction - all the street parking is full, and no Popejoy. The hall, of course, is in the other direction. The persons who put up the signs should have them rammed up their rectal cavity.
I don't know of a single person who has attended the University of New Mexico, and I am glad of that, because if this is what they learn, they must be difficult to have a conversation with.
We finally retraced our steps and found the entrance to the parking garage - and it only took us an extra 45 minutes of driving around. We had given ourselves an extra hour to get there, and if it weren't for that, we would have been late for this fantastic event.
I do want to thank the people who took the time to set up this concert - it was a real experience.
Murrell Fassett
UNM visitor
