ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – On Tuesday, the City of Albuquerque gave two 7-Eleven properties, which were declared to be a public nuisance to public safety, a 10-day notice.
The notice gives the properties a deadline to address issues that affect the public’s safety. The City of Albuquerque proposed a nuisance abatement plan that specifies solutions which include cameras, security guards, prohibiting the sales of alcohol minis, and to train employees on alcohol sales improvements among additional things.
According to the City of Albuquerque, representatives from the 7-Eleven properties have not yet agreed to the city’s proposals. If an agreement is not met within the 10-day notice, city attorneys are expected to file civil litigation against the properties to seek improvements to public safety.
“These are two long-time problem properties that have plagued their surroundings for years. We are not waiting any longer for the owners to step up and share the responsibility to alleviate danger to the public safety of the neighborhoods and the residents around them. These crime hot spots have thousands of calls for service and hundreds of visits from police and fire, and enough is enough. We’re calling for commonsense improvements like ending the sale of mini bottles of liquor and staffing security at the stores,” said Mayor Tim Keller in a statement. “If the corporation doesn’t bring the properties up to par, we’ll resolve this threat to public safety in the courts.”
The 7-Eleven properties located at 3801 Central Ave. NE and 5401 Kathryn Ave SE have been reported to the Albuquerque Police Department and Albuquerque Fire Rescue, and 311 multiple times. The city reports that APD has responded to the properties a total of 733 times while AFR has responded to the properties a total of 189 times since January 2018.
The City of Albuquerque’s 311 center has also received 1,127 complaints regarding these two properties.