A socialist group headquartered across the street from the New Mexico State Fairgrounds launched a campaign Saturday opposed to a new state-funded stadium, saying roughly $70 million earmarked for the project could be better spent elsewhere.
The Albuquerque Party for Socialism and Liberation’s town hall event featured presentations from the group’s organizers who said the redevelopment at the fairgrounds risks displacing low-income communities for a taxpayer-funded stadium that will do little for the surrounding neighborhoods.
“A new stadium should only be on the table for Albuquerque if explicit measures are taken to avoid gentrification and displacement, if residents are given facts about what the stadium will and will not do for their community as well as granted their right to decide for themselves through a vote,” organizer Olivia Garcia told attendees Saturday.
Senate Bill 481 in 2025 created a new tax district board, composed of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other local and state elected officials, and entrusted it with up to $500 million in bonding capacity to transform the fairgrounds. The Legislature earlier this year approved $92 million in bonds and added an additional $100 million from the state budget.
Under a master plan the board adopted in late March, the southwest corner of the fairgrounds property will make way for new housing, a multi-use stadium and a public park, as well as pedestrian safety improvements at two nearby intersections.
The socialist group’s organizers criticized that process Saturday, saying it gave insufficient power to community members to decide the fairgrounds’ future.
In 2021, the group was part of a coalition that organized opposition to an Albuquerque-wide ballot measure that would have approved a taxpayer-funded stadium for soccer team New Mexico United in the Barelas neighborhood. Nearly two-thirds of Albuquerque voters opted against the new stadium.
“This time around, no one’s gotten a chance to officially vote on whether they wanted it or not,” said organizer Kevin Branaum, though he noted that the master planning firm Stantec held a number of public meetings before presenting its recommendations to the board in March.
Martin Chavez, a former Albuquerque mayor who recently spearheaded the project on the governor’s behalf, told Source NM on Monday that the development will not result in gentrification and instead will direct more than $200 million toward new housing, green space, pedestrian safety and other improvements.
“They are just wrong on this one,” he said of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Garcia and other organizers said Saturday that they have been canvassing in the area for months seeking input about the redevelopment project.
They are launching a social media campaign and outreach effort in the coming days and plan to attend the next board meeting in force to demand more community control over the project.
The next State Fair District Board meeting has not yet been scheduled. The board was supposed to meet Thursday, though the meeting was canceled.
When they meet next, board members are expected to receive more-detailed presentations on new housing and the new stadium, as well as a broader framework for how nearby neighborhoods will be impacted.