And why yet another blog, when blogs are dead, as evidenced by the many desiccated domain husks littering the Internet, especially those originating in Albuquerque and environs?

Yeah, why?

Well, for many reasons, including “big picture” ideas like improving the sharing of grand ideas that can make Albuquerque better, but also for the smaller, simple reason that much discussion now taking place about our city can be summed up by what this blog is not called: Bitchy Burque.

As you, dear reader, are not only a resident, but a regular reader of local print, TV and online journalism/discussion, you know the long, long list of things that are wrong with our fair city. You might also have noticed and been a bit irritated by the fact we Burqueans tend to moan about the problems without envisioning anything but the most simple solutions.

To wit crime: Crime can apparently be stopped if we kill all the criminals (aka: The comment section of every media source in town).

Are we in ABQ worse about our lack of depth in discussing issues and creating workable solutions? Maybe not, for it’s certainly a humanity-wide problem, but there definitely seems to be a strong need for outlets that get beyond simply bitching about things, tying them to Bill Richardson or Susana Martinez or Martin Chavez or Richard Berry or undocumented residents or the rich and powerful, then fatalistically throwing up our hands with “land of mañana” or some other unwitty aphorism.

Let’s have a place that goes a bit deeper, shares information and ideas a bit more, and is centered in the mindset of solving problems, all the while knowing that our solutions create their own problems, and so on, and so on.

In other words, this is a public policy blog.

Its areas of highest priority are, honestly, those most of interest to its founder, but issues of transportation, education, planning and infrastructure (in all its forms) seem very much of interest to many of us. Providing a place to read, write and discuss these issues on a deeper level is the whole point of Better Burque.

Maybe you feel the same way and will add this site to your daily “delicious breakfast” (or lunch or dinner) of online resources. Perhaps you’ll also feel compelled to comment on what you read, or even add to the discussion with your own essays and other work. We’re casting a wide net in search of volunteers, as the idea here isn’t making money.  The idea is to make points and flesh out ideas that will make our beautiful, yet often maddening, city a better place.

Thanks for taking time to drop by now. Drop by, anytime.