Adam Food Market, located on the northwest corner of Central and Pennsylvania is now facing a lawsuit from the City of Albuquerque that seeks to close down the business for three years.
City and law enforcement officials said in a press conference on Thursday, that the property has become a “nuisance” to the community and one of the most active sites for crime in the city.
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina shared that the department has investigated six murders, responded to 500 calls and wrote 117 reports at just this one location.
In total, the City has spent approximately $100,000 for officer’s time responding to this store in the last year.
Commander Luke Languit, who oversees police operations in this part of the city, said the store itself is the root cause of crime in this area.
“These anchors of crime are what is drawing the criminal activity to these areas. What’s different about the Adam Market is that in a lot of the other high crime areas, you may have these anchor properties, if they’re businesses where they may turn a blind eye to criminal activity. With Adam Market, they’re not just turning a blind eye, they are involved in criminal activity.”
Languit said his officials are routinely involved in disputes between employees and the public and these disputes often result in violent crime.
In order to address this and future properties in Albuquerque that become crime hotspots, the City is taking action by strengthening prevention efforts through proposing changes to the nuisance abatement ordinance.
City Council President Pat David said this litigation against Adam Food Market shows the City is no longer waiting for these problems to fix themselves.
“This is the right next step and we are going to clean up this city and if you have property in our city that is facilitating problems for your neighbors, if it is facilitating criminal activity, we are no longer waiting, we are no longer asking other people to step in and do this. We are giving ourselves the tools to solve our problems and address them proactively.”