ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A pump station in Downtown Albuquerque is going by a new name. It’s the same pump station that failed to stop severe flooding in the area after a settings glitch in June . Now, it’s been named after the former city councilor who helped to create it.
Tucked away on the cross street of Broadway Boulevard and Marble Avenue in Downtown Albuquerque is the Marble Arno Pump Station, or at least, it used to be called that. Since Friday, it’s been named after former City Councilor Isaac Benton.
“I wasn’t sure who Isaac Benton was, I was just kind of like, ‘Okay, yeah,'” mentioned Andrew Pineda, store manager of Happy Dispensary which sits right across from the pump station.
“Former City Councilor Ike Benton served for 18 years as city councilor , is a huge champion for planning, for Downtown, for making our city better, and he was someone who really pushed for this project—the pump station to make sure that Downtown was more flood resilient,” explained Staci Drangmeister, director of communications for the City of Albuquerque.
The facility, which is meant to collect water and pump it into the Rio Grande to prevent flooding, was built in 2022 and cost $17 million.
On Friday, the city renamed it in honor of Councilor Benton through an initiative called ‘ABQ Stories of Us.’
“It started last year. You know, the city has always honored people by naming them. Take Dolores Huerta Avenue for example. But, we really wanted to expand that, and you know, recognize more people through this project,” Drangmeister said.
A committee of people from different departments in the Mayor’s Office is responsible for the decision and paid for it through facility maintenance costs.
“This is just one more example of the way the city is lifting up and paying tribute to people past and present that have made a contribution to the community,” Drangmeister said.
However, the name change of this facility has some in the community wondering why.
“Even if you look in the gates, it’s pretty mucky in there. It’s not very well kept, so yeah it’s kind of weird,” Pineda stated.
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The station did fail this summer when a system error allowed the area to flood. The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority said improvements are being considered. Now, residents say the city should focus on keeping the property maintained.
“You know, it looks nice. It’s okay right there, but kind of like an eyesore because you’ve got all these weeds out here that nobody really takes care of, and it’s becoming more of a mosquito problem than anything,” Pineda commented.
The city was not able to immediately KRQE how much it cost to change the name. KRQE reached out to former City Councilor Isaac Benton to find out what he thought about it being named in his honor; we have not heard back.
Drangmeister said they’re looking to the community to get ideas for more name change nominations going forward: “So we invite anyone, if there’s a community member in any sort of space, whether it’s a non-profit organization or an educator or an elected leader, you know, it doesn’t matter, but we would love to get nominations from the community about how they would like to recognize.”
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