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Roadrunner, Coyote and Balloons on a garage in Parkland Hills. (Photo: Roland Penttila)

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Recovery Center Near Sunport has Neighbors on Edge

Empower Health Services waits for zoning decision

by Damon Scott

A woman stands with her belongings outside the former Ramada, which is now an addiction recovery center. (Photo: Damon Scott)

Addiction recovery center Empower Health Services has been operating since November in the former 115-room Ramada by Wyndham Albuquerque Airport on Yale near Gibson. It offers optional living accommodations to clients who are struggling with substance-use disorders.

But during its approximately two months of operation, area businesses and residents say the center has been a magnet for problems, including loitering, excess litter, drug use and increased calls to law enforcement. The former hotel sits on about 2.2 acres at 2300 Yale Blvd. SE—north of a Village Inn restaurant and south of a Waffle House—just a couple minutes from the Albuquerque International Sunport.

The pool is covered up at the former Ramada, now Empower Health Services. (Photo Damon Scott)

Empower bills itself as an intensive outpatient substance use treatment program with “optional sober living support.” Its owner and executive director, Dr. Karan Mahajan, said the offer of housing is contingent upon a client’s participation in its treatment services and an agreement to follow program guidelines.