City makes space for balloon landings

THE COUNT DOWN IS ON FOR BALLOON FIESTA -- NOW ONLY ONE WEEK AWAY OF COURSE IN ORDER FOR THE EVENT TO WORK BALLOONS NEED LANDING SPOTS AND THOSE LANDING SPOTS HAVE BEEN DISAPPEARING WITH EVERY NEW DEVELOPMENT BUT THIS YEAR OFFICIALS SAY THE QUESTION OF WHERE THE 650 BALLOONS WILL LAND HAS BEEN MORE THAN ANSWERED VALERIE CASTRO IS LIVE DOWNTOWN WITH THE DETAILS VAL BALLOON FIESTA OFFICIALS SAY NOT HAVING ENOUGH LANDING SITES COULD ALWAYS JEOPARDIZE THE FIESTA BUT THIS YEAR THE CITY A-P-S AND EVEN THE SANDIA PUEBLO HAVE STEPPED UP TO OPEN UP MORE LAND THAN EVER THE BIG WIN FOR BALLOON FIESTA THIS YEAR WAS THE CITY S PURCHASE OF THE 17-ACRE PLOT OF LAND AT VISTA DEL NORTE AND OSUNA THE LAND WILL BE CONVERTED INTO SOCCER FIELDS BUT DURING THE FIESTA IT IS A DESIGNATED AND PRESERVED LANDING SITE FIESTA OFFICIALS SAY ALBUQUERQUE PUBLIC SCHOOLS WILL BE OFFERING UP ALL OF THEIR PLAYING FIELDS AND THE SANDIA PUEBLO HAS OPENED UP MORE OF THEIR LAND THAN EVER BEFORE OFFICIALS SAY EVEN THOUGH THE LANDING SITES ARE PLENTIFUL THIS YEAR IT WILL ALWAYS BE AN ISSUE TO KEEP IN MIND I don t want to minimize the worry that continues to be probably the number one threatening aspect to fiesta because if we lose landing sites pilots just won t come to fly so we re still concerned about it in a major way we re just pleased to see the improvement that we have this year BALLOON FIESTA SAYS ANOTHER OPTION IS THE X- MARKS THE SPOT PROGRAM PRIVATE LAND OWNERS CAN OFFER UP THEIR PLOT OF LAND FOR PILOTS TO USE IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE JUST LET BALLOON FIESTA KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE AND HOW MUCH LAND YOU HAVE ON FLYING DAYS MARK THE PROPERTY WITH A WHITE SHEET SO PILOTS KNOW THEY ARE WELCOME TO LAND LIVE DOWNTOWN VC EWN 4 REMEMBER-- EYEWITNESS NEWS