Sen. Leo Jaramillo (D-Española) sits behind the wheel of an Española Valley lowrider. (Photo provided by Leo Jaramillo)
Cruising down the street in a souped-up car riding as low to the ground as possible is just about as New Mexican an experience you can get.
“Lowriders in New Mexico are as much a part of our culture as red and green chile,” Lorenzo Otero, a member of an Albuquerque lowrider club, told lawmakers Tuesday. He added that the vehicles are part of every celebration held around the state, from parades to community parties and fairs.
Otero and fellow members of his club drove up to the Roundhouse to show support for several bills aimed at preserving lowriders and their cultural ties this session. The group was part of an effort to repeal an Albuquerque city ordinance in November 2018 that banned cruising on city streets, in collaboration with Albuquerque City Councilor Klarissa Peña.
Peña told Source NM that several initiatives have come about since the repeal of the ban, including an annual conference where people from across the country travel to New Mexico to learn how Albuquerque made the repeal possible and how they might do the same in their communities. The Albuquerque City Council also worked with the Albuquerque Police Department to establish the first Lowrider Patrol Vehicle.
Peña explained that the goal was “bridging the gap between law enforcement and the lowrider community to kind of dispel some of those perceptions that were out there.” In the last couple of years, the Albuquerque City Council passed a memorial urging the Legislature to make lowriders the state vehicle.
Otero joined Española Democratic Sen. Leo Jaramillo Tuesday in the Senate Indian, Rural and Cultural Affairs Committee to present Senate Bill 498, which proposes naming the lowrider the official state vehicle, joining a long list of state symbols that includes biscochitos as the state cookie; yucca as the state flower; and the Squash Blossom as the state necklace.
“Lowriders tell the story of our people, they represent us as a culture, as proud New Mexicans,” Otero said during the meeting, also describing the vehicles as mobile works of art. “The Albuquerque Lowrider Super Show brings in people from all over the country and other countries to showcase. They come in and we’re blessed to be able to showcase our culture, our music, our food, our people and our lowriders.”
SB498 cruised easily through the Senate Indian, Rural and Cultural Affairs Committee with a unanimous favorable vote and now heads to the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee.
Sen. Bill Soules (D-Las Cruces) pointed out that bills such as this one are good for economic development in the state and provide free publicity.
The bill is one of several introduced this session to add to the list of state symbols, including Senate Bill 315, which proposes naming the tortilla the state bread. Along similar lines, House Bill 172 proposes naming August “Red and Green Chile Month.”
As for preserving lowrider culture, House Bill 239 proposes a $100,000 appropriation out of the general fund to the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Higher Education Department to conduct a feasibility study for creating a lowrider museum in Española. The bill has passed one committee and will be heard in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee next.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.