The City of Albuquerque is offering $680,000 to buy El Vado Motel from owner Richard L. Gonzales, who wants to raze it and put up luxury townhouses. If the offer is rejected, the city intends to condemn the historic Route 66 property and seize it from Gonzales to save it from demolition, reports the Albuquerque Journal.

Gonzales has advertised the property for $2 million to $3 million. He bought it for $675,000 in late 2005, so Gonzales is trying a markup of at least 200 percent, despite the fact most of the motel’s furnishings have been removed and no maintenance being performed on the structure.

Mayor Martin Chavez has said before that he would use condemnation to take the motel from Gonzales to keep it from meeting the wrecking ball. In June 2007, he told the New York Times:

“If we can’t come to a resolution with the developer, we’ll condemn it and take it,” said Martin J. Chavez, the mayor of Albuquerque, who would like to see the El Vado and others like it turned into boutique motels catering to Route 66 tourists. “Route 66 is very much a state of mind,” he said. “It’s part of who we are. It would be like New York without the Statue of Liberty.” (my emphasis)

Sounds like the city is turning up the heat to reach a settlement more quickly.

UPDATE: The Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission was scheduled Wednesday to act on a demolition application concerning El Vado. That matter has been deferred to March 12.

Again, it’s unlikely that LUCC will approve the application. It previously rejected a similar application, and it is the same body that unanimously designated El Vado as a city landmark.

Since Roxbury/Infinity’s release of “Route 66: Season 1, Vol. 2″ on DVD a few days ago, a number of complaints have erupted about its widescreen look. Apparently the widescreen format necessitates some cropping at the top and bottom of the picture, which has angered some viewers.

I asked the company’s publicist about this format and the complaints. Here is the statement from Infinity, verbatim:

Infinity Entertainment Group has been very excited to bring the iconic television program Route 66 to DVD for the first time. We have taken great care in restoring and packaging this beloved classic for collectors. However, it recently came to our attention that there is some confusion in the marketplace about some of the technical aspects of this restoration process.

A key decision in the digital restoration of the series was whether to retain the original full screen 4 x 3 aspect ratio (old tube televisions) or to update to a widescreen format with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio (new digital TVs). Since the restoration process utilized the original 35mm film assets, the goal was to do a high definition transfer, updating the aspect ratio for broadcast on new HD TVs. High Definition transfer which requires an update to the 16×9 aspect ratio for new HD TV Broadcast and future Digital Media delivery, i.e. Blu-Ray DVD and HD Internet.

In this new widescreen format, without vertical cropping the program would appear distorted. During the film transfer, the post production house used a process called tilt and scan which allows a Telecine technician to examine each scene individually and center the frame on the action. Unfortunately, in extreme close-ups, the cropping may occasionally intrude on the original framing, sometimes cutting off a portion of the top of the head.

While we tried to remain as true as possible to the original programming, our overall goal is to not only make the program available once again on television, but to optimize it for the next generation of broadcast and television standards.

Infinity Entertainment Group is committed to bringing quality programming and relies on the support of our valued customers to do so. For any comments or questions, please contact David Thornblad at dthornblad@infinity-entertainmentgroup.com

I received a one-disc screener of “Route 66: Season 1, Vol. 2″ several weeks ago that contained four episodes of the 1960s television show. I watched one episode and didn’t notice anything amiss; the picture looked crisp.

A few days ago, informed about the widescreen format, I watched another episode and watched for any intrusive crops. Frankly, I got caught up in the acting and storyline instead. I had to keep reminding myself to look for any obvious problems. I found none.

Unless you are one of the few who have an extraordinary memory about “Route 66″ or are a finicky home-movie aficionado, you may have a problem with this current re-release of the program.

But if you’re like the rest of us, you probably will be greatly satisfied with these newly available episodes.