Disagreements Forced Three Off Urban Board

By Mike Gallagher

Albuquerque Journal

Sunday July 20, 2003

When the Wheels Museum set out to raise the money to buy the Santa Fe Railway shops, board members Ron Ashcraft and John Bond suggested calling Ohio consultant Franklin Conaway.

Conaway was involved in various Ohio historical groups and had been involved in restoration projects there. Bond and Ashcraft, avowed railroad fans, had bought a restored Santa Fe Super Chief lounge car from Conaway.

Conaway's first advice was to use another organization to borrow the $2.5 million because banks wouldn't lend to museums.

Before forming the Wheels Museum, downtown businesswoman Leba Freed had formed the Urban Council of Albuquerque to help Downtown redevelopment.

The group decided to have the Urban Council borrow the money, which turned out to be more than a simple bank loan since neither nonprofit company could guarantee repayment.

In November 2000, a group of underwriters was formed to secure the loan from the Los Alamos National Bank. The group consisted of Ashcraft Real Estate and Development Corp., headed by Ron Ashcraft's brothers Terry and Daniel; Waterman Inc., Ted Waterman president; TRK Management Inc., Robert and Roger Waterman; Thomas Duffy as manager of 3800-5th Street LLC; and Craddock Development Company Inc., James Craddock president.

At the end of November 2000, the Urban Council of Albuquerque paid $2.5 million for the 27-acre site. Closing and other costs added $318,000 to the total and the Urban Council was $114,000 short at closing and had to scramble to come up with the money.

At that time, the board members of the Urban Council were also members of the Wheels Museum board.

Day-to-day office management was left to Alan Clark, who worked for free.

Clark retired from city government after 30 years during which he was head of the city's Cultural Affairs Department, oversaw city libraries and did a stint as manager of the city convention center.

It wasn't long before Clark and Conaway were butting heads.

The issues ranged from Conaway's failure to give the board written reports, to his hiring of engineering and planning firms without prior board approval.

Conaway said, "Everything I did was in line with my mission which was approved by the Urban Council."

Since Wheels was raising the money that was paying Conaway and other bills, Clark insisted that Wheels had the right to a strict accounting of how money was spent.

A split also developed between board members who wanted a general Wheels museum that would include Route 66, automobile, airplane and train exhibits (Clark, Freed and Wheels board member Joe Craig) and those who wanted the site devoted to trains (including Bond and Ashcraft.)

Clark, Craig and Freed began coming out on the short end of votes until they were forced off the Urban Council board.

Later, the Urban Council entered into an agreement with Albuquerque Station LLC, headed by retired Intel executive Bill Garcia.

Garcia tried to find local investors for the project but met with little success.