Siesta Hills in Albuquerque, NM

Siesta Hills is a residential neighborhood in Albuquerque's Southeast Heights, bounded by Gibson Boulevard and Ridgecrest Drive with San Pedro Drive to the west and Louisiana Boulevard to the east. Its neighborhood association, which calls the area the Jewel of the Southeast Heights, describes a community that has filled in over more than six decades. Streets are public and ungated, and oversight comes from a volunteer neighborhood association rather than a homeowners association collecting dues. The Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center stands at the San Pedro edge, and the U.S.S. Bullhead Memorial park sits on the same stretch of San Pedro.

The association is volunteer-run. Voting members elect the board at an annual meeting each July, and the board meets quarterly. Its calendar leans on a few fixed dates — National Night Out, a neighborhood picnic and National Clean Up Day.

Land use is part of the work. The association carried a challenge to a city zoning approval for a youth shelter as far as the New Mexico Court of Appeals.