J.R.
I originally chose to live in the NE Heights because the Heights are more "established". There's a lot of building going on over there & I don't really like the fact that I can't "see" the neighborhood beforehand. I also dislike the traffic on the Westside. The farther "NE Heights" you go, the more expensive, but there's plenty that's inexpensive. With it come better schools. La Cueva & El Dorado are good HS school districts. (I'm not familier with the quality of schools on the Westside). Here's a website for the schools: http://www.nmhomes.com/aps.html and just Google what you want to know - there's plenty on the web about ABQ! And there are a TON of parks & other stuff too.