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Irving Boulevard Northwest now boasts the first — and probably last — artificial-turf-covered median in the city.

Just how the green got there in the first place, over city objections, is a story of compromise, politics and misunderstanding. Today, even after it's a done deal, the issue dogs one elected official so much that he's thrown up his hands and all but stopped talking about it.

Two years ago, state Sen. Joe Carraro secured $200,000 from the Legislature to cover the medians along a mile of Irving with artificial turf. The Albuquerque Republican said he consulted with a business and concluded the money would be enough for the entire project.

What he didn't count on was that the city — which is in charge of medians — doesn't like the fake grass.

Albuquerque took the Irving money, but used it to construct an expensive compromise. In went the median, with synthetic turf, but also with plants that required irrigation — an expense Carraro wanted to avoid altogether.

The senator may have wanted turf with rocks and perhaps plants that didn't need watering, but the city wasn't about to play ball.

"We're just not going to do that," said Barbara Taylor, the manager of the city's Capital Implementation Program. "We want well-designed medians that enhance the public right of way."

The end result was a $282,000 price tag, with only one of six sections of median done.

Taylor said she didn't know how far the money would have gone had the city not installed the irrigation system.

But artificial grass isn't problem-free, Taylor said. Unlike real grass or plants, it attracts heat. It needs occasional maintenance to replenish the little bits of rubber or sand that hold the base together.

And it's not clear how artificial turf holds up against tossed cigarettes and other roadside hazards.

"Nobody came to us," Taylor said, regarding the original turf plan. "Nobody asked the city for our opinion. (Carraro) was kind of on his own. He told us he had coordinated this project with his neighbors."

Richard Stolz would beg to differ on the merits of fake grass. The general manager of New Mexico Synthetic Turf Systems, which is not involved with the Irving project, said turf technology has made great strides since the 1960s, when the Houston Astros baseball team started playing on it.

"It's going to look nice. It's going to look green," he said. "They're saving water. There's no mowing, no maintenance."

Carraro, meanwhile, sees the debacle as an example of mismanaged public finances.

"It seems like these people (the city) are going crazy spending money," he said.

The senator is also clearly tired of the issue. In lieu of giving interviews to the news media, he has prepared a two-and-a-half page report on his position.

He was, however, happy to complain about how much time it has taken to get the money together, talk with constituents about the matter and do interviews.

"I figure this median thing has probably taken, time wise, a full month of my life," he said. "It was trouble from the very beginning."