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I'm thumbing through The Trib's electronic archive, and the memories scroll by like one of those late-night infomercials for "Love Songs from the '70s" or "The Rockin' '80s Boxed Set" or a collector's edition of "Greatest Hits of the All-Out '90s."

Ah, yes, the City-County Consolidation Debate. Yeah, dude. Good times.

Where were you when . . . "Bid to merge still a knot" was playing on your local newspaper headline?

Or, doesn't it all come back to you when you think about that golden oldie "Unifying won't remedy the situation?"

Ah, remember this one? "Competing governments pose bigger threat to rural lifestyle."

And, really, who could forget "To unify or not to unify?"

I want you to travel with me on the way-back machine one more time because never has it been more apparent that city and county governments need to merge.

Yes, I know we've been down this little Memory Lane before - the path that leads to interminable controversies like the Montaño Bridge and the Paseo del Norte extension.

Things that came to be about 30 years after it was time.

Consolidation, of course, is the same kind of deal. Most reasonable people can get their minds around the proposition that, sure, one government is better than two in Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, but when it comes time to vote that way - like in 2004, when a chance to unify the two governments crashed like George W. Bush's approval ratings - it doesn't happen.

I'm not going to list all the reasons consolidation is an idea that must become reality; we don't have that much time. Instead, I'll just give you Exhibit A: the Metropolitan Detention Center.

The West Side jail is the elephant in the room, no matter whether you're a city or county resident. Built in 2002, it's already 500 inmates over capacity - a literal and financial black hole that will eat taxpayers alive, especially when they understand an expansion might cost tens of millions just to keep up with the demand for jail space.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez outmaneuvered county officials by washing his hands of the once-jointly run jail, giving the county full control of the facility and making it plain he would not offer another dollar for its operation.

Problem is, the county needs city help - and it outmaneuvered Chavez by talking a majority of the City Council toward its way of thinking. The result: A $9 million payment from the city to the county is on its way, with Chavez grumbling very, very loudly and County Commission Chairman Alan Armijo barking right back.

It's a political sideshow - a time-consuming, headline-grabbing (thanks, guys) circus that doesn't really help anyone, let alone taxpayers who soon will wonder why a comprehensive strategy to handle crime and punishment in the area goes wanting.

"It just points out the crying need for one governmental body that is clearly responsible for a very important institution," says David Campbell, a former Albuquerque city attorney and proponent of unification.

Talk to pro-county - and thus, anti-unification - advocates and they'll tell you consolidation would make second-class citizens of folks in the unincorporated areas of the county. They hate that worse than drought, calling it another example of the city's arrogance.

But give them another few minutes, and they'd tell you something simpler. They don't want Albuquerque - and Chavez - having more political power than they already possess.

Talk to pro-city people, and they'll tell you a second government doesn't do much more than duplicate city services - and that tax proceeds from city residents foot most of the bill for anything the county does anyway.

The county's real objection to the jail's cost, city advocates say, is that its mammoth expenses are eating away at the vote-friendly goodies county commissioners like to trumpet at election time - community centers and after-school programs and roads.

In the final analysis, these political rivalries obscure what's truly vital. On so many issues - public safety, land use, water, to name but a few - consolidation is just common sense.

Which is why Campbell says that, like bell-bottoms and Paul McCartney, the debate over consolidation will make its way back to your life.

"The time is out there - and it's not far off on the horizon - that we're going to get the band back together," he says.

This time, let's hum along.