Parking strips: Let a thousand flowers bloom
Here’s one way to make our city streets more useful than they already are: Plant flowering shrubs, or let them grow, in the parking strips instead of grass. I was reminded of this on a walk last month...
View ArticleBroken railing: Boardwalk needs repair
If you look up from the boardwalk on the Dave Clark Riverfront Path, you get a dramatic view of the underside of the Ellsworth Street Bridge across the Willamette River. And if you look down, you see...
View ArticleIdeal for this weather: New splash pad
The July heat wave came at just the right time. This has been the first week that Albany’s new children’s splash pad was open in the renovated Monteith Riverpark. I was out of town when the park was...
View ArticleAbout this playground: Questions and answers
A mother messaged me with a couple of questions about the new children’s splash pad and playground in Albany’s Monteith Riverpark. This prompted me to steer the bike there for the second afternoon in a...
View ArticleAlbany’s scenic golf course has long history
The scenic Golf Club of Oregon, situated within a minute or two of downtown Albany, has seen a few changes since it was started 95 years ago. Now there has been another change — in ownership that is....
View ArticleAt Burkhart crossing, seeing a new railway
Having torn myself away from the national news Saturday night, I was taking my usual bike ride through the east end of old Albany when I heard the horn of a train coming down from the north. Pulled by...
View ArticleBaffled at Monteith Riverpark on Sunday
As part of the Monteith Riverpark renovation, the City of Albany built a short boardwalk for easy access to a brush-covered gravel bar at the confluence of the Calapooia and Willamette rivers. But you...
View ArticleToday’s topic: Congestion and money for roads
In Albany Tuesday, Oregon legislators are going to hear about our highway problems in the mid-valley. The biggest problem is heavy traffic and congestion at certain times of the day. The choke points...
View ArticleNew owner’s priority: Restore the course
The new owner of the Golf Club of Oregon has one main and immediate goal: Improve the condition of the course. In the long run, he wants to keep the course what it has been for 95 years: a public...
View ArticleRevisiting memories of tennis long ago
It was probably 30 or 40 years ago that I last had occasion to hit a tennis ball on the courts behind North Albany Middle School. Wondering whether the courts still exist, I stopped at the school on a...
View ArticleMore urban renewal? Albany gets a report
The Albany City Council is looking at a report on the feasibility of setting up new urban renewal districts to spur development east of I-5 and the south part of town. The report is on the agenda of...
View ArticleDown to the river, an unexplained fence
There was still a section of concert fencing across a new path in Monteith Riverpark Friday. It didn’t necessarily keep people from getting to the riverbank, but why keep a fence there at all? Like...
View ArticleOn the riverfront path, what you can see
Big important news happens elsewhere, but on Albany’s Dave Clark Riverfront Path there are little things to notice and to see. For instance, on Friday I noticed that a broken rail on the path’s roughly...
View ArticleAt food pod, that tent is gone for now
Since last winter there has been a pod of food trucks, “Charli’s on I-5,” near the freeway in Albany, just off southbound Exit 234 on Airport Road. Last month the owners asked the Albany City Council...
View ArticleWork on Ellsworth Bridge: Here’s an update
On weekends and during the daytime on weekdays, it’s hard to see how much work remains to be done in the project to raise the height clearance of Albany’s Ellsworth Street Bridge. I asked ODOT for an...
View ArticleTen minutes to get back home
Some days there’s serious stuff to do and you don’t get a chance to get on the bike until it’s almost too late. Monday was that kind of day. But this is still July, only a month past the longest day of...
View ArticleHung up at Landmarks: New set of stairs
The Albany Landmarks Commission is asking for more details before approving one alteration on the outside of a 114-year-old house in the Monteith Historic District. Lee Anne Stevens, identified on...
View ArticleCouncil hears of trouble at homeless site
One year ago, trying to comply with state law, Albany set up a designated homeless camping site on two city-owned lots near Ninth Avenue and Jackson Street and called it Marvin’s Garden. The place has...
View ArticleAt 610 Sherman St., a new chapter begins
Four years after the City of Albany condemned a house at 610 Sherman St. and then had it demolished, the still vacant lot has new owners and is being prepared for construction. The lot is across...
View ArticleAnother visit to this development site
Just a quick reminder of an obvious fact: Just because the City of Albany approves new housing does not mean that new housing will be built, at least not right away. When the bike and I stopped at the...
View Article