Helping Hands floats proposal for housing
For a reason shrouded in the mist of long ago, the City of Albany owns three lots in the same block as the Albany Helping Hands homeless shelter. The shelter has an idea of how the lots could serve a...
View ArticleChecking on project at North Albany Park
Chances are the summer will be over before Benton County’s restroom project in North Albany Park is complete. The county opened bids for the restroom project on Feb. 7 and then awarded the construction...
View ArticleKeeping track of 80-lot townhouse project
Not much has happened at Riverwood Crossing, the 80-lot townhouse project in North Albany, since a referee rejected an appeal and affirmed the City of Albany’s approval of the development just before...
View ArticleThe story behind those riverfront pilings
The view from the new platform at Monteith Riverpark is nice, someone observed in an email. But what about that ugly piling sticking up in the middle? Will it be removed? No, that pipe will stay where...
View ArticleNew traffic cameras: No go-live date yet
It was in December 2023 that the Albany City Council voted to equip four intersections with cameras to catch speeders and red-light runners. The cameras may soon be installed, and then we’ll see if...
View ArticleAlbany election: Two councilors bowing out
Two members of the Albany City Council are not seeking re-election this year, which is not exactly a surprise. Election politics is not usually part of my beat. But I haven’t read or heard anything...
View ArticlePath led me back to 1890 train wreck
On Dec. 16, 1890, the Southern Pacific’s southbound freight due in Albany at 2 p.m. was two hours late. And before it would have reached town, it crashed through the bridge on Cox Creek at 4 p.m. I...
View ArticleTimberlab access deal saves farming district
This photo, taken on a bike ride in June 2023, comes in handy now to illustrate a historic deal that saves the Dever-Conner farming area near Millersburg from urban or industrial expansion for the next...
View ArticleBikeway’s Albany zig-zag stays in place
The Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway goes through Albany, as you might expect, but on a convoluted route. Cycle Oregon proposed an improvement, but the suggestion has been turned down. Cycle Oregon...
View ArticleWith ‘Marvin’s Garden’ closed, now what?
After a week out of town, on Friday the bike took me past what used to be the City of Albany’s designated camping site for homeless people. It was, of course, empty. Both city-owned lots of the former...
View ArticleClearing algae: Waverly Lake looks good
Back in Albany Friday after being away for a week, I read on Facebook that the algae harvesters were back on Waverly Lake. I passed the lake on a bike ride Saturday and, sure enough, almost all of the...
View ArticleHub City Village gets ready to celebrate
It was five years ago, in July 2019, that leaders of a new nonprofit in Albany were telling me about their plans for Hub City Village. Now they’re about to celebrate reaching their goal. In that first...
View ArticleWaterfront Project: The work that remains
When construction on the Albany Waterfront Project started in the spring of 2023, a chart produced at an open house anticipated that the project would be completed by November 2024. Now the work will...
View ArticleWhat all that earth moving is about
As usual, seeing earth-moving equipment on a big piece of vacant land on North Albany Road has prompted questions on Facebook and elsewhere: What’s going to be built there? The answer is nothing — yet....
View ArticleOne reward for using this path: The view
Albany’s Dave Clark Path along the Willamette River has many upsides. Among them is that now and then in late summer, it affords its users spectacular views of the sun about 20 minutes before it sets....
View ArticleLongtime Albany bike shop is closing
Bike N’ Hike, the downtown Albany store where our family has bought bicycles and bike stuff for more than 40 years, is closing by the end of this month. Al French, of Lebanon, started Bike N’ Hike in...
View ArticleWhy omit Albany from this freeway sign?
When you drive north on Interstate 5 and come to Exit 228, you’re already in Albany. For years now, I have wondered why the Oregon Department of Transportation does not say so on its sign. That sign...
View ArticleRepaving job to start on Washington Street
In case you missed the memo, get ready for construction to start on Monday (Sept. 9) on a downtown section of Washington Street in Albany. Albany Public Works posted a notice of the construction start...
View ArticleAlbany to start enforcing camping ban
The City of Albany says it is about to start enforcing its revised ban on unauthorized camping on public property. The new regulations took effect one month after the city council adopted them on Aug....
View ArticleCemetery lightning strike: What it cost
When lightning last month smashed a blue spruce, one of the tallest trees in Riverside Cemetery in Albany, it also dealt a financial blow. A well supplies the cemetery’s irrigation sprinklers during...
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