The picnic shelter in lower Bryant Park on Saturday afternoon.
If anyone had plans for a Mother’s Day picnic at this shelter in Albany’s Bryant Park, well, those plans had to be changed.
The water level and flow in the Calapooia and Willamette rivers came up in the last couple of days, and by Saturday the lower section of Bryant Park was partly under water. That’s common in winter but a bit unusual for this time of year.
At 10 p.m. Saturday the Willamette reached about 16 feet on the Albany gauge, according to the Weather Service. The flow was about 44,000 cubic feet per second.
The river was expected to reach a foot or two higher before cresting late Sunday.
No big deal about any of this — except of course if it ruined any plans for Mother’s Day that involved that section of the park.
And for me, it was an excuse to post a couple of photos after an otherwise uneventful day. (hh)
A bit of sunshine and water in Bryant Park on Saturday afternoon.
It’s ridiculous that the parks department refuses to do anything about this. MAINTAIN OUR PARKS! We should go to the city council and demand they stop allowing this mismanagement. We pay taxes and now this ridiculous city “fee” tax on our water bills. They have more than enough of our money to do their jobs. Way to ruin Mother’s Day plans.
Not much gets “maintained” in this city (like roads and other infrastructure items). But the city is quick on wasting money on riverfront “beautification” and bicycle related items.
Greta
What would you have Park and Rec do?
The area is unavailable for use because of the river level, not because incompetence.
Why was my previous comment deleted?? It’s about time someone stood up to the city and their mismanagement of our money. Fix our parks!
The science is settled. The cause of the flooding is global warming. And like Hillary said, never let a crisis go to waste.
Similar to the city services tax that was added to water/sewer bills without voter approval, the city must:
(1) Impose an energy tax on every kWh used by a consumer. It’s not a carbon tax, but has the same effect.
(2) It’s easy because the billing system is already in place (Pacific Power). Just force them to add the tax to everyone’s monthly bill and collect the money. Then make Pacific Power send the money to city hall with a small administrative kickback allowed.
(3) Structure the ordinance so that the tax revenue could be spent on anything the city council wants, but include a token amount for green stuff.
Given the average house consumes about 850 kWh/month, make the tax $0.10/kWh. Most Albanians won’t squeal too loud if they have to pay an extra $85 each month. This is low hanging fruit.
It won’t stop the flooding or do anything to reduce global warming, but every conceivable tax serves the common good so it must be imposed.
Gordon, you’re right on in pointing out the ridiculousness of our city leaders and how inept city staff is. I propose you run for Mayor an shut it all down. It’s about time someone stood up to these power hungry Public employees.
He doesn’t even live in Oregon
How do you know that? Why would he comment on an Albany blog if he didn’t live here. Fake news.
Ask him why. I’ve often asked myself the same question.
Several other commenters have said he lives elsewhere.
One commenter said he lives in North Carolina.
Don’t ask me why he comments here. Must be old and bored.
Keep in mind some commenters like to try their hand at satire. Unless you know them, you can’t be a sure if they meant the opposite of what they wrote.
HH
And they have a high capture score.
Looks like they practice catch and release as well
Go Gordon go! You the man! I like your style, much appreciated!
Satire aside Gordon, under your proposal neither you or I would pay any of that tax since (I assume) both our Solar Panels will generate more electricity than we consume over the course of a year.
So who would bear the brunt of the tax? Poor and lower middle class folks who can’t afford to jump on the solar bandwagon, and renters who have no control over whether the properties they live in generate solar electricity.
Good try there Gordon, but unless everyone has skin in the game it’s not very fair. Better to tax the folks who have the money than those that don’t.
The common good, the common good. Shun the unbelievers. Shuuuuuuuuuuuuun!
Hasso: Just a word of thanks for your reporting on happenings in our town. Much appreciated.
And for exposing the city officials and staff for the crooks and idiots they are! Grateful Hasso is willing to tell the truth unlike the Demonrat Herald! Support our fire and police. At least they care about Albany.
Getting carried away there. The city officials I know are neither crooks nor idiots.
A few years back I taxied around this picnic shelter in my small amphibian aircraft. The water was up to within a foot of the crossbeams. Yes, we do get flooding here!
Bryant park has flooded since it’s existence as it is within a floodplain. It has nothing to do with the city managing things and everything to do with geography. We are fortunate that any of our parks in the floodplain (Bryant, Monteith, Takena Landing) are still open to the public to enjoy and have not been closed due to the city being liable for someone getting hurt when they are occasionally flooded.
Thanks to the posters who state the obvious. Parks Dept has no control over river level
To the naysayers — if you want something bad enough, you can get it. But it’ll cost you dearly.
They already get enough our money and waste too much of what they get. Liars, crooks, and thieves. Public employees leech off the rest of us. At least we have Councilors Olsen and Novak who aren’t afraid to tell the truth and call city staff on their buffoonery.