The Santiam Canal north of Queen Avenue, as it looked in May 2024: No “amenities” at all.
CARA, the urban renewal program that covers central Albany, reached one of its final milestones last week. This made me think not just about the accomplishments of this program, but also of the high hopes some of us had 25 years ago and how those hopes were dashed.
The milestone is what City Manager Peter Troedsson called “CARA’s final payments.” Here’s some of what Troedsson wrote Friday in his weekly report to the city council:
“Over the life of the Central Albany Revitalization Agency (CARA), the district financed several major capital projects, including the Downtown Streetscape and Albany Waterfront Project, through loans… . In accordance with the financial plan approved by the Agency [the council] last November, staff has been systematically paying off CARA’s remaining financial obligations and closing out outstanding contracts. This week, CARA made its final payment on all formal debt. Â The remaining expenditures for existing contracts, projects, staffing, and required reporting will continue as planned, keeping the Agency on track to officially sunset at the end of the current biennium.”
After taking the required steps including public hearings before the planning commission and the city council, the council created the Central Albany Revitalization Area in August 2001.
The goal was to save the downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods from physical and economic decay. In parts of CARA, that goal was achieved, but not in others.
The new urban renewal district (URD) came with a list of 51 proposed “project activities” and a second “community-based project list” of 69 items.
The sheer size and diversity of the to-do list meant that most of the listed items would not and could not possibly be done.
Number 32 on the activities list was “street redevelopment: bring city streets into current public standards throughout the URD.” This should have included the crumbling streets east of the Highway 20 couplet, but those streets were never considered in the countless meetings of the CARA advisory board, as far as I recall.
Some of the items on the project list were impractical. One example was a project to rebuild a covered bridge to Bryant Park.
CARA never even tried to follow through on improving the Santiam Canal and restoring the Thurston Street Canal.
On the Santiam Canal, one of the proposed activities was: “Pedestrian/bike way connecting downtown and riverfront along Vine Street with plantings, trees, benches, lighting, interpretive signage & related amenities.”
The same was proposed for the canals along Eighth Avenue east of Lyon and along Thurston Street.
But along with most of the projects on the initial list, the canal improvements were never attempted. The chance to enhance those historic waterways was missed. (hh)
Postscript: I asked Albany Finance Director Jeanna Yeager for clarification, and she replied: “Yes, the bank loans CARA took out for the Downtown Streetscape and Waterfront projects have been paid in full. The Waterfront loan was paid off in December for just over $10 million. The final payment for the Downtown Streetscape project was made to Business Oregon, and the payoff amount was just over $4 million.”
1. How much money was given to these “projects”?
2. How much money was spent administrating these “projects”? How many PERS employee man hours/cost?
3. How much INCREASED tax revenue was generated? Wasn’t this supposed to pay for itself with all that extra tax revenue from enhanced properties?
The canal greenways are a lost opportunity for sure. A better connected network in Albany would be wonderful. Hopefully someday those all get added.
Lots of good projects came out of Cara. I wish it would continue.
Albany has been revitalize and beautifed since I moved here in the early 90’s. The downtown was died with many vacancies and not the vibrant small business community it has now become. We can find fault in all long term projects however I choose to enjoy and be proud of the progress we have all benefited from. This is a wonderful place to live. We are blessed.
At one time an application was submitted to SHPO for creation of a Santiam Canal District under guidelines of the National Register of Historic Places. The state approved the application (a necessary step to moving forward), but it appears sadly that no one ever took that last part on.
So, City Manager: You’re saying the 22 million plus spent on the Monteith Stage and the pink bricks on Water Street, etc. is all paid off? People in Albany have to pay (on their PP&L bills) for two years for putting the electrical wires underground, but CARA is done and all paid for???
I read Hasso’s postscript at the bottom of his blog post. Thanks, Hasso. However. 14 million that the City Finance Director accounted for does not come up to even the cost of just one of CARA’s projects….that is the Monteith Park and Water Street project was over 22 million!! So, skimming off the top of property taxes that are supposed to go to schools, fire dept., police dept. (to name a few public services) was very lucrative for CARA, as all CARA’s debts are paid and CARA is retired. And, we taxpayers, of course, paid through bond measures floated to keep those 3 main departments (schools, fire dept., and police dept.) afloat!! Such is the lot of the working man and woman!!
My thoughts regarding the canal: I remember when the upgrades were proposed. I was younger then, of course, and thought it sounded great. But, it is good to leave the canal the way it is. The water is in pretty good shape, and there is a fence keeping people away from the canal for the most part. Who would clean up the homeless camps and the hypodermic needles and the beer bottles, and gross human leavings, if the plan had happened to make the canal a promenade of sorts? The city now doesn’t have money to fix potholes in streets or money to keep the grass mowed and shrubs trimmed along its highways!! There would be no money to maintain a miles-long public space along the canal. The canal is great just the way it is. There’s an old saying: Too soon old; too late smart! But, this time, things worked out for the best!!