The continuing renovation of the “Spruce Apartments” in downtown Albany has cleared a procedural hurdle with the approval by the city’s Landmarks Advisory Commission.
Quick sale: Historic home gets new owner
Written August 6th, 2019 by Hasso Hering
Somebody is buying the historic house at 732 Fourth Ave. S.W., which sat vacant for years and became the subject of a city of Albany enforcement action in 2017 to clean up the overgrown yard.
A city ‘bed fee’ on assisted living?
Written August 2nd, 2019 by Hasso Hering
One of the ways that the Albany City Council might try to raise additional money is to charge assisted-living homes an extra fee beyond their city taxes. Whether this idea gets anywhere remains to be seen, but as of now it’s still on a list of nine potential new revenue sources the council has been […]
Hub City Village: To house Albany ‘unhoused’
Written July 31st, 2019 by Hasso Hering
How about this: A community of small cottages, each with room for one or two people, clustered on maybe an acre or so, with rents low enough that some of Albany’s residents with very small incomes could live there without fear of being thrown out on the street?
Tree disease claims Albany landmark elm
Written July 30th, 2019 by Hasso Hering
One of Albany’s “heritage trees,” an odd little elm in front of the Christian Science Reading Room at Seventh and Calapooia, has come down with an incurable disease and will have to come down, period.
Dark topic on a sunny day: On homelessness
Written July 29th, 2019 by Hasso Hering
By definition, ending homelessness means having people find a roof over their heads. But as Albany Mayor Sharon Konopa has learned over more than 20 years as a volunteer working on housing, this is far more challenging than just providing a roof.
An Albany soda tax? How Albany, CA, does it
Written July 26th, 2019 by Hasso Hering
If the Albany City Council is going to pursue a “soda tax” as a new source of city revenue, it might be of interest to look at how Albany, California, has dealt with such a tax.
Riverside path blocked for sewer project
Written July 25th, 2019 by Hasso Hering
Now it has started — the big Albany sewer project intended to prevent overflows to the Willamette River during heavy rains. The construction will, among other things, distrupt the middle section of the Dave Clark Riverside Path, where an underground lift station or pump will be installed.
Albany’s approach to the homeless: ‘Solutions’
Written July 24th, 2019 by Hasso Hering
Since April, Albany has been taking a new approach when police are called to respond to a problem with someone living on the street. You might call it the “shoe leather” system that gets people a path to being helped immediately and on the spot — “curbside” if you will. Casey Dorland, the administrative lieutenant […]
Groundwater pumping worries neighbor
Temporary wells are pumping water out of the ground at a street construction site near Albany’s Draperville neighborhood, and at least one resident there is worried this may lower the water table so her own well will no longer work. The city engineer says the risk of that happening is “very low.”
Tags: dewatering wells, Santa Maria Avenue, temporary wells