This old rail spur at Water Avenue and Washington Street was partially excavated by Monday evening.
Well, it looks like that old section of railroad spur is not going to be left in place as the west end of Water Avenue is rebuilt as part of Albany’s Waterfront Project.
The rails may be more than a century old, as I reported in a story on March 25. For historical interest alone, I thought it would be interesting if the track could be made part of the new street.
But it doesn’t look like that’s going to take place.
K&E Excavating, the city’s main contractor on the multimillion-dollar Waterfront Project, started work Monday on Water Avenue between Washington and Broadalbin streets.
By late Monday afternoon, the space between the rails had been excavated. I saw a spike and the remains of a wooden cross tie. It looked like the rails themselves were about to be taken up.
Water Avenue between Washington and Broadalbin is closed to traffic while the contractor builds what the Waterfront Project designers called a “plaza street.” This is a street that can be temporarily closed to traffic for public events.
The current closure of that part of Water Avenue is expected to end by June 16. So you should be able to see what a plaza street looks like two months from now. (hh)
See that old spike sticking up?
This is the section of Water Avenue being rebuilt. (Photo was taken Sunday.) The power poles are supposed to come down.
As has been said so many times. It’s a pity that all this pointless expenditure on “beautification” had to be prioritized and paid for when Albany can’t afford to fill a pot hole without raiding our pocketbooks and raising our utility bills (without voter approval).
I’ll never understand why because it makes no sense! Something seems not quite right.
It’s just a money shuffle. Large scale slight of hand and distraction. Robbing from Peter to pay Paul. See this nice pile of money from all these people? Oh look over there, a pretty venue. Hocus Pokus, now you see it, now you don’t, poof the money is gone!
This act has been going on for years. Just enjoy the sparkling new toys and ignore the little man behind the curtain. You can’t stop him, Peter.
Those utility bills haven’t been raised yet. Write your councilmembers and express your frustration with the way the city is (mis)managing street repair. I wrote both Ward 1 councilmembers Thomson and Newton (my reps) about this issue last week and received thoughtful replies. They’re listening. They don’t want to add fees to utilities either. Keep up the momentum by sharing your voice!
I sent Newton an email concerning a safety issue. Yes, I got a nice reply saying she would look into it and let me know. A few months later, I sent another email asking what was happening with the issue. Another nice email saying she would look into it. Since then, crickets. I’m not going to waste any more time expecting an answer. My guess is that unfortunately, it will take bodily injury before anything happens.
Interesting… You contact one of your two councilors, don’t get the response you were hoping for, so you give up?
“I’ll look into it and get back with you” and then not doing what was promised isn’t much of a response. But then again, I guess it’s what’s expected from politicians.
As I stated, you simply gave up. Really accomplished a lot…
Yeah, blame the messenger for not continuing after asking TWICE!
So true.
Thank William, I totally agree. Actually the City admin lie to us all the time about not having money to upgrade essentials. They prioritize their wishes and to hell with us.
You are so right
Has the PUC approved the monthly “surcharge” that will be charged to everyone’s Pacific Power electric bill for the next two years?
You gotta love another tax (deceptively called a “surcharge”) without voter approval.
This is what happens when you elect progressives to the city council.
I’m sorry, but I think all this work to downtown is taking away the Historical theme of things. And the rest of the town,the most traveled part is being ignored. Someone needs to get out and walk through the whole town and prioritize things ? Listen to the people
“(without voter approval).”
Your elected representatives made the call. Don’t agree with those results? Vote for different representation…
If only we could retroactively vote them out before they imposed the “tax” since they will never admit they plan to raise fees/charges/tax before they are in office.
If adding surcharges to you utilities doesn’t work, there’s always property tax…
Still, to me it looks like more “dialing for dollars”.
Here’s a press release from the Linn County Assessor’s Office. If you have questions, call 541-967-3808 or email assessor@co.linn.or.us:
“The Linn County Assessor’s Office will perform property inspections within the greater Albany area, from April 1 through the end of August.
Linn County Assessor and Tax Collector Matt Pitcher said his office needs to verify account inventory and take exterior photos of structures on local properties.
In most cases, inspections only take a few minutes and all inspections will occur during regular business hours, Monday through Friday.
Appraisers will carry a county ID badge, business cards and will travel in marked county vehicles.
Pitcher said the inspections are routine and necessary to update county records for an accurate assessment of your property.
For additional information, please call the Linn County Assessor’s Office at 541-967-3808 or email: assessor@co.linn.or.us.”
I thought
with Google Earth and drones etc…they’d have the info they need…
According to Ai:” In Albany, OR, police can generally conduct a warrantless search if they have probable cause to believe a crime is being committed. Additionally, there are several exceptions to the warrant requirement, including searches incident to a lawful arrest, consent to search (provided by someone with authority), and exigent circumstances (e.g., threat of evidence destruction or imminent danger). ”
I’m not sure the assessor has legal grounds to inspect our properties.
Just looks like more “Strategy” aimed at fleecing the citizens.
Do you prefer they just make an estimate?
Eugene tried to do the same thing with, FEE instead of tax but someone got the ball rolling and it will be on their next ballot.
They have already extracted too much from us for CARA. Now they steal for CARA related projects by other means. Why would they buy a bank building and then pay to demolish it. Can you say future parking garage that the residents won’t use?
If politicians all told the truth all the time
They would never be elected!