This is 11th Avenue near Jackson Street on the evening of March 6. Parking there without a permit would be prohibited under a city proposal.
In order to control “unlawful activity,” Albany’s code enforcement official is asking the city council to ban parking without a permit on 11th Avenue near the Signs of Victory homeless shelter and on four other nearby streets.
The proposal by Kris Schendel, the code enforcement official attached to the police department, is on the agenda of the council’s 4 p.m. work session Monday (March 9) in the form of a suggested ordinance.
The ordinance would set up a “Central Albany Parking Area” where it would be unlawful to park on the streets without a permit. Businesses would get one permit per employee plus additional permits for visitors.
The permits would be required for parking on 11th Avenue from Jackson to Montgomery Street, on Montgomery from 11th to 13th, on 13th from Jackson to Industrial Way, on a short stub of Howard Drive (see postscript and comments below), and on Industrial Way from 13th to Queen Avenue.
According to the draft on the agenda, the intent is to “address areas within the city (where) unlawful activity has increased.” Having the permit requirement on those streets would “allow law enforcement personnel to more readily address the unlawful activity.”
“Unlawful activity” is not explained.
Also on the council’s Monday agenda as proposed by Schendel: An ordinance to ban the feeding of wildlife other than songbirds and water fowl, and a code amendment that would bar property owners from allowing, on their property, the use of vehicles for “sleeping or housekeeping.”
If the council likes any of those ordinances, it can act on them Wednesday night when they are on the agenda again. (hh)
Postscript: As the city’s Marilyn Smith notes in the comments below, a map originally posted with the agenda was mistaken about the extent of the proposed parking restriction on Howard Drive. But the description in the ordinance is puzzling as well. It says the permit requirement would apply to Howard Drive “north of 13th Avenue SE to dead end.” Google Maps says that short section of street is called Industrial Way, but in fact there’s a street sign that says Howard Drive.
s
“if the Council likes any of these ordinances…” What the heck happened to us voters/residents having a vote about being force fed the Councils whims!! So, Schendel is being paid for this “busy work” to justify his having a position? I can’t wait for our Mayor to get on her high horse & come up with some task force to deal with Covid-19. Maybe the police to cite people caught not washing their hands.
“What the heck happened to us voters/residents having a vote about being force fed the Councils whims!!”
You have that opportunity every election. Change the players or run for office…
First there was CARA with it’s associated ARA.
Now we have CAPA with it’s associated APA.
Albany, where acronyms are safe and little else is.
If you believe there is a problem, what is your solution? Tell it to your councilperson and/or the whole council at a meeting. That is not hard to do!
Absolute waste of time! In this particular case, we continually have house trailers, motorhomes, boats, etc. parked in the streets for weeks on end, with zero enforcement. One trailer even was fully hooked up to the home’s utilities, with people living in it! We may not all be tweakers and thieves in North Albany, but it would be nice if APD bothered to enforce the existing laws, or even be seen once in awhile. Calls made to no avail; even if APD responds to the complaint, the vehicles are right back out there within a week. One example, of many…there is a guy who leaves his fishing boat in the street almost always, on North Albany Road, and has for years…nothing done to truly fix the problem!
“And a code amendment that would bar property owners from allowing, on their property, the use of vehicles for “sleeping or housekeeping.” So.. what are we just not going to be able to own our own RV’s for camping, or have family/friends from out of town bring theirs? That’s ridiculous. And don’t you think having permit required areas would disperse the issue into nearby neighborhoods? I’m sure there’s a better way to reduce the issues at hand than punishing the tax payers.
city should permit a 3 month stay on owners property to help those in need of help getting their life together permit for $200. With an extension of 2 months if proves attempts of change by seeking help of what is needed to be self sufficient
It’s pretty obvious who the campers and folks living in their cars are, and seems pretty naive to me that the police can’t identify them. Requiring parking permits is an unnecessary requirement put on people that are not the problem. This was done in some areas in Corvallis where students and folks working in town were parking in residential areas. Corvallis requires property owners in these areas to purchase a permit to park in front of their own home.
Correction: The ordinance shows parking restrictions on Howard Drive only for the portion north of 13th Avenue, not the full length. A revised site map is being posted with the agenda materials and will be available as a handout at today’s and Wednesday’s meetings. The unlawful activity and other reasons for the proposed permit-only parking in this neighborhood were discussed at the September 23, 2019 city council work session. The audio recording of that meeting is available on the City website: https://www.cityofalbany.net/council/materials?filter=2019&showonly=–
It seems the council has devolved into nothing more than control, regulate, tax and spend egomaniacs with the same apparent apathy toward their employers (WE THE PEOPLE) as our illustrious governor.
Yep you harass them tight into other neighborhoods to the south. Jackson Street south of Queen is getting to be just as bad. I have asked for help multiple times on parking, abandoned cars etc. Kind of hard to get a hand on this even as part of neighborhood watch. They talk a good talk in meetings but help is hard to get to resolve at times.
Larry, should you go to a Council meeting take a hard look at the members. Sure, the Council wants to offer you a chance to voice (that’s all you get, not vote) your concerns. Now, I can see that their eyes are open, they nod their heads now & then and shuffle papers in front of them. I can swear to it that their minds are CLOSED. If your idea or want doesn’t mesh with theirs…. zip, right over their heads & your words may never have even touched their ears.
In one respect, you are correct.
Since councilors (and the public!) have access to all the information for the meetings for 5+ days – from which they take the time to pore over the information, contact constituents (or vice-versa), contact staff, etc., and have a work session; I’ll suggest that it is rare minds are changed simply by some folks showing up at the council meeting itself and saying something at the public comment section of the meeting. If you’re serious about getting input to effect change, you *need* to be in regular contact with your councilor[s].
Very correctly, you do not get to vote during a council meeting! Council meetings are business meetings, and by state law, held in public. They are not “town hall” meetings by any stretch of the imagination. There’s a huge difference between the two…
I’m always amazed at the number of folks I come into contact with who have no clue as to who their councilors are – yet they do have an opinion about everything…
Several things here…
1.this is all over Albany and in various neighborhoods.
2. Its absolutely outrageous that we cant even keep RVs or Campers on our own property in Albany.. I didn’t know that was a rule here and we just aquired one… now we are going to have to pay to store it because living on a corner lot property you have 2 front yards apparently. Thats IF you can find storage in the first place…
3. This doesn’t fix the issue at all.. it just relocates it. Until Albany does something and makes homelessness a priority issue this is going to happen. Fines arnt going to solve anything
This town is a mess and no department wants to claim any responsibility… they are ALL simply trying to make busy work for themselves rather than fix any of the issues. Its embarrassing.
I am a little concerned about the ban on property owners having vehicle for sleeping or housekeeping. Does this mean when my parents come stay for a week, I cant put them up in the rv?
As an individual that works in this area, I can tell you the problem is getting out of hand. I’m not saying that this is going to fix it, but Last summer I watched an individual do a motor swap on his truck In front of the bus barn. Then they left the motor on the side of the road. There are so many vehicles stacked up at times that the buses can barely get through. Maybe the Signs of Victory should establish a parking area.
I believe people are bringing in camp trailers because the mission has bed bugs.
Well if Rent wasn’t so ridiculously high then homelessness wouldn’t either ! There is no way a person on a fixed income can afford to rent a place to live!
Mike Bellotti has a fixed income.
$44,750/mo. from PERS.
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2017/03/oregon_pers_top_10_recipients.html
Lets charge poor people $2000 if they sleep in their cars..
Now lets make this a no parking zone too.. In front of a shelter. Are you kidding me?
We need a mental illness home. Have you been to signs of victory? They are the rejects from helping hands. The mentally unstable will not be capable of going into a regular shelter and now you are going to make it that much harder for these marginalized people to survive?????
Pertinent question
Any cogent answer?