Looking east, and close to the ground, on Fourth Avenue S.E., near Railroad Street, on Nov. 25, 2023.
More than one-third of Albany’s streets are in poor condition, the city staff says. That’s 52 miles of pavement, and there is no money in the city budget to get them fixed.
On Monday the council sat through the fourth of a new series of work sessions to consider funding for pavement upkeep and repairs.
The upshot was that the council may consider enacting a “transportion utility” fee to raise money for gradually bringing local streets up to an acceptable condition.
But Councilwoman Matilda Novak said such a fee, imposed on all households regardless of how many drivers they have, would not be fair. She preferred a local gas tax, even though city voters rejected the last such proposal by a ratio of two to one in May 2018.
On the otther side, Councilman Ray Kopczynski said he was “all in” for a monthly street utility fee.
Others seemed to want to consider a combination of a monthly fee and a local fuel tax. No decision was made.
Public Works Director Chris Bailey presented the council with a detailed four-page memo summarizing the pavement issue. She asked the council for direction.
I watched the meeting online, and I didn’t hear any clearcut direction. Bailey, though, may have heard enough. She said she would come back with something.
In the memo, she estimated that maintenance of arterials and collectors, plus keeping good and fair local streets in good or fair shape, would take an additional $4 million a year.
As for local streets in poor condition, she recommended trying to collect $2 million annually. For that, a few blocks could be rebuilt every year.
No matter which funding mechanism the council eventually picks, it would take at least another year after that decision to carry it out.
To get the flavor of the council discussion Monday, it’s best to watch the work session on YouTube.
Bailey’s memo is with the agenda for Monday’s meeting here. It is clear and to the point. Anyone interested in Albany’s pavement dilemma should read it before spouting off. (hh)
Of course RK is all in for a street fee. No new tax is too much for Ray.
I’d guess that most people would like to see a good amount of funding to go toward poor roads immediately rather than have them be third tier in the funding scheme.
Yes – If I believe it is in the interest of the entire community, I will cast my single vote to raise my taxes…
To your second point… As Hasso said, read his last two sentences…
I did read the linked meeting notes and was rather shocked to see $0 for ‘poor’ roads. Obviously it will cost a lot more to rebuild a road than repair but bringing a 0 (poor) up to a 5 (fair) instead of waiting until ‘we’ can afford to rebuild to a 10 (rebuilt) would go along way to making people complain less I’d imagine. If all roads are fair/good, then at least people can all complain equally.
Watch the meeting…! Any road in a “zero” absolutely requires the most expensive option – redoing it from the bottom up. You can’t rebuild it just to 50%…The key decisions to be made (IMO) are how much we want to dedicate to the task, which of the options we want to use to do so, and which roads get done 1st. Regardless, we’ll all be underground before it gets completed – even if we have the political will to start the process — and then keep doing it for the many-many years it will take…
Maybe the same people that find money for the homeless need to find the money for the streets.
I noticed in the Central Albany Revitalization Area (CARA) Urban Renewal Plan that one of the Project Activities (page 14 item 32) states, “Bring City streets into current public standards throughout the UUD.”. Does this mean downtown only? You’d think that the city could tap into CARA funds for street repairs instead of adding additional taxes to the citizens. Maybe CARA is almost drained of funds from the spending on the waterfront fiasco? The city needs to support ALL of the citizens as opposed to the very few that will visit the waterfront.
“…as opposed to the very few that will visit the waterfront.”
Take a couple of years of River Rhythms *only,* and you have the that visitor number more than the population of Albany…
So you prefer to waste money one a once a year gathering as opposed to fixing the deplorable conditions that the citizens have to contend with every day. Boy, are your priorities screwed up!
Well, maybe we can have “Coach Ray K.” and anyone well-off enough to pay $75,000 to have their name plaque put on the cement at the children’s play area in the new Monteith Park (which may never get finished) sign curbs on streets to raise money for repairing the streets. I’m not saying Ray K. has the $75,000 to spare for sponsoring concrete in Monteith Park (now known by me as Boondoggle Park), but apparently they have run through the 21 million they put into Water Street and Monteith Park, with no vote of the people on that in the first place!! I came to this conclusion because now they have to raise money off rich people signing cement to finish the park!!! And of course, Ray K. is for taxing people and billing them for fees to fix the streets.
It will be a good one on the Council and Ray K. if a vehicle gets swallowed by a pothole as the news just reported happened in Vancouver recently.
They don’t have to raise money to finish the park. The Vancouver car fell into a sinkhole caused by a water main break, not a pothole.
Yes, Hasso, I realize now that it was a sinkhole, but that is nit-picking on your part. I made my point. The water pipes that caused the sinkhole were installed in the 1940s, so Vancouver is not keeping up their infrastructure either….just like Albany.
Why, then, is CARA/Albany raising money off selling signed cement? They sure as hell are not going to use that money to fix the streets throughout Albany? It will be used on the Monteith Park and Water Street project, I’ll bet.
Geez, here we go again. Political semantics between what a “tax” is and a “fee” is.
You assert councilor Ray K is “all in” on a monthly street fee.
He then proudly asserts his willingness to raise his own taxes.
So, when Is a “tax” a “fee”? Answer: When politicians say it is.
And given a “fee” can be imposed and a “tax” requires voter permission, I’m betting another “fee” is about to be forced on Albany residents.
It’s about power and manipulation. What a way to run a city.
Time for an audit and a draining of the swamp.
What’s the problem?? The City just spent (?)dollars to put paving stones on east Water St. Put Ray K out on the street with a paver bucket & shovel to add force to his words to tax, to tax, to tax ’em to death!!
A gas tax won’t help with those big trucks. I see semis in Hill St and Queen more and more. And it also misses the growing number of EVs. A gas tax would be putting in a system that they know would produce finishing returns as Oregon helps to put more and more people into EVs.
About 6 months ago (not the first time) I lost a tire to a pothole, set me back over a few hundred bucks plus wage loss. We are already paying for the damaged streets through new tires, alignments and wage loss from missing work due to trashed tires. It is hard to choke down the suggestions of taxes and fees when all these projects the city pursues do not benefit all the people that live here. This city is financially driven by adult adolescents that focus on entertainment rather than necessity. We will all be walking and watching concerts at the park while our cars will be home with flat tires. Well, I guess we all can hock our stuff at the new pawn shop to buy new tires.
Your article reminded me of a quote from Karl Marx, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
It is a farce that Albany continues to be unserious about this long-term predicament. No real solution is being put forth, just different temporary outcomes.
And this farce will continue ad infinitum as long as Albany city government values political pleasure today (think infrastructure “investments” in general, CARA in particular) while inflicting the pain of maintenance costs on future residents.
Psychologists call it temporal discounting. The Albany council needs serious counseling.
So your “real solution” is what exactly?
You ask a good question. I’ll “spout off”, to use Hasso’s pejorative, an obvious response.
I suppose a “solution” is only possible when the council has earned enough credibility with city residents to convince them to willingly pay more.
This hasn’t been the case for many years. You can’t even pass a GO Bond for an obvious need like street maintenance.
A real “solution” may not be achievable until the council (and city hall) claws back some good will with city residents.
A good place to start is a budget that spends on “first things first.” Shift existing resources and convince residents that your priorities are in order. Live within your means. Provide essential needs, not wants (CARA and the Carnegie Library come to mind).
But you know all of this.
And yet you continue to impose credibility destroying, authoritarian, anti-democratic “solutions” like new “fees.”
The farce continues.
And in the *MANY* years it will take to achieve your vision, the roads will continue to deteriorate. What you (and a few others) decry will take multiple independent votes to occur. And, as has already happened multiple times, you cannot (nor will ever) be able to please every one. The options we have available to us are pretty much on the table after this most recent meeting. Which would you choose to get it started.
The solution is that, come election time, the people do not vote to retain any of the present councilors. There already is a law on the books stating that no more urban renewal districts, such as CARA, will be formed without a vote of the people.
We will get the city we pay for. Crappy town=low cost. Nice town=higher cost. There is no way to cheat that. No city has ever been a nice place without the sacrifices of its residents. I’ll pay as long as I see improvement. Over the last 20 years, this town has improved immensely. I’ll keep paying for now.
I like Coach K’s misguided support for anything the government proposes because he truly believes the government performs miracles. My understanding is that he worked for Sears so being involved with a private corporation which went from the penthouse to a basement studio apartment would tend to discourage your belief in the private sector. I would point out that the $20 million for improving Montieth Park and the trail to nowhere, the $3 million they are going to give the railroad for an additional 8 RR crossings, the $2.8 million they spent on 8 EFU acres for a migrant camp and I didn’t even add the Wells Fargo building purchase. That money would make the PW director Bailey drool to have it to fix roads. The problem is not money-the problem is with the bureaucracy which runs all government from local, state and federal and continues to spend taxpayer monies unwisely.
What $2.8 million “spent on 8 EFU acres for a migrant camp”? Really? Where, when, how?
Take a look at your 10/23 blog
Thanks. What threw me was your description of “EFU” land. The land involved in the project you cite is a field all right, but it is zoned not “exclusive farm use” but medium density residential.
How is it possible it is in the urban growth boundary? Furthermore, I have a 90 year old friend who lives on Clover Ridge who would be happy to sell his 20 acres with a house for much less than that so who’s the insider that benefited from the transaction. Furthermore, migrant camps our legal on EFU land as we have one where we live.
lol! traffic cams and ev chargers but no money the fix the roads, thats funny!
Oh, boy! The you-know-what-has-hit-the-fan!! Oops! I mean it has hit the front page of the D-H/GT! The story is out on the naming rights prices for the concrete structures and steel stage…$250,000 for a 5-year naming right to the stage!!! Gawd! I am grinning from ear to ear again (haven’t done that since a couple of weeks ago when I first saw the huge, Orange” PAWN sign on Lyons and Second Street!!!
Too bad more people don’t read the D-H/GT, but journalism is another casualty of the times we live in. OH, Oh, and the funny, funny thing is that the comments in Hasso’s blog a while ago about who would have their name on the Monteith Park restroom walls have come true!!! Tee, hee! I hope Ray K’s name is the first to go up!!!
Here is the script from the D-H: “The art, referred to as the ‘community garden,’ (Tee, hee, hee) would be on the outside wall of the bathroom and would have three dimensional elements. It’s similar to a ‘build-a-brick program,’ but instead of bricks the element is described as petals.” Ha, I can’t wait to see Kopczyski in petals. Pink would be nice! Or maybe orange to match the city’s new PAWN sign. Ha, ha, ha, ha!! Oh, got to stop writing. I’m laughing so hard I’m about to fall over!!!! Oh, oh, just remembered there is an old saying about s-h-*-t-i-n-g a brick!!! Oh, my Gawd! This town cannot get anymore ridiculous. This is the pinnacle. Who at the city comes up with petals and bricks in relation to art on a city-owned out/house bathroom wall!!
We have to get rid of this Council.
I gotta take some deep breaths!!!!
I’m tickled pink that you’re so in tune with the riverfront & all its progress… I’m very proud of all the work that has been done to get it this far. And yes, I will also be very proud to pay a bit more to support it…
You’re supposed to be a “public servant”. It’s NOT all about you!
100% correct. You just don’t agree with the points/decisions I’ve made…
Obviously. Or the ones you’ll try and stick us with before you leave.
MarK as you feel he is doing a terrible job you can always run against Ray next election
i think Ray will be ok
No city council anywhere makes everyone happy with each and every issue & i think they are doing average or better for a small town city council
It always amazes me that people stick up for people they do not really know or what they have done. The city council’s decisions directly affect peoples lives. To flippantly state that average is ok is absolutely horrible. Would you want anyone that does anything for you that was extremely important to you do an average job? There is an old saying ” the wrong end of the stick” The person welding the stick does not care because it does not hurt him. Being on the “wrong end” can damage someone’s life forever. While most do not want people to suffer not everyone feels that way. Simplifying or generalizing is a lack of empathy for others tragedies.