Albany won’t jump into trying to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries once they become legal under state law next spring, at least not right away. The city council Wednesday went along with advice it got from City Attorney Jim Delapoer to wait until legal questions about what cities can do under a new state law are […]
There is no end to the complaints about Oregon’s tax system, or to the proposals for fixing it. The latest comes from the Portland City Club, where a committee has written a report with recommendations for fixing the property tax. But there’s reason to be wary of so-called reforms. The property tax system is a convoluted […]
The defeat of Albany’s bond issue to build new police and fire stations is a setback, no question about that. With financing costs relatively low and some money on hand from the Pepsi settlement, this was a good time to get this solved, but a majority did not see it that way. The explanation may […]
The city of Albany is having a new fence put up at the city airport because, well, the government says it must. And that requirement raises a question: Is it necessary? The placement of the fence along the airport’s southeastern boundary prompted a discussion before the city […]
Revelations about the vast extent of surveillance by the National Security Agency drive home one point that’s been made many times but deserves to be made again. When we engage in electronic communication, we cannot count on privacy. In fact, if the communication is sensitive or could be embarrassing, we should expect that its confidentiality […]
Engineers and builders have been constructing roads for centuries. But now the process has become so complicated that road projects are facing long delays and higher costs. Take just one local example, the long-planned reconstruction of a section of North Albany Road, the busy link to a fast-growing part of the city of Albany. The reconstruction […]
After bond defeat, a prudent council action
Some voters in Albany will think the majority of the city council is tone deaf. The people vote on a $20.3 million bond issue for a new police station and downtown fire station, and by Tuesday night 5,048 of them, a majority of those voting, have said no. Twenty-four hours later, five council members (only Rich Kellum dissents […]
Tags: Albany City Council, bond issue election, downtown fire station, property acquisition