For about a week recently, people in parts of Southern Oregon were choking on smoke from many forest and brush fires in that area. It got so bad that some residents who had the means left for other parts of the state, at least for a while. At last report, the situation had improved. The […]
Albany is taking another stab at cleaning up a couple of related nuisances — the mess left from squatting in public spaces, and street corner begging. The city council this week is taking up ordinances against having open containers of alcohol — and urinating and defecating — on public property. You’d think those latter two items would be […]
First Avenue and Burkhart Street in east Albany is not a busy place. A year or two ago, a small tank farm on the southeast corner was cleared away, leaving a vacant lot surrounded by a fence. The Union Pacific and a second rail line cut off Burkhart on the south, but there’s a […]
An Albany bond issue to pay for new police and fire stations should pass because those facilities are needed. But its passage will be made easier if the council makes sure the issue is not needlessly complicated by urban renewal. To be clear, if voters approve a general obligation bond issue of $20.3 million, as […]
On the coast just south of Waldport, travelers are occasionally relieved to find a functioning restroom. Lately, they also find a sign posted by the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation. The sign warns people that the department is having trouble keeping the restroom open because of frequent vandalism. It urges the public to keep an […]
Here’s a boat of a kind you don’t see every day. I spotted it Thursday afternoon in the parking lot at Albany’s Takena Landing Park. I loitered for a while hoping to learn more about this apparently home-built craft, but the owner didn’t show. What struck me was the unusual shape: Completely flat on the bottom — […]
A litany of complaints about vagrants
Albany is taking steps to make the town less appealing to unauthorized campers, street corner beggars and drunks who become intoxicated in public and won’t use a portable restroom if they can use a bush. The city council Wednesday (Aug. 14) plans to vote on ordinances aimed at giving the police more tools to deal with people who […]
Tags: Albany council