Workers install pavers near the entrance to Monteith Riverpark on Monday afternoon.
Bike rides take me past the west end of Water Avenue in Albany several times a week. So I see the transformation of this former industrial street into the “plaza street” envisioned by the city’s Waterfront Project.
On Monday I spent a few minutes watching a crew put down paving bricks where Washington Street and Water Avenue meet near the entrance to Monteith Riverpark.
They’ve only just begun. As I understand the plan, much of this end of Water is supposed to be covered with these brick-colored pavers. Behind the pavers already in place, you can see the narrow outline of the new one-way section of Water Avenue, going east from Washington to Ferry.
Here’s a closer look at the paving bricks, or pavers, being installed at the corner of Washington Street and Water Avenue.
Last week I saw that contractors for Pacific Power had sawed off the tops of about half a dozen power poles after the electrical wires and transformers were removed. This was part of the operation, started last year, to move overhead wires under ground as required by the city because of the plaza street design.
Adam Kohler, the Albany area business manager of Pacific Power, told me he thought the wiring remaining on the shortened poles belongs to Comcast and Lumen, formerly known as Century Link.
“With joint-use attachments such as this, the last utility on the pole would be the one which is responsible for removing the physical pole,” Kohler told me via email. “I would hazard a guess that city staff will be pushing the comm’s companies to complete these removals as soon as possible.”
As spelled out by a PUC regulation when a government forces the undergrounding of power lines, Pacific Power will bill all its customers within the city for the cost of the changeover.
When will the surcharge begin? When Pacific Power knows the final cost, which it doesn’t yet. Kohler thought the billing may start in September.
The monthly surcharge will be in effect for two years. Unless, that is, the Albany City Council, acting as the Albany Revitalization Agency, changes its mind and pays for the undergrounding as part of ARA’s Waterfront Project.
City and ARA budget meetings are coming up Thursday, starting at 5 p.m. at City Hall.
City Manager Peter Troedsson told me the council, as the ARA board, still has the option of using its remaining spending authority to pay for the Water Avenue utlity work.
If the council does that, ratepayers within the city will be off the hook. (hh)
Those poles along Water Avenue were topped last week after electrical wires and equipment were removed. But the shortened poles still carried communication company wires.
Thanks for keeping me updated from where I am in Arizona, Hasso. I grew up downtown in the 1960s working for my dad. The riverfront was always interesting and most of the industrial past was still semi-active in my childhood, including the log boom on Lyon, before the new bridge was built, though nothing like the late 1800s and early 1900s when Albany was a major transportation hub with product shipped on the river (plus the cross river ferry before the bridges were built). But today, the riverfront should be for entertainment. I am glad the transition is underway.
For those that aren’t aware, the building in the center background & one behind it belong to Scott Lepman, aka GLORIETTA BAY LLC. CARA’s favorite son having property values increased through CARA on our dime.
The city, through the ARA, should pay for this, it is part of the waterfront project. Making rate payers pay for it through a “surcharge” is nothing more than a hidden tax so you can spend the waterfront allocated money on something that wasn’t bugeted for, or was the electric pole thing a last minute thought and expense? If so, it should not have been done. Stay within your budget, if you can’t then you delete items that are not a necessity. Pay for it through the ARA, people are already struggling to make ends meet. just my opinion pat
My feelings exactly!!
Hasso, why, when I try to post a comment, does your site say “looks like you’ve already said that,” and then deletes my comment. This has happened several times when I have not posted the comment before? Did I make a comment some other time that someone didn’t like or was offended by? I don’t know, I am always respectful when I try to post. pat
Hasso, the taxpayers. Is still on the hook if ARA pays, that old saw that it’s free is as false as it always was, just which one of our pockets it comes out of is at question.
Huh?! What? No sense….
You obviously can’t comprehend that Mr. (to you) Rich Kellum was referring to the very last line of Hasso’s article.
True in theory, not in practice. The surcharge will be an actual additional expense to Albany ratepayers. No such additional expense would occur if the city (CARA) funded the undergrounding expense as part of the plaza street project. The amount of taxes property owners pay would not be affected.
Wrong Hasso, on your property tax statement there is a line dealing with tax increment financing. The entire city pays for CARA, just in a round about way.
“Wrong?” “WRONG?” Tell me how much more in property tax Albany property owners pay because of CARA. The fact is they don’t pay any more than they would pay if CARA did not exist. What we pay is determined by the tax rate times each thousand of assessed value. That did not change because of CARA.
All of the safety levy, that was put. I place after CARA, WHY?? BECAUSE CARA TOOK MONEY OUT OF PROPERTY TAXES
From the different taxing districts, the prelude for the budget tonight is all about raising the city services fee to offset the deficit in the various districts. We can debate all day long why, but based on the current ask tonight from staff for liabilities, the districts can’t meet obligations. This is CARA, https://albanyoregon.gov/cara/what-is-cara, our investment has returned six dollars of private investment for every dollar invested from the public. That’s a bold statement, I don’t see that accounted for in the budget. That’s $120M of private investment from Monteith? Won’t mention Wells Fargo. What’s the winners, what’s the losers? What’s the ROI on Monteith, don’t see any line items? Looking at the budget, it’s difficult to tell if we’re being successful other than the revenue ask from the resident increasing, mostly through their housing costs.