Taking a look at the eastern Willamette River pier, being rebuilt on the Albany riverfront, at 2 p.m. Monday.
From the Dave Clark Riverfront Path, you can see one of the piers on the river being rebuilt as part of the Albany Waterfront Project. The other one is being rebuilt too, but you can’t see it from the land side because the path is blocked.
The one you can watch being redone — from behind the “Keep Out” barrier — is the eastern one of the two.
When I went by there last week, I noticed a stack of sheets of plywood lying on the deck. That made me wonder if they were planning on using plywood to replace the aging planks of the walk and the viewing platform.
No, they’re not.
I sent City Engineer Staci Belcastro a photo, and she explained: “The decking on the piers is still planned to be a combination of black locust style and fiberglass style decking. The plywood in the picture you attached is being used for containment to facilitate construction and to protect water and riparian areas from damage during construction.
“Black locust planks will be used on the outlook, and fiberglass planks on the walkway.”
This afternoon (Monday, July 24), I saw what the sheets of plywood were for. They make a surface for the workers to stand on while installing new planks on the walkway.
When will the public regain access to this viewing pier? And the one upstream?
Hard to tell, but the main contractor for major portions of the project, K&E Excavation, expects to finish work on the riverfront before the end of the year. (Part of Water Avenue is to be redone next year.)
The Waterfront Project is the last big part — and by far the biggest — of the downtown urban renewal program known as CARA. The total cost, including the design phase, adds up to more than $22 million. (hh)
Sheets of plywod were stacked on the pier’s deck on July 16 in peparation for the reconstruction.
Here is a simple question you and CARA apparently refuse to answer:
What is the tax increment expected in return for this $22 million ‘investment’?
And here is another thing that gets conveniently ignored.
The city by their own decision and without voter approval take property tax levies from the other taxing districts without permission.
So some taxpayers who don’t live in the city and can’t vote in city elections have no voice in this matter. It’s called taxation without representation.
The standard councilor retort is, “but state law says we can do it.” Which makes Oregon law an ass.
Hear, Hear! Good for you. Good comment. I can’t get such comments printed. I guess it is because Hasso knows who I am, and also because I don’t like it when he puts me down with some short barb, and I let him know. Who knows!! Anyway, back to you…thanks for your comment.
The return is a city people move to and pay taxes, rather than a dump people leave and tax revenue dries up.
Who wants to move to a city that can’t control homeless issues, crime growing, degradation of the city worth all of the California graffiti that is moving in. Wanna buy my house? I’m outta here too. Good luck Albany.
There’s a few nice places available in Sweet Home.
Hasso – many thanks for this update. I usually take company on the Dave Clark trail and was wondering about the viewing piers.