I’ve been following most meetings of the Albany City Council on YouTube or Zoom. But I went in person Wednesday night because the last council meeting of 2022 was also the last for longtime Councilors Bessie Johnson and Dick Olsen.
Sitting through an Albany City Council meeting has its reward — when it’s over and you walk out and are greeted by the festive lights on the City Hall plaza on a December night.
For a moment there, it looked as though the City of Albany was making progress in opening up, for public use, sections of the Vine Street right-of-way alongside the Santiam Canal.
Monday’s meeting of the Albany Revitalization Agency was called to award a demolition contract for the former Wells Fargo branch downtown. It ended on a sour note when the chair, Councilwoman Bessie Johnson, formally accused member Dick Olsen of violating the secrecy of an executive session.
Albany police are planning to buy a better type of speed-radar trailer, one that can record the license plates of vehicles it observes to be speeding.
Albany has lots of laws intended to safeguard the city’s livability, and the city council has just consolidated them in one chapter of the municipal code. The idea is to make it easier to find what’s allowed and what’s not.
Will Bird scooters return? Wait and see
As you would expect when it’s rainy and cold, the Bird company’s electric scooters available for rent have been gone from Albany streets this winter. Some people are wondering if the scooters will be back when the weather improves.
Tags: Albany council, Albany scooters, Bird scooters, e-scooters