Somebody asked me what happens if Albany voters turn down the city charter amendment now on the ballot. As near as I can see, the answer is nothing. Nothing happens. The amendment is Measure 22-119. City voters have been mailed ballots. The ballots are due back no later than Sept. 17. The measure would require […]
It’s a mystery why the legislature and many Oregon governing boards still insist that the public can be kept in the dark when governments are considering spending money to buy real estate. The Albany City Council, for instance, has scheduled another executive session closed to the public for Wednesday night. The purpose: “To discuss […]
When Albany voters decide on a bond for new police and fire stations in November, they can be sure that approval of the bond will not benefit the downtown urban renewal district, CARA. Why would it, you might reasonably ask, even though we’ve covered this subject before. Well, money to repay the $20.3 million bond […]
At a work session on Monday, the city council in Albany talked at length about ways of encouraging greater public engagement in city issues and decisions. (The only agenda item was evaluating the city manager. The council praised Wes Hare for doing a great job and gave him a 3 percent raise, making his base salary […]
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 […]
About 75 acres of undeveloped land surrounding Albany’s Timber Ridge School is about to come into city ownership because the owners have made no payments on assessments for the street and utility lines there. Now it’s just a question of how the transaction is done, the city council was told. The land has been owned by the […]
A convoluted crossing story: What it means
The old Oregon Electric freight rail line from Albany south is a sleepy track. Usually there’s one train in the morning and one going the other way late in the day. In the Albany neighborhood east of Geary Street, the line crosses several streets, also with very little traffic. Considering the low speed of […]
Tags: Albany council, BNSF line, crossing issues, Edgewater Village