Monday’s operation to expel unauthorized campers from Albany’s Simpson Park has been widely covered on social media and the local paper. But the press release from Sheriff Michelle Duncan contained noteworthy details.
Why all the trash? Because we allow it
Written February 16th, 2026 by Hasso Hering
That’s the trouble with winter: The foliage is gone and you can see the trash that people have left behind where, in summer, it’s hidden in the bushes.
Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Calapooia River, homeless, Queen Avenue, trash piles, vagrancy
Tags: Calapooia River, homeless, Queen Avenue, trash piles, vagrancy
Our off-street paths are cleaner: Here’s why
Written July 14th, 2025 by Hasso Hering
On bike rides along Albany’s main off-street paths over the first few weeks this summer, I noticed something that wasn’t there.
Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Albany paths, cleaner paths, community service officers, encampments, homeless, off-street paths, park ranger, parks and rec
Tags: Albany paths, cleaner paths, community service officers, encampments, homeless, off-street paths, park ranger, parks and rec
Checking up on the Simpson Park Trail
Written June 1st, 2025 by Hasso Hering
Three years ago I took the bike down the trail in Albany’s Simpson Park and made a video of the experience. Not many people saw it, but just yesterday somebody left this comment: “This park today is absolutely filthy and infested with homeless encampments.”
Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Albany trails, homeless, parks, Simpson Park, Willamette River
Tags: Albany trails, homeless, parks, Simpson Park, Willamette River
Helping Hands floats proposal for housing
Written August 19th, 2024 by Hasso Hering
For a reason shrouded in the mist of long ago, the City of Albany owns three lots in the same block as the Albany Helping Hands homeless shelter. The shelter has an idea of how the lots could serve a useful purpose, and it’s not to house people in ragtag tents.
Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: apartment block, Helping Hands, homeless, housing, Jackson and Ninth, Marvin's Garden
Tags: apartment block, Helping Hands, homeless, housing, Jackson and Ninth, Marvin's Garden
A Tuesday ride on the Simpson Park Trail
Written August 14th, 2024 by Hasso Hering
I was out of town when I wrote Monday about the latest plan to rid Simpson Park of unauthorized encampments. On Tuesday the bike took me there to look around.
Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: bicycling, camps, Conestoga huts, homeless, HUTS, Simpson Park, vagrancy
Tags: bicycling, camps, Conestoga huts, homeless, HUTS, Simpson Park, vagrancy
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Under the Lyon Street Bridge, a memorial
On bike rides Friday and Saturday, I came across a new memorial on the Dave Clark Path, on a concrete ledge under the Lyon Street Bridge.
Tags: Dave Clark Path, homeless, Joseph Joe Hughes, memorial