The Swanson Path and surrounding grounds, which only a week ago had been a mess of discarded blankets and other trash, has been cleaned up, and you’ll be astonished to learn by whom.
Sometimes you get the feeling it makes no sense to spend big money on public improvements as long as vandals and vagrants remain free — and motivated, if that’s the right word — to ruin them with spray paint and trash.
The wasteland under the Pacific Boulevard viaduct is not exactly Albany’s garden spot. Vagrants have turned it into a dump where repeated cleanups have to be done.
For a few weeks now, a contractor for ODOT has been building a new walking or “multi-use” link between Albany Station and Swanson Park underneath the Pacific Boulevard overpass. As the last piece of the depot renovation it’s a welcome development, even though it also makes you wonder about transportation priorities.
Rocks in a hard place: No more camping
Some 522 tons of rocks and boulders have put a stop — for now at least — to a longstanding problem: Squatters camping under the Pacific Boulevard viaduct in Albany where Jackson Street and Seventh Avenue meet.
Tags: Albany homeless, Knife River rocks, Pacific viaduct