
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.
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.
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.
A praying mantis on that distant roof?
What’s that odd-looking yellow contraption up on the roof in the distance? It caught my eye on Jan. 25 as I was standing under the Pacific Boulevard viaduct in Albany and looking around.
Tags: cold storage, ecoomic development, Pacific viaduct, Van Vleet Meat