Every once in a while, bumping along the broken pavement and potholed streets of old Albany on my bike, I wonder why the people living there or driving on these streets are not complaining?
There’s a good chance the Albany City Council will ask voters in 2020 to approve a bond issue to pay for reconstructing half a dozen streets including Albany Avenue. Voters might also be asked to decide on an extra monthly utility fee to pay for street maintenance and repairs.
[youtube video=”r2l_p-XQfoU” rel=”0″] Bouncing along one of central Albany’s old residential streets, especially on a bike like in the video here, makes you wonder if the city will ever have the means to make repairs, now decades overdue. Monday’s council work session does not signal a solution any time soon.
Getting streets maintained and pavement repaired is always an issue in Albany, but not any more on two streets in a leafy neighborhood at the southwest edge of town.
If you were hoping that the potholed streets in the older parts of Albany might some day be repaved, you can expect to be disappointed. The city government has no plans to do anything about this worsening problem, at least not yet.
The poor shape of some of Albany’s oldest streets is an old subject. A reader, Hazel Siebrecht, brought it up again on Feb. 28 in response to my story on the spending proposals before the CARA urban renewal advisory board when it meets at 5:15 p.m. today (March 4) at City Hall.
Albany council poised to OK a street fee
Albany residents and property owners might want to get ready for the idea of paying a monthly fee for better maintenance of local streets.
Tags: street fee, street maintenance, street utility fee