Albany has banned unauthorized camping on public property and set up a zone from which the municipal court may banish repeat criminals for up to a year. Both measures are in effect starting now.
A proposed crackdown on crime and other problems associated with vagrancy in Albany turned into a public debate before the Albany City Council Wednesday about what to do — and not to do — about the homeless.
Albany officials are poised to get tough — or tougher — on abandoned vehicles and houses, and on behavior that drags down the quality of life especially in the central part of town. You might call it a combined campaign against crime and the messes people leave behind.
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.
This is kind of indelicate, so be warned. The Albany City Council, as you may have heard, has passed a couple of ordinances to give the police more enforcement tools against vagrants that cause trouble. One new city law outlaws open containers of alcohol in a public place. No problem with that. The other ordinance […]
Now that they have the tools for a renewed campaign against unlawful behavior by vagrants, Albany police will have to use them. The city council Wednesday passed ordinances against open containers of alcohol in public places, and against relieving oneself in public. Having laws is one thing. Applying them is something else. For that, the police […]
Costly pathway turns into trashy walk
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.
Tags: Albany Station, Pacific viaduct, Station-Swanson path, vagrancy, vandalism