A few seconds with a humble bumblebee
Somewhere I had read that like other pollinators, bumblebees were in decline. So I was glad to see one working these rhododendron bushes on Monday afternoon. It was raining a little, but the bee didn’t...
View ArticlePolco portable potty poll: Now the results
Not many people took part in an online Albany poll on portable toilets. But of those who did, a majority said yes, Albany should “allow portable toilets on private property for public use.” The Polco...
View ArticleIncomplete: Another sign of supply problems
If you’re wondering why the extension of the Periwinkle Bikepath along Queen Avenue in Albany is still unfinished, there’s an explanation. And like so much else these days, it has to do with a shortage...
View ArticleBikeway extension on Queen now is complete
Problems with the delivery of concrete mix evidently were resolved so that the extension of the Periwinkle Bikepath along Queen Avenue in Albany could be completed. I noticed earlier in the week that...
View ArticleChecking on St. Francis as state panel visits
Scott Lepman doesn’t have an estimate of how long it will take to refurbish the old St. Francis Hotel at Ferry Street and First Avenue in downtown Albany. But he, his brother Spencer and their...
View ArticleFrom an idea to now: Intermodal center ready
It was in February 2017 when I got wind of a plan to turn the vacant former paper mill property in Millersburg into a reloading center to connect Willamette Valley shippers with the rest of the world....
View ArticleNew playground comes with a ‘warning’
The new playground at Albany’s Henderson Park is more elaborate than the one it replaced. It also comes with a warning that falling from the equipment on hard ground could result in death. I’ve written...
View ArticleRiverfront contractor gets OK to start
A contractor now has the green light to construct the Central Albany Revitalization Area’s riverfront project this year. Acting as the Albany Revitalization Agency (ARA), the city council Wednesday...
View ArticleA riverfront conflict, and the geese have won
This is not the first time this has happened, but once again the big nest that generations of ospreys built on the Albany railroad bridge has been taken over by a pair of Canada geese. Gordon...
View ArticlePlan for solar ‘farm’ draws a crowd
Judging by the crowd at a meeting in Brownsville Tuesday evening, there’s a great deal of public interest in a proposal for a solar “farm” in south Linn County. The meeting was not a hearing, just a...
View ArticleWhat about that call center? Read on
Sometimes it takes a while before outsiders notice that a business is gone or has moved. This apparently is the case with a big call center that shared space in the Heritage Plaza commercial center in...
View ArticleAt Takena Landing, checking out a theft of burls
City Manager Peter Troedsson told the Albany City Council in his weekly “Friday Report” about a case of tree vandalism and theft in Takena Landing Park. Saturday I took a ride along the park’s Eagle...
View ArticleWeed job done, lake harvesters move on
Looks like Aquatic Harvesting accomplished its mission on Albany’s Wavery Lake, so today the company crew loaded their two weed harvesting machines for transport to their next assignment. It stopped on...
View ArticleNovember at Waverly Lake: No aerators yet
Waverly Lake in Albany looked calm and mostly clear when I went past last Friday. I was looking for the aerators and fountain that were supposed to be installed after the lake was cleared of algae in...
View ArticleAt Talking Water Gardens, a cleanup job
It must have taken a lot of scrubbing or sanding, or both, to get one of the wooden footbridges at Talking Water Gardens back to looking the way it should. This bridge is at the back end of the...
View ArticleBrick pavers added to Water Avenue
On Monday this week, patrolling the Albany riverfront on my bike as usual, I took a look at the work being done on Water Avenue at Thurston Street. A crew has been installing reddish brick pavers there...
View ArticleZiply Fiber working to hook up Albany
A company named Ziply Fiber is setting up a web of fiberoptic cables in Albany. For the last couple weeks or so contractors have been working on hanging the company’s overhead lines in the neighborhood...
View ArticleA smarter way to create more housing
In Oregon’s quest for more affordable housing, building on vacant or underused land inside cities makes far more sense that expanding urban growth boundaries to gobble up farmland. I pointed this out...
View ArticleSurprise at the city EV charger: It works
An announcement from the Oregon Department of Transportation prompted me to take yet another look at the electric-vehicle charging station the City of Albany had installed downtown. For a long time,...
View ArticleStill boarded up but not forgotten
So what’s new with the dwelling at 329 Pine St. S.E., which the City of Albany posted as a “derelict structure” two summers ago? That’s what I was wondering when I passed the place on a bike ride on...
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