You probably know Street Level Cycles as the group who has given free bike tuneups at the annual Albany Arts & Green Festival. They’re much more than that, so come to their holiday party to find out more!
Join them for an afternoon of food and fun to raise funds for their youth programs!
Waterside Workshops has received a $10,000 challenge grant, and you can help us reach our goal by attending our event!
A donation of $10 per person gets you:
* a free boat rental
* wooden toy-making for kids
* entry into the kids or adult bike raffle
Also, Doc’s of the Bay will be here with their gourmet food truck serving up mouth-watering locally-sourced fare and the Cookie Department will be sampling their amazing cookies, the perfect addition to a cup of our famous Waterside hand-crafted coffee. Our interns have been hard at work creating fine wooden handcrafts and building bicycles for the whole family, so while you are here, don’t forget to visit our Holiday Sale to mark a few names off of your list. During the event, we will give away 25 kids bicycles to local low-income families. If you know a family in need of a kid’s bicycle, please tell them to contact us before the event! At 5pm, we will be showing “Waterside” a documentary film about our organization and its role in the community. All proceeds from this event will go directly to supporting our free programs for low-income youth. Please join us on the 9th to kick-off the Holiday Season while giving back to your community!
For more details, go here.
El Cerrito Trail Trekkers present:
Help us perfect our Motorcycle Hill Trail.
Trail Trekkers is finishing work on a long-obscured trail in the northern Hillside Natural Area. This trail, long used by deer, children and intrepid hikers, and in the 1920s by motorcycle racers, grew rough because French broom took over and the trail had bad footing.
The trail is now usable and has been getting used! But more work needs to be done, and invasive broom needs to be pulled from this hillside to benefit native vegetation and wildlife. Tools provided. Bring energy.
Meet at the trailhead between 7701 and 7705 Potrero Avenue, El Cerrito
Please rsvp – contact info below.
www.ectrailtrekkers.org.
These racks that AS&R funded at the Waterfront are perfectly situated for folks who want to enjoy the beach, a hike or just enjoy the beautiful view.
Help keep our access there!
Do you ride your bike, walk, hike, jog or otherwise enjoy the Albany Bulb & Neck areas? Do you want to continue to have access so you can enjoy the Albany Waterfront to its fullest? Both pieces are scheduled to be transferred to the East Bay Regional Park District and some groups and individuals want to curtail recreational use and bicycle access.
The City is completing its “Albany Neck & Bulb Transition Improvement Plan” public process so this meeting is your final opportunity to give your input in order to ensure that the Waterfront area is something that can be enjoyed by all.
Representatives from Albany Strollers & Rollers and Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay were invited to a Stakeholder meeting with Albany City Staff and the Planning & Design Consultants, and we were able to voice our opinions.
BUT it is crucial that City Staff, Consultants and City Council hear from YOU AND YOUR FAMILY TO SET FORTH PRIORITIES and a plan to communicate to EBRPD.
Want to ride along our beautiful Bay? Speak up!
Bike & hiking paths? Bathrooms? Bike racks? Picnic tables? Improved bicycle access from all directions?
What would make this a great recreational area, like the areas that Berkeley has in its Marina?
This City Council meeting is the FINAL PUBLIC FORUM TO SAY THAT YES, RECREATIONAL ACCESS IS IMPORTANT TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!
Consultants from WRT will give a brief presentation on the process and the final study, and there will be an opportunity for public comment.
More details will be posted as we have more information but please save the date to make sure we keep access to OUR WATERFRONT!
We risk losing access to our Bay if we don’t speak up!
Written comments can be provided in advance of the meeting to cityhall@albanyca.org. We encourage written comments be sent before the day of the meeting to ensure they can be taken into consideration.
Documents related to this effort are included here:
1. Final Albany Neck & Bulb Transition Study (very large – 143 pages)
2. Conservancy Staff Report 05-29-2014
3. WRT_Albany Neck & Bulb Stakeholder Meeting_Access and Recreation
4. Scope of Consultant Services for Albany Neck and Bulb Transition Plan
5. WRT Transition Improvement Plan as of April 2015
Come on down and learn how to ride a bike more safely – and have more fun!
Do you, a friend or family member want to ride your bike more but don’t feel confident enough?
Here’s a FREE bicycle skills class RIGHT IN OUR BACKYARD, courtesy of Bike East Bay!
In addition to the regular first-Mondays classes at UC Berkeley, they have now set up a free Urban Cycling 101 Day 1 classroom workshop for adults and teens at the Albany Library/Community Center on Saturday, July 16th, from 1-3pm. Complete details and registrations are available here.
The class is FREE but it’s mandatory to register here.
Want a fun bike park like Dirt World in Richmond? Support this project at an Albany Parks & Rec meeting and/or write a letter!
On September 13th, a course/park designer will pitch several plans for a proposed mountain bike/BMX bike park in Albany. Commissioners will benefit from input and feedback from the public, especially supporters like you, to help decide which plan, if any, to advance to the City Council. Proposed location is adjacent to Pierce St Park – just below it, to the west on Cleveland St. Early discussions described a MTB component around the perimeter space and a BMX component at the interior. The designer said he likes to design with different riding abilities in mind on the same course (very easy, medium, challenging) and to provide different price points for features, their materials, etc. He has designed and built Richmond’s new Dirt World and many other bike parks.
Here is the Design and Estimate Proposal.
Any input – in person or even in writing – you can provide (even just “looks great!” or “our family would use this!” will be helpful).
Separately, input is sought for what may be the final design review for the new and improved trails at Albany Hill Park. Here are the 90% Plans.
*New ADA trail at the top parallel to the ridge line
*Improvements to existing trails at the north
*Improved, re-landscaped access points to the park where Jackson and Madison dead-end
*Stairs plus a bulbout in the SE corner where Taft hits Hillside
The city has received the monarch roosting report it commissioned and is taking its results and recent community input to limit impacts to trees near monarch habitat. Some commissioners including myself (Bryan Marten) want to also use that information to move forward with choosing a select few trees to remove to improve views of the bay, bird habitat at the mud flats, etc. This involves the city approaching the large land owner at the SW corner of the hill which the city has said it will do.
This is the full agenda for the meeting.
BMX/MTB parks are great fun and recreation for kids, teens and adults!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS OF SUPPORT to Albany Staff Liaison Chelle Putzer at cputzer@albanyca.org and request that she send your letter to all members of Albany’s Parks & Rec Commission. Thanks!
