Come join the fun on the Ohlone Greenway!
Photo courtesy Suzanne Iarla
The City of El Cerrito hosts its Ohlone Greenway Fun Day to celebrate the recent renovation of the Ohlone Greenway, the multi-use trail that runs the length of El Cerrito and through our city of Albany, as well as Richmond & Berkeley.
The event will encourage people of all ages to ride, jog, walk or roll along the Greenway and include activities like a “discovery passport” activity and bicycle obstacle course. The celebration will include music by DJ worldOnelove, informational tables about biking & walking (including AS&R’s table!,) basic bike safety checks, a bicycle obstacle course for kids, gardening and other tips for healthy living, and more!
The festival at the Greenway and Manila Avenue runs from 9:30am- 1pm.
There is also a fun-run and ride:
The course starts at the El Cerrito Plaza BART Station “Willow Street” parking lot and finish at the El Cerrito DMV Parking lot @ Manila Avenue. All routes are along the Ohlone Greenway in El Cerrito. Route distances are approximate. The 5k route has 18 road intersection crossings. The 1 mile route has 6 road intersection crossings. Participants should use caution at all crossings.
*Riders (approx 5km) will begin at 9:15am – All riders must wear a helmet.
*Runners (approx 5km route) will begin at 9:45am
*Walkers (approx 1mile route) will begin at 10:00 am
This is a fun event, not a race. All abilities welcome!
Register here now to ride, run or walk! Same-day registration begins at 8:45 am.
The first 50 people to register will receive a free t-shirt.
If you’re not going to do the fun run, walk or ride, just come on by the Festival between 9:30am – 1pm!
I could use a few VOLUNTEERS to help me at the table – if you’d like to help at our table (especially if you live or work in El Cerrito,) please contact me (Amy Smolens) – thanks so much!
Help keep our Ohlone Greenway neat and clean!
I’m sure you and your family use the Ohlone Greenway to roll or stroll, so here’s a chance to help keep it it nice for everyone!
Saturday is Friends of Albany Parks’ Ohlone Greenway Clean-up Day and they would like to invite anyone interested in helping us with some spring cleaning in the summer to stop by and give it a little TLC and beautification.
Friends of Albany Parks is a stewardship program aimed at getting residents and community members involved in light maintenance and beatification of some of the City’s shared spaces.
Lunch provided by Albany Community Foundation!!
Join Albany Staff, the City’s Urban Forester and your friends & neighbors as we continue to improve our local green spaces.
Projects include: Plant bed maintenance
Weeding
Litter Crew
“Tree Love”
Re-organizing landscape areas
And more…
WHAT DO YOU WANT DONE? DO IT!
Have you noticed that Albany is small and you often end up in El Cerrito and Berkeley? Here’s a good chance to give some input to our neighbor to the north!
Come help design five urban greening projects to improve the environmental sustainability, economic vitality and community cohesion of the City of El Cerrito! The Community Charrette is an interactive design workshop that allows you to meet with neighbors and other community members to envision the future of five pilot projects: 1) Fairmount Park, 2) Hillside Natural Area, 3) Former Portola Middle School Site, 4) Lower Fairmount Ave from Carlson Blvd to San Pablo Ave, and 5) Bay Trail (Blue Belt) to Wildcat Canyon (Green Belt) Connections. These sites have been selected from a larger list of Urban Greening opportunities for their strategic location, multiple community and environmental benefits, and pilot potential. With feedback gathered at the Charrette, the City’s Urban Greening consultants will prepare conceptual designs to be included in the Urban Greening Plan.
Like some of the things AS&R has been able to accomplish in Albany? Suggest them to the City of El Cerrito. Like what you see in EC? Suggest them here in Albany!
9:30 am Welcome and Plan Overview
10:30 am Breakout Design Sessions
12:00 pm Lunch
12:30 pm Report Back
1:25 pm Next Steps
1:30 pm Close
For more information, please visit the website at www.ElCerritoUrbanGreening.org
Do you or your family ride, walk, roll, scoot or skate on the Ohlone Greenway? I’m sure you do, as the multi-use path on the Greenway is Albany’s Active Transportation Highway – over 1,000 trips per day on regular days when last counted several years ago!
The Parks & Rec Department is overseeing Greenway improvements so now’s the time to give input in order to have a better experience to stroll, roll or just hang out!
The information with the Project Plans and what was discussed at previous meetings is at this link:
Do you or your family ride on the Ohlone Greenway? Now’s the time to give input to improve it!
A parcourse, wayfinding, art – all can have a positive effect on the experience, safety and atmosphere of strolling and rolling.
An orchard is proposed for the eastern edge of the Greenway. What a great idea… BUT if those trees are planted too close to the multi-use path, as was already done south of Dartmouth, they will drop debris on the path, encroach on the path itself and also invite more conflicts between people biking northbound & walking on the east dg path and people who are picking fruit.
Another point someone brought up was that some of the existing trees west of the path cast are planted directly between the overhead light and the path, casting shadows on the path and making the nighttime path experience more dangerous.
In short, as Albany’s Active Transportation Highway, the City must take care not to degrade this important function. If amenities to either side are to be added, it should be done with great care.
Please attend this meeting to give your input and improve the Ohlone Greenway for everyone – strollers, rollers, sitters, dog-walkers, and fruit-pickers!
Full P&R agenda is at http://www.albanyca.org/index.aspx?page=16&recordid=12040
6-1: Ohlone Greenway Design: Restoration Design Group will give a presentation.
Recommended Actions:
1. That the Commission recommend a preferred concept direction to move into the design into the next phase.
2. That the Commission approve the planting of fruit and nut trees by the California Rare Fruit Growers along the eastern strip of the Ohlone Greenway as described in the Memo.
3. That the Commission set a Special Meeting Date for the 4th week of February to review the 35% Plans for the Ohlone Greenway.
Do you or your family ride, walk, roll, scoot or skate on the Ohlone Greenway? I’m sure you do, as the multi-use path on the Greenway is Albany’s Active Transportation Highway – over 1,000 trips per day on regular days when last counted several years ago!
The City Council is considering Greenway improvements so now’s the time to give input in order to have a better experience to stroll, roll or just hang out!
The agenda for the meeting is at this link, item 9-2.
The Consultants’ “Preferred Master Plan” is here – (fyi, you can just open it up or download the 4.8MB pdf document.)
Do you or your family ride on the Ohlone Greenway? Now’s the time to give input to improve it!
A parcourse, wayfinding, art – all can have a positive effect on the experience, safety and atmosphere of strolling and rolling.
An orchard is proposed for the eastern edge of the Greenway. What a great idea… BUT if those trees are planted too close to the multi-use path, as was already done south of Dartmouth, they will drop debris on the path, encroach on the path itself and also invite more conflicts between people biking northbound & walking on the east dg path and people who are picking fruit.
Another point someone brought up was that some of the existing trees west of the path cast are planted directly between the overhead light and the path, casting shadows on the path and making the nighttime path experience more dangerous.
In short, as Albany’s Active Transportation Highway, the City must take care not to degrade this important function. If amenities to either side are to be added, it should be done with great care.
Please attend this meeting to give your input and improve the Ohlone Greenway for everyone – strollers, rollers, sitters, dog-walkers, and fruit-pickers!
Do you or your family ride, walk, roll, scoot or skate on the Ohlone Greenway? I’m sure you do, as the multi-use path on the Greenway is Albany’s Active Transportation Highway – over 1,000 trips per day on regular days when last counted several years ago!
The Parks & Rec Department is overseeing Greenway improvements so now’s the time to give input in order to have a better experience to stroll, roll or just hang out!
Do you or your family ride on the Ohlone Greenway? Now’s the time to give input to improve it!
The information with the Project Plans and what was discussed at previous meetings is at this link. However, the proposal will be updated based on feedback that they received at February 1, so people should come to see how it evolved!
At this meeting the consultants will have 35% designs for you to see and provide input. This is a crucial time in the planning process!
Preferred Concept plan that was presented to Council on February 1 included:
- Plaza area as presented in the 250K Focused amenities (Adventure play with climbing wall, fitness pod with 3 stations, both diagonal ramps, social path short cut to Solano
- Redwood Grove informal play area
- San Gabriel sculpture play
- Social paths
- 3 Creek paintings
- 3 fitness stations along Greenway with 2 pieces of equipment at each
- Dartmouth Circle improvements
- Orchards
- Public Art locations
A parcourse, wayfinding, art – all can have a positive effect on the experience, safety and atmosphere of strolling and rolling.
An orchard is proposed for the eastern edge of the Greenway. What a great idea… BUT if those trees are planted too close to the multi-use path, as was already done south of Dartmouth, they will drop debris on the path, encroach on the path itself and also invite more conflicts between people biking northbound & walking on the east dg path and people who are picking fruit.
Another point someone brought up was that some of the existing trees west of the path cast are planted directly between the overhead light and the path, casting shadows on the path and making the nighttime path experience more dangerous.
In short, as Albany’s Active Transportation Highway, the City must take care not to degrade this important function. If amenities to either side are to be added, it should be done with great care.
Please attend this meeting to give your input and improve the Ohlone Greenway for everyone – strollers, rollers, sitters, dog-walkers, and fruit-pickers!
**THE AGENDA AND 35% PLANS ARE HERE** (NOTE: 4.3 MB FILE)
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.
Do you want Solano Avenue to be more walkable, bikeable and safe for all?
The City of Albany is developing a Complete Streets and Corridor Revitalization Plan for Solano Avenue from Masonic Avenue to Tulare Avenue to create an active main street environment. An extensive community engagement process will be deployed to identify ideas and strategies to:
Improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists
Enhance access to transit
Promote a cohesive streetscape
Support local economic activity
The outcome will be a plan with Complete Streets designs for roadway, sidewalk and intersection changes that support all modes and users of all ages and abilities, builds foot traffic for local businesses, encourages interaction in public spaces, and adds vibrancy to the community.
Let’s make mid-Solano even more bike friendly!
The first public input event includes a walk along a few blocks of Solano to observe what is in place, and then a workshop at the Albany Community Center to generate ideas and collect concerns for the project. Refreshments will be provided at the Workshop.
Participate in this site walk and/or workshop to share your ideas of how this avenue could be safer and more comfortable for you and your family.
Wildcard Brewing has one of Albany’s newest Bike Bike Racks – come try it out and raise money for AS&R!
We’re excited to have brand new local business Wildcard Brewing partner with Albany Strollers & Rollers on “Pints With Purpose,” their community fundraiser in which they help out local non-profits.
Hoist a pint or flight with us and help fund Albany’s newest bike rack at one of its newest businesses!
In this Bike Month activity, $1 FROM EVERY PINT OR FLIGHT THAT YOU BUY ALL DAY WILL HELP AS&R FUND A BRAND NEW “BIKE BIKE RACK” FOR WILDCARD CUSTOMERS!
Since we’re anticipating lots of you riding over, we’ll have our Bicycle Valet Parking racks set up right out front for you and your families. Racks will be unattended (we’ll be inside) so please bring your bike locks.
Yes, Wildcard is family friendly (they have non-alcoholic beverages including craft root beer, New York seltzer and lemon flavored sparkling water, plus plenty of games) and you can bring or order food in to go with your beer!
They even welcome leashed dogs!
Feel free to bring lunch, dinner or snacks from your favorite restaurants on Solano or San Pablo Avenues, too!
Support those who support us – hope to see you there as Bike Month winds down!!
We’ll have two of these racks right out front for your parking convenience. Please bring your bike locks – they will be visible from inside, but unattended.
Photo courtesy Mark Altenberg
Thanks to one of Albany’s newest businesses for raising money for a new Bike Bike Rack right out front!
