From the city’s website:
http://www.albanyca.org/index.aspx?page=18&recordid=1795&returnURL=%2findex.aspx
Join us for a public workshop to discuss project ideas on July 12th starting at 6 pm.
We will be meeting at the corner of Cleveland at Washington for a site visit and tour, then
returning to City Hall by 7:30 pm for continued discussion regarding the project.”
The city will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the Albany Bay Trail Connector Tuesday, Oct. 30.
The project was intended to improve the connection between regional pathways throughout the Bay Area and the Bay Trail.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Assemblymember Nancy Skinner are scheduled to attend and to give brief speeches during the ceremony.
The project includes multiple funding from federal, state and regional agencies, as well as partnerships with the University of California, Albany Unified School District, and the United States Department of Agriculture research facility in Albany.
Albany Strollers & Rollers was involved in the process, serving on the committee to select the engineering firm and helping work on the facility design.
Get GEARED UP! Helmets, Bikes, Bells!
This month’s route will be about 5 miles long and we’ll be heading to the Bay. So bring along snacks to share at our mid-route stop, and, or course, we’ll have tunes to pedal to all throughout the ride!
Helmets required for kids.
Be sure to pack snacks, water, and clothing appropriate to weather conditions!
This is a monthly family-oriented bike ride – for more info, go here.
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.
All In One Fitness Gym in Albany will be celebrating its third year anniversary with a party and health fair and Albany Strollers & Rollers will be there!
This is a free event for the community and will include booths provided by several local health related businesses including chiropractor, physical therapist, acupuncturist, solar company…and, of course, AS&R.
Come on down to the gym for a day filled with games, food, live dj, membership specials, raffles, prizes, and most importantly fun and great information on how you can lead a healthier lifestyle!
Bring your friends and family! Please RSVP and get more information by giving us a call at the gym at (510) 524-1001. Hope to see you there!
We have been invited to participate in order to talk to other AiOF members about cycling and walking around town. So please, if you have some time to help at our booth for a little while, sharing your ideas while enjoying the food and music, please email Amy Smolens at calamari@alumni.duke.edu – thanks!
Street Level Cycles has graciously donated free bike tuneup services at the Arts & Green Festival since 2008
photo courtesy Matt McHugh
No doubt you know Street Level Cycles as the non-profit organization that provides FREE tuneups to members of our community at the annual Albany Arts & Green Festival.
Here’s a chance to learn more about them and enjoy a great afternoon of food and fun, at their holiday party and fund-raiser for their youth programs.
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
The Taco Guys will be there with their gourmet food truck serving up some of the best and most original tacos in the Bay. Top it off with a cup of Waterside’s famous hand-crafted coffee and a fresh baked pastry to make for the perfect afternoon.
During the event, they will give away 100 kid’s bicycles to local low-income families. If you know a family in need of a kid’s bicycle, please tell them to contact SLC before the event!
At 4pm, they will have a “Donors and Supporters Happy Hour and Silent Auction.” Any of you who have volunteered at an AS&R event over the past few years are invited to take part. Items in the silent auction include gift certificates to local restaurants, original works of art, a week vacation rental in a beautiful Tahoe cabin and more.
All proceeds from this event will go directly to supporting their free programs for low-income youth!
Hope to see you there!
Join Friends of Albany Parks and El Cerrito Green Teams and in their first trash/litter clean-up of 2016! They will be meeting at a scenic stretch of Cerrito Creek alongside El Cerrito Plaza to clean up the creek and surrounding areas as needed. All ages are welcome.
Sign up to volunteer today!
(510) 215-4350, green@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us or just show up!
Latecomers welcome. Meet near Trader Joe’s south side in El Cerrito Plaza. Tools, gloves and good company provided. Wear closed-toed shoes with traction and clothes that can get dirty.
Albany has a chunk of change to spend on improving creek access and quality. And it has to start spending it within a year or two to avoid substantial financial complications (its bond money from a measure passed in the 90’s, and the duration is running out). So the City has scheduled a public discussion at City Hall starting regarding which project(s) to pursue.
There are a couple that would improve active transportation: 1) path from Tenth to Eighth Street along Codornices Creek and 2) a bridge across Cerrito Creek at Adams. The potential project at Codornices Creek would close the last gap on the Codornices Creek path from San Pablo to the soccer fields west of Fifth Street (the path from San Pablo to Tenth is about to be built as part of the senior housing under construction there).
Help connect Adams Street in Albany…
The potential project at Cerrito Creek would allow people to walk east-west along Cerrito Creek from San Pablo to Pierce. Among other, this would benefit Albany High School students living on Pierce that currently ford the creek at Adams.
…with Carlson Blvd in El Cerrito and Richmond!
Amazingly, it would also remove the only barrier along a regional north-south cycling route stretching from near downtown Richmond to the West Oakland BART station and beyond. Most of the other cities along this route (Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, El Cerrito, and Richmond) have completed their segments and the only other city (Richmond) has completed a large portion of it contiguous with El Cerrito and approved a plan to complete the rest. In contrast, Albany has completed almost none of its segment.
Bridge the gap!
Consequently Albany is the only gap along the existing nine mile long route and the soon to be 12 mile long route. A bridge over Cerrito Creek between Adams and Carlson would literally bridge that gap.
If either of these active transportation projects, or other aspects of creeks is of interest to you, please attend the meeting to learn more and provide your input. Thanks.
Help ensure that Albany’s segment of the Bay Trail will be completed, and safe & fun for all!
After a group of Albany residents, including fellow Strollers & Rollers, pointed out improvements that should be made to our Waterfront, there will be a chance to see the plans and give input on the Albany Bay Trail and beach project, officially known as the Albany Beach Restoration and Public Access Project.
Let’s make sure that OUR Waterfront is optimized for people who want to bike, walk, stroll and roll. There is a lot of car parking, but not nearly as much attention paid to parking for bicycles.
Note: a quorum of the City Council and/or an advisory body to the City Council may be present at this public meeting.
Here is the site plan
And the existing conditions map
And the complete packet from the most recent public meeting (April 17), which was at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Design Review Board. This packet has cross-sections and more detailed plans and a staff report.
Albany resident and landscape architect Hugo Larman drafted this updated plan based on community input, which expands the beach area, adds bike racks and moves car parking near existing parking.
EIR and other info from EBRPD (scroll down to where is says “Albany Beach Habitat Restoration and Public Access Project.”)
These racks that AS&R bought are perfectly situated for folks who want to enjoy the beach, a hike or just enjoy the beautiful view, but they are lonely! We need more “there” at the Waterfront, and more bike racks near other destinations.
AS&R member Dan Johnson prepared comments and alternative plans . After further discussion, Dan & others believe that the location for parking might not be feasible. However his diagram about the amount of paving is relevant.
While not a part of EBRPD’s plan, the Albany Waterfront Committee’s Cove Enhancement Plan should be completed by the City of Albany and taken into account by EBRPD for a comprehensive plan at the entire waterfront. The only reason it was not completed in 2012 was because EBRPD requested the City hold off because of upcoming construction. That reason is long past.
In response to recent community comments, the designers are making efforts to reduce the large amount of pavement for the vehicle driveway and turnaround to leave more open space for recreation at the south end of the site. However, a number of us believe that it would be more functional and would preserve more open space (as well as reduce bicycle-pedestrian conflicts) to locate the parking near the existing parking, on the north side of Buchanan St., which would eliminate the need for the long driveway. However, this area is City-owned and outside the EBRPD project area.
