ALBANY SHORT TAKES............. SOME STUFF GOING ON IN OUR TOWN

OLD SHOES NEEDED!

Dear Readers, You are urged to watch the Albany City Council meetings on Channel 33.  The live meetings are televised at 8:00 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month.  They are also rebroadcast several times during the weeks following each meeting.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 20. (Short version) Apartment Manager: The City has failed to tell us what they will do, and we may just have to shut down the pedestrian walking path. Mayor: Thank you.  Next speaker please. Citizen: The City sweeping program is a shambles.  Few people move their cars. Mayor: Thank you.  Next. Citizen: No one has been killed on Marin lately, but it is still pretty dangerous. Mayor: Thank you for that.  I'll now return it to Council. Mayor: Volunteerism is important.  I would now like to hand out certificates of appreciation to all the volunteers we just kicked off our committees and commissions.  Thank you for your service. (Hands them out) Presenter from Berkeley: We let our medical marijuana patients grow their own plants to keep their costs down. Council Member 1: Sounds like something we should consider.  Gardening is also very therapeutic and is used to rehabilitate prisoners.  And of course, the plants are green, and soak up a little of the CO2 which will be generated when they are later burned.  So we do our bit against Global Warming, too.  In fact, how about a community garden?  Not near a school. Council Member 2: But wouldn't that require  a shotgun-equipped security guard to protect the plants at night? Council Member 1: No, no! With any new idea or vision there are always a few wrinkles to work out.  Maybe a high fence-- like on the border. Mayor: Thank you for coming.  Clerk, please move those hands back on the clock, so the record can show we got out of here by 11:00.

In the latest meeting of the Waterfront Committee, the newly elected Chair (who has worked as a city planner)  banged his fist on the table a lot when he didn't like what the people said.  He hit so hard that observers feared he would injure his hand.  Please, everyone, bring him your old shoes to bang with at the next meeting on March 1.  Hey, it worked for Nikita Khruschev at the U.N., and it can work for the new Chair (who has worked as a city planner).

CITY FRONT END ALIGNMENT BUDGET SOARS OUT OF CONTROL

As this photo shows, Albany's streetsweeper must constantly swerve around parked cars.  This causes its front end to go out of alignment 4.2 times more frequently than normal.  And so the truck spends a lot of time in the shop, at great expense to the City.  However, the City Council has so far resisted floating  a bond to cover this overrun.