With minimum legal notice and no posted signs in the park, the Albany Park & Recreation Commission (P&R) voted to remove over 2/3rds of the sand and cover most of the Dartmouth [...]]]> Working with natural sand and sand toys allows for creative, active, healthy play for children and fosters their development in many ways.

With minimum legal notice and no posted signs in the park, the Albany Park & Recreation Commission (P&R) voted to remove over 2/3rds of the sand and cover most of the Dartmouth Tot Lot with black rubber. They also instructed the maintenance team to regularly discard any toys left in the park. This decision will fundamentally change the nature of this heavily used and much loved park. The stated purpose of the plan is to improve Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance and decrease required maintenance.

After the vote, Albany city staff worked closely with concerned users of the park to prepare an alternative plan to address all concerns. This new plan is ADA compliant, reduces maintenance issues, retains most of the sand and preserves the character of the park.

At the request of two City Council members, P&R reviewed this new plan at their last meeting. All public comment at the meeting and a letter signed by over 40 people supported the new plan. All but one Commissioner debated if it was even appropriate to consider the alternative plan. One Commissioner stated: “we have already made our decision.”

P&R makes recommendations to City Council. City Council has never been presented with, nor voted on, the community supported alternative plan.

Work to pave over the park is slated to begin June 6. Please help us save this jewel of Albany. Contact your city council member now and ask them to vote for the new community plan that takes care of ALL children.

You can call the city and leave a message for council members at (510) 528-5710. You can email cityhall@albanyca.org

Your City Council:
Farid Javandel, Mayor
Marge Atkinson, Vice Mayor
Joanne Wile
Robert Lieber
Peggy Thompson

Your call or email matters. You can make a difference. A few, very vocal people got this decision made; let the City Council hear from the rest of us.

-Max, Margaret and Ulan McKnight
margaret@yvod.com

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Thank you Allan for your thoughts on this matter. While I disagree with your opinion, I think you presented your ideas with authenticity and respect. I learned a lot from your comments and would like to counter with my own experience in this [...]]]> This comment is in response to a letter written by Allan Maris in Albany.Patch.com.

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Thank you Allan for your thoughts on this matter. While I disagree with your opinion, I think you presented your ideas with authenticity and respect. I learned a lot from your comments and would like to counter with my own experience in this matter.

My family has lived in Albany since 1964 when my mother moved with my brother and I to Albany Village. I remember well my mother lamenting the conservative politics of the day as she saw one failed idea after another forwarded by those who claimed to know what was best for Albany residents but always seemed to think in terms of dollars instead of our greater welfare.

I remember riding BART on the first day it opened and coming out of the Berkeley tube on our way to Richmond. My mother, literally, broke down in tears as she explained that Albany did not want to raise taxes by $15/year/household in order to continue BART underground. She begged us to “never let people sell your well-being for profits.” I often think about how much better life in Albany would be if BART continued underground all the way to El Cerrito.

I see the waterfront as a similar issue.

I moved back, got married, started a family and recently purchased a house in Albany specifically because we have a great town where people can talk with one another and create community. Yes, we have some of the best schools and safest neighborhoods. This would mean little to many of us if we could not feel good about the town we live in. Simply put, we ‘like’ living here.

I think it was a brilliant decision to “hire a firm that specialized in public engagement work.” I think Fern Tiger Associates did an excellent job. Albany will reap the benefits for years to come. Thank you to all who participated and especially to those who voted to fund this worthy project in community participation.

Voices to Vision – Executive Summary

Voices to Vision – Final Report (Power Point Presentation)

Voices to Vision – Final Report

[View with PicLens] [...]]]> We had a great time at the Albany Streets.

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Along with the fun the City of Albany has planned, [...]]]> On Saturday, October 9th from 11am to 2pm, Dartmouth Street will be closed to traffic from Stannage to Masonic for ALBANY STREETS. I know what you’re thinking: “Do these people EVER stop?” The answer to that, dear friends, is NO, we just PUMP UP THE VOLUME!

Along with the fun the City of Albany has planned, we will be featuring live rhythm and blues from The Lost Band featuring Felton. If you missed our last block party (and the ones previous), then you can’t pass up this chance to get your groove on to some really fabulous music! Bring your bikes/skateboards/whatever else you have around the house that is wheeled to enjoy a street free of cars, at least for the afternoon, and:

• Albany Strollers & Rollers: Fruit smoothies created with bike power, minor bike repair
• 4-Square East Bay – That’s right, game on!
• Hoop dancing class with Marria Grace of Athletic Playground
• Tai Chi demonstration and lesson with City of Albany InstructorStarfire
• Country Line Dancing Lesson with Ron Points
• Street Hockey
• Dodge Ball
• Neighborhood-wide Water Balloon Toss
• Giant Hop Scotch
• DIY Sidewalk Art Gallery
• Wiffle Ball
• Block Party Musical Chairs
• Razor Scooter Races

… or just bring a lawn chair, some snacks, and beverages and just hang out with us for awhile…

Tell your family and friends! The more the merrier!

PS: The block between Cornell and Talbot is puting on a huge Plants vs. Zombies show for Halloween. Please help us paper mache our props and costumes.

Joanna Manqueros approached me a while back about making the Tot Lot look a bit nicer. She was upset that the front area was [...]]]> The City of Albany has asked for a community meeting to talk about the painting of the Tot Lot. This email includes the official letter along with some added history by me =)

Joanna Manqueros approached me a while back about making the Tot Lot look a bit nicer. She was upset that the front area was filled with sand, the fence looked bleak, garbage was strewn about and much of the park had been tagged with spray paint. I volunteered to help dig and water and she set about gathering plants.

Joanna spoke with the owners/managers of Westbrae Nursery, Trader Joe’s, Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and a number of other local establishments about donating plants and supplies for our guerilla gardening project. We started by planting up the front corner and eventually worked our way to all of the earth patches around the park. The Beck-Simon’s have kindly donated their hose and water.

The response has been so good that we are now planting up the public strips in front of any house who requests it. We have modified over a dozen houses and have plenty more scheduled as new plants come in. To date, Westbrea has donated 90% of the plants we have used.

We are so inspired that we are talking about BUFFing up blocks. Albany will remove concrete in the front strip of a house in order to plant trees. Anyone who is interesting doing this can contact Tony Wolcott or speak with Joanna or me.

As we proceeded to beautify the park (without City permission – sorry), we became increasingly upset with the spray paint. A number of nasty words were scrawled on the mail drop box, the steps and the concrete walls of the park. The fence was particularly glaring. Joanna and I decided to paint over the graffiti on the steps with some left over paint. While we were painting, a few children asked if they could help. It dawned on us that we could enlist the energy of the kids and actually paint the side wall with nice designs. We told the kids that if they wanted to paint they should come back that Saturday for a ‘painting party’. Over a dozen children showed up who were supervised by 5 adults.

While we were painting we talked about how great it would be if the designs were be temporary. Every 6 months or so the children who use the park could be given the chance to paint it in order to give them a sense of ownership. We want it to be ‘their park’. And while we originally wanted to just paint the areas with graffiti, the children quickly went ‘outside the lines’ and started on the steps and the fence.

We intentionally left a bit of sand on the steps to give them traction and the children agreed not to paint anything inside the park. Universally, the children who have been part of this process love what they have done. Many have begun to work on the artwork they want to paint at our next session.

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I think that it is great that the City wants to hold a meeting to discuss the Tot Lot. I am willing to help the City in any way that I can to make the park a place where are children can play safely. I encourage everyone who is interested to come to the meeting on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Below is an electronic copy of the letter that was mailed to the folks who live near the park.

Dear Community Members,

City staff was recently made aware that the Dartmouth Tot Lot has been painted. It brought to our attention that there may not be an understanding in the community about how such activity needs to be part of a City process.

Volunteer work to help improve the appearance of city facilities is a wonderful contribution that residents can provide to their community. However, because they are publicly owned, there are steps involved in making such improvements. When staff or residents want to change or improve a park in any way, the typical steps include placing the matter on an agenda at a public meeting to provide a forum for comment.

In addition to community input about appearance of facilities such as the tot lot, there are other regulations and issues that the City needs to consider when improvements are made. For instance, to protect water quality in the bay and comply with storm water regulations, only certain types of paints should be applied for outdoor painting projects. Also, painting steps without the proper paint can lead to a slippery service when wet.

To provide an opportunity for the community to weigh in about the Dartmouth Tot Lot painting, and to consider any follow up action, the Parks & Recreation Commission will discuss the tot lot painting at its meeting of Thursday, October 14, 2010, which begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Albany Community Center/Library, 1249 Marin Avenue. As part of this agenda item, the Commission will discuss the safety concerns mentioned in this letter, whether or not to remove the paint or repaint, as well as the proper procedures for park improvements.

If you are unable to attend the meeting and wish to make a comment, and/or if you have any information that would help us understand the paint materials or other aspects of the project, please contact me at pleach@albanyca.org.

The Park and Recreation Commission looks forward to meeting with you. Sincerely,

Penelope Leach
City of Albany
Recreation & Community Services Director

A bunch of us are going and some of us are planning to camp Saturday night. Please [...]]]> The Full Belly Farm’s 23nd Annual Hoes Down Festival is happening Saturday October 2, 2010. This is an extremely kid-friendly event 1.5 hours north of Albany.

A bunch of us are going and some of us are planning to camp Saturday night. Please join us.

[View with PicLens] [...]]]> BREAST FRIENDS BAR NIGHT
Date: September 15 at 7:00pm
Location: Hotsy Totsy Club

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