Albany Today

The Albany YMCA will host a Math Festival Family Night to provide a fun way for children as well as adults to explore the wonderful world of mathematics. The event will be held at 921 Kains Avenue on Friday, February 6th, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. It’s co-sponsored by the California Mathematics Council. All families in Albany are invited to attend. For more information, please call the Albany YCMA at (510) 525-1130.

The City Council of Albany will host a seminar with small business owners to help them deal with the current economic recession. The free event will take place at the Albany Senior Center, Wednesday February 11th, 6 pm to 8 pm. It’s sponsored by the Solano Avenue Association and the Chamber of Commerce. Click here for more information.

Keng Lam, a student at Albany High School, wrote the article below calling for donation from the community to help the school purchase emergency supplies. Lam is also  President of the Red Cross Club at the school.

It was eight o’clock at night. I looked through the emergency classroom bag inventory sheets filled out by the Albany High faculty members. I sighed. None of the sheets showed satisfactory results for the emergency classroom bags. Some bags were missing non-aspirin, while others were missing bandages. None of the emergency classroom bags were ready for disasters. Read the rest of this entry »

A group of Albany dancers will perform a variety of ethnic dances to celebrate the Chinese New Year at the community center Monday, Jan. 26. Most of the performers are amateurs taking dance classes with Ah-lan Min, a former professional dancer in China. Below is a slideshow of photos taken during their rehearsal Sunday. The performance will start at 3:30 pm Monday at the hall of the Albany Community Center. Admission is free to all.

If you can’t make it to tomorrow’s show, you could still see them at another upcoming event: they will perform for the community again on Saturday, Feb. 7, 11:00 am-12:00 noon at an event hosted by the Solano Avenue Association.

A open letter from State Senator Loni Hancock to her 9th district constituents defines the problem plaguing California’s budget-making system, which in turn, is about to devastate our schools and cities. As she points out, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Dear Constituent:

We begin the New Year with the real possibility of the financial collapse of our State government in February. As your State Senator, I want to share with you how I see our precarious situation, and what I believe must happen if we are to salvage the promise of California. Read the rest of this entry »

By Barbara Grady-Ayer

California’s huge budget deficit, the dithering of state legislators whose inaction allowed the deficit to climb, the Governor’s disrespect for laws about funding education, and the deep national recession have come to roost in Albany.

These big problems created by adults will soon be placed at the feet of school children trying to learn to read and do algebra.

The Albany Unified School District needs to cut its budget by 15 percent or about $2.2 million dollars this school year, Albany Superintendent of Schools Marla Stephenson told the board of education Tuesday night. Read the rest of this entry »

The Albany board of education plans to discuss how it might cut school spending in the current academic year when it meets Tuesday night.

Among agenda items listed for the Board of Education’s January 20th meeting is “approve 2008-09 mid-year cuts.” This agenda item is listed for “review and discussion,” signaling that no votes or final decisions will be made. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Readers,

I have been travelling in South Asia since the beginning of the month and am now writing to you from Mumbai, India. Barbara Grady-Ayer, a former staff reporter at Oakland Tribune, is covering news stories in town during my absence.

Barbara has produced excellent works for several news organizations for decades. She is also an Albany resident and a dedicated member in the community — a primary reason why she has joined Albany Today. Read the rest of this entry »

More than a third of Albany’s business tax revenue, or 38 percent, comes from retailers on Eastshore Highway, according to an economic assessment report delivered to the City Council this past week.

Without the retailers on that small stretch of road, particularly the Target Department store, retail sales and sales tax revenues would have slipped 2.7 percent over the past four years. Instead retail sales rose 42 percent, providing a similar boost to sales tax revenues. Read the rest of this entry »

The Albany Unified School District will be holding a meeting  to discuss and receive community input on the upcoming Albany High School Pool Construction Project. The meeting will be held in the Albany High School Little Theatre located at 603 Key Route on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.. Read the rest of this entry »