Albany Today

Create Your Own 

By Michael Mejia

Out of the gloom and doom of a $115,000 cut in the Albany Athletics annual budget, the Albany Athletic Boosters delivered the Albany “Save Our Sports” golf tournament on a glorious summer afternoon last Friday. One hundred and sixteen golfers descended upon the Tilden Park golf course in prime weather to ply their skills.  Read the rest of this entry »

MacGregor High School graduate Yesenia Vasquez, center, wins the Albany Police Activities League 2009 college scholarship. With Vasquez is APAL Executive Director Chief Mike McQuiston, left, and APAL Board Member Brad Griffith, right

The Albany Police Activities League has chosen Yesenia Vasquez as their 2009 scholarship winner. Ms. Vasquez graduated from MacGregor High School in June 2009 where she stood out both as a top student and an outstanding contributor to the Albany community, the organization said. She will begin her college career next week at Contra Costa College.

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By Caryl O’Keefe

Albany waterfront visitors, and those who might be visitors if conditions were different, will have a chance soon to offer suggestions concerning dogs on the publicly-owned 88 acres at the waterfront.

The City of Albany’s Waterfront Committee (WC) on July 27 voted to ask City staff to provide a report of conditions and issues related to dogs at the waterfront. This vote followed extensive discussion of a report prepared by committee member Francesco Papalia. Papalia researched waterfront conditions by interviewing park visitors onsite this spring. He concluded that Albany’s waterfront is “a de facto off-leash dog park without any enforcement of any rules.” (read Papalia’s report at These public parklands are contiguous, with few boundary markers, so Papalia’s report encouraged coordinated rules for an ordinance.

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By Barbara Grady

Across California, local public school districts are picking up a job abandoned by the state by passing measures to adequately fund their schools. In ballot measures using words like “emergency” and “education preservation” 44 California school districts asked voters this year and last to approve parcel taxes rather than make students endure crowded classrooms or high school without sports, as the state would have them do.

In Albany on Tuesday night, the board of education voted unanimously to put an emergency parcel tax measure on the November ballot. It would be a five-year tax of $149 per household (or parcel) per year to plug the holes in school funding brought on by the state’s $11 billion cuts to education. One board member was absent but all others voted for the measure. Read the rest of this entry »

The athletes at Albany High School are just not going to let Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators take away their bats and balls, championships and opportunities to compete.

Instead, coaches, athletes and parents have organized “Save our Sports” – a massive fundraising tournament and auction they hope will raise enough money to let AHS continue its 18 interscholastic sports this year despite losing half its sports funding to state budget cuts.

Their “Save Our Sports” fundraiser is a golf tournament, auction and dinner planned for August 21st at the Tilden Park Golf Course and the Emeryville Hilton Garden Inn.

The goal of this event is to raise $50,000 to save “all” sports at Albany High School,” said Stephen Dunkle, coach of the high school swimming team and one of the organizers. Read the rest of this entry »