Robin López, John Miki and Nick Pilch are teaming up to continue the fight against climate change, make our streets safer and more inviting for all, and make sure everyone has a place to live in Albany. With your help, we will make our transportation system more equitable, undertake the reforms needed to ensure economic and racial justice, and provide the community services and support Albany needs.
California continues to experience a housing crisis, and Albany Forward is committed to addressing it.
The City Council recently approved the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan, which provides a new framework for development along our city’s busiest roads. This plan promises to revitalize San Pablo Avenue by making it possible to build the housing and retail space we need. Read more about the San Pablo Specific Plan here. Albany Forward supports this plan.
Our Commitment:
As City Council members, we look forward to ensuring the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan is implemented and refined to make our city more sustainable, resilient and inclusive. On Solano, we aim to create a more friendly environment for smart infill development that helps us meet our housing needs and provide a better main street for our residents. Finally, we will craft regulations that allow new homes to be created in Albany while maintaining the character of many of our neighborhoods and abiding by state law.
Transportation
Our streets stitch together our neighborhoods, commercial corridors, schools and parks, and are an important part of our city’s infrastructure on their own. Over the past decade and a half our community has been working to increase the safety and accessibility of our streets so that everyone in our city is able to get around as easily as possible. These improvements have included; first in the nation bus stop parklets on Solano Avenue, intersection redesigns that focus pedestrian safety and visibility, traffic calming measures to slow the speed of motorists in our residential areas, increased accessibility on the Ohlone Greenway to ensure it is a viable option for all mobility levels, and a separated bike path along Buchanan Street to connect the waterfront to the heart Albany.
Our Commitment:
As City Council members,we are committed to providing Albany more choices in mobility, in particular focusing on the need for electric vehicle charging stations along our corridors and increasing resiliency and safety of our transportation networks. We also want to build on the improvements already made by focusing on developing more traffic calming measures in residential areas, increasing street tree canopies, improving lighting on our streets, particularly at major intersections, and ensuring that everywhere in our city is accessible and safe for those walking, pushing a stroller, biking, or in a wheelchair.
Climate Change
We are in a global climate crisis, and Albany is no exception to the consequences. Albany has the power and opportunity to position itself as both a regional and state leader in climate policy and climate equity. The city of Albany has already established its strategic vision for Climate Action & Adaptation Plan, which can be found here. Albany’s recent pioneering efforts like the User Utility Tax (UUT) reform, which created funds for climate action programs, are initiatives that Albany Forward can get behind.
Our Commitment:
If elected to city council, we vow to ensure the ecological integrity of Albany, and push towards reducing the city’s carbon footprint. Additionally, we plan to be responsible land stewards of the waterfront and precious green spaces like Albany Hill. We commit to be mindful in acknowledging the legacy of the original land Indigenous stewards, whose descendants still interface and advocate for the protection of such spaces today.
Public safety is undeniably paramount for a community to move forward and build trust among each other. Public safety though, also entails a respectful dose of public transparency and accountability. The City of Albany is set to initiate our Policing Commission, with the intention of also increasing better community engagement. No city or municipality is immune to moments of enduring lessons learned - including Albany. We have an opportunity to lead the way in our county and greater region, to showcase what true community engagement and dialogue can look like with respect to public safety.
Our Commitment:
We commit to fostering accountability, transparency, and effective dialogue among community leaders, our neighbors, and public safety officials. Furthermore, we commit to nominating community members to serve on the Policing Commission who represent diverse spaces and experiences, to ensure such critically needed perspective is not excluded from the decision-making table when it concerns the commission making recommendations to the council.
Albany Forward Candidates will work intentionally and fruitfully with the School Board, and ensure the youth in Albany are afforded every chance possible to be empowered. We strive to actualize their potential and listen to the needs of such community members who represent a significant portion of the city’s population, and represent the future of Albany’s direction.
Our Commitment:
We commit to invest in youth, and interface with all appropriate stakeholders to catalyze change that is socially and culturally responsive to the needs of our youth.