Last Week in Albany: Edible Garden, SF Marathon, Children's Center Fee Hike, Kickball, Notes from the Police Blotter

Well, it's official. Albany Patch is one month old. We're nearing 200 fans on Facebook and seeing more and more comments on stories. We're growing our regular features -- this week we added a weekly photo feature by Neo Serafimidis and had the first installment in Karen Larson's series on education advocacy.

The best news of the week has to have been the $1.7 million grant Albany received, thanks to transportation planner Aleida Andrino-Chavez, to improve the cycling experience around Buchanan Street. Patch will have more about this in the coming week, but Strollers & Rollers organizer Preston Jordon wrote up a fine summary of the grant several days back.

Other interesting announcements included the Fire Department's inventory of $8 bike helmets, available to all Albany residents, and the department's offer to provide and install photoelectric fire alarms for $18. We also saw the first November 2010 City Council candidate file papers; a reminder about National Night Out -- coming Tuesday; and kudos to volunteers at the El Cerrito Relay for Life, which raised .

An announcement about the city's most recent dog resolution inspired many comments, as did the story about last week's auto-bike collision on Solano.

The most popular story on the site for week remained the city's new fire alarm ordinance, though it was knocked down a notch on Saturday by a story on the arrest of a convicted sex offender in mid-July. Police were also busy this past week with a number of burglaries, some of which led to arrests while others were discovered after the deed was done. We also got the details on a carjacking near Garfield and Talbot avenues, carried out by a group of girls who grabbed keys from a woman's hand and drove off in her car.

When I was reporting in Albany over the week, many people told me Peter Goodman's piece on U-turn parking on Solano was their favorite story so far. Albany blogger Nesta Rovina shared her ideas on the dangers of being too reliant on technology. Our video columnist asked locals about their views on the end of public drinking in Albany.

In education, Miriam Walden gave her take on how property taxes, which can be vastly different for business and home owners, affect schools. The Albany Unified School District announced a plan to continue Albany Children's Center services by raising fees; about half the families who used to receive subsidies for care will no longer receive them.

Features included a look at a very cool Native American arts show this weekend at Gathering Tribes; a profile of a local mom who somehow does it all; and groundbreaking on a new edible garden at the Teen Center.

In sports, 57 people from Albany ran in the San Francisco Marathon event last Sunday; we'll have profiles of several of them up later today. We also took two different looks at adult sports. Our nightlife columnist wrote about what it's like on the field for adult kickball enthusiasts (with fantastic photos), and the sports desk contributed an overview on the effort.

In business news, Safeway went before the Planning & Zoning Commission with new designs, and Little Star Pizza had a soft launch on Solano (the business is waiting for its liquor license for the grand opening).

The daily "Who's Who" continued to highlight locals and visitors around town. Here are this week's featured folks:

• Krista Easton
• Andreas Rivera
• Jodie Royston
• Mary D'Elia
• Karen Larson