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Health & Fitness

Albany-On-The-Bay: Let's Go West!

A simple land-swap can correct one of California's great historic land-use errors.

In the American tradition of giving wealthy corporations subsidies to do what they want to do anyway, Congress and the states gave huge land grants to the railroads for coming to California.

In Albany, the legacy is that we live inland while our lovely shoreline is taken up by rail lines and the freeways that followed them, light industry being displaced by discount retail, a racetrack... and the remains of a dump.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's interest in an Albany location gives us the opportunity to think big and correct history: Let's move central Albany west!

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Everything east of San Pablo Avenue, from Thousand Oaks to Hopkins/Gilman will be moved - requiring very little new fill if we relocate Route 80 as shown, dividing the new racetrack location from the labs. At the Arlington Circle, 80 will have an entrance for the Berkeley hills and then turn south, resurrecting the '70s-era plan for a greater Grove Street Freeway.

The new community of Albany-On-The-Bay will be as desirable as Tiburon or Belvedere. The only problem I forsee is Albany's lost revenue from speeding tickets on Marin and Buchanan.

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