This election cycle has finally ripped the mask off Albany Strollers and Rollers, revealing their subversive and destructive nature. The name alone should have been a clue: Who is doing the rolling and who is getting rolled over?
I'm as outraged as you are that some would consider them involved community members or advocates for bike-and-pedestrian-friendly development, and I am proud to be one of the first in the community to recognise the danger.
Since both have been endorsed by Commandante Lieber and the Sierra Club, we can only fear they plan to continue down the garden path that has gotten us where we are now: bike-able, walkable, not facing bankruptcy.
It was a combination of multiple questions from readers that, to me, simply asked people to disclose endorsements, affiliations, experience with city bodies, etc.
The part of the question about if the candidates are "answerable to them in any way" seems insulting to the candidates. I'm not aware of A,S & R enforcing party discipline upon its members.
Another endeavor the Albany Rollers & Smokers brag about is that they pushed for a much wider asphalt Ohlone trail under the BART tracks. They successfully diminished the potential expanse of grass for more asphalt! Now there's a real 'Carbon Foot print' issue! What were they thinking? The trail was wide enough. They fail to grasp that to facilitate the 'sharing' of COMMUTER bicycling with: pedestrians, joggers, preschoolers and dogs, is nuts. Bike speeds there need be below 12 MPH! The Ohlone path they 'widened' cannot be used by serious bikers without inviting accidents in which the bikers will be invariably at fault, and present a hazard to those using the area as a park.
And it becomes more complex. There are DIFFERENT branches of the Sierra Club here: some are fine, but the LOCAL one is radical. LaForce & Co. is an example. Little interest in developement OF ANY TYPE. You will find that historically, any phone cell towers have been stymied by Council Members with Sierra Club affiliation. The Sierra Club promises to "SPEND MONEY" on election support literature, etc. for their candidates, BUT there is a reciprocity expectation. I believe there is already two Sierra Club 'blessed' individuals on the Council; just one more makes a iron-clad majority. I also believe, according to the Park Department, you will find LaForce and their Albany Council membership to be responsible for the 'Burrowing Owl' preserve. No zoologist, or 'study' lends support to Burrowing Owl ever nesting in so cool an environment. The food for their young includes lizards and Microtus; this area has precious little of both. But hey: Berkeley got their Soccer Fields in exchange.
Here is photographic proof of "extremely cute" burrowing owls nesting here. http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/02/16/burrowing-owls-and-docents-return-to-berkeley-park/ Could you provide some photo proof that you nest here? GIven your picture, perhaps you and Albany Kids First are standing up for the right of dogs to eat the snowy plover. Albany Kids First is attempting to walk back a mitigation for the Gilman fields. Will Barnes, Thomsen & Abbott treat future mitigations with contempt?
AS&R created a petition (both electronic and paper) to show that this configuration was the preference of users. I personally got all the signatures on the Ohlone Greenway itself and all users (walkers, runners, dog-walkers, wheelchair users, cyclists, stroller pushers) overwhelmingly believed that this configuration would enhance safety. The electronic petition is closed but you and anyone else can read the wide variety of comments from different types of users here http://tinyurl.com/9qwqa2c . If you scroll down the comments, you will see that all types of users voiced support for this configuration and explained why it would make the Ohlone Greenway safer for them and their families. City Staff agreed with our assessment and last month the Traffic & Safety Commission voted unanimously to implement the three-lane configuration.
There are NO abandon ground squirrel burrows at Albany's Burrowing Owl Preserve. There is precious little Mircrous (field mice) activity. There is marked nocturnal skunk activity there, and it sees a marked Horned Owl predation, as they inhabit the Eucalyptus Grove on Albany Hill. The Horned Owls not only keep the Microtus population depleted, but also are nocturnal predictors of Burrowing Owls, as are the skunks and abundent gopher snakes. But as stated above, Burrowing Owls really don't 'burrow.' The occupy the left over burrows of ground squirrels. There is no evidence of Burrowing Owl's taking over abandon sewer pipes. Further, Wu's article implies that the Burrowing Owl (0ne) was in a 'Nature Area'; Berkeley has a 40,000 fenced nature area; but that is NOT the case. The 'photo Op' area is just east of a completey UNIMPROVED area east of the Off-leash dog area. If Berkeley were practical, It would FENCE OFF that area, and turn their fenced area back into a dog park. Note the ephasis on unimporved; not mown, not fertilized... not near predatory zones from neighboring trees (nocturnal owls). While I've observed abundant skunks in the area , they work the 'improved' areas nearer the streets and shoreline.