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Politics & Government

This Week: Do it All in Albany and Win!

The city's first Albany Local Week challenges you to meet all your work and play needs within the city limits. Fill out the scorecard (on your honor!) and win a chance to get your name on the "Uber Albany Local Cup."

Are you all about Albany, or looking for a chance to show some local love? You'll get your chance from Sept. 19-25 with the city's first "." 

The week-long campaign, featuring nearly a dozen special events and tons of local deals, is a way to help folks "explore all the wonderful things that happen in Albany," said Chelle Putzer, the city's community services manager, with the Recreation & Community Services Department. 

Putzer said the idea for the event arose about three months ago. 

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"Some of us were thinking that we need to work together to help the businesses in town," she said. "We thought, 'How can we get people to stay in town and shop and do things in Albany? Let's challenge them to do it for a week.'"

The city invites you to participate in special events, and do all your daily errands and recreation within the city, to have a chance to have your name featured on the city's first "Uber Albany Local Cup," a "giant funny trophy" that will be displayed publicly somewhere in the city. 

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The winner may also be crowned publicly at the next scheduled Dinner with Albany event, set to take place in September 2012. (.)

City staffers have created a special scorecard to help you track your local activities. All participants will also win a special gift from the city for turning in their forms. (Filling out the form will be done on the honor system, Putzer added. You can add additional pages as needed if your activities spill past the provided lines.)

Win points for shopping, volunteering and attending special events. Combining these activities gives you a shot at tons of bonus points. (Read the fine print on the scorecard to learn more.)

Activity categories include everything from shopping and medical appointments to simply being a good neighbor. (This last category could include volunteering, giving blood, helping at the Friends of the Library book sale or simply helping your neighbors with any tasks that need doing.)

Special events include a Pizza & Wine block party; Music in the Park; swaps for clothing, veggies and dinners; Bike About Town; a Saturday movie night (E.T.); and a skill-sharing event () on Sunday. .

Spot local businesses offering local deals by looking for the "Yes, we're local!" signs up around town. (This list details all the deals; you may want to print it out as a handy reference guide. Additional businesses with deals may be added to the list on the city website. Businesses that still want to participate can get in touch with Putzer via email at cputzer@albanyca.org.)

Next week, said Putzer, is Albany's "birthday week." (According to the , Albany was incorporated, originally as "Ocean View," on Sept. 22, 1908.)

"We wanted to celebrate Albany," said Putzer, "and this is a great week to do it. We challenge everyone to explore Albany, and to stay here and really discover all the wonderful things that are going on."

Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at emilier@patch.com. 

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