The City of Albany is working on plans for a complete streets plan for Solano Avenue. 

www.solanocompletestreets.org

 This will affect sidewalks, parking, crossings, and more, and the businesses have an exciting opportunity to work with the City on improvements that could bring more people to the Avenue as well as improving features for the businesses.

But only if the businesses make their voices heard.

The Chamber and SAA are going to be involved and vocal in this project, but they can only do so much. The City needs to hear from business owners and managers about what changes would help their business, and what changes could hurt. Hearing from actual business people on the street carries more weight than just hearing from a Chamber or SAA representative on their own.

A vibrant business district is a quality-of-life issue for the City, so it's in the City's interest to listen to their business community. But we've got to speak up in order for them to hear us.

Make your voice heard by attending a Solano Avenue Complete Streets event, contact Albany Planning and Building Manager, Anne Hersch with your comments (510-528-5765, ahersch@albanyca.org), or submitting a comment on the Solano Complete Streets website.