AOL’s new hyper-local news website, patch.com, has an Albany version and with it an article on the proposed Safeway expansion.  Overall I think the article does a good job of painting the various issues surrounding this project.  It’s worth noting, however, that Allen Cain of the Solano Avenue Assocation continues to make misleading statements regarding support for this project from Solano Avenue businesses:

He also said 250 of the entire association’s members have not expressed any opposition to the plan, although some have shared concerns over Safeway’s “mega store.”

This comes at the end of an article that quotes several Solano Avenue business owners as being strongly opposed to the plan, which  makes you wonder what’s going on.  However, as we discussed below Mr. Cain’s statement is made based on a postcard mailing the avenue association sent out, to which they received only four replies.

For those looking for a summary of the project, Albany Today has a nice piece that provides a good overview.  Here’s the lede:

Safeway Inc. has tentative plans to tear down its Albany store and reconstruct one twice the size with a parking lot underneath the building, according to an application to the Albany Planning and Zoning Commission.

The answer is an unequivocal yes.  The issue of whether Solano Businesses support Safeway’s expansion, however, is less clear.  Allen Cain, executive director of the Solano Avenue Association, wrote a May 26 letter to the Planning Commission stating:

We acknowledge the fact that there are neighbors in the immediate vicinity that have concerns; we have polled the Solano Avenue Association membership (now at almost 250) and as of this writing we are not aware of any opposition [from anyone] to the proposed expansion.

This deliberately misleading statement was designed to give the impression of broad support for the Safeway expansion.  Fortunately  during the June 3 study session it was revealed that only four members responded to the poll.  In fact, the following businesses have written letters to the planning commission opposing the new development in its current form:

• Matsu, 1519 Solano (Betty Yu)
• William Moore DDS, 1396 Solano
• Gathering Tribes, 1412 Solano (Pennie Opal Plant)

The bottom line is that many local businesses understand a design that incorporating inadequate parking, that includes specialty stores designed to cannibalize neighborhood businesses, and that is of a size unfit for a low density neighborhood is not a design that is good for the Cities of Albany or Berkeley.