WeShare

Over the last two weekends I was able to accompany four of my grandchildren to two different West Coast zoos. I know some people believe zoos are morally unacceptable, but I remain unconvinced. Zoos are places that provide education and inspiration that I believe are in the best interests of all of us in the animal kingdom.

The last time I wrote about a trip to the zoo, I described how I essentially dragged my three oldest grandchildren through the park giving more attention to the demands of my schedule than

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The City of Albany’s Budget Committee met for an average of about 3½ hours Monday through Wednesday of this week before approving the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 proposed budget with one $3,500 change. The Budget Committee is composed of the Mayor and Council plus seven appointed members. I think volunteering to serve on a budget committee is second only to planning commission service in terms of selfless sacrifice. The only reason the planning commission ranks ahead of the budget committee is that it has more meetings.

The Budget Committee reviews the City’s annual proposed budget, which this year exceeded 410 pages. Committee

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Last Saturday, my oldest and youngest sons were involved in separate dirt bike accidents that put one in the hospital with a broken hip and arm and left the other with serious ligament damage to his knee. My children are not really children anymore since my youngest son is 28 and the oldest is nearly 36.

The motorcycle accidents occurred the day after I returned from the National Summit on Childhood Obesity where the epidemic of obesity and its accompanying threat to our children

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I have heard cynics say that Mothers’ Day was just an invention of clever businessmen trying to sell more cards and gifts. Wikipedia, the source of all truth and knowledge, tells us that the holiday was created by Anna Jarvis in the early 20th century United States to honor very deserving and often underappreciated people.

My appreciation for mothers and what they do was earned when I was forced to serve as a caregiver to three babies in diapers for nine months, not to mention my

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City managers, or at least this city manager, think(s) a lot about what makes a community a good or bad place to live. Managers are presumably hired to make a positive difference; so it’s natural we that we would be interested in whether the city we serve seems to be pleasant or unpleasant and what makes it so.

I’ve spent the last two weeks visiting a number of cities in Eastern Europe, and I’ve come home with some fresh perspective on Albany’s strengths and weaknesses.

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