I want the people who built this community to get to stay in it.
About one in six Albany residents is 65 or older, roughly 3,000 of our neighbors. They're the ones who passed the school taxes, planted the trees, coached the teams, and made Albany the place the rest of us moved to. What do they get in return? In a well-run city, they get to stay home in the neighborhood they know, near the people who know them, not priced out of Albany or stranded in a house they can't safely leave.
Aging in place often comes down to pretty basic things: sidewalks you can safely walk on, enough time to cross the street, transportation when driving becomes difficult, activities and meals at the Senior Center, and reliable emergency services when you need them.
Albany already does much of this well. The Senior Center on Masonic offers lunches, classes, and connection. The city coordinates home-delivered meals for homebound neighbors and twice-monthly groceries for lower-income seniors through county partnerships, and offers senior transportation for errands and appointments. Voters also renewed a citywide sidewalk repair program in 2024, passing it by more than 70%.
The Golden Gate Fields transition is especially important here because roughly $400,000 a year of the parcel tax that supports our paramedics could disappear. Protecting that service has to be part of the city's financial planning from the beginning. I've laid out more on my Golden Gate Fields page.
I will push for the sidewalk money voters approved to reach the places seniors actually use most, including routes to Solano, the Senior Center, bus stops and the library. I will also make sure the ride and meal programs are well publicized, because a service people haven't heard of doesn't help them.
And I intend to spend time at the Senior Center listening. The people who use these services are the best people to tell us what's working, what's missing and what needs attention.