They are the WORST. Set in their ways - they literally say 'this is the way we always do things'…read morethey have no focus on cost, customer or common sense at all. We built an in law unit and despite Gavin Newsom saying he had removed obstacles that was not the case with us AT ALL. The folks we worked with at CC building were with were rude and just kept citing history as opposed to doing the right thing. We had to remove a blower from our oven hood - the hood was manufactured in CA as was the 'blower' and it was title 24 approved but was not in the HVI or AHAM databases so we had to spend a lot of money and time removing a more efficient hood blower that was manufactured for the hood with a less efficient blower - zero common sense and this is what our tax payer $'s go to. Then on our sewer line they said there was a root - the root was from a 2 ft lavender plant - we said we would pull it and the Contra costa sewer folks said 'too late' we already made our decision so we had to spend 5k++ and a lot of time to move our fence so they could trench and they killed the lavender anyway - Contra Costa license folks are made up of people who love power and love saying no - no wonder why CA can't build affordable housing - it is due to complete incompetency! Getting our in law unit approved for building and to live in it took almost a year. - building it took six months!

Shout out to the friendly and helpful people here! Especially the ladies!…read more Walking in you state why you are there and are given a form to fill out about your inquiry. Then very quickly I was called and brought to a desk where she checked my plans and the status of our permits. I was out of my comfort zone as I am just learning about this process. I felt so much better when I left about everything and what she couldn't answer at that moment she will look into and call by the end of the day! I immediately called my husband to tell him how pleased I was with the friendly service I experienced! Go CoCo County! You have some awesome employees!

Yup. I got a ticket for running a red on my cute little vintage '78 Schwinn cruiser. Sigh. As…read moreembarrassing as that is, I decided that I didn't want to pay the $200 ticket. I pled no contest to get it reduced down to $115 and decided to volunteer for 12 hours at $10/hour instead of giving the city my money. Turns out that I had already filled out a volunteer application for the SFSPCA back in October and was too lazy to turn it in. Well, Project 20 gave me the best kick in the butt to get that rolling again. I went down to the office, where I was promptly put in the system. I paid a $20 admin fee (this increases the more hours you have to volunteer) and was asked to pick a non-profit to volunteer at. Picked SFSPCA, spent 12 hours doing laundry and took a training class so I could start helping out with the doggies :) All in all a good experience!

I completed over 240 hours of community service that was transferred up from Santa Clara Co. from…read moreAugust to October of '09. Most of the people there were paying off parking tickets therefore they only had one or two days to complete. They would come in, put on the vest, pretend to sweep, hide in a bathroom for awhile, and then spend most of the time on their iphone. It still boggles my mind that these people who are supposedly too poor to pay a sixty dollar ticket have the latest 3gs. Whatevs nobody said america had its priorities straight. My first few days were TERRIBLE mostly because of a dick DPW supervisor that smelled the fear radiating from my upper middle class caucasian lookin' self. The crews started being nicer to me when they saw that I was actually working my ass off and I started speaking spanish to them. If you can translate instructions to Juan and Maria (relax i'm hella hispanic) then you're golden. My debt to society is paid off now but the memories remain (along with all those gardening gloves i stole). I'm serious... going from being an overpaid, work from home freelancer to manual labor in Hunter's Point with Roslyn and Mr. Ha handing me litter pickers and orange vests! And I had fun! The most important thing is to know whom to go with!!! Some of the DPW supervisors really are assholes with a vendetta and will work you "like slaves on a plantation"*. Go with Mr. Ha, go with Roslyn, go with Francisco, go with Sylvia. And most importantly, yeah you're just there for a day and I'm sure you think you're better than some city employee that picks up trash or whatever... but you're not. Treat them with respect and stop acting like you're too good to sweat. *dpw worker's words. not mine. P.S. --- that iphone might come in handy when you're not being asked to work. there is a lot of sitting around and waiting so bring a book or some music or some knitting to prevent insanity.

Albany City Hall was located about two blocks from my apartment when I lived in Albany (2016-2019)…read more I walked past it going to the YMCA to work out, drove past it many times on my way to/from work and school, and police cars would commonly drive down our street. It provided a feeling of safety to live near the city hall and police station. My parents called the police on me one time when I was borderline suicidal. They tracked me down to the YMCA and made me come out and talk to them and the police force psychologists. Not too happy to have them disturbing my workout at the time, but I am alive and their making me talk to them helped me get out of a negative space. So I thank them for that and being kind to me even when I was a bit ornery in the moment. You could also come here and vote on Election Day. I came with one of my friends/flat mates for the 2018 elections. He had decided to vote with the ballot at the voting station, I came to drop off the ballot I had received in the mail. The drop-box for the ballot was easy to find and well displayed. Voting stations/booths and the room they were located in were well marked. The line was short and voting went quickly for him as well. An all around enjoyable experience.

This is a review of Albany, California and how poorly it is managed by city officials. I've been…read morehere since Clinton was president so I can say that things in Albany has certainly gone downhill for some time. For a one square mile town squeezed between the Bay & the regional park, it isn't much of a town. I've talked to long time SF Bay residents who drive by Albany on the freeway, and don't even notice it. This very small town for decades hasn't changed much, and the houses are still embarrassingly tiny & very old. While SF has changed their skyline, Albany stubbornly doesn't add more housing or jobs. It isn't instantly obvious to new people but Albany caters exclusively to one particular generation: the (NIMBY) Baby Boomers. This Boomer-centric town is stuck in a rut, with only liquor stores on every block, pharmacies wherever you look, and more pet shops than fast food. It's like the city officials just don't care about anyone else, and assume Boomers are the only people here. The roadways are getting worse (especially near schools), I think Solano Ave hasn't been totally redone in decades, relying on just patch ups of potholes. Most of the main roads are uneven & takes forever to get repaired. After the 2020-21 Covid19 Lockdown, this small town lost the bowling alley, Subway, Goodwill, and 3 of the 4 corners of the San Pablo Ave & Solano Ave intersection has lost businesses. The housing market is affected by such eyesores of too many empty commercial properties! What are the Albany city council members & mayor doing for the next generations in affordable housing and bringing jobs? Or are they content with leaving this town worse than they found it with a gaping economic crater & lots of crime? These people should be fired. If they can't manage a 1 square mile town then they can't manage anything at all! Albany looks like a ghost town and desperately needs a makeover!

This location is not closed. I just called them a few days ago. Perhaps they have a new telephone…read morenumber. I called (510) 615-5566 and received prompt assistance. A new neighbor moved in a left a refrigerator, bathroom sink, mattresses, and assorted junk in front of their house. I was not just concerned about the blight, but a refrigerator is unsafe for small children. They could get trapped or injured playing near it. My neighbor talked with the new owner who told her to "fu*k off!" I decided to contact the city. There's a 311 website to report illegal dumping. I instead looked up the phone number and called. A kind woman took the information down. She advised me the call was going to be recorded. The next afternoon, the junk has been removed. I don't know if the city picked it up or told the neighbor he was going to be charged with illegal dumping and endangerment. Nice when your tax dollars work efficiently!

public works in oaktown closed? that explains why even…read morethough they answered the phone, no one has fixed the outed lamp i reported almost a month ago.