Letters 8/20-8/26 | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

PROTECTING PEDESTRIANS AND DOGS

As reported in the Bulletin ["Pedestrian sting yields 7 citations" (8/20)], the Bend Police Department has begun its annual operation to educate motorists about properly yielding to pedestrians at crosswalks. May I suggest another "sting" operation to "educate" motorists on the dangers (read: stupidity) of transporting dogs loose in the back of trucks? This is illegal under Oregon Vehicle Code 811.200.

A pedestrian has the mental capacity to evaluate their situation and decide not to step in the way of a moving vehicle. Dogs do not have this capacity. They could jump from the vehicle, or be thrown, involuntarily, due to an action by the driver. Not to mention the distraction it causes for other drivers who must watch in fear as the animal tries to cling to the vehicle in moving traffic. It seems there are plenty of drivers around Central Oregon who could stand to be educated on this seemingly obvious danger.

—Joe Fabietz

REPLY TO COWARDLY LETTER WRITER

I am sorry to bring this fight to the Source, as it originated in the other Bend paper, but I feel like I need to respond publicly.  Due to the fact that they limit published pieces to once every 30 days, I am unable to submit this to them, and can only hope that the person who looked up my address in the phone book and send a very offensive anonymous letter to my home will read this reply.  

Recently, the other paper printed a letter that I wrote to the editor criticizing the anti-Merkley television ads that have shown up in our area, funded by the Koch brothers. I openly supported Sen. Merkley, and suggested that we need to overturn Citizen's United, and return our democracy to people not corporations and the super-rich.  The person who wrote to me vehemently disagreed but did not even have the courage of their convictions enough to sign his or her name to the diatribe. I am confident that the other paper would not have printed this response due to the personal attacks contained in it. While I do not agree with any of the wild claims, I support this person's right to express their opinion. I just am disgusted by the tactic of sending an anonymous letter to my private residence rather than responding publicly in the proper forum.

—Kasia S Wilson

IN REPLY TO "BEST OF CENTRAL OREGON 2014" (8/13)

Thanks again for a great "Best of Bend" issue. While of course I don't agree with every winner of every category, it's good reading and I'm sure a nice financial windfall for the Source. That said, I have to ask—with all the newer great local bands—why Larry and his Flask and Mosley Wotta are still one and two on the list of Best Band? Does this really reflect readers' votes or is some editorializing going on here? If it's the former, the Source needs to do a better job of promoting lesser-known, newer local acts. If it is the latter, the Source should get out of the way and let the readers speak. MoWo and LahF were popular when I first moved to Bend seven years ago. Since then, bands like Patrimony, Voodoo Highway, Boxcar String Band, etc., have emerged. Let's promote them a bit, so in 2025, we aren't voting a gray-haired, balding MoWo Best Band again. 

—Ethan Singer

IN REPLY TO "GOODBYE, LAKE ABERT?" (8/13)

Jim Anderson's article in the August 14 issue of the Source contains incorrect information regarding the drying out of Lake Abert. The article claims that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is the responsible party because it is diverting water from the Chewaucan River to a fish hatchery to raise red-band trout. Does anybody fact check these articles before they are published? The ODFW does not have a hatchery on the Chewaucan River.  Mr. Anderson fails to mention that Lake Abert dried up in the early 1930s as a result of prolonged drought, conditions very similar to what we are experiencing. Water that would reach Lake Abert is withdrawn from the Chewaucan River to irrigate hay fields south of Paisley and maintain a private lake at Rivers End Ranch. I have observed hundreds of thousands of waterbirds resting and feeding at Lake Abert, so the lake's importance to migratory birds is not in question. To imply that ODFW is responsible misses the bigger point of over allocation of water for agriculture and the social responsibility for maintaining minimum stream flows and lake levels, particularly during prolonged droughts.

—Christopher Carey

CENTRAL DISTRICT PLAN OVERLOOKS IMPACTS

I am a property owner along NE 8th Street in Bend in what is commonly known as the Midtown neighborhood. On August 18, I attended a public meeting for the proposed Bend Central District Multimodal Mixed Use Area Plan ("MMA"). I support the goals of the MMA, including increased housing density and a bicycle and pedestrian friendly neighborhood. However, I am concerned that the analysis does not adequately consider traffic and parking impacts.

During the public meeting a retired traffic engineer in the audience made the observation that reducing traffic lanes and speeds south of Franklin along 3rd Street would only serve to further congest traffic in both directions on 3rd Street within the planning area and beyond. I added that increased congestion along 3rd Street is only going to cause drivers to seek alternate routes, the most convenient being the 8th Street corridor between Franklin and Butler Market. While Table 3 in the planning report does not include Level of Service (LOS) information for 8th Street traffic, this information is somewhat buried (if not acknowledged) in Figure 11 of the report—a D and two Fs for the signaled intersections between Greenwood and Revere.

Why doesn't the MMA acknowledge traffic impacts along 8th Street? This planning effort cannot be considered complete until impacts to Midtown have been fully analyzed.

—John Mundy

IN REPLY TO "HOTEL, MOTEL, NEIGHBORHOOD INN" (8/6)

Glad to see this issue gaining traction. I share a surprisingly affordable westside house with three other working young adults—all with jobs that directly support the tourism industry—and have just been given 60 days to vacate by our out-of-state landlord. Whether it will it be turned into a vacation rental, we are not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it on Airbnb.The people who serve the beer and deliver the food and rent the bikes and work the ski lifts need a place to live for the tourism economy to work, but unfortunately the property speculators are too short-sighted to see beyond the allure of easy money with zero responsibility to the neighborhood or community as a whole to grasp that concept. Furthermore, these same landlords-from-afar often forget that they are responsible for the basic upkeep of their own rental properties, yet they routinely stick residents with the bills for plumbing, appliance repair, landscaping, etc.— the type of things which rent is supposed to cover. But I'm not surprised to hear them blame it all on "a bunch of snowboarders". Gotta keep out the riffraff if we're going to completely gentrify this place, eh?

—Nick Adams

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