Letters to the Editor, Week of Jan. 8

Re: Habitat for Humanity Purchases Surplus School District Land (12/24/25)

Kudos to Bend-Redmond Habitat for Humanity for planning 18 townhomes for teachers (maybe). Not sure how much their mortgage payments will be, but sorry to say that it’s not going to move the needle much for affordability for most of the district’s employees. I have another idea — why not just pay teachers and other school district employees a living wage for this area? Every year the district endures and passes on more cuts, more austerity. It’s only been five years since Covid, but we’ve seem to forgotten how much these hard working people meant to us then. Let’s pay a fair wage for what we ask of our teachers and the workers that support them.

—Jeff Cole

Flock Camera Concerns

A lot of Bend residents are just now learning that the City is using or expanding Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), including Flock cameras. This isn’t “just a camera.” ALPR systems create a searchable database of where vehicles have been. Over time, that can turn normal daily life —work, school, medical visits, worship, meetings — into a trackable “pattern of life,” even for people who aren’t suspected of any crime.

I care about public safety. I also care about Bend staying Bend. Once a surveillance system is installed, it rarely shrinks. It expands: more cameras, more features, more data-sharing, more “just in case.” And the public usually finds out later.

We don’t have to guess how this can go. Eugene paused ALPR use due to privacy concerns, and later reporting raised questions about continued tracking after the pause was requested:

If Bend wants public trust, the City should hit pause and do this in the open:

• Hold public hearings before expanding anything.

• Publish plain-language rules that regular people can understand.

• Provide real transparency (a public usage portal, meaningful audit logs, and limits on sharing and historical tracking).

This shouldn’t be a niche tech decision made quietly. It’s a community decision about how we want to live.

—Jonathan Westmoreland

In response to Mr. Neil Ripsch’s letter on Dec 18…

When will bicyclists pay? The City of Bend spends ~ $18-$22 million annually on road maintenance. Is that money for cars or bikes? Even for roads with bike lanes, the vast majority of the pavement is dedicated to cars. Besides taking up less space, bikes are also lighter than cars, so they don’t rip up the roads so quickly. The wear-and-tear that necessitates road maintenance is caused by cars. Put simply, car infrastructure is far more expensive than bike infrastructure. The city of Copenhagen realized this decades ago, choosing bike infrastructure as the cheapest way to move folks around town.

Does this mean bicyclists should pay less than car drivers?

No. Because Mr. Ripsch’s complaint falsely divides our community. We are all Central Oregonians, and we all rely on multiple transportation modes. Every driver becomes a pedestrian the moment they park their car. Rather than dividing us into competing groups, we should seek win-win solutions. For example, we are united by our dislike of traffic congestion. The surest path to reducing traffic jams is by making it easier for some of us to choose a bus or a bike instead of a car. Fewer car drivers mean less traffic for the other car drivers. When we improve transportation options for all users, we all win.

—Hal DeShow

Finding your joy

As many of us do this time of year, I’ve been reflecting on 2025. By any metric available, 2025 was a difficult year. Navigating our daily lives during these trying times, we can lose sight of what brings us joy. For me, and many others, we found our joy in attending live music. And 2025 here in Bend provided me with more joy than I probably deserved.

We are blessed to live in a town with so many talented musicians. We need you now more than ever. The magic and power of live music is undeniable. It matters. It is important. It’s joyful. Check out an open mic. It doesn’t get any more real. It’s an amazing thing to witness.

To all of the local venues that invest their time and money into providing quality shows, thank you. To all of the bartenders and sound technicians who work long hours and late into the evening, thank you. And a special shout-out to the folks that bring us Munch and Music, Roots, Homegrown, Blues Fest, Church of Neil and all of the other events that bring people together. We need to gather. We need to be connected. Live music comes from a place of love. When we share that with others, it’s pure joy.

Bend is a special place and its live music helps to make it so. Join in. Find your joy.
—Mike Covey

Letter of the Week:

Mike, here’s a shout-out to you for positive energy! You can stop by the Source at NW Georgia & Bond for a gift card to Palate coffee. —Managing Editor Nic Moye

This article appears in the Source January 8, 2026.