Throughout much of the day yesterday the sky was spitting out snow, much of it mixed with rain, but up on Mt. Bachelor it was dumping.
Hay farm today, auto mall tomorrowYou can't see Bend's sprawling auto malls and shopping centers, or the rows and rows of cookie cutter homes, from Dave Hanson's hay and cattle ranch south of Redmond, but Hanson, whose family has been farming out here since the 1940s, can feel it - sure enough.
Hanson breeds brood stock cattle which he has shipped to as far away as Japan, but he wonders how long he and other farmers can make a living off the land when cities continue to chew up agricultural land to feed their appetite for new homes, malls and office buildings.
The most surprising thing about this election to The Eye is how blue Deschutes County turned out to be.
Election Day is a strangely stressful time for some yet perhaps a relieving moment for others who would just as soon put their hand in a waffle iron rather than watch another nasty TV attack ad. Depending on your views, tomorrow night is either going to be a time to pour a celebratory glass of champagne or an emotion-numbing goblet of bourbon to prepare you for the next few years of the political landscape.
Isn't it great to live in a state that has vote-by-mail? You have time to read up on the issues and the candidates and give them some careful thought. You can vote from the comfort of your own home, as the cliché goes - a real godsend for elderly folks and the disabled.
Randomly wandering thoughts as we near the conclusion of Campaign 2008:
Obviously Bend can’t expand the UGB fast enought to keep up with this kind of demand.By all accounts, the 16 months it took for the Bend Urban Area Planning Commission to define and approve a new urban growth boundary for the city seemed like a lifetime, but judging by the raucous applause erupting from the more than 50 people sitting in on the October 28 hearing, many local property owners seemed to approve the plan.
Critics however, are questioning whether the proposed boundary map is anything more than a blueprint for sprawl and a giveaway to builders and developers.
The commission voted 5-1 (Commissioner Nathan Hovekamp cast the only "nay" vote and Commissioner Steve Miller did not attend the hearing) in favor of expanding Bend’s UGB by 8,943 gross acres. The majority of new growth would occur on land bordering the city’s western, northern and eastern edges, with a small portion on Bend’s south side.
The Eye doesn't agree with Bulletin Editor John Costa about very many things, but one thing Costa says has always made a lot of sense to us: You can't offer less and charge more and expect to get more customers.
This past week the State of Oregon sent out a health advisory announcing that a former mine and toxic waste disposal site along the Deschutes River near Terrebonne is nothing to worry about. That's news to neighbors who say they have been inundated with what they say are cancer-causing dust clouds. They say the state has downplayed the risks associated with the site even as its owners lay plans to redevelop the former mine as a rural housing subdivision.
The Flashback Cruz has always been one of The Eye's favorite Bend summer events. We're not really a car aficionado, but it's still fun to go down to Drake Park and look over all the polished-to-perfection, tricked-out classic and exotic vehicles.
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