Local News

Bend's Westside is known for its mature ponderosa pines, quaint mill-era cottages, dirt alleys and boutique shops, and, depending on how a Bend hearings officer rules on a pending application, possibly mega churches. The Church of Latter Day Saints has already staked out its claim on the Westside with its sprawling and largely treeless worship complex on Newport Avenue and Mt. Washington Dr.
Now Westside Church is eyeing a major expansion of its buildings and grounds just a few blocks east of the LDS property.

The Old Mill area’s Mercato is one of several mixed-use projects that has ground to a halt amid the housing and credit crises. Stephen Trono had grand plans for his new project, The Mercato, when he unveiled it back in the heady housing-boom days of mid 2006.

Five buildings soaring as tall as 74 feet, with brick facades and top-of-the-line interiors. A bustling ground-floor mixture of restaurants, bistros, food shops and kitchen stores. Offices on the middle floors for lawyers and architects, engineers and designers. And, capping it all off, a series of top-drawer condos, complete with million-dollar pricetags and sweeping views of the mountains beyond and the Old Mill District below.

That's still the dream, Trono says.

But here in the muddy days of
2008, with the housing market in the tank and the banks running scared
from speculative real estate deals, Trono says his land - the former
site of the Brooks-Scanlon Mill's hulking red crane shed - is likely to
remain just what it is for another year: A flattened field of weedy
gravel, waiting for better days.

Four Peaks Music Festival has already announced its lineup and plans for a bigger and better get-together with overnight camping and two days filled with live music and revelry on private land outside Bend. Early birds can even grab advance tickets for the event on the festival website. The only thing, it seems, missing is a permit from Deschutes County that will allow the event to go forward.
Event organizers had hoped to clear that last hurdle during a hearing Monday before the three-member Deschutes County Commission. The county's own staff was recommending approval of the festival's permit. However, faced with a group of vocal opponents that object to the potential for traffic jams and noisy crowds, the commission decided to hold off at least another week before deciding whether to green light the fledgling festival set for July 25-26.