Bend's Only Daily Newspaper must be so flush with advertising dollars that it can afford to be really picky about what ads it accepts - at least if they come from the union representing Bend Area Transit bus drivers.
Bratton Day - April 25, the day when appraiser Dana Bratton said the Bend real estate market would start its rebound - has come and gone with no discernible sign of an upswing. But The EYE is prepared to be patient. Meanwhile, "short sales" are becoming epidemic around here - not an encouraging development.
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.
If political contributions are any barometer of how people will vote, Hillary Clinton won't be picking up many votes in Bend.
A presidential debate in little old Bend, Oregon? It could actually happen - although we have to say it's a long shot.
Tomorrow, April 25, marks the day when the Bend real estate market is supposed to pull out of its slump - at least according to the cheerful prediction that appraiser Dana Bratton made publicly two months ago. The EYE can't say we've seen any clear signs of a turnaround so far, but maybe it's too soon to tell.
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.
(Editor's Note: Ron Wilkinson will be taking over from Doug Nelson as superintendent of Bend-LaPine School District in July. This is an edited transcript of a conversation between Wilkinson and Source Weekly Senior Writer H. Bruce Miller.)
The conventional wisdom advises that when a political candidate is trailing, what he should do is go negative against his opponent - and it looks like Jeff Merkley is following that advice.
BendBroadband's plan to offer faster connections but charge heavy users extra inspired the technology site Gizmodo to post an article headlined: "The Future of Broadband: We're Totally Screwed."
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