In last Tuesday’s election, Brady Fuller won the election for Position One on Bend Park and Recreation District (BPRD) with 4,081 votes. That is hardly a big number of votes—actually only four percent of the total number of eligible voters. Yet, Fuller won by a landslide, thumping incumbent Dan Fishkin, who only earned 2,305 votes, […]
Editorial
Posted inOpinion
Public Spaces
Since last year, the Bend-La Pine School District has tried to find someone to purchase Troy Field, a one-acre spread of lawn downtown. Adjacent to McMenamin’s Old St. Francis and caddy-corner from City Hall, the space has long been an ad hoc public space, with pickup soccer and baseball games, and serving as an informal […]
Posted inOpinion
Robbing the Prince to Pay the Pauper
In our recent endorsement interview for Bend Park & Recreation District (BPRD) Board Position 1, we spent a good amount of time discussing “system development charges” (SDCs), a fee that housing developers pay toward Park District (and City) projects. Why so much attention to this topic? Because the City wants BPRD to join in offering […]
Posted inOpinion
A Success Story!
A little more than a year ago, voters approved Measure 9-94, which ratcheted up the transient room tax (TRT) in the City of Bend from 9 to 10.4 percent. A portion of the funds generated from that additional tax on tourists was—and is—directed toward a cultural tourism fund for local cultural organizations to spend on […]
Posted inOpinion
Numbers Don’t Lie
For last week’s Earth Day, we received a press release regarding titled, “America’s 10 most polluting mountain towns.” It is not a list that Bend wants to see itself on, but there it is: seventh worst polluting “mountain town” in America. The report is troubling, and hopefully one that Bendites will fully consider. It came […]
Posted inOpinion
Making Sense
It is almost getting tiring to say, but kudos to Rep. Knute Buehler. And, at some point, an elected official acting on his best judgment and breaking from traditional political party dogma will not be news. But, for the time being, when Democrats and Republicans are expected to follow the party’s playbook for most social […]
Posted inOpinion
Cowboy Up!
Last Thursday morning, Sen. Jeff Merkley dropped by the Source offices—cowboy boots and all. We were impressed. During our endorsement interview last fall, when Sen. Merkley was campaigning for re-election, we were lukewarm about the senator and his knowledge about Bend and what issues are pertinent to the region. At that time, he spoke in […]
Posted inOpinion
Building the Big Picture
At last week’s City Council meeting, the debate over how to manage short-term rentals began to take more focus when City Council voted unanimously to support the first reading of ordinances that include a new short-term rental licensing program and changes to land use code that limit the concentration of what are frequently referred to […]
Posted inOpinion
Putting Money Where It Belongs
A year ago, Congress’ “job approval” rating hit an all-time low, 13 percent. Over the past year, that approval rating has climbed to 23 percent, which yes, is an improvement, but still dismal, and still hamstrung by the constant partisan bickering and stunts like writing letters to Iran’s leaders. But not everything at the U.S. […]
Posted inOpinion
Pipe Dreams
For the past few years, the City of Bend has been trying to push forward a plan to replace the two pipelines that draw water from Bridge Creek and carry it 10 miles to a treatment center before entering into the pipes in town. One of the pipes was installed in the 1920s and the […]