RE: Affordable Housing. Take Me Home, 9/7 It’s a complicated issue but let’s also talk about Short Term Rental Permits if you want to discuss affordability. A reason for lack of affordability falls on the city for allowing people to acquire short term rental permits, aka STR’s. It is a big business for Airbnb and […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
For State Senate Seats, Is This the Best Republicans Can Do?
On Sept. 14, Bend’s senator in the Oregon Legislative Assembly filed to run for re-election. As of this writing, the status of Sen. Tim Knopp’s (R-Bend) application is pending and is likely to stay that way. While they currently disagree about the timing of their ineligibility, Knopp and nine others are, by decree of the […]
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Amid Rising Costs of Living, Should We Spread Transportation Fees Around?
The City of Bend is pondering a solution to help pay for the costs of maintaining and fixing roads
In a city where a burger without fries is around $18 and costs seem to be rising for residents every day, it’s tough to go whole-hog on the notion of a transportation fee being tacked on to Bend residents’ water and sewer bills, to the tune of around $180 per year. The City of Bend […]
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Letters to the Editor 09/14/2023
Global Warming From the “Built Environment” After reading an article about Global Warming in “The New York Times,” I thought I would send some figures reported in the article concerning environmental emissions. As Bend is one of the top four fastest-growing cities in the U.S., we are likely one of the top four causes of […]
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Letters to the Editor 09/06/2023
A Tree Removal and Bright Light City? I’m curious, how can the City of Bend think we could even begin to call ourselves a tree city. For at least the last six years, I’ve seen nothing but the clearing of trees by our lovely developers. How have we let this happen? Bend is well on […]
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With Aspergillus Testing in Pot, a Solution in Search of a Problem
For now, testing for Aspergillus is not required
In July, the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon and other individual farmers set out to end a new rule that was causing concern in the industry. An Oregon Health Authority rule that began in March required testing of the marijuana flower for aspergillus, a common fungus — and to either toss that flower out or […]
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Letters to the Editor 08/31/2023
St. Charles What kind of regional medical facility and the only hospital system in our tri-county area rejects taking care of 26,000 of our most at-risk residents? St. Charles recently complained about the extra time it takes to process Medicare Advantage claims and how sometimes these claims are rejected and that some patients have to […]
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On the Anniversary of the Safeway Shooting, a Status Quo in Addressing Gun Safety
When it comes to suicides and homicides, we can look to gun-safety initiatives in other states for statistics about harm reduction
This week, Bendites are marking the one-year anniversary of the day when a gunman entered the east side Safeway and shot two people before shooting himself. Thanks to the quick actions of one of the victims, Donald Surrett, Jr., the body count may have been far less than what it could have been, police said. […]
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We’re Not Doing Enough to Change Our Emissions Habits. It’s All Our Faults.
A recent survey outlines how Oregonians are not opting for bicycle transportation any more than they have in recent years
As we write this, Central Oregon is once again experiencing what is shaping up to be a yearly event: smoke season. A new fire erupted over the weekend near Sisters, blanketing our already smoky region with more unhealthy air. Perhaps it’s a leap in thinking to relate this to a survey released late last week, […]
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Letters to the Editor 08/24/2023
Adair’s Reversal On July 26, it seemed Central Oregon had a big win on its hands as the County Commissioners voted to approve Central Oregon LandWatch’s proposal to limit the kind of luxury destination resort development that has so adversely impacted the region. But on August 9, Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair singlehandedly triggered a […]
