Opinion
Posted inOpinion

E-Bikes are Coming to Bend Area Trails. It Seemed Only a Matter of Time.

With a new user group comes a new opportunity to support local trail maintenance and education
by The Source Editorial Board

When e-bikes began to enter the mountain bike scene, trail users were concerned. Getting out into the forest in this way was inherently an activity that required committment — and anyway, wouldn’t those fast new bikes ruin the trails, and add more congestion in our already crowded network? Those were just some of the assumptions […]

Posted inOpinion

Creative Options for Reducing Parking, Traffic Welcome

Pray for snow, because the ways to get to the mountain are growing
by The Source Editorial Board

If you recall last year’s snow-riding season, you might remember it as a time of icy roads and traffic headaches. During the pandemic, more people began to recreate in the area west of Bend. The pace continued long after the quarantine period ended. That’s good for people’s well-being, but it’s been not so great for […]

Posted inOpinion

A Gas Tax Repeal Could Be Looming, But Oregonians Will Feel the Effects Right Away

Next year, voters may get a chance to weigh in on funding for ODOT. But the current repeal petition will put the brakes on road maintenance far sooner.
by The Source Editorial Board

From the flurry of activity that has been happening around the proposed gas tax referendum, it’s clear that many Oregonians have strong feelings about the issue of raising fees on car registrations and raising the state gas tax by 6 cents. Partisan historians are calling the effort “unprecedented.” Some are going out of their way […]

Posted inOpinion

Are County Districts a Solution in Search of a Problem?

Before the county commission expands to five, the public may have a chance to weigh in on a five-district map. But are districts really needed?
by The Source Editorial Board

If there’s anything that gets people fired up in politics, it’s the topic of where to draw the lines that separate one voting bloc from another. In Texas right now, it’s a fight that may wind its way to the Supreme Court. In Deschutes County, it’s shaping up to be a bitter battle. For the […]

Posted inOpinion

As the Battles Over Public Funds Commence, We Need an Equitable Process

Local governments are already stepping up to fill gaps created by SNAP, health care cuts. The public should weigh in about where the dollars go.
by The Source Editorial Board

With the end of the federal government shutdown, the roughly 757,000 people in Oregon who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits could breathe a sigh of relief. Food would be on the table as winter sets in. There might even be enough to give thanks at Thanksgiving. But that relief is temporary. The federal government […]

Posted inOpinion

The Redmond Managed Camp Cleared a Funding Hurdle. Can It Clear the Toughest One?

When it comes to helping the unhoused, service providers are a sticking point
by The Source Editorial Board

If you were in Central Oregon before the pandemic, you would have seen a very different landscape as it pertains to the people living unsheltered. People camped in the junipers and overstayed their allotted time on public lands. Tent encampments were still visible. But what did not exist as it does now: The breadth of […]

Posted inOpinion

If Feeding the Hungry Isn’t Big Government’s Role, Show Us Whose Role It Is

As nonprofits struggle to fill the gaps left from federal funding cuts, individuals are supposed to step in. Are you?
by The Source Editorial Board

As we write this, one in eight Americans is living in an existential limbo. Monday was the deadline for the Trump Administration to say whether it would follow the rule of law and comply with a judge’s order to release emergency funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — a lifeline for a vast contingent […]

Posted inOpinion

One Good Turn Deserves Another

One developer helping the homeless shouldn’t get this much attention.
by The Source Editorial Board

It’s not a secret, and it’s nothing new: Central Oregon has too few homes for the people who already live here — not to mention the ones who keep coming — and the housing we do have is expensive. On this page, over the years we’ve advocated for all sorts of solutions: for governments to […]

Posted inOpinion

Supportive Housing is a Lifeline. The Public Deserves Strong Oversight of How It’s Going.

Residents at Bend’s Cleveland Commons facility say drugs and other issues are challenging their ability to stay sober and move forward with their lives
by The Source Editorial Board

A recent investigation published in the Source revealed the complications and conundrums that can come up when trying to offer stability to those for whom instability has been the norm. At the start of this year, the region’s housing authority opened the first supportive housing community east of the Cascades, aimed at providing not just […]

Posted inEditorial

With Health Insurance Costs Set to Rise, Deschutes County Will Remain ‘Poverty with a View’

Health insurance is already expensive. Add it to the list of mounting expenses in one of Oregon’s most unaffordable locales.
by The Source Editorial Board

Amid a government shutdown and growing economic uncertainty, one thing is sure: Health insurance — already expensive — is going to get a lot more spendy in the coming year. Part of that is inflation, but another part of it has to do with the tax credits that have helped keep health insurance relatively affordable […]

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