A fire destroyed a home on Bend’s Westside Wednesday morning, and it took nine minutes for the fire trucks to arrive after the first 911 call came in.
Why? Because all the available firefighters were tied up handling a couple of other emergencies. Fire Chief Larry Huhn said his department is short on staff because it “hasn’t hired more firefighters to keep up with the growth in Bend,” according to the Bulletin story Thursday.
So the city isn’t able to adequately protect the area it already has, but it’s fighting the state tooth and nail to bring 9,000 more acres within the Urban Growth Boundary and open them up to development.
Brilliant, simply brilliant.
***
Speaking of city services: According to a survey out this week, most Bend residents are happy with their city fire and police departments, but – surprise, surprise! – they’re not willing to pay more taxes to support them.
The poll of 400 Bend residents found that a scant majority – 51% – said they definitely wouldn’t pay more taxes to keep police and fire services at present levels. The city paid $13,000 for the survey to help it decide whether to go ahead with an election to increase Bend’s tax base – presently a meager $2.80 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, the lowest for Oregon cities of comparable size.
It’s the same story in Bend as in other cities and states and at the federal level: People want government to do things for them, but they don’t want to pay for it.
Where’s the money supposed to come from? From the city’s fairy godmother, I guess.
***
The front page of Thursday’s Business section had a headline I never expected to see in The Bulletin: “Preparing for the inevitable bursting bubble.”
True, it wasn’t a locally written story (it came from the New York Times service) and it didn’t deal specifically with Bend’s real estate bubble – but it did acknowledge that (a) bubbles exist and (b) they inevitably burst. That’s progress, I guess.
***
As of Monday, KOHD News in Bend will no longer exist. The station is pulling the plug on local newscasts because of sagging ratings and ad revenue. Three reporters will remain in Bend – at least for now – to do short segments that will be folded into the main newscast out of the ABC affiliate in Eugene.
While I haven’t been a faithful watcher of KOHD News (or KTVZ either) I’m sorry to see it go. An area as big as Central Oregon can’t be adequately served by two local newscasts, much less by only one.
This article appears in Mar 4-10, 2010.
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In case you havent noticed we are in a recession,besides we are already taxed to death.Nobody is keeping you from paying more taxes so go ahead.I,personally would rather keep what little money i have to take care of my famoly,not to give government parasites a pay raise.
No, we don’t think the money will come from fairy godmothers. It appears to many of us in the general public that it’s a question of priorities in spending for our government. People are feeling squeezed to continuously pay more for food, for gas, for heat, for power, and for taxes for our government to spend frivolously in some areas. I am not suggesting that the government is always spending frivolously but seriously, in the private sector we have cut back and everyone is doing more and working harder, however, the government is doing all these cutesy mailers like “How are we doing?”, or videos of Inside Bend, or Vision 2020, blah, blah, blah (and I’m not sure if I have those names right, so I apologize in advance if they are not). I just want government to provide the basics of what they are supposed to do–police, fire, planning, building code and enforcement, etc. During the big building era a couple years back, an architect friend of mine noted that the only people who were building large offices were GOVERNMENT, not the private sector. We in the private sector were cost conscious, and building smaller offices. We just want the government to prioritize their spending and cut back to necessities. It’s what the rest of us are doing. Is that too much too ask?
bruno…. wake up and smell the coffee my friend. KOHD is not supported by taxes…. duh. Sounds like you might be friends with Sarah. OH, and family is spelled…. family
I agree with you on the UGB. Bend is big enough already. Growth shouldn’t be the priority. It’s not even realistic. The area is already big enough, making Bend bigger, even were it realistic would only make it worse. Maybe Bend should look at Ashland for a model.
Why doesn’t bend just do what the state of Oregon did? Raise taxes on corporations and on individuals who make lot of money? Tax THEM unfairly, not us. What a great idea. Force all the money OUT of the state, just like California did when Davis was governor. Eventually we will have to either pay more, or accept less. I’ll put out my own fires if I can, sleep with and carry a gun to protect myself as is my right, excersize and eat well so hopefully I won’t need too much health care. Let’s practice RESPONSIBILITY not DEPENDENDENCE.
if you can’t see it at the end of your nose Bruce your blind! 13k for a survey? no wonder folks don’t want to pay more taxes! that was a waste of money! by my understanding the folks are paying the same property taxes on there places, so the money hasn’t been less that they are getting. so why are they running short? and the last time i looked there are less people here now to protect, so why would they feel short handed now. and i think because you are so stuck on BUBBLES you should start watching Lawrence Welk, that might calm your nerves a little…..
If your looking for a fairy godmutha there’s bound to be one for hire in Salem as they seem to cutting a fat hog filling PERS/benefit coffers(for votes), funding green(the new red) energy projects to scratch the surface.
Maybe the scant majority of 51% (those ingrates!) would be more heartened to support local issues if they had jobs which our corrupt and insane state legislators are so hell-bent on destroying. The private sector is being hit on multiple fronts that will not improve until Oregon’s experiment with big govt ends
Nursey,so I mistyped,in no way does that disminish my argument.You cant respond with a legitimate argument so you resort to a personal attack.As far as Sarah,I’m not a big fan of her’s but I do find her simple homey charm rather appealing.
I think the whole country would be better off without comments from the “Nurseys” out there. Bravo Bruno. Ad Hominem is a common error in logic. Sarah? Perhaps some research into her record in Alaska. How she cleaned out the corrupt left wing boys club that was destroying Alaska. How many of those she ousted from office went to prison? Oh we didn’t hear about that in the lower 48’s media.
“left wing boys club that was destroying Alaska” – LMAO This is the best website! These threads come in from another universe and just land here for all to read. I’m surprised Wired Magazine hasn’t done a feature on it.
“How she cleaned out the corrupt left wing boys club that was destroying Alaska. How many of those she ousted from office went to prison?”
Okay, I’ll bite — how many? And provide names, please.
It also seems rather odd that a “corrupt left wing boys club” was destroying Alaska, considering that it’s one of the most staunchly Republican states in the country.
As alway’s the discussion turn’s into a left/right faceoff.That’s the way the elite like it.The left wants bigger government and the right support more war’sBoth raise the national debt and make the federal reserve bank cartel more money.People have been brainwashed by school’s and the media,with filtered history and new’s.google trilateral commision,council on foriegn relations,jeckel island.And watch this informative video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AICGUyoISX0
Still waiting for the names of those corrupt left-wing Alaskan politicians that Sarah ousted from office and sent to jail …
… waiting, waiting …
(sound of crickets chirping)
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I have a real life and don’t have endless hours to spend on my duff in from of this computor. Thank you Bruce, for helping me make my point. If a person puts forth nonsense they should be called on it. Lets remember it works both ways! Touche
“I have a real life and don’t have endless hours to spend on my duff in from of this computor.”
Oh hell, if the information existed you should have been able to Google it in about 10 minutes.
Bottom line: You were peddling BS and I called you on it. As I intend to do anytime I think you or anybody else is trying to peddle BS here.
Sarah,was there when both party’s got cleaned up.link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_political_corruption_probe
“I’ll put out my own fires if I can”
I lived in a mountain town of 5000 for twenty years that had a hybrid fire department that included a core of paid firefighters–mostly EMTs for emergency response–and volunteer firefighters with training that were paged when needed. The locals had a motto: Our fire department hasn’t lost a foundation yet.
It wasn’t because they didn’t try and sometimes succeed–but being paged, driving to the station, and then responding to the call made last week’s 9 minute response to the house fire look near instantaneous. Government IS needed for the common good and welfare.
And if there was a list of left-wing, Alaskan criminals that Palin sent packing, it would have been posted by those ‘studly1eh’ confederates who do have time to sit at the computer all day and post.
Alaska remains one of the top two or three states that gets Federal Tax Dollars and still can’t budget its spending. It has the highest gasoline and fuel prices in the country even though it is one of the largest oil producers. It taxes the oil producers in Alaska so it can send out an annual government check to its citizens (sounds like a welfare check to me) the cost of which is paid for by consumers in the other states when they buy petroleum products. And as far as ‘left-wing’ corruption, Ted Stevens was a Republican, and even though his conviction was overturned, no one can forget the ‘Bridge to No Where’ and the rest of the pork he brought home to Alaska. (Google ‘Ted Stevens Corruption’…only takes a second and yields 145,000 hits.) The state’s Republican and Democratic politicos both enjoy their success and excess to the state’s overwhelming governmental employment sector that exceeds all other sectors of the state’s economy. Just as 70% of the Fox viewers believe that WMD’s were found in Iraq, it should be no surprise that Saint Sarah’s record be as distorted as it has become.
You should get your facts straight before you make statements. Nothing about news being folded into main newscasts out of Eugene, in fact, more news updates throughout the day. This lowers the number of employees (due to the economy), yet the station is still broadcasting. It is sad to see a business suffer from the economy, but they will still have more local and factual stories than KTVZ. All local, no fluff.
http://kohd.com/page/164996
mister–
The link you provided details an investigation started in 2004 that netted a number of convictions of Alaskan politicians. Odd, the only convictions appear to be Republicans–and they aren’t exactly the ‘far-left Democratic loonies’ destroying the state. In fact, it looked like the Dems failed to make the corruption muster.
For 30 years the Republicans have controlled the federal seats in Alaska. (A Dem narrowly defeated a convicted Ted Stevens in 2008.)
For 15 years the Republicans have controlled both branches of the state government.
For eight years a Republican has been governor (unless they quit for the good of the people of Alaska).
The investigations by the FEDERAL government started in 2004 resulted in arrests, indictments and convictions, most in 2007.
Palin became Alaska’s governor in December of 2006, and as a state official had no input on the federal investigation and prosecution. Giving her credit for what transpired while she was there is a little like giving her credit for the continued change of the seasons and the daily rising and setting of the sun.
‘Sarah? Perhaps some research into her record in Alaska. How she cleaned out the corrupt left wing boys club that was destroying Alaska. How many of those she ousted from office went to prison? Oh we didn’t hear about that in the lower 48’s media.’
Hey, Studley: What do you know? Seems like the people in Alaska didn’t hear about it either.
i was only saying she was there, and posting that link, to give info on it, i didn;t take a stand either way. i do think that she said she helped in exposing some things about some in her own party that wasn’t right.. if she did good for her!!!
“i was only saying she was there”
So were the moose.
Mister–
“i do think that she said she helped in exposing some things about some in her own party that wasn’t right.. if she did good for her!!!”
well–using that approach:
i do think that:
the Tea Party advocates that think Obama is not a legitimate president because he was born in Africa are correct because they said so.
the Democrats are communists and socialists and evil and out to overthrow the government because Glen Beck said so.
the Jews are the reason our government doesn’t listen and the banks don’t loan money and the media is liberal and left wing and anti-American because Paul R. Mullet, the national director of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations says so.
George Bush was behind the Twin Towers Attack so he could invade Iraq and enrich his buddies cause the ‘Truthers’ said so.
NASA faked the moon landings in a warehouse in…ah, hell, what’s the point!
Get the picture, mister. In the face of the facts you can’t waffle and use the Fox News ‘some people say’ approach to pretend that lies are truths and facts are opinions.
If research is a problem because you can’t seem to find a reliable source for analysis, try http://www.factcheck.org. Now it is a source that is not going to agree with you all of the time and may challenge your world view and point of view ( I know it does mine). You and some other posters seem to have a direct line to god and possess a pope-like sense of infallibility that you don’t merit. Support for your positions does not achieve merit because of the ‘volume’ or crudeness of the attack mode nor the number of people who might mistakenly agree with you.
I know I am mistaken about some things–how is it that you and others are so sure you never are?