Letters to the Editor 12/12/2024

“Wildflower Wednesday: Buckwheat in the Three Sisters Wilderness over the Summer.” Thank you so much @vitalityinfocus for tagging us in this beautiful photo of wildflowers with South Sister in the background taken back in August. Don’t forget to share your photos with us and tag @sourceweekly for a chance to be featured as Instagram of the week and in print as our Lightmeter. Credit: @vitalityinfocus IG

Connectivity, Infrastructure and the Hawthorne Bridge

I appreciated the report you gave regarding the major bridge that the city has approved and working on to connect the downtown area and the now-newly designated Midtown. This is a lot of money to spend on something that is not going to draw a lot of people, and why do we need to make this connection? Downtown is really geared for tourists, not so much for the average person who lives in Bend. We also already have two bike/pedestrian walkways to get to downtown. Granted they could use some work and be cleaned up, it would be at a far less cost than this bridge. On top of this is the development that is being planned is not going to help anyone except those with money and push others away. Oh and by the way, it is smack dab in the most poorest area with unfortunately the houseless hanging out getting services which they deserve, but how is that going to look for this “new improved” area? And this “new improved area” will most likely push many folks out as we will once again see rents go up and expensive businesses go in.

That being said… what is amiss here is the promise for a bridge over the railroad track at Reed Market and 15th. Somehow that got lost in the plans as I found out when I enquired to the planning department… how did that happen? You want to talk about connectivity… if you are on Reed Market heading east or west, once the train comes at no specific time of the day, you are stuck between 20 minutes or up to 40 minutes. This has happened to me so many times and missing important appointments. If you travel Reed Market, you soon realize that depending on where you are stuck in traffic, you have no options, there are no shortcuts… you are stuck. People get frustrated and behave badly and do stupid stuff. This was a promise when we voted for transportation money to assist with issues in Bend… it has been lost.

I would like the city to stop going forward with this bridge effort and put those funds to other areas, which really need this more than just pedestrians… yep we want to make it easier for people to walk and bike but you are missing the boat with any of our east/west corridors not being able to accommodate traffic.

—Mary Fleischmann

Mt. Bachelor

I read your article in the Sunriver Scene about Mt. Bachelor. You skipped an important development in the history of Mt. Bachelor. It was a community ski area. However, Bill Healy not only signed up a lot of small shareholders, he got a few investors with substantial wealth. After a while the wealthy investors who controlled the board engineered a reverse stock split and took out the little shareholders. Bill Healy was gone and there was no one the big shareholders could agree upon to run the operation so they sold out.

—Harvey C. Barragar

RE: When Proposing Ideas that Change City Processes, Involving Those Most Affected is Key, Opinion, 12/5

Thanks for the opinion piece about involving those most affected by closing some streets in downtown Bend. In addition to including those whose businesses will bear the largest impact of any such change, it would be important to gain a larger perspective. Contact other cities that have tried this. Eugene did so in the 1970s, and it did not go according to plan. It was a disaster. At the time, it seemed like a great idea to me. As for attracting more tourists, well…

—Robert Currie

Vetting Prospective Elected Officials

I’ve thought about this for quite some time, and I think it’s important and time that we as citizens and voters conduct a thorough vetting of our prospective elected officials. Consider this, background checks are conducted on citizens prior to being hired at establishments such as Fred Meyers, Macy’s, Kohl’s, bus drivers and warehouse workers. This is not the case for prospective elected officials, and I believe it should, and I also believe most citizens would agree.

Imagine at some point after being elected an official is involved in some scandalous/criminal activity while in office. During the investigation, it is discovered that this elected official committed a major crime in Chicago, Los Angeles or some other city or state. This usually ends up being a liability for taxpayers and an embarrassment to say the least. We have already had elected officials who have exhibited shady behavior, and therefore vetting prospective elected officials should be a mandatory requirement. This is how you prevent corruption in government because if it’s predictable, it’s preventable.

—C.B. Evelyn

Letter of
the Week:

C.B., we’re all for more government transparency and accountability. Thanks for your thoughts — come grab your gift card to Palate.

—Chris Young

This article appears in Source Weekly December 12, 2024.