RE: “City Engineer Resigns Following Internal Investigation into Partnership with Macher Developers”
Great reporting! Thank you. This says it all and confirms my thoughts and comments I have made about our city and developer relationships. They are ruining this town.
—Nicole Perullo via bendsource.com on 12/16
As a CoB employee who understands this issue and the way the city works better than anyone else commenting, this was all handled pretty well. Management received complaints, investigated to determine the real facts and the employee resigned. To say that there’s widespread corruption or that people at a high level aren’t working or aren’t doing their jobs is just false. This was a case of one employee that made some mistakes, had some issues and when those came out, the situation was looked at and the employee is gone. There’s no conspiracy here, just people trying to address the issue and get some accountability, which is what happened.
—John Ronson via bendsource.com on 12/18
‘Amanpour & Company’ and Googly Eyes
“Amanpour and Company,” a BBC Worldwide program (episode #7121 on OPB, Tuesday, Dec. 17), at the end mentioned Bend’s googly eyes with some pictures. Reminds me of Banksy. I think it’s pretty fun and dog knows we need humor these days. I know the city wants ’em to stop, but I think city ought to just let the googly eyes fad wear out. Or take advantage of the free advertising and co-opt it somehow with tourism ads. The sheer mention on “Amanpour and Company” must be worth millions in advertising dollars worldwide. “Bend, Oregon, the fun town!” Hmm, “I’m googly eyed about Bend!” Anyone else have some fun slogans for the tourists? Ok, and locals? Appreciating googly-eyed deer statues in Bend; um, going worldwide. I wish it was my idea, but it’s far better than anything I could come up with.
—Tom D Ford
Affordable Housing Innovation
As of 2023, Bend is facing an estimated shortage of 3,500 to 4,500 housing units, particularly for low- and moderate-income households. But how do we create more affordable housing? Interest rates are high, materials costs are high and labor costs are high. High costs impede development. But what if you already own the land? I recently heard a news report that the federal government has done an assessment to identify federal property that could be used for developing housing. One group of properties that are particularly useful for cities are post offices. Just think how many post offices cities contain! What if those (often) one-story buildings were replaced with three- to four-story buildings that contain apartments on the top and a post office on the bottom. You have just met multiple goals: more housing, keep the post office and avoid urban sprawl. Could the same be done with city property that we already own? Well, the Bend-La Pine School District says, “Yes!” As reported in Central Oregon Daily, the school district has a 2.5-acre triangular parcel of land that is not extremely usable. They are selling this land to Habitat for Humanity to develop affordable housing for district employees. How exciting! I will be walking around Bend wondering what other creative solutions are right in front of my eyes. What one-story buildings, empty lots or underutilized spaces could be converted into multi-unit buildings? Where else could this strategy be utilized? Maybe you are curious too…
—Autumn Marler
We’re Running out of Time
to Shut Down DAPL
With just one month left before Donald Trump returns to the White House, we are running out of time to lock in protections for our climate and communities. One critical action President Biden can take right now is to permanently shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The pipeline is currently operating illegally, even as the ongoing legal battles surrounding it are reaching a critical point. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe continues to fight against corporate and state interference to protect their sacred land and the safety of surrounding communities. In 2020, concerned citizens urged President Biden to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, and he listened. Now, we must continue to press him to take immediate action on DAPL before Trump takes office. The risk of further environmental harm and disruption to Indigenous land is too great to ignore. President Biden must prioritize the permanent shutdown of DAPL in his final days in office. The fight for a cleaner, safer future is in our hands, and we cannot afford to miss this opportunity.
—Linda Hinton
Working Guide and Service Dog Awareness
On the afternoon of Wed., Dec. 18, my dear friend NS, her guide dog W and I were walking along the Old Mill river path together, enjoying our conversation and the beautiful sunny day. We were returning to Miller’s Landing and a gentleman was playing fetch with his dog off leash on the grassy patch by the path. As we approached the duo, my spidey senses spiked and sure enough the dog rushed towards us. Now, imagine for a moment, you can’t see the world around you and, unbeknownst to you, your trusted partner who you 100% rely on to navigate is about to be accosted. So, I step out in front and grabbed the dog by the collar to stop the attack and yelled out to the man to call his dog and put them on a leash because this is a working guide dog team. To our complete shock, the man yelled at us saying that he’s on public property and doesn’t need to have his dog on a leash. No acknowledgement, no ownership of personal responsibility and no apology. Seriously, WTF!? (And yes, dogs in public spaces must be on leash within city limits, subject to a $250 fine.) My friend is not the only person in Bend who relies on a highly trained working service dog to live her best life, just like all of us, here in the awesome high desert. Bend, we absolutely love our dogs, but please, please, please: Be aware that some dogs are working and need to be respected while they’re on the clock. Thank you!
—Timothy Gorbold
Letter of
the Week:
Thanks for sharing your experience, Timothy. Having owned a reactive dog in the past, as well as interacting with others in public, I cannot agree more that dog owners need to take ownership of their pets. As the saying goes: There are no bad dogs, only bad owners. Stop by for your gift card to Palate.
—Chris Young
This article appears in Source Weekly December 26, 2024.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Timothy: The City and the Developers ruining Bend while on the take is directly tied to you off leash dog encounter.
It’s out of control. What is out of control? Entitlement. This town used to be courteous. But with out of control development we have a certain demographic moving here. The are entitled. Rules and courtesy do not apply to them and are only a hinderance in getting what they came here for. It’s a very common occurrence in City parks to run into off leash dogs. When they encounter my on leash dog……trouble ensues. When I get after the offending party……….guess whose problem it is. Mine!!!
Off leash dogs. Off leash children and pubs. Parking. Round a bouts. Trail use. The drive to Bachelor. The grocery store. People are moving here and visiting here and do not give one bit of thought to anyone but themselves and what they are here for.