Revitalize downtown – 5/1
While there has been an ongoing effort to improve bike and pedestrian experiences throughout Bend, COVID-19 presents an even stronger case for devoting more space to bikes and people, and less to cars. Bond and Wall should have walkways expanded and streets shrunk to angle parking on one side only. Replace the lost parking with new nearby parking structures. Of course, the bold action would be to make the whole area between Newport and Franklin pedestrian only. Many cities are taking bold actions and becoming much more livable. We can too!
For example:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/covid-19-cities-design-physical-distancing-1.5550401
-Mathieu Federspiel, Powell Butte
Central Oregon Needs Nik Heuertz 4/28
Nik Heuertz is running as a Democrat to represent Oregon’s second district in the US House of Representatives.
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the inequities in our current systems. If it does nothing else, this time of health, economic and societal crisis is showing that we need to invest in our people, rather than hand over trillions to the richest corporations the world has seen. That we need to invest in our people, health and infrastructure is the overwhelming theme of Nik’s candidacy.
We need to invest in our health. A cornerstone issue that Nik is fighting for is to create a single payer health care system (commonly called Medicare-for-All). As millions more Americans find themselves unemployed each week, the foolishness of tying our health to our employment has hopefully become obvious. A single-payer system would bring a system wide savings and provide health security to us all.
We need to invest in our homes. Nik is supporting the Green New Deal, a framework to bring widespread investment in renewable energy, sustainable jobs, and a planet that can continue to support human life.
We need to invest in our education. Nik is advocating for publicly funded state colleges and trade schools.
It is past time for We the People to take the reins of our democracy and create a government that will work for all of us. Nik is here to fight for us.
-Jay Girard, RN-Emergency, Bend
Also see Saturday’s Guest Opinion on the connection between Strokes and COVID-19, by Carol Stiles of Stroke Awareness Oregon.
This article appears in Mar 25 – May 20, 2020.
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Regarding the suggestions presented for revitalizing downtown Bend, the options proposed would make the area inhospitable and non-navigable for those among us (myself included) for whom mobility is an issue. Further, restricting parking by reducing its availability, no matter how many “nearby” parking structures you provide, does nothing more than make it even more difficult to get anywhere downtown. Please consider the impact on everyone, not just the able-bodied.
I wonder how wider walks would make the downtown inhospitable for those with mobility issues? Of the street parking that remains, more could be made handicapped only. I see no problem accommodating the issues Ms. Ekker raised.
Regarding the Heuertz campaign platform, I’d like to point out that none of these ideas are long term sustainable if we don’t address the overpopulation issues of our planet first. Healthcare and education for all are absolute minimum musts I agree, but if we are to survive as a species, just going green will not be enough. We need to stop ignoring how serious overpopulation is, begin to practice strenuous birth control around the world, stop “saving lives” (there’s absolutely no shortage of humans at this point) and we absolutely MUST stop consuming excessively as well. The earth cannot comfortably support more than 4 bil humans. We are nearly double that. We will begin to suffer the consequences of ignoring this in as little as 10 years if we don’t act now.
You go first Linda!!!
One less human to worry about.
I didn’t think so….
Drop microphone!!!