Want to invoke a string of anguished cries of outrage in Bend? Feel like stripping citizens of their hard-earned birthright to drive and park their cars wherever they want, whenever they want?
Then endeavor to switch some of Bend’s downtown parking spaces to a paid system.
As reported in the Source Weekly last week, a two-year-long parking study conducted for the City of Bend has resulted in the recommendation to switch some of the parking in Mirror Pond Plaza and in other congested areas downtown to a model that involves some paid parking.
The study, conducted with Rick Williams Consulting, found that on average, about 210 cars were being moved from one 2-hour spot to another 2-hour spot every day, ostensibly driven by people who worked downtown. The study also highlighted the notion that “parking management” isn’t all about parking for cars; that seeing fewer car trips into downtown—and in turn, less-congested parking areas—could also be achieved by encouraging active transportation and parking for bikes.
The move to paid parking is one that we support, not least in part because we don’t believe that driving is the only way to access the city’s downtown core. We support the move because we believe that in a city the size of Bend, where one can cycle from the far-west side of town to downtown in fewer than five miles (Phil’s Trailhead to the Tower Theatre is 4.8 miles, to be exact), a lot more people should think twice about driving a large vehicle into the core.
Our city is only 35.9 square miles, even after the expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary, and yet, a pitifully low number of people actively commute to work every day. If dropping off kids at school is your excuse, perhaps consider driving them to school and then biking into downtown. If mobility is an issue, electric assist bikes and trikes can get 30 miles or more on a single charge.
Even those with more significant mobility issues and those living in the outer reaches now have the option of Uber, and of course, taxis and bus service. And just this week, the new summer shuttle service, Ride Bend, launches in central Bend. Meanwhile, the bike sharing service, Zagster, just recently set up a kiosk downtown and at OSU-Cascades. (Still, we do admit the region could stand to have even more bus access and service.)
Whether you’re commuting or you’re headed to downtown for purposes other than work, isn’t it easier to park your bike once, to spare yourself the fuel and parking hassle, and to perhaps get some exercise at the same time?
The point is: parking your vehicle for free in a downtown stall so you can work, shop or eat and drink in the city center isn’t a birthright. It’s a service that’s been provided to you thus far for free, and upon review of the cost, the entity that offers you some of that parking has determined that it’s costing too much. Many other cities have obviously thought the same, because most other cities of Bend’s size already charge for parking.
For those who are continually lamenting the fact that the city is lacking cash and don’t want to pay for something reasonable like a gas tax, this is your fee-based model. It means added revenue at a time when the city is growing and looking at creative solutions to pay for its core services. If you thought that free parking was one of those “core services,” you were wrong.
This article appears in Jun 21-28, 2017.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
I arrive to work downtown between the hours of 10am-2pm and do not leave until the hours of 10pm-midnight. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Bend is not the safe city it was a few years ago. I own a great city bike and have commuted to work and back in the past, but with the way Bend has changed, my family and I do not feel comfortable with me biking home alone past Pinebrook on Brookswood anymore. That being said, I am 100% down for a pay for parking system…the current parking structure obviously isn’t working and I would love to pay to park to make sure that I can get to and from work safely. Also, I feel like this article is a gross oversimplification of the facts.
No way will I bike around town with the system we currently have in Bend. Travel to any European city and ours is pitiful in comparison. Distracted drivers, no courtesy, bike lanes on the edge of the street, no thank you. I’ll keep paying my $20 to park downtown until we can move our office elsewhere.
Wow. This is the most ignorant and self absorbed argument… ever. Must be Bend, Oregon, because few places in America are so self righteous, self-absorbed, and so blatantly ignorant to reality. Welcome to Bend… we don’t want you here! Let’s see, biking is a great option, look at all the alcoholics on the beer bike. Wonderful family environment, right? Or, better yet, WINTER time for people who work year ’round … OR people who live in Redmond??
But, hey, we have uber and buses – as long as you don’t mind taking huge risks and paying more than driving. Besides, where in the sam heck will uber park to drop you off? It is all paid parking! Biking to downtown… awesome. Bet those attorneys, business owners and managers in suits with tons of paperwork will love that. By the way, in case you didn’t know, mobility impaired people aren’t the only ones suffering because … Bend Oregon is REALLY spread out (and taxis can sometimes be more expensive than driving). Birthright? What a stupid thing to say. In snow so deep that the city was buried … driving a vehicle is not a birth rate – it’s a necessity?!? But hey, forget the people, the businesses, the employees, the gas stations, and continue the lie that Bend Oregonians are so amazingly privileged and blessed since parking is free. What do you think City taxes are for? It is not the fault of the people of this town that the city council ignores those of us demanding accountability whilst giving themselves raises, mismanaging money, and not handling the growth well at all (not necessarily those who came in recently, but those who have been there).
Paid parking is a great idea when done right (don’t forget though, that the city council members will continue to get free parking). Bend has had paid parking for a long time. Not every spot is free. What bend hasn’t done is to invest in a parking garage of reasonable size, filling up empty business spaces and utilizing its resources. Downtown will never stop being crowded. But now, we get to pay for it? Don’t forget: the cost of operating a business downtown is already restrictively high and the city has failed to grow the downtown boundaries to open up what should continue to be free parking, so hey, let’s strip those well to do minimum wage workers at the restaurants of their birthright because they have to live in REDMOND because Bend is too expensive). Besides… wouldn’t it make.more sense to raise money by having tourists pay and not the people working to bring YOU, the writer, income for the city to read this magazine!?
Man… i could go on about this. But, why? No one in Bend listens and your roads get worse, your housing declines, your taxes go up because 1/2 of 1/3 of all the people say so and it just keeps burying a town that just ignorantly opened up the doors for developers to build more housing than the city has infrastructure to support. But… who cares about that? As long as you ride a bicycle, drink beer, and are the type of entitled fool who doesn’t care about others… and there are a lot of you out there (like the writer of this article) – it will continue to get worse. i am only sticking around to watch it fail. Someone needs to laugh at you when you cry out, “what happened”, because YOU are entitled, not the people trying to drive to work. Maybe you should walk a mile in the shoes of those of us who live, work, and raise families here and care about this town, about safety, and about being active members of our community. But, forget the parades and events downtown if it’s going to cost … ’cause Bend doesn’t care about bringing its community together.
Again – I’m NOT against paid parking (which, again, we already have). Paid parking will raise very little money and so, it should be focused on tourism. Those of us who live here pay taxes for those roads already. It is so disappointing that this article is in the source. I expect this of the Bulletin… sheesh! No wonder this stupid town gets made fun of nationally… only an ignorant, self-entitled child would say someone uses driving like a birthright because that silly fool can’t learn to walk through the 3 feet deep snow for 20 miles back and forth, every day!!! Worse – this article is anti-Bend because paid parking hurts the businesses and community without even having good parking garages! I guess, the summary of all this is, for those of you unfortunate enough to read this article and be equally inflamed… karma is our only hope!!
So how long till Bend Sells our parking spots to a for profit corporation
Not long ago a similar sized city in California converted to paid and metered parking. The cost was $4.5 million to set up the system and install meters. Further there is a continuing annual maintenance cost of $600,000 per year.
So who will be paying for that here in Bend if we take the same approach?
And how long will be the return on investment?
I’m afraid the naysayers have won this argument. Look around and tell me what city has successfully used parking charges to drive “active” commuting? There is no ROI either as “where is the money” noted. Let’s invest in more secure bike parking and safer commuting options. We need carrots more than sticks to deliver on the editorial objectives here…
I was downtown talking with a business owner and I noticed something: Downtown is beautiful. The restaurant, Noi, or Nor, or whatever, had these really nice tables on the sidewalk, out of peoples’ way, and a nice storefront. When looking out at the street from another store – I thought: what if everyone of these jammed in parking spaces had a parking meter? This would look like garbage. I know my last post was long and am sorry for that, but here’s the REALITY:
1. The City courts will be BACKED UP with a constant barrage of people complaining that they tried to pay the meter in time, they didn’t see it, thought they should be validated, etc. And, what the City thinks it will get in fines will be FAR outweighed by the costs in court.
2. The cost to monitor and maintain these systems will be huge. Right now, it’s hard enough. Meters DON’T make it easier. Period. Just go to a big city and ASK! That means our taxpayer dollars will go UP! (not to mention the cost to constantly maintain parking meters). Of course, if we go with a colored tag in the window system – that will only lead to a cascade of problems I won’t even bother getting into here.
3. The cost of installation is two-fold: 1. Tearing up the sidewalks and all of the lost time, revenue, parking, interference with events, etc. (I think you can see where I’m going with that); and 2. the cost of actually installing the meters themselves. If the City is broke and can’t afford to clear the roads – THEN WHAT justifies wasting our money on parking meters at this moment in time??
4. The apparent “goal” is a failure from the beginning: to convince people to park in spots in accordance with where they’re shopping. People will still jam downtown, spots will still be full – and people will still play musical spots with their cars. It happens in cities everywhere. THAT’S why they have PARKING GARAGES! (
Look – the point is this: Yes, we need more money. Is this the way to do it? Not right now. The City has been piece-mealing out its operations with these little changes for the past 40 years and where has it gotten us? In the hole financially and an entire populous that is apathetic and tired of it. The [expletive] non-genius person that wrote this article in the first place is the EXACT reason that Bend Oregon is suffering. Our beautiful town is being destroyed by cramming in development, it’s few to no tourist resources are being drained out, and the city council is clearly piddle-messing around with outrageous fools in the planning department for housing, development, and city growth that is wasting our time and money. I was a City-Council interim applicant and you know why they didn’t select me? I upset them. When asked what I thought the worst decision the city had made in the past 4 years was, I told them that the road planning, especially all the “round-a-bouts” was being poorly designed for a ‘bend is always going to be a 10,000 person town’, in a city that was growing and needed infrastructure now. I was the idiot. And, I continued to be the idiot. Recently, I submitted a 4 page summary on rental housing that would incentivize low-income housing, increase development, and bring the city over a quarter of a million dollars in additional revenue annually. They said, “thanks,” please watch our city council movies because we’re already working hard”. Aka, “thanks – but go stick it! … We don’t care!”
They shot me down. Why? This article. This is the proof that middle-income level folks who think they’re the ‘wealthy’, are just stubs in a system that needs REAL people who CARE about the community – and NOT themselves. *sigh*. Sorry for going on. I hope this reaches someone – ANYONE out there who will take it to the council. I’ve tried for years. But, standing alone, I’m tired of fighting for a town that just won’t listen … good luck to all. My love and prayers to the REAL people of Bend Oregon who live and work here and call this place, home!
One more small thought – not that I have been pithy by any means already – but this has to do with yellow journalism. I don’t expect the Source to be a magazine of epic scale reporting, but I would expect some small amount of decency in their reporting. Although this is an opinion article, the statement, “Our city is only 35.9 square miles and yet, a pitifully low number of people actively commute to work every day”, is a pathetically unappealing argument. Why? Do YOU know how many people commute every day? In 2014, the city’s population was 84,000+. So, what is “pitifully” low? Is it less than Portland, with a population over 619,000? Does that make it, “pitiful?” And, unless you’ve asked every citizen if they commute – there’s no real number, there. Do you count children riding the school bus, because, that’s a form of commuting?
See, the definition of Yellow Journalism is journalism based on sensationalism and crude exaggeration. Is this the type of information that the City’s basing it’s decisions on? Wouldn’t surprise me. Of course, everyone who comes from OUT of town – which is part of the problem when you live in a very decentralized “Central Oregon”, is part of the reason there are so many vehicles. But, they commute, too. Have you counted those drivers, too? No … no you haven’t. In fact, the reason there is NO statistic in this article is because there is NO statistic. Maybe a census or two of a dozen people … but that’s not representative of 84 THOUSAND plus all the outlaying cities. This article is all about sensationalism and drama. That’s how people create dissension in a community and don’t come together for good solutions.
The City council doesn’t need “creative” ways to increase its revenue to meet the growing population demand. Why? That happens naturally when the population grows. In fact, the cost per person using the same road should drop equally when the population increases. Why? The amount of road repairs, although increasing, do not increase accordingly with the population and thus, standard, basic business accounting 101 says that each person can pay less. So .. what is the problem? Well .. we’re not going to stop driving and you just need to get your head on straight. YOU drive. Whether you drive a car, ride a bus, take uber, or whatever – guaranteed, 100%, YOU are putting wheels on the road – and it’s a FACT – because we live in snow country. Surprise! Economics and statistics don’t require sensationalism – they require logic and good business practices. Salting roads – not trying to dump hugely expensive rock (that does a portion of damage to cars, too) – saves money. Offering a bus system that is not made up of the short bus with a minimal number of stops – saves money. Even a City-sponsored taxi system is better than what we have now.
The city council can stop getting raises – now. The city council can stop paying $200 – $400 per hour for some snow shoveling when there are out-of-town guys who will do the same work for a lot less (in fact, you can RENT a shovel AND a truck for $35 per hour – especially during winter because the rental yards don’t see a lot of construction). So … why is that budget so high? Is it a “birthright” of the city to wast over $365 per hour?? A 5-6 story parking garage over a dead business sitting right next to the library would be expensive – yes! But, cost wise, if built in less than a year, could provide over a thousand parking spaces for businesses and be close enough to downtown Bend to justify parking there. What about the empty lot where the old Bulletin used to be – which has been empty for over a decade? See? I know I’ve been derogatory – but for a reason. Calling people entitled is like the pot calling the kettle black. You feel entitled to your bicycle. We feel entitled to not freeze to death in winter, paying excess taxes for waste, and being treated like hard working citizens.
By the way – who pays for those bike paths you keep using? I don’t see a toll on those. Hmmm…
Opportunity? Maybe we should bring THAT up to the City Council! See? It works both ways…
Across cities in the USA and around the globe, parking is no longer treated as a problem. It is treated as a symptom of the real, underlying problem.The root cause of parking woes is too much use of personal cars and unless we focus on that problem we are never going to improve congestion and never going to address the core characteristic of personal transportation downtown which is that personal cars are used for 5% of the time to get to and around downtown and left inactive for 95% of the time – which is why parking is needed in the first place.
Cars are used to get to-and-from a destination. Once at the destination they are abandoned until the time arrives to leave that location. It’s a question of convenience and cost. Meet the convenience factor and find the acceptable cost of shared transit solutions and the need for parking, parking strategies and a parking manager simply evaporates.
Counter intuitively, the parking ‘problem’ is being solved elsewhere in the USA and across the globe by eliminating parking spaces, outlawing (or pricing prohibitively) on-street parking for all but local residents (and charging them for the privilege), creating car free zones (Bond, Wall and connecting xstreets would be a good start) and subsidizing shared transit solutions.
Instead of investing in parking studies, focus on ways to encourage people to leave their cars at home. Go wild. Make Uber free (or as near as we can afford) within the City (and any other rideshare provider that is already in or can be persuaded to operate in Bend). Our streets would be emptier and safer for alternative users (cycles, pedestrians), need less maintenance and eliminate the need for parking management and enforcement.
Parking is not the problem. It is a symptom of the real problem. Make personal cars a costly indulgence to move to and around downtown and provide the means for widespread adoption of shared transportation options.
Listen, if we lived in Portland, I would agree whole heartedly that too much personal car use is an issue. If we lived in Santa Barbara, I would also agree. Bend does not suffer from heavy car use. 1. Snow country, and 2. Decentralized living. If you can’t understand that as the underlying issue here, then you don’t get it. Drivers are not the problem and you are pointing your gun at the wrong person… and that hurts all of Bend. Accordingly, it is clear you misunderstand because you talk about road usage in an alternative form as its primary use. Fact is, without cars, we wouldn’t even need paved roads. So isolating expensive roads like Bond and Wall for bicyclists is mind-numbingly [expletive]. C’mon, we can do better than this.
There are two kinds of people in Bend. Those who think they are entitled… and those who don’t. The entitled ones want Bend to become a bicycle only town. You don’t ride the bus. You don’t take taxis. You drive gas guzzling suv’s and expensive electric cars that you think save the environment when in fact, they encourage more coal burning power plants. I love Bend more than most people. Bicyclists included. If I wasn’t disabled, I’d be out there with you.
The roads are not yours. They are everyone’s. And, we ALL pay for this with taxes. How is anyone thinking this is free? Ride sharing works for x percentage of the population, but not all. It is not convenience. For the person who doesn’t go home until midnight, ride sharing doesn’t work. Disabled, I’m not being shuttled around by someone when I am willing to remain a hard working member of our community and drive to the many places I have to go all day.
What paid parking without a solution like a parking garage will do is create more costs, more heartache, and more challenges than ever. I am trying to be respectful of your biking privilege, but you don’t pay tolls. Parks n Rec is one of the largest burdens on this city’s budget. You get all your outdoor amenities because the rest of us share in YOUR costs. But, the taxes you pay, including the road, you get to partake of. I don’t get to ride your bike paths or float in your river. But, I am paying for it in my taxes. So… who is entitled now? Who is acting like they have a birthright, now? Of course, there is a long time complaint, for as far back as I can remember, about bicyclists being the obnoxious ones in town, rude on the roads, driving 5 people wide against the law. One side has to start acting right, or this divide will continue. The “beer” bike… didn’t help your case.
The problem in large cities is building a small area of businesses next to single story parking and far away from residential districts. That is a well accepted fact, but you can’t apply that to Bend. It is not about convenience. No one can carry home cart loads of groceries on the bus or by hand. Like I said, I agree about too much parking for people who just leave their cars sitting there. But, if the City, who is hurting for money and will agree to screw all of us with increased property taxes for this were to do something, would you prefer parking meters everywhere … or a parking garage? At least a large-scale parking garage is clean, can be good looking externally, and can be safe. Parking meters or limited duration parking tags will hurt even more. Some people have to bring their cars and park them for a while. Cutting down the time will cause problems.
And, it isn’t people parking that makes for dangerous bicycling. It’s a combination of bad drivers and bad bicyclers. Do you really think ticking them off and making their lives harder will help? Do you think uber, taxis, or even buses somehow magically miss bicycles? Man… you folks have done no homework. Sure, less cars. But, that doesn’t stop distracted driving. Bumper to bumper traffic slows cars down so it safer. Thus, your argument falls short and risks making it worse. I don’t want to see anyone hurt… but that is why we have to think this through.
I don’t think there is an easy solution, but if the entitled, privileged bicyclists don’t stop their whining, they will feel the sting of what’s coming, too. We need solutions… not band aids, to that end, I think ee can all agree. We need people who are both bicyclists and drivers and who don’t feel entitled or cast empty aspursions like this article.
But again… the City isn’t reading this, so why bother? No one listens to the people who work here, you just stand on their backs and hold yourselves high. *sigh* well… guess we’ll see what happens, next. Just don’t forget, your bike carrying SUV’s won’t be able to park downtown or anywhere come winter time. Sure, you have money… but that won’t help you when you’re on the same, over-packed bus with everyone else. Good luck to all.