The tanking commercial real estate market in Bend has caught the attention of Calculated Risk, one of the world's most prominent finance and economics blogs.
Kicking Bend Around on the Web
Posted inCulture
Stars, Stripes and Laughs: Political comic Will Durst on how to make fun of Obama
Will Durst takes a seat on his newspapers for the week.The exhausting election of 2008 has ended and political comedian Will
Durst is in Hawaii. It's not that Durst, one of the nation's premier
political satirists and a self-described "raging moderate" found his
brain overloaded by broken record of stump speeches and hotheaded
pundits, forcing him a few thousand miles into the Pacific to seek
refuge, but rather he was in the islands to celebrate his 27th wedding
anniversary. But still, the break has given him a chance to reflect on
a campaign that was hardly light on the comedy.
Posted inNews
Weekend Warrior! This Weekend in Music
Friday Night 11/14: The Dirty Words CD Release Party
The buzz growing around this thing has gotten pretty big this week, so expect a nice amount of folks of all ages (it's an all-ages show) up at the PoetHouse as The Dirty Words celebrate the release of their new record The International Machine. Also on the bill is killer indie rock from Space Hoax and rad-i-cal hip-hop from Mosely Wotta.
Posted inNews
Mike Daly: “Why I Lost”
In his wanderings around town Thursday The Eye ran into (soon to be former) Deschutes County Commissioner Mike Daly, who offered some thoughts on why he lost to Democrat Alan Unger on Election Day.
Posted inNews
Obama Looking at Kitzhaber for Cabinet?
Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber says he'd be interested in a Cabinet post in the Obama administration, but so far the Obama transition team hasn't contacted him about one, at least publicly.
Posted inNews
Republicans Over the Edge
The Eye has long suspected that some members of the Republican "base" weren't too tightly wrapped, but the election results seem to have completely unwrapped them.
Posted inOpinion
City Should cut its losses at Juniper Ridge
The financial situation at Juniper has continued to deteriorate since the June 16th City Council meeting on that project. Taxpayers should be extremely concerned with the City's recent announcement that Juniper Ridge is "broke" again, and the Council is seeking, among other things, a loan of $200,000.00 from the general fund, which is also strained.
The massive debt being incurred at JR cannot be justified by the possibility of future land sales as ODOT has frozen that option indefinitely. The chronology that follows recaps deteriorating trends and managerial miscues at JR during the past five months, which will assure ultimate failure of the project.
One week after the June 16th meeting, Ron Garzini addressed the Council stating, in effect that he had ODOT covered, and that sales would be booming by August. ODOT replied: NO MAS again. Ron also said that he found new buddies in Jeff & Ray (Juniper Ridge Partners). With friends like those, (fill in the blank).
Posted inOutside
Cluckers On the Prowl: Chickens yearn back to their dinosaur roots
Those of you who keep chickens and other livestock know what joy there
is in talking to them. (Yes, chickens are "livestock," even though the
sheriff doesn't think so when a stray dog kills one of mine.)
"Good
morning, chickies," is my usual greeting. Then I ask them, "How many
eggs are you going to lay for me today?" slyly pointing to the pile of
empty egg cartons I keep close by to remind them to keep their minds on
their business.
I have a few beautiful Buff Orpingtons, a
couple of Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds and handsome Aracanas, the
last of which lays lovely green-shelled eggs. When I greet them in the
morning, they all respond with the usual clucking and chicken grunts
that means "all's well" and "What goodies do you have for us this
morning, James?"
Posted inOutside
First Tracks!: It’s time… for Studs, Muffins and Stud Muffins
FIRST TRACKS
First tracks across Dutchman FlatWhat more could you ask for on November 4th - an Obama
victory and a foot of fresh powder on Bachelor! Yippeee! The day after
the elections, my friend Lisa and I scored some of the very first
tracks of the season on Woody's and Easy Back. We skied across Dutchman
Flat into the nordic area through perfect snow and found the groomer
had just made a pass to pack down the base. I'd say it was an
auspicious start to a new season and a new era.
Posted inCulture
Dead Space: Electronic Arts makes a strong showing in its first jump
Like you never fantasized about eye-lasering an alien. As a kid, the movie Alien gave me the creeps, the slowly building
tension and tight scenes made the sci-fi/horror movie a classic. Game
developer Electronic Arts has been able to recapture that sick death at
every corner feeling with Dead Space. This action horror game has much
in common with the way that the Resident Evil games play. With a third
person or over-the-shoulder perspective, this game is a nice change of
pace from the million-plus first-person shooters. With this being EA's
first foray into the survivor/horror genre, it doesn't repeat what
Capcom has done with recent Resident Evil games wherein the lead
character is a badass. Instead, this game takes a normal person and
puts them in a really bad situation.