Gov. Kate Brown kicked off preparations for the 2020 Census in Oregon Monday, proclaiming April 1, 2020 as Census Day. Census counters will begin knocking on doors and sending letters to U.S. homes as early as January next year. Counting people in Central Oregon will likely reveal what many already know: The area has experienced […]
growth
Posted inNews
Redmond’s On The Rise
Housing affordability. Increased traffic. Brew culture. Bike park love.
Housing affordability. Increased traffic. Brew culture. Bike park love. If you thought those were items unique to Bend, you’d be wrong. Redmond, Ore., has much of the same culture and some of the same issues of growth and expansion that Bend does—and its population has grown, percentage-wise, faster than Bend over the past 18 years. […]
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Bend Ranks 4th on Fastest-Growing Cities List
Poverty rate isn’t going down as fast as other cities—but that’s only part of the story
Finance website WalletHub released a report last week, naming Bend as the fourth fastest-growing city in the United States—but with growth also comes growing pains. Out of the 515 cities studied, Bend had high numbers in many areas, including job growth (1st), median household income growth (21st), increase in number of businesses (17th), increase in […]
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Portland Growth Concerns Resonate with Bend’s Current Challenges
A recent article in the “Portland Monthly” addressed the growth challenges for Portland. While Portland is a much larger city, many of the concerns there are similar to what we hear voiced in Bend—providing some interesting information to consider. According to Wikipedia, Bend’s land area is about 33 square miles. Portland’s is about 133 square […]
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Top Local News Stories of the Year
1. Mirror Pond This year, the Mirror Pond debate continued to ebb and flow. In March, Bend City Council narrowly voted to support the ad hoc committee’s “preferred alternative”—a hybrid plan that would have maintained the pond while removing the failing Newport Dam. By July, that committee was reportedly preparing to make an offer to […]
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Bursting at the Seams
Bend’s UGB debate highlights tensions over the city’s growth
Just past Worthy Brewing, on Bend’s east side, the contrast between city and county is stark and sudden. To the west, cookie-cutter housing complexes line the streets around big box stores and massive parking lots. To the east, deer carcasses decompose in the ditch on a recent Sunday evening, while rock chucks scurry around expansive fields surrounding modest […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters 1/27-2/3
IN REPLY TO “TIRED OF NEWCOMERS” (1/29) I have lived in both Bend and Portland and have heard all the griping about newcomers for years. I have now chosen to make a life in the small town I was born and raised in and I could not be happier. I never lock my doors and […]