With the population booming and a four-year college campus on the doorstep, Bend is quickly changing. But really, does it seem that different from the year before? Or, the year before that? Oh sure, the color—and bulkiness—of the puffy coats may have changed slightly from 2013, but here are our five choices for what has […]
Mirror Pond
Posted inOpinion
Letters 11/11-11/18
IN REPLY TO “MIRROR POND PROPOSAL LEVERAGES PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP FOR DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT” (11/10) City planner overheard at Bend coffee shop: “It will cost more to build a parking garage than what the current parking lots are worth.” In other words, the taxpayer will foot the bill. —Big Ears IN REPLY TO “OPEN UP AND SAY […]
Posted inOpinion
Flowing Forward
A year ago, a major leak sprung in the concrete base of the 103-year-old Newport Avenue dam, allowing river water to surge through the hole and essentially drain Mirror Pond. It was hoped that the leak—the third in six years—would finally force a conclusion to the debate over what to do about Mirror Pond. Yet, […]
Posted inNews
Mirror Pond Proposal Leverages Public-Private Partnership for Downtown Development
The Mirror Pond Ad-Hoc Committee unveiled its Mirror Pond and Downtown Redevelopment Concept Friday afternoon to a packed room in the Bend Park and Rec District office. The proposal goes beyond addressing the failing Newport Dam and the local landmark that is Mirror Pond, and offers a vision for redeveloping the downtown area—both to better […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters 7/10-7/16
IN REPLY TO “TROUBLE ON THE REZ” (7/10) Oh brother… [The] Gorge [casino] was the best solution for the Tribe…Worst decision ever to sideline it. It did not touch our land, removed gaming from the Reservation, which depletes Tribal Members income. Gaming is an addiction that is destroying the Reservation from within. Which is worse […]
Posted inNews
Rogue Wave
Comments by Mayor Clinton bring back Mirror Pond discussion—at least for the time-being
If plotted out, the conversation about what to do about Mirror Pond would probably look something like a wave in the ocean—a community discussion that gathers momentum when one public official or another offers his opinion about whether to maintain the Newport Street Dam, but then quickly crests and dissipates. In May, the conversation about […]
Posted inNews
OLD TIMERS: Bend Historical Timeline
Bend Historical Timeline 1920s- Population: 5,415 June 1920- First airplane crosses Cascades March 1922- St. Charles opens on “water tank hill” July 1922- First car drives up Pilot Butte May 1928- Frank T. Johns, national leader of the Socialist Party and candidate for president, drowns in Mirror Pond in attempt to save drowning boy April […]
Posted inNews
What A Long and Twisting River It Has Been
Financial report doesn’t clear up murky decision-making for Mirror Pond
Like the Deschutes River itself, it would appear that nothing to do with the decision about whether to keep the Newport Avenue Dam—the structure that creates Mirror Pond—is ever straightforward. For the past several years, it has been a tug-of-war with sentimental emotions to keep the iconic pond, and environmental considerations to blow the dam […]
Posted inOpinion
Citizen Watchdog Isn’t All Wet
Spencer Dahl, a longtime Bend resident, may like the meandering current of the Deschutes River, but he is not sitting idly by letting the debate over what to do about the river, Newport Avenue Dam and Mirror Pond just take its sweet time. He is out there trying to actually guide the conversation and make […]
Posted inNews
Treading Water
Lack of research stalling Mirror Pond solution
A s a kid growing up in Washington, D.C., David Blair remembers his mother taking him down to the banks of the Potomac River and watching the kayakers go by. His mother wasn’t necessarily an advocate of outdoor recreation, and Blair said that she might not have even known what all those people were doing […]
