Up Up and Away to Phoenix
A
missing piece in direct air service from Central Oregon to major western
destinations could be filled soon.
The Redmond City Council has accepted a $500,000 federal
grant that would be part of a guaranteed revenue package for an airline to
inaugurate nonstop service to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport.
The grant is part of $770,000 fund, the balance of which
could come from Redmond city coffers and
the waiver of landing fees. The City of Redmond owns and operates Roberts
Field, the regional airport.
Similar revenue guarantee programs have been used in the
past to entice airlines to service other destinations, including American
Airlines’ direct flights to Los Angeles. That service was started then
suspended in the past few years but is set to begin again Dec. 17.
Deschutes residential permits climb-but far short of
peak year
New statistics from the Deschutes County community
development department show a continued climb in residential building permits.
But through October of this year the numbers are well off the peak in 2005.
For the period January through October of 2015 the county
issued 387 permits for new homes, 46% fewer than the top of the building boom
10 years
ago when 837 were booked.
At the trough of
the market in 2010 the county issued only 83 residential new home permits.
Since then permits climbed slowly in 2011 and 2012 before more than doubling in
2013 to 251 as the market recovered.
The county statistics value new residential construction
through October this year at $16,193,156; alterations $966,404; and accessory
building $2,442,433.
Mirror Pond improvement process stuck
After many months
of committee meetings, public surveys and negotiations among key entities the
effort to develop a final plan to address silt buildup in Bend’s cherished
Mirror Pond on the Deschutes River appears to be stalled if not stuck.
But it appears certain that a master plan that would have
included significant development of city-owned property in the area is now off
the table.
The most recent shedule posted on the website of an Ad
Hock Committee steering the development of a plan shows that Phase Three to
“identify preferred strategy for immediate and long term responses to current
conditions” is “currently in progress.”
Early in October Bend’s parks and recreation director
said the plan to redevelop property along Mirror Pond as part of the overall
solution was on hold.
Instead the city has reportedly narrowed the focus to
potentially dredging the Pond and working on the shores to improve river flows
and retard silt buildup.
Initial discussions with Pacific Power, owner of the
Newport Street dam and hydropower facility on the south end of the pond, have
not yielded any certainty as to the utility’s plans for the dam. That had been
a key piece of the larger plan to improve flows in the pond, which was last
dredged some three decades ago.
Sharpen the blades, get out the stick or practice your sweeping
For all those ex-pat Canadians and former eastern college
players the time is nearly here to release pent-up energy with some mayhem on
the ice.
Bend’s new multi-sports facility, The Pavilion, with its
professionally refrigerated winter ice rink is set to open berfore the
Christmas holidays. The refrigeration has begun and the Zamboni is on the way.
Bend parks officials say interest by adult hockey players
is brisk with nearly 120 signed up as of early November when only about a dozen
more spots were available.
Also creating demand is curling, with more than 120
registered and a waiting list started. The parks department has already ordered
40-pound curling stones and brooms for the sport.
Hockey registration was set to end Nov. 16 and curling
Nov. 20.
The facility just west of the Simpson and Colorado Aveue
roundabout will also be available for individual and family skating during the
winter, then converted to court sports in the warmer seasons.
