Mixed opinions on growth, tourism and the economy?
Is Bend’s success as a major tourism destination breeding a backlash from some who had rather have the region the way it was before a new wave of “discovery.”
The balance between Bend’s- and by extension the region’s-tourist popularity and the livability some permanent residents think is being threatened prompted a Bend City Club-sponsored forum a few weeks ago.
According to reports from Visit Bend and other sources, at a given time in the summer there could be 20,000 visitors in town, and more than 2.5 million during 2015. Room tax revenues have increased by nearly 20% in each of the past three years. Total tourist expenditures reached nearly $700 million in 2015 by one reported estimate.
With the tourism boom some locals complain of increased traffic, misbehaving visitors, lack of parking and stress on the city’s aging streets. But others point out the substantial benefits to the local economy and argue that a marketing message to visitors to act “like a local” might be one approach to the issue.
But the passing of a small-town feel that some longtime residents lament is as much the natural growth of newcomers that are here to stay, including retirees and vacation homeowners.
Bend’s reputation has for some time attracted attention. Only a few years ago, a “don’t Bendify Bend,” campaign emerged in Washington’s wine and wheat center of Walla Walla when a major housing project was on the planning table.
Is it time for Bend to graduate from small-town government?
Along with tourism issues prompting local discussion, Bend’s outgoing Mayor Bill Clinton weighs in with the possibility that the city has outgrown its small-town government structure.
In parting observations announcing he would not seek another term, Clinton said that Bend, “...is stuck with inadequate revenues and a small-town governance structure. Paying councilors $200 per month for what should be an almost full-time job and not having an elected mayor are absurdly disconnected from the reality of being a modern city.”
Clinton has served on the city council since election in 2004 and has been voted by fellow councilors to serve two-year mayoral terms in 2013 and 2015.
In an interview with The Source weekly, Clinton said, “It’s the small-town thinking that contiunues to hold Bend back.”
Addressing streets as a major infrastructure concern, Clinton offered that, “It’s not possible to find in the existing budget the money to keep the roads fixed properly.” Among obstacles Clinton also cited physical limitations on widening existing streets. Instead, he stressed that more effort should be put into encouraging public transportation, biking and pedestrian friendly sidewalks to reduce reliance on driving.
Dredging Mirror Pond back on the table
It appears that the protracted debate on how to manage silt problems on Mirror Pond in Bend will go full circle back to past solutions involving dredging the slackwater stretch of the Deschutes through the center of town.
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| Mirror Pond in early Summer - photo by Lee Hicks |
The Bend’s Parks and Recreation District and Mirror Pond Partners LLC, comprised of developer Bill Smith and construction executive Todd Taylor have agreed in principle to a plan that would have the private LLC dredge the stretch of river. In turn, the P&R district would develop a plan to maintain deteriorating banks and other problems along the pond.
Mirror Pond Partners LLC purchased the land under the river a few years ago with the announced intent of keeping the pond mostly as it is. But the LLC and parks district had been working on a plan that would also have involved buying the aging Pacific General Electric powerhouse and dam that backs up the river.
However, PGE recently announced it would keep the dam, leading to a new proposed agreement between the LLC and parks entity.
Some river enthusiasts had hoped that purchasing the dam might have provided a way to allow boating passage downriver if all or a part of the dam were removed while retaining the pond features. Also considered was the possiblity of redeveloping some of the riverfront into commercial, retail and residential space.
