Wednesday, July 24, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
2
O
P
I
N I
O
Welcome, Sisters Rhythm & Brews
Festival musicians and patrons!
N
Get involved with a
vision for the future
By Mayor Chuck Ryan and
City Manager Cory Misley
Mr. Sipp thrilled Sisters Rhythm & Brews Festival fans last year and he’s back July 26 and 27.
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer¾s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
I just read the update from Sisters Folk
Festival concerning the City of Sisters instruct-
ing the Deschutes County Sheriff to be more
active in ticketing RVs/campers/vans parked
on the side of the road (public areas) during
the Sisters Folk Festival. I believe the citations
will cost between $25-$35.
I am sure over the years a few folks have
complained, a few campers have blocked
driveways and that for some areas of town
there are more campers parked around than
other parts, so there is understanding of the
situation. However, I always thought it was
so great that the City of Sisters let folks just
park and be a part of the music festival, walk
everywhere and truly become part of town.
Volunteers (around 400) are often people
that can9t afford a ticket and in turn really
can9t afford a hotel either but come here to
help and listen to the music. Obviously, all
the campgrounds are full during that time, so
personally I thought it was a great thing that
the City looked the other way and shared the
streets.
I think this year since there will be some
enforcement, if you have a driveway and you
don9t mind someone parking in it, you ought
to put a sign out on Wednesday or Thursday
before the festival and welcome folks to con-
tact you for a place to land. Get to know some
new people that love music and continue to
welcome RVs/campers/vans to town to be a
part of the Folk Festival.
This music festival is special and stimulates
the economy one last time before the summer
comes to an end. Let9s keep making music-
lovers feel welcome and offer up a place to
land in town, I know I will. Change can be
hard, and it has been a tradition for some
people for many, many years 4 so maybe
your offer would help one person navigate the
changing times in a positive way.
Christine Funk
See LETTERS on page 29
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
83/52
90/56
88/52
83/50
88/51
86/50
The Nugget Newspaper, LLC
Website: www.nuggetnews.com
442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759
Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com
Postmaster: Send address changes to
The Nugget Newspaper,
P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759.
Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon.
Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius
Production Manager: Leith Easterling
Graphic Design: Jess Draper
Community Marketing Partners:
Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal
Classifieds & Circulation: Lisa May
Proofreader: Pete Rathbun
Owner: J. Louis Mullen
The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area.
Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55.
Published Weekly. ©2019 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which
appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for
information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition-
ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently
available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts.
Cory and I want to
update our entire commu-
nity on the progress and
key next steps of our exten-
sive Sisters Country Vision
project.
Why a vision now? As
most of you know, vision-
ing is a medium- to long-
range plan (five to 10 years)
for our community. The
City9s population growth
exploded 112 percent from
2000 to 2010 and is up 32
percent from 2010 to 2018.
That rapid growth can affect
many aspects of our qual-
ity of life, especially if we
are not planning and work-
ing together accordingly.
Without being proactive, we
will most assuredly under-
manage that growth and
that could lead to issues that
affect all of us, given our
small and unique commu-
nity. We take this very seri-
ously and started the vision-
ing effort in early 2018.
We jumped at the chance
to make this a broad, com-
munity-wide vision and
concluded our input phase
with over 2,000 participants,
garnering thousands of indi-
vidual comments and bold
ideas. This input led to the
finalization of 20 top strate-
gies across four key themes
(not in order) for Sisters:
Prosperous, Livable,
Resilient, and Connected.
Each of these 20 strategies
has sub-strategies, action
items, and suggested lead/
supporting partners. The
full plan document can be
found at www.sistersvision.
org, and I encourage you to
read it because this is your
plan! Keep in mind that this
is a <living= document that
will require updates as we
move forward.
There are too many
people and organizations
to thank for helping us get
to this point, and we have
created a summary Sisters
Country Vision brochure
that is available at City Hall,
the Chamber of Commerce,
and other areas around our
community, as well as avail-
able to view on the Vision
website. The booklet gives
credit to many of the key
participants in this proj-
ect in addition to the entire
public.
Where are we heading
from here? We have formed
a vision implementation
team consisting of key pub-
lic entities across the com-
munity. The team of 12-14
local leaders will navigate
and oversee the execu-
tion phase going forward.
This group cannot possibly
execute these 20 strate-
gies on its own 3 the goal
is to branch off and recruit
sub-teams that have a pas-
sion and expertise in a par-
ticular strategy and can
help get things done. This
effort going forward can-
not be under-estimated; we
will need many resources
4 both people and finan-
cial 4 to be successful.
Realistically, some of the
strategies may be deferred
from a timing and priority
standpoint as to not derail
overall success by tackling
too much at one time.
We h a v e a l r e a d y
achieved significant prog-
ress in certain strategies.
You will be kept informed
through the Vision website,
public gatherings, poten-
tial town halls, and (like
this column) periodic print
updates.
Cory and I would like
to leave you with the most
important message: Please
get involved in this effort!
We need your help and
support, and you can truly
make a difference to our
community9s future. All of
us have unique skills and
abilities that can assist with
successful execution of
the various strategies. I am
amazed at the level of talent
and diversity we have in this
small community. Many of
you live here because of
the unique nature of Sisters
Country, and with your help
we truly want to preserve
that together.
How do you get
involved? The easiest way
is to go to www.sistersvi-
sion.org and click on the
contact link. You can also
send an email to myself or
Cory and express your inter-
est. Our email addresses are
on the City website: www.
ci.sisters.or.us.
Thanks again to the
Sisters City Council for
kicking off the vision-
ing process and everyone
involved to this point, and
we look forward to execut-
ing the Sisters Country
Vision with your help.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.