A4 The BulleTin • Sunday, June 27, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Bend would
need a plan for
ADA parking
M
any things the Bend City Council does escape
attention. The talk of eliminating minimum parking
requirements has not.
What a topic parking is. Personal.
Political. Environmental. Unimport-
ant compared to so many things. So
very important in other ways.
The best public presentation we
have heard about the idea was at a
recent online forum courtesy of City
Club of Central Oregon. It raised a
key issue that will need to get some
serious discussion: When you get
rid of parking minimums, what hap-
pens to parking for the disabled?
First, an overview. There is no offi-
cial plan that lays out where parking
minimums will be eliminated. It’s just
talk for now. It seems like it would be
for new construction, possibly reno-
vation. Removing parking minimums
doesn’t mean businesses, apartments
and homes would have no parking.
Would you buy a home without any
off-street parking? Would you rent
an apartment without any off-street
parking? Would you go to a super-
market with no off-street parking?
Some would. Some would not.
When we have talked to businesses
and builders, they aren’t going to not
build parking. When similar changes
have been implemented elsewhere,
it doesn’t mean no more parking is
built. There is just more choice.
Parking minimums mean less
space for housing. Look at two cars
parked next to each other at the su-
permarket. You could put a small
apartment in that space. Maybe it
wouldn’t be an apartment that you
would want, but still, you get the idea.
Russ Grayson, Bend’s community
development director, gave an excel-
lent example during the City Club
forum. You have seen those homes
along the Arizona/Colorado couplet
in Bend, near The Box Factory. De-
velopers have wanted to turn some of
the single family homes into 3-story
mixed use developments. Commer-
cial space on the bottom. Offices,
maybe in the middle. Perhaps hous-
ing on top. If you try to pack that on
one of those lots with the city’s cur-
rent parking requirements, you would
need 5-6 parking spaces on the lot.
It doesn’t work. The developer walks
away.
More parking requirements mean
less intense development and less in-
fill, meaning less room for housing.
Housing prices are already crazy.
Now if we are going to have less
parking at buildings, Bend also needs
to be smarter about parking or there
are going to be problems. Technol-
ogy can help. Bend is not there. More
transit can help. Bend is not there.
More safe routes for bikers and pedes-
trians can help. Bend is not there.
Cascades East Transit has good
plans for better transit. The city’s
GO bond will help with the bike and
pedestrian routes. Will the decline
of parking be matched by a perfect
crescendo of transit, bike paths and
people ditching their cars? Probably
not. But Bend can’t just be like Bend
has been. State law insists on and
enforces more infill. Wouldn’t it be
better to try to find a smart way to
adjust to those constraints? We’ll let
you answer that one.
Any change in parking require-
ments must take into consideration
the disabled. Bend’s development
code currently provides the require-
ments for the total number of park-
ing spaces for a development. It also
dictates the number of required ADA
spaces. There are charts in the code
with ratios. If parking minimums are
absolutely eliminated for new con-
struction or even renovations, there
would technically be no requirements
for ADA spaces, the city told us.
We can’t imagine that would hap-
pen. Or at least it better not. So what
then should the requirements be for
ADA spaces? What’s the right num-
ber for a business, an apartment
building? Should housing devel-
opments be required to have some
homes with off-street parking? If
you have some ideas about that or
about the parking plans, send them
along to Bend City Councilors at
council@bendoregon.gov.
What road or bike project
should Bend build next?
R
emember the $190 million
transportation bond Bend vot-
ers approved in November?
Now decisions are being made
about how that money will be spent.
The city is not pulling a switcheroo
and spending it differently than
promised. But decisions are being
made about what gets done when
— metrics for prioritizing projects,
project scheduling and sequencing.
The Transportation Bond Over-
sight Committee will be making rec-
ommendations. The committee is a
new kind of thing for Bend. Other
communities in Central Oregon have
already used them. It should provide
more transparency and accountability
over how the bond money is spent.
The goal is the committee will
pick “good-better-best” projects to
go first based on safety, reducing
pollution, equity, mobility improve-
ment, construction fatigue, project
readiness and more. If you are in-
terested, the committee meets on
Tuesday by Zoom. More informa-
tion is available here www.bendore-
gon.gov/government/committees/
bond-oversight-committee.
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin’s editorial board, Publisher Heidi Wright, Editor
Gerry O’Brien and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe.
My Nickel’s Worth
Library vision
I remember when they first talked
about building the new hospital “way
out of town,” and many people were
upset that it was too far from the center
of town. Look at it now; it is the center
of the east side of Bend. Homes and
businesses have grown up around it.
The same thing will happen to the
location of the new library. Already,
there is a school nearby, and homes
are expanding all the way out O.B. Ri-
ley Road. Businesses are set to move
in across the highway, and more
growth is projected. Yes, the highways
and roads will need to be reconfig-
ured, but the state is already working
on plans for that. There will be grow-
ing pains.
But, we voted for this new facility,
and I urge people to trust the vision of
the library board and administration.
You will still be able to walk to the
downtown library or the East Bend
Branch.
As a former staff member of the
East Bend Library, it pleases me that
so many people have supported it and
requested that it become a bigger and
better branch. The citizens of Bend
support libraries.
— Sue Fountain, Bend
Protect public lands
On a recent weekend, I was hon-
ored to join the Central Oregon
Landcruisers and Central Oregon
Off-Highway Vehicle Association for
a China Hat cleanup. These groups
teamed up with neighborhood volun-
teers to fill two huge dumpsters and
make countless trips to the landfill. To
mitigate wildfire risk, they scouted out
abandoned vehicles, secured funding,
organized machinery and tow trucks
and worked with local officials to get
approval for removal.
About a month ago, Wanderlust
Tours organized a China Hat cleanup,
as well, which included sandblast-
ing graffiti from the walls of our lava
caves.
China Hat Road is the nearest ac-
cess point to the Deschutes National
Forest for those of us in southeast
Bend, and it is heavily used by a di-
verse group of people.
I am so grateful for these truly he-
roic efforts to keep this public land
clean and protected.
— Sara Moss, Bend
The houseless on Emerson
The clearing of the homeless from
Emerson Avenue described in the re-
cent Bulletin is disheartening. Local
government is abdicating its responsi-
bilities to not only the homeless but to
the residents of south Bend, who will
now be asked to bear the burden of
risk created by uncontrolled encamp-
ments up China Hat Road.
The forests are a tinder box in
this year’s drought. Three fires were
caused by or associated with RVs on
public land only yesterday, and the
solution by Bend City government is
to move people into the forest. This
problem has become the responsi-
bility of an undermanned Deschutes
National Forest department who are
asked to enforce the laws, clean up the
mess and fight fires. For residents of
south Bend, we are asked to bear the
brunt of increased fire risk.
Isn’t it time for local government
to create safe campsites for those who
are living on the streets? Providing
sanitation, safety, support and decent
living conditions for these people un-
til they are able fill the myriad of un-
filled positions now advertised? The
very block on Emerson could be lev-
eled and services provided there.
Simply moving the homeless into
the forest does not make them go
away, it only makes them less visible
and puts all of us in danger.
— William Cosgrove, Bend
Please get vaccinated
According to the stats on COVID
recently provided by The Bulletin, we
are doing pretty well in Oregon, and
locally.
In Oregon, one person has died
out of every 75 people who have had
COVID-19. In our tri-county area,
one person out of 95 with the disease
has died. In Deschutes County alone,
one person has died out of 123 who
had or have the disease.
It is much worse in other areas of
our country and the world. We must
be doing something right, and get-
ting vaccinated might be the key. The
availability, and turnout, at the county
fairgrounds has been well received
and applauded.
The goal is to have 70% of the peo-
ple in the United States vaccinated by
the end of July. Sadly, there are areas
where people are not convinced, and
they are staying away in droves.
I’m not trying to downplay the se-
riousness of COVID, but many dis-
ease states have a worse mortality. My
grandfather died in the flu epidemic
of 1918, and at least 20 million died
worldwide, and some reports say it
was two or three times that number.
So don’t despair, get your vacci-
nation! They are saying that most of
the people dying now were not vacci-
nated, and this new variant is adding
fuel to the fire.
— Dr. H. D. Kelley, Bend
Letters policy
Guest columns
How to submit
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Writers are limited to one letter or guest
column every 30 days.
Please address your submission to either
My Nickel’s Worth or Guest Column and
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submissions are preferred.
Email: letters@bendbulletin.com
Write: My Nickel’s Worth/Guest Column
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Bend, OR 97708
Fax:
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Library board is moving county libraries in the right direction
BY RON PARADIS
A
recent piece on the editorial
page of The Bulletin may have
misled readers into thinking
the Deschutes Library Board is mov-
ing in a direction counter to what is
the best interest of the public.
The writer, Louis Capozzi,
seems to think he knows
more than the collective
community.
In November — just seven
months ago — 84% of reg-
istered voters cast ballots,
Paradis
and a majority supported
what the library board had
proposed to the county res-
idents. More than 63,000 said “yes,”
we want a new central library and
upgrades to other library facilities
throughout the county. The measure
passed, giving direction to the board
to move forward and begin to fulfill
the will of the people.
However, Mr. Capozzi says he
speaks on behalf of “older adults in
Central Oregon” and thinks the will of
voters should be overturned.
Seriously? He thinks his per-
sonal belief is more import-
ant than what the voters have
mandated?
Additionally, this writer
made a false statement to help
solidify his claims. About the
East Bend Library, he said,
“You have made no commit-
ment to keeping the facility
open past the end of the lease.” Had
he asked anyone involved with the
library, he would have known the
board recently signed a new five-year
GUEST COLUMN
lease on the East Bend Library, solid-
ifying its commitment to operating
that branch. Additionally, there are
dedicated funds in the bond to im-
prove the East Bend Library’s layout
and infrastructure.
He also says the library is making
facilities “well out of practical reach
for many older residents.” Let’s re-
member, there are branches in down-
town Bend, east Bend, Redmond,
Sunriver and La Pine. As for access to
the new central library — the library
staff is working with the Oregon De-
partment of Transportation and Cas-
cades East Transit to assure it will be
easy to get to and right on a bus line
in this growing part of the county. Ad-
ditionally, the library will continue to
work with partners in the community
who serve senior and other-able com-
munities as it has always done.
I was included with about 40 com-
munity leaders who served in an
advisory capacity to help plan fu-
ture libraries. I was impressed with
the depth of the library’s reach into
our communities and the visionary
thinking that went into planning the
next 50 years of library service in De-
schutes County.
In my career and my volunteer ex-
periences, I have worked on several
bond measures over the past 30 years.
When you are involved — in favor or
against — you often wonder what the
voters were thinking when they cast
their ballots. However, what matters
in a democracy is this: Whatever the
majority of voters say is what will —
and needs to — happen.
The writer of last week’s piece ap-
parently thinks differently. “You are
asking the residents of Deschutes
County to pay a 60% increase in their
library taxes,” he wrote as part of why
he wants the plans stalled or even
halted. He’s right – that was the ques-
tion that was asked — and answered
— last year: residents VOTED to pay
for new and upgraded facilities.
No, the library board should not
ignore or overrule the voters. It’s time
to move on and provide enhanced li-
brary services throughout the county.
e
Ron Paradis is a member of The Bulletin’s
community editorial board. He retired as the
communications director for Central Oregon
Community College and has been involved in the
community for 30 years.