The Oregon Transportation and Growth Management Program (TGM) provides local governments with funding for planning projects that lead to more livable, economically vital, transportation-efficient, sustainable, pedestrian-friendly communities. The grant awarded to the Bend MPO will be used to update the long-range transit plans for the City of Bend Transportation System Plan (TSP) and the MPO Metropolitan Transportation Plan.
FireFree
For those that don’t know, FireFree is a educational campaign geared to empower home owners to reduce the threat of wildfire around their home. As a token of their work, we offer FREE yard debris disposal days in May for those who are keeping their homes fire safe.
This year the Westside Transfer location will be open Friday 5/4, Saturday 5/5, Friday 5/11 and Saturday 5/12 from 7:30 am to 4 pm-ish each day. This site is located on SW Simpson Ave next to the Parks and Rec maintenance office. Yard debris can be disposed of for FREE here during these days. Knott Landfill will also be open for FREE yard debris disposal 5-3 to 5-12 except for Sunday 5/5.
What I hope for you as representatives of your neighborhoods to do is pass this information onto any and all residents, friends, neighbors, etc you know. The more this information spreads the more people will use it and the safer our community becomes. Also, we offer FREE home assessments to anyone who wants one, all they have to do is call me and I will schedule a time to come out and look at their home and give them ideas on how to make their home more fire safety, inside and/or out.
More information on FireFree can be found at: www.firefree.org and www.bendoregon.gov.
As we get closer to the dates I will send this information out again. Thank you for helping keep our community safe!
Dan Derlacki
Deputy Fire Marshal
City of Bend Fire Department
Inspiring Community Transformation
In celebration of a unique and innovative partnership with the City of Bend, Cascadia Green Building Council announced today that its CEO, Jason F. McLennan, will deliver a free public lecture on January 30.
The lecture is sponsored by Bend’s Mayor Jeff Eager and the City Council. McLennan, an internationally renowned speaker, will discuss community transformation and the future of architecture and design. He also will address opportunities for Bend to embrace restorative development principles.
McLennan’s visit to Bend kicks off a unique collaboration between the City and Cascadia along with Cascadia’s parent organization, the International Living Future Institute. The Institute is a nonprofit organization that developed and administers the Living Building Challenge™, the world’s most progressive and stringent building standard. Living Building Challenge projects are quickly emerging around the world and demonstrate the highest level of environmental performance currently possible.
The City’s partnership with the Institute began in late 2010, when a group of Bend’s leading architects, planners and engineers came together to enter the Institute’s Living City Design Competition. What emerged was the Bend Living City Project, which was supported by the action items of the BEND 2030 Vision. The Project has since made an important contribution to Bend’s long-range planning. The City now hopes to work with the Institute to apply the Living Building Challenge framework to future planning projects yet to be determined.
“We’re excited about this phenomenal collaboration,” says Mayor ProTem Jodie Barram. “The BEND 2030 Vision, a Central Area Plan that needs re-invigorating, and the Institute’s ability to look at sustainable systems in a way that will benefit Bend long term can be transformative.”
The lecture will be at the Tower Theatre, 835 Northwest Wall Street, Bend. Doors open at 6 PM and the lecture begins at 6:30. RSVP today to save your seat: http://livingcity.eventbrite.com/
Mirror Pond dredging debated
Momentum is swinging toward putting a bond before voters in November to fund the dredging of Bend’s Mirror Pond.
Friday, members of the Mirror Pond Management Board met to consider options for cleaning the pond, which has been filling with sediment since it was last dredged 28 years ago. Until recently, the board had been leaning toward commissioning a study to determine how to address the sedimentation problem, and possibly creating a special taxing district that could provide a long-term funding stream for upkeep of the pond.
After Friday’s meeting, the board is now moving in the direction of a dredge-first, ask-questions-later approach.
Dredging will inevitably be part of cleaning up Mirror Pond, members indicated, and the public is unlikely to be willing to foot the bill for further study.
“I don’t see the public supporting a study — just a study alone,” said board member and Bend City Councilor Tom Greene. “They want results.”
A steering committee assembled by the board concluded that dredging should come before an extensive study. A comprehensive study would cost about $500,000, and none of the organizations represented on the board — including the city, Bend Park & Recreation District, Pacific Power and Bill Smith Properties — are willing to provide the funding.
Parks District director Don Horton said it’s not clear how much public support there is for a bond or a taxing district. To find out, the park district will include questions about the project on a soon-to-be-conducted survey of residents.
In the meantime, Bend community development director Mel Oberst will be directing his staff to develop better estimates of the cost of dredging, and to research the extent of federal and state permitting that would be required.
Current cost estimates for dredging the pond are between $2 million and $5 million. The last dredging in 1984 was performed for $312,000.
Not all members of the board are committed to the new direction. Ryan Houston, executive director of the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, cautioned that board members could be “shooting ourselves in the foot” by proceeding with dredging ahead of a thorough study. A dredging that fails to take into account how water moves through the area could result in the pond silting up soon after the work is completed, he said, requiring additional costly measures.
Unless measures are taken to remove the silt from the pond, it is believed the river will eventually recede to a narrow channel lined by swampy shallows on either side. Horton said the area just upstream of the Colorado Avenue bridge, an area that was once routinely dredged when it served as a log storage pond, is a good model of what an unaltered Mirror Pond might look like in 50 years.
Source: The Bulletin
Snow and Ice Control
Snow removal operations are critical for safe transportation and the economic health of our city. The Street Division is responsible for clearing snow and applying de-icers on main roads, as well as trouble spots such as steep roads.
Once snowfall accumulation exceeds two inches of snow, City crews may plow arterial and collector roads with special attention to emergency services and school zones.
Detailed information regarding priorities and responsibilities is available for download:
Snow and Ice Requirements for Homes and Businesses
- Snow should not remain on the sidewalk for a period longer than the first six hours of daylight after the snow has fallen in the commercial areas and one day in all other areas.
- Ice should not remain on the sidewalk for more than six hours of daylight in commercial areas and one day in all other areas after the ice has formed unless the ice is covered with sand, cinder, or other suitable materials to assure safe travel.
- In addition, maintaining the sidewalks adjacent to the CET bus stops is imperative. This will enable people, including those with disabilities, easy access to the transit services through the winter months.
- When public walks are found in violation (Class C Infraction,) the property owner can be issued a citation with an initial fine of $165 ($100 fine and $65 assessment fee).
If a property owner has questions regarding the snow removal ordinance or procedures, they should call the Bend Police Department at (542) 322-2976.
Contact Cascades East Transit at (541) 385-8680 for bus stop questions.