Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin's editorial board:
Publisher Heidi Wright; Editor Jody Lawrence-Turner; Editor Tim
Trainor and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by
Richard Coe. Contact: rcoe@bendbulletin.com
It’s become a ritual of Bend development: When a new building goes up, people complain it is in the wrong place in one way or another.
The apartments across the street from the park district’s whitewater park would too much of a shadow. Apartments on Awbrey Butte had the wrong neighborhood feel. The original spot for the county’s new central library was not central and walkable enough.
The not-in-the-right placers clash with the placers. Sometimes, they win.
It’s not an indictment of the children’s museum. It’s a complaint about the way people usually think about siting a building. It’s an expression of frustration of what could be.
The right acreage, availability and the sundry costs rolled up into the price can be the three kings of a location decision. Within Bend’s urban growth boundary, matching the three kings can be a fairly swift process of elimination. But what not-in-the-right placers want is another set of priorities to rise to the top, when it is not easy to do so.
We do not want to refight the fight between the city and the library district over the central library’s location. Picking at that scar doesn’t do anybody any good. It is, though, very similar in location and argument.
When we quizzed library staff about the first location, they told us they looked all over Bend. They looked at acreage, they looked at availability and they looked at cost and the land not far from the headquarters of the Deschutes County’s Sheriff’s Office was the best spot. Bend City Councilors had other ideas. Without going deep into it, we all know the library is going up in a different location and even that is not quite the right place for some.
An argument for the original library location — or the children’s museum location — is that it would be easily accessible by road from other places in the county and Â鶹°æ¿ñì Oregon. That is true. It does not fit into a vision of a Bend that is walkable.
So, yes, something will be lost if the children’s museum goes where it is now planned. It’s a trade off, as so many things are. If you have a great, new, low-cost idea of how to make it easy for anchor businesses or nonprofits to locate smack in the middle of Bend, city planners would be all ears.
Let’s focus on helping the nonprofit raise that money to make the dream real, but keep brainstorming on ways to keep Bend from losing its center.
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin's editorial board: Publisher Heidi Wright; Editor Jody Lawrence-Turner; Editor Tim Trainor and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe. Contact: rcoe@bendbulletin.com
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin's editorial board:
Publisher Heidi Wright; Editor Jody Lawrence-Turner; Editor Tim
Trainor and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by
Richard Coe. Contact: rcoe@bendbulletin.com
The library and now children's museum have biased their search criteria from the start. They both think and enormous surface parking lot is necessary which eliminates any centrally located spots from the get go.
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The library and now children's museum have biased their search criteria from the start. They both think and enormous surface parking lot is necessary which eliminates any centrally located spots from the get go.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.