Category: Local

The Bulletin has an RSS feed. Naturally, it only has their free stories (which means there are only four in the feed right now), but it’s better than nothing. I have no idea how long it’s been up and functional, though I know I did try it yesterday and it wasn’t validating properly so my feedreader wasn’t able to open it (that appears to have been resolved now).

So I guess I’ll have to quit using Jon’s scrapped together feed. And if you’re looking for feeds from other local media outlets, I’ve got several linked here.

If you haven’t seen Fyreflyte, the flame-throwing performance troupe that performs many Fridays evenings, you’re missing out. It’s quite the show. A member of the group has a family member that was in an ugly accident, so this Friday they’re putting on a fundraiser. Read all about it here.

As somebody who has had the community of this site (the meager community I had back in the day) support me when I had my surgery, I’m hoping that their community will come up and support them.

I’m sure we all remember SnarkyBend, the anonymous blogger who was constantly poking fun at KTVZ, KFXO and other media and locals in general. He was a voice for free speech in the area, basically saying some of the things we’ve all really thought, and I always supported him/her/it. It was always an entertaining read, but whoever was running it quit posting content quite a while ago, and the blog is now officially gone, replaced with a spam-blog.

Snarky, are you still out there? Care to share what happened to you? If you need another place to post your rants, you’ve welcome to an account here anytime.

You can still read excepts from his posts over at the BendBlogs.com archive.

The proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter on the north end of Bend has a ton of opposition (and folks who don’t like Wal-Mart, but don’t like the opposition), to the point where Wal-Mart had to appeal to the State Land Use Board of Appeals. The biggest roadblock was how Wal-Mart was going to handle traffic at the already clogged Cooley Rd. and Hwy. 97 intersection (their land is on that corner). What always confused me, however, is how it seemed that Wal-Mart was wholly responsible for traffic restructuring in that area, despite the other large tenants in the area and the City of Bend’s Juniper Ridge project right across the highway, which, upon completion, promises just as many traffic problems. Now that the City has its first planned tenant (the corporate headquarters for Les Schwab Tires), Wal-Mart has a legitimate beef. Is the tire giant going to have to pay to help traffic issues in the area? The City of Bend worked their tails off to get Les Schwab to move to Juniper Ridge, and (from what I can tell) is giving Les Schwab a free pass (I know Les and co’ won’t have nearly the traffic flow). From what I can tell, the City is requiring a lot more work out of Wal-Mart. Both companies are going to provide a bunch of jobs and tax dollars to the area (obviously Wal-Mart’s will be lesser paying — I won’t argue with that). But how much is the city planning on paying for improvement there versus what they’re asking of Wal-Mart and some of their preferred tenants? Yes, Wal-Mart a massive company with a buttload of money, but is it fair to pin everything on them?

Discuss.