The ballot description is very different from the plans exhibited by the engineering department this winter. The worst plan is Reed Market Road. All east-west traffic will be pushed onto an already overloaded arterial. A better option would have been an improved Murphy Road (with R.R. Bridge) from the Parkway to 27th [street] to draw away more traffic from Reed Market Road.
We as taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill for growth.
This is the new wise Bend City Council? When will they learn that growth should pay for itself. Are they warming us up to bear more and more of the burden of the council's mistakes, [including] throwing away money on a rotten city hall site and Juniper Ridge?
Again, vote "No" and spread the word. We don't think people understand the nature of what the city is asking for.
- Barbara McAusland, Bend
Editor's note: Infrastructure First is a local grass-roots group focused on requiring developers and builders to pay a greater share of the costs of growth, before that growth is allowed to occur. The author is a petitioner for the group, which seeks to put its idea to voters in the form of a ballot measure.
