Bill Buchanan, a local attorney and vocal opponent of the City's Surface Water Improvement Plan (SWIP), has floated a draft proposal to City Council that (if adopted) would halt the construction of the Bridge Creek Pipeline pending a continuing legal challenge. Buchanan, who says he is not representing either of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit recently dismissed by a federal judge—Central Oregon LandWatch and WaterWatch of Oregon—asserts that continuing to take on debt or spend taxpayer money under the looming threat of a successful appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court risks stranding valuable City assets. Will the SWIP drama continue? The Jan. 33 City Council meeting may be one worth watching from home.
Gov. John Kitzhaber recently named Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney, whose list of extracurriculars reads like the class valedictorian's, chair of the Oregon Transportation Commission. (Does she sleep? We're not sure.) She replaces Catherine Mater, who was summarily dismissed just two days prior to Baney's January 15 appointment. (Awkward.) Baney has served on the commission since 2011. Here's hoping that her leadership results in some financial fuel for the region's anemic public transit system.
On a lighter note: La Pine-based company Turbo Pup successfully pitched its canine energy bars on a recent episode of "Shark Tank," netting an investor. This wasn't the company's first success. It has previously received a $1,000 Women Veteran Entrepreneur Corps Award and a $25,000 award from Citi and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University. But a burning question remains unanswered. Now that dogs have their own beer and energy bars, what's next—bone-shaped blunts?
