Envision Bend asked the city of Bend Monday for $80,000 to help find out what people in Bend think their community should be doing and identify ways to get there.
The request doesn’t fit neatly within the city’s goals, but it’s not like it’s outside the city’s goals, either.
Councilors are going to have to decide if they want to support it or not.
We should be upfront that The Bulletin is a partner of Envision Bend and is helping to get the word out about what it is doing.
Envision Bend has raised $135,000. The city has already given it $50,000 and the county has given it $25,000. The additional $80,000 from the city would not go to paying Envision Bend’s one staff member’s salary or for its operations. It would go to helping it complete this visioning project.
The challenge is really that Envision Bend can’t promise the city that the feedback it gets from the community will match up with the city’s goals. We all know, though, that there are certain things that people in the community will almost certainly say that Bend needs to work on, such as housing affordability. That’s a goal for the city, too.
But there may be areas that there is a need in the community that Envision Bend identifies that are not a clear goal for the city. One area might be mental health. Community mental health is in large part the responsibility of the county health department, not the city. Would it be so terrible if Envision Bend took $80,000 from the city and identified ways to improve community mental health? We don’t think so.
Another issue is how else the city could spend that $80,000. There is no end of options that councilors or you could dream up that would fit more comfortably within city goals.
What do you think councilors should do? You can email them at council@bendoregon.gov. There is more information about Envision Bend at envisionbend.org.
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'The challenge is really that Envision Bend can’t promise the city that the feedback it gets from the community will match up with the city’s goals.'
Assuming the inquiries are reasonable for local governance, seems fine. If they go on a tangent about national energy policy, then yeah, a waste of local money.
Which consulting firm / friend of the City Council will get the money? Sure, it doesn't pay "SALARY" but a visioning project will have plenty of fingers in the pie. This is an important question but we all assume it will go unanswered as the city hands off $80k ADDITIONAL taxpayer money.
Print the budget of Envision Bend if you are asking for the public's money. Show the investor/partner contributions and the governing rules, their website doesn't, or at least not in an easy-to-find way. Otherwise it seems like another big business lobbying organization looking out for realtors, developers and those that depend on them.
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'The challenge is really that Envision Bend can’t promise the city that the feedback it gets from the community will match up with the city’s goals.'
Assuming the inquiries are reasonable for local governance, seems fine. If they go on a tangent about national energy policy, then yeah, a waste of local money.
Which consulting firm / friend of the City Council will get the money? Sure, it doesn't pay "SALARY" but a visioning project will have plenty of fingers in the pie. This is an important question but we all assume it will go unanswered as the city hands off $80k ADDITIONAL taxpayer money.
Print the budget of Envision Bend if you are asking for the public's money. Show the investor/partner contributions and the governing rules, their website doesn't, or at least not in an easy-to-find way. Otherwise it seems like another big business lobbying organization looking out for realtors, developers and those that depend on them.
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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.