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9/6 Ribbon Cutting ~ Contours Express
   
9/10 10th Annual Chamber Member Invitational Golf Tournament *SOLD OUT
   
9/11 Ribbon Cutting ~ KOHD-TV ABC ~ New Studios
   
9/12 Professional Development Series ~ Business Plan Bonanza
   
9/13 Ribbon Cutting ~ Umpqua Bank, Northwest Crossing
   
9/14 Entrepreneurial Council ~ Peer Feedback Workshop
   
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9/18 Nonprofit Council
   
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9/18 Ribbon Cutting ~ College Excel
   
9/19 Young Professionals Network of Central Oregon
   
9/20 Ribbon Cutting ~ The Bethlehem Inn Homeless Shelter
   
9/21 Good Morning Bend ~ South Valley Bank
   
9/25 Ribbon Cutting ~ Neos Personal Training Studio
   
9/26 Business After Hours ~ Economic Development for Central Oregon
   
9/27 Bend Chamber Board of Directors Meeting
   
9/27 Ribbon Cutting ~ River Canyon Estates
   
9/28 Entrepreneurial Council ~ "Are You Ready-"
   
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Bend Chamber
777 NW Wall St, Ste 200
Bend, OR 97701

Phone: (541) 382-3221
Fax: (541) 385-9929
Email:info@bendchamber.org
www.bendchamber.org

Bend Chamber Weekly E-News
Aug 30 2007
By Jeff Nielson

Long-awaited Bend “one-stop” permit center to open

     Responding to criticism from the development community that it takes too long to navigate the building permit process, the city of Bend on Sept. 4 will open a new “one-stop” development permit center at City Hall. Planning and engineering services now will be in the same location on the first floor of City Hall across from Building Services. Hours will be weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Phone numbers remain the same. The permit center will provide services such as general information for planning, engineering and building; acceptance of planning, engineering and building-related permits and applications and access to public records for review. More information is available on the city’s Web site,  www.ci.bend.or.us.

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Bend Airport runway work to accelerate

     A standing-room-only crowd, most workers from airport-based businesses, packed the Deschutes County Commission meeting Wednesday to urge commissioners to allow construction crews to work at any hour of the day or night instead of concluding noisy work at 10 p.m. Because of safety issues regarding planes taking off and landing and crews working around the runway, the airport has been closing at 4 p.m. each weekday. It now will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. The general contractor on the project said work was falling behind because of restrictions on when men and machinery could operate. The new, longer airport and other improvements now are scheduled to be completed before winter weather hits this year.

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Group takes aim at tobacco tax for health care

     State Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, and a coalition of tobacco consumers and retailers have filed a lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court about Measure 50, which tentatively is scheduled to be on the November statewide ballot. The lawsuit names Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, and claims the measure violates the Oregon Constitution on several issues. The main argument is the measure violates the separate vote of the constitution by having one vote cover taxes on cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. Altria Corporate Services, a division of the parent company that owns Philip Morris USA is paying legal fees. Measure 50 would increase cigarette taxes by 84.5 cents per pack and other tobacco taxes to fund the “Healthy Kids Program,” created by this year’s Legislature to provide affordable health care for uninsured children. If Measure 50 fails at the polls, such increased health care won’t happen.

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Does rising employment mean easier hiring? Apparently not

     Last week’s survey question was, "Has Deschutes County’s increasing unemployment rate made it any easier to hire needed employees?" Respondents don’t think so, for the most part. Some comments:
     “Amazingly, despite the county’s increasing unemployment rate, it is all but impossible to find qualified, willing, dependable workers in many job categories. Particularly in production-level positions, for which passing a drug test is often a requirement, there is a desperate shortage of applicants and acceptable new hires. … Since there is no shortage of jobs, one would be tempted to conclude that the unemployed are unemployed by choice.”
     “We still are struggling daily with the lack of workers – caregivers for the elderly in our case. We are just not seeing any break, even though we have added health insurance and retirement benefits. We are frustrated that we cannot fill the need for a lot of our seniors in need of the quality care we provide.”
     “We haven’t seen a change.”

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Legislative Council, PAC opportunities available

     The next Legislative Council Breakfast will be held at 7 a.m. Friday, Sept. 14 at Bend Golf & Country Club. If interested, contact Lindi at the Chamber, 382-3221 or lindi@bendchamber.org. Also, the Bend Business PAC is gearing up to ensure candidates in next year’s Bend City Council race understand business issues. If interested in joining the PAC or contributing to it, email  jeff@bendchamber.org.

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Mark your calendar for these coming events

     There are no more golfing spots, but a few sponsorships still are available for the Bend Chamber’s Member Invitational golf tournament, scheduled for Sept. 10 at Bend Golf & Country Club. If interested, call the Chamber at 382-3221 or email gayle@bendchamber.org.
     From 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 4, a partnership of the Bend Chamber, the Central Oregon Builders Association and HousingWorks will host a breakfast at Bend Golf & Country Club to discuss solutions to Bend’s need for workforce housing, defined as rental or ownership housing affordable to area workers based on salaries paid in an individual community. Thanks to COBA, this breakfast will cost only $15. To reserve your spot, go to  www.bendchamber.org/Housing or call the Chamber at 382-3221.
     Plans are moving forward rapidly for the first Project Homeless Connect day at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds on Oct. 13. Volunteers and local non-profits will be on hand that day helping an estimated 1,500 homeless persons in Central Oregon gain access to food, medical and personal care, and on-site services that provide self-sufficiency support to break the cycle in each of the nine basic root causes of poverty. (You can read about these at  www.copartnership.org There will be teen services and child care provided.  A general list of the services is posted at  www.cohomeless.org.

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This week’s survey question 

     Would you support an 84.5 cent increase in cigarette taxes to expand health care for uninsured children? Please email your responses to: jeff@bendchamber.org.

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