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Bend Chamber Weekly E-News
April 10, 2008
By
Courtney Linville,
Communications Coordinator
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Chamber
members enjoy fresh powder at Mt
Bachelor Chamber Day
As the snow swirled gently to the slopes
of Mt. Bachelor Wednesday morning, Bend
Chamber members gathered together to not
only enjoy a great day of skiing, but
also learn more about the plans for the
ski resort.
Many Chamber members were excited at another
opportunity to ski for the day. “I think
it’s awesome,” said Brooke Garcia, Bank
of the Cascades. “It’s a great excuse to
get up here and network with others who
are involved with the Chamber.”
With 30 members in attendance, the event was another
huge success. President and General
Manager Matt Janney said similar events
have happened with other area chambers.
“We want
to get everyone up here so they can be a
part of Mt. Bachelor,” he said.
Janney announced plans for capital improvements, a
switch to green power, and future plans
for Mt. Bachelor.
Mt. Bachelor’s parent company, Powder Corp, will invest
$3.4 million in improvements this year.
Some of the improvements include lift
maintenance, new snow groomers, upgrades
to the downtown parking lot, a new bus,
and a master plan.
Around $500,000 will be spent on lift maintenance to
get the system into a more proactive
schedule. “And
that’s where we want to be,” Janney
said. “We want to be ahead of the game
and replacing parts before they break.”
He noted parts will still break due to
the tremendous weather conditions the
mountain sees, but that is just part of
running a ski resort.
As of June 1, Mt. Bachelor will switch to renewable
energy, purchasing over 7 million
kilowatt hours. Janney said this will
help to reduce the carbon footprint the
resort has on the area.
“It’s the smart thing to do,” he said. “I’d like to see
my kids ski here in the future. I don’t
want them to have to go to Colorado
because there isn’t snow here.”
Mt. Bachelor is also working on a master development
plan for the next five to fifteen years.
A resort designing company out of
British Columbia is developing several
concepts for Bachelor. Janney hopes to
have two or three concept plans by next
winter. He plans to have public input on
new plans for Mt. Bachelor.
“It’s not just our vision, but it needs to be the
community vision,” said Janney. “We need
(the public’s) ideas on where we will go
in the future.”
For those members who missed a chance to ski on
Wednesday, Mt. Bachelor will have a free
ski day on April 11. For a minimum of
three cans of food, skiers will receive
an all day lift ticket. All donations
will go to help Neighbor Impact.
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Winners
Announced at Chamber Annual Recognition
Dinner
Title Sponsors
 While waiting to hear the winners
named at the Bend Chamber Annual
Recognition Dinner, the suspense
mounted as the crowd was guided
 through intergalactic obstacles by the
Star Trek Dinner Ship Enterprise’s
intrepid crew. From a hard turn around
Juniper Ridge to BAT buses appearing on
sonar to an over-eating Spock, it was an
exciting journey.
Les and Judy Alford received the Citizens of the Year
award. Les is a firm believer in
affordable housing and has spent much of
his time working with Habitat for
Humanity in various positions. A veteran
himself, Les drives local veterans
monthly to Portland in the VA van to
receive medical care.
With her fluency in Spanish and her kind heart, Judy
has volunteered for years as an
interpreter at the Healthy Start
facility for prenatal mothers and
various other clinics and facilities.
She is also a huge supporter health care
and has been active with St. Charles
auxiliary and Volunteers in Medicine.
The couple has also led several humanitarian relief
expeditions to Cuba and Guatemala. The
award was presented by Clella Thomas via
video, who won the award last year.
Chamber Members also voted Pine Tavern Restaurant as
Large Distinguished Business of the
Year, Eastlake Framing as Small
Distinguished Business of the Year, and
Deschutes Children’s Foundation as
Organization of the Year.
For more details on the winners and this event, check
out next month’s Business Journal.
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Bend named
great place to live by Fortune
Small Business
Fortune Small Business
magazine recently named Bend as one of
the best places in America to live and
start a small business. The rankings
also included Portland, Corvallis, and
Eugene.
Editors looked at a vast range of criteria including
housing prices, schools, cultural and
recreational attractions, quality of the
labor force, taxes, and climate. Several
reporters were assigned to interview
different business owners, economic
experts, and local officials to paint
true pictures of the area.
The list was then narrowed down and created to show the
top 100 metro areas which had the best
blend of business and pleasure. Bend was
ranked 87th.
The Northwest was very well represented with Bellevue,
Boise, Bellingham, Olympia, Missoula,
Spokane, and Coeur d’Alene also making
the list. Bellevue was listed as number
one.
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SDC
Methodology Report Available
The methodology report for the
Transportation System Development Charge
(SDC) is now available. At this time,
Deschutes County is looking at
implementing a Transportation SDC to
help fill the loss of over $3 million
from the Secure Rural Schools and
Community Self Determination Act (timber
receipts). The county has used this
money since 2000 for road improvement
projects.
The proposed SDC will be a fee charged only to new
development that generates increased
traffic on roads in unincorporated areas
of the County. The fee will help pay for
road projects that reduce the impacts
caused by new development.
The report is available online at
www.deschutes.org under quick links.
Hard copies are also available through
the Deschutes County Road Department at
61150 27th Street, Bend or
call 388-6581.
A public hearing is scheduled for May 28 at 10 a.m. to
hear comments on the proposed SDC. If
you cannot attend the meeting, but wish
to comment, send your written comments
to:
Tom Blust, Director
Deschutes County Road Department
61150 27th Street
Bend, OR 97701
tomb@deschutes.org
All written
comments must be received 4:00 p.m. on
May 23 to be considered.
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City of Bend Paving Update
Due to
winter storm damage, the City of Bend
Public Works Division will be working on
major road repairs. Two of the areas
that will receive repairs include SW
Century Drive and SW Simpson.
On April 16, paving will begin at 7 a.m. on SW Century
Drive from the round about at Simpson
and Century Drive to SW Donovan and
Century Drive. Business access on
Century Drive will be limited. Detours,
traffic control signals, and flaggers
will be in place. Please be aware until
the asphalt is cool enough for traffic,
the south bound leg of the round about
leading to Century Drive at 14th/Simpson
will be closed.
On April 17, paving will commence for SW Simpson from
the round about at SW 14th
and Simpson to SW Columbia and Simpson.
Paving will begin at 7 a.m. Traffic
control signs and flaggers will be on
hand to help guide motorists.
To avoid any of these areas, please plan your route
accordingly.
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Come to the
Entrepreneurial Council’s Peer
Feedback Workshop
The Peer
Feedback Workshop will help to equip you
with effective tools and ideas to
implement into your business practices.
This week Abby Voluse from Elite Repeat,
an upscale, resale clothing store, and
Juan Fernandez of Merchant Services will
present their business models. The
expert for this week’s event will be
Beth Wickham of COCC’s Business
Development Center.
If you are new to the Chamber, new to small business,
or are looking for some new ideas,
please come and join us. It’s a great
place to network with your peers. No
preparation or materials are necessary
to attend this workshop. You are even
welcome to contribute ideas for others.
The Entrepreneurial Council Peer Feedback Workshop will
take place on April 11 at Central
Oregon Home Health and Hospice.
Breakfast is sponsored by Jones & Roth,
CPA’s. The workshop begins at 8:00 a.m.
with presentations starting at 8:10 a.m.
Are you interested? Call the Chamber today at 382-3221.
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Upcoming
Chamber
events .
April
15, 2008: Professional Development
Series -
“The Art of Negotiation”, featuring
speaker Jim Dover of The Partners
Group. Jim comes highly recommended
both as a speaker as well as a very
effective negotiator. Some of you may
recognize him as having been the long
time VP of HR at St. Charles, a role
that obviously carried varying degrees
of negotiation, conflict resolution,
listening skills and much more. Register
online
HERE or call the Bend Chamber
at 382-3221.
April 18, 2008: Community Affairs Council Town Hall
Luncheon-Bend Metro Park and
Recreation-Don Horton,
Executive Director of Bend Parks
and Rec, and
his Board
Chair
will discuss the new community park and
district office building. They will talk
about SDCs and
how they work, the pursuit of
their new building, the Pine Nursery
Project, and how they plan to operate
the new ball fields. The CAC Town Hall
luncheons are held at Touchmark at Mount
Bachelor Village in the Terrace Lodge
Forum Theater from noon to 1:30 p.m. To
attend the CAC Town Hall luncheon
series, register online at
www.bendchamber.org or
call Lindi to reserve your spot at
382-3221.
April 24, 2008: Community First Bank proudly
presents the tenth annual Central Oregon
Business Expo. The Business Expo is
Central Oregon’s premiere
business-to-business networking event of
the year; featuring an informative
kick-off luncheon, free business
workshops, and the opportunity to
discover the region’s growing business
community all under one roof in one day.
The event will take place at the
Deschutes County Expo Center from 1 p.m.
to 6 p.m. with a Kick-off Luncheon from
11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event is free
to attend. Booth space is still
available. For more information go to
www.visitredmondoregon.com.
May
6: Green Dividend for Companies and
Cities: Seeing Green for Going Green
- How does investing in sustainability
affect a company's bottom line? How do
investments in environmental and social
initiatives impact competitiveness,
market share, profitability and share
price performance? Hear from experts
about how companies and cities are
reaping a "green dividend" from their
sustainability investments. Pierre
Trivet from Innovest Strategic Value
Advisors will discuss the financial
performance of sustainable businesses.
Economist Joe Cortwright will describe
his recent study that calculates the
returns accrued when cities invest in
green infrastructure, land use planning,
and related policies. Register online at
www.oeconline.org or Contact Cheryl
at 503-222-1963 x100. The event will
take place at the St. Charles Learning
Center from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Breakfast
will be included.
Sponsored by Oregon Environmental
Council, reSource, and the Bend
Chamber.
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