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Bend Chamber Weekly
October 23, 2009
By Courtney Linville, Communications Coordinator
This Week's Highlights
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Downtown Parking Discussion Delayed
The discussion on a proposal to stop free parking in Mirror Pond parking lots has been temporarily postponed by officials due to a petition signed by 50 downtown business owners.
Downtown business owners that signed the petition are worried about losing customers if the free parking is taken away. "The healthy retail environment downtown will be negatively impacted by charging our potential customers to park," wrote Roberta Johnson of Sports Vision Inc. in the petition. "Do not take away any competitive advantage we have in doing business in downtown Bend."
The city installed electronic parking payment kiosks in the Mirror Pond lots last summer. The original plan was to have customers pay from the time they park so there was no free parking period. However, the city decided to leave the "first 2 hour free" parking in the lots due to the economy.
City officials now say business owners and employees are abusing the system by parking in lots meant for customers and only paying a few dollars. In the issue summary, city staff stated "the parking abuse we are experiencing of the Mirror Pond parking lots is directly related to the 'first 2 hour free parking' and is almost exclusively attributed to employee and business owner parking behaviors that manipulate the system."
The issue of free parking was to be discussed at Wednesday's Bend City Council work session, but officials decided to delay discussion of the issue until they could speak with business owners.
In the petition, Johnson suggested the city look at raising fees for repeat offenders or open up a lot for free employee parking, rather than charging customers. "Eliminating the two-hour free parking will not solve the move-to evade problems by employees we experience in the corridor today," she wrote. "Offending employees will move to the on-street parking spaces and the residential (parking areas) further stressing customer parking options and residents of our surrounding neighborhoods."
According to city staff, downtown employees have the option of to purchase parking permits for the city's parking garage or other designated employee parking areas located in the downtown area.
The parking issue will probably come before the city council again in another month. |
City Council Highlights
Council looks at Federal Legislative Agenda: The Bend City Council started looking at its legislative priorities on Wednesday evening. City Manager Eric King proposed a list of seven items to the councilors hoping to narrow done the choices to the top three or four. The items on the list include the following: Surface Water Infrastructure Improvements, Wastewater Infrastructure, Mirror Pond, Murphy Overcrossing, Hwy 97/Cooley North end transportation, wildfire in the watershed solutions, and Airport Infrastructure. King said the federal earmarking process begins in January and he wants to start educating Oregon's delegation now. Councilors questioned different portions of the list, but ultimately decided to keep the list of seven intact. "I think it is ok to have this much stuff on the list as long as we know what the priorities are within the list," said Councilor Jeff Eager. Councilor Jodie Barram echoed those sentiments saying it's better to have some diversity for the delegation to work with. City staff will now develop the marketing piece to help councilors talk with the delegation as well as the community.
Open Line to Continue in 2010: The Bend City Council's Open Line will continue in 2010, but will have a slightly different format. Over the past year, the council held the events quarterly to interact with citizens. Due to attendance at some of the events, staff and council agree there should be at least two events per year during the regular work sessions at City Hall. Councilors did agree they need to remain open for other events sponsored by community groups. King stated in that situation, requests would be taken upon demand and the group would need to make sure there would be enough people in attendance to maximize councilors and city staff's time. He also pointed out the council might want to consider holding special forums to hear from the public on weighty issues. |
Town Hall Recap
Last Friday's Town Hall Forum entitled "Focusing on Business" allowed Chamber members the opportunity to speak with Keith Dubanevich, Special Counsel to Oregon Attorney General John Kroger about what the Attorney General's office is doing to help businesses grow in Oregon, resources that will soon be available to business, and accessibility for businesses. This interactive forum had questions ranging from streamlining rules for public contracts to advisory committees and the relationship between the Department of Justice and local District Attorneys to small business kits to making Oregon a business friendly state.
Listed below are just a few questions asked at Town Hall with abbreviated answers:
Question: You touched on the fact that there is discussion in Salem to remove obstacles and invest in business. However, you don't want to interfere with the current tax schedule. Many businesses are faced with the choices of letting employees go or eating. The state must recognize having employees self-sufficient is preferable to draining other resources. Is there short-term tax relief for business owners who retain employees or hire new employees for jobs?
Dubanevich: Yes, I agree, but how do you fund it? An employee with a job is a much bigger boon to the state. How do you fund the incentive to keep them employed? There is no money in Salem to fund that. The legislature is looking to get money from the Federal Government to do this. There are some projects that are experimental and we are trying to see how this works. I think it should be part of the federal government's obligations. It's not just a state issue, it's a federal issue.
Question: You mentioned the creation of a Small Business Kit ... there are often a lot of groups working on different things which can cross purposes. Oregon also has a lot of laws that are not pro-business. What is happening to bring people together in Salem to make Oregon a more attractive location for small business?
Dubanevich: To be honest very little. The Governor's office has tried a few times. I'm not aware of a process like that right now in the state. What we are doing is reaching out to entities and state agencies that have the biggest interplay with business. Agencies include the Secretary of State, Revenue, Bureau of Labor and Industry, Department of Consumer and Business Services, etc. We have good relationships and we are trying to work together to create a small business start up kit. If the governor's office won't lead the charge, we will.
Question: Does your office offer suggestions to small business on what to do to protect ourselves?
Dubanevich: No, that's what our office should be doing.
Question: When does small business come for help? When do we come to you and say,"there is no another place to go?"
Dubanevich: Right now there is no one at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to help small business. To get a lawyer to help small business, we would have to ask the legislature for funds to hire another lawyer. You should be able to pick-up a phone; however, we can't provide legal advice to a small business owner. We do have the knowledge base to help the small business owner find the right trail. Business owners often don't know where to turn and there are a lot of resources out there, but it takes time to find the trails.
Question: What is the relationship between the DOJ and the local District Attorney's offices? How do they work together?
Dubanevich: The relationship between DOJ and DA's is quite good. He is proud to have a good working relationship with them and works closely with them. Kroger is a member of the Oregon DA Association and attends their meetings. DA's refer cases to DOJ because of conflict of interest. We also provide surveillance, investigation, and analytical assistance. The largest amount of the criminal justice budget is helping communities that aren't large. Most time is spent working in smaller communities that don't have half a dozen assistant DA's. We have a team of lawyers that travel trying aggravated murder cases. DOJ also provides assistance on complicated cases like financial and internet crimes.
Question: Are all parts of the state represented on your Business Advisory Committee?
Dubanevich: The committee is made up of a diverse group of industries, construction, etc. We are not as geographically diverse as we like. It's hard to convince people that traveling to Portland or Salem is a useful expenditure of their time. We also don't want the group to be overly large.
Question: You talk about small business being an engine that encourages doors to be opened, and places that have good ideas. Is the Business Advisory Committee predominately large business?
Dubanevich: Yes. We reach out to small businesses by doing community meetings like this. As a consequence, we are coming to the small business people rather than them having to spend the time coming to us. |
Get your Blitz Update!
October marks the Bend Chamber's first Annual Membership Drive. The Bend Chamber Board of Directors is in competition with the Ambassador Council to see which team can develop the most new memberships. As of Thursday, October 22, the Ambassador Council is leading the membership drive 5 to 1.
Both teams will be featured, along with the results, on the cover of the December Business Journal. To keep things interesting and to provide a bit of inspiration, the losing team will be required to dress up in costume for the photo.
The 2010 Preferred Business Guide will be wrapped up by the first part of November. It's important for new members to get signed up by the end of October to ensure they are listed in the annual guide. As an additional incentive, we are waving the setup fee for all new members this month.
If you would like to help a business become a member and be included in the Preferred Business Guide, please call or email Greg Ford at 382-3221 or greg@bendchamber.org. |
Deschutes County sees Increase in Unemployment Rate
Crook and Deschutes counties saw an increase in unemployment rates in September while Jefferson County saw a decrease in rates. Crook County's unemployment rate increased to 19.7 percent while Jefferson County's unemployment rate decreased to 15.9 percent.
Deschutes County's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 15.9 percent. This is a 0.4 percentage point increase from August's 15.5 percent.
The county typically sees losses of over 650 jobs this time of year. "The county lost 1,590 jobs in September, which is more than expected this time of year," stated a recent State of Oregon Employment Department release.
The greatest job losses for Deschutes County were in leisure and hospitality; professional and business services; retail trade; and manufacturing. Some industries did see job gains in the private sector. These included education and health services and information. |
In the News
Deschutes Market Overcrossing Update: Construction crews will move traffic from the temporary bypass road onto the new alignment of the Deschutes Market Overcrossing project starting Monday, October 26 and running through Thursday, October 29. Construction hours of operation will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday of next week. Traffic will be impacted during this phase of the project and drivers can expect delays of up to 20 minutes during construction and should use alternate routes where possible. During the transition, traffic will be directed onto the roadway constructed east of the railroad tracks only and no traffic will be allowed over the new railroad overpass at this time. Vehicles will still be required to use the existing at-grade railroad crossing until the entire project is open to the public.
Talk of the Town - CANCER: Healing & Hope in the High Desert: What treatment options are available locally? Is there hope in cancer becoming more manageable (similar to handling chronic illness)? What happens when one is newly diagnosed? What is it like for the families? How do you talk with someone who has just received the news or is undergoing treatment? How does one seek support when faced with the challenges of cancer? So many questions surround this experience, as do just as many stories...of survivorship, encouragement, inspiration & more. Please join us for a special lunchtime taping of Talk of the Town discussing all things related to cancer from a local perspective. Talk of the Town will take place on October 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Cascade Theatrical Company (CTC). This event is open to the public and is free to attend. To RSVP email talk@bendbroadband.com or call 388-5814.
Oregon Ranks in Top 5 for Wind Energy: A report released by the American Wind Energy Association shows Oregon was number 5 in the top states for wind energy. According to the report, the state has the capacity to generate 1,659 megawatts of power from wind turbines. That is enough energy to power about 480,000 homes. Other states included in the top 5 for wind energy are: Texas, Iowa, California, and Minnesota. Oregon also added 251 megawatts of capacity in the third quarter. The state ranked second in new wind power added. |
Upcoming Events
October 27 - Business Showcase/Business After Hours - Bend Golf & Country Club - Would you like to have your business "showcased" at a Business After Hours? Then you should sign up for the Business Showcase! Once a year, the Bend Chamber offers this opportunity for businesses to co-host a Business After Hours. These extremely successful events "showcase" businesses that would often otherwise be unable to "host" a networking event due to the size of their facilities. This event provides great visibility as well as an opportunity to highlight your products and services while networking one-on-one with potential new clients. The cost for members to host a space is $150. We have just a few booths available, so if you are interested in the details of participating, please contact Chris Boyle at chris@bendchamber.org or call 382-3221.
| Economic Forecast Breakfast is brought to by: |
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| November 9 - Economic Forecast Breakfast - Mark your calendars to join fellow Chamber members for this breakfast. You will hear from Dr. Tom Potiowsky, Oregon State Economist, about our economic outlook for 2010. "Tom brings superb skills to this critical position in state government, as well as great professional integrity and discipline," said Governor Ted Kulongoski. "The state economist helps determine the revenue outlook for the state, so we must enlist the help of an impartial analyst we can all trust. Tom has earned that trust." - Oregon Department of Administrative Services. Potiowsky served as state economist for six years until 2006, when he returned to Portland State University to teach economics and pursue the establishment of an economic and business research center. Potiowsky returned to being Oregon's state economist in January 2008 and we are lucky to have him join us again this year as he forecasts our local, state, and national outlook for 2010. Corporate Tables are $595 and include 10 seats, priority location, name in the program, and the company logo on the table signage. Individual seats (open seating, not reserved) are available at $45. To register, go to www.bendchamber.org/efb. |
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