The city of Bend plans to crack down on downtown parking scofflaws by boosting fines for repeat offenders. The city council voted last week to jack up fines by as much as four times for repeat violators who are caught abusing the two hours of free parking by hopscotching around downtown parking spaces. The practice has drawn the attention of the city council, which has invested millions of dollars into the downtown parking garage to free up spaces for customers along the streets and in the remaining surface lots.

Under the proposed system, parking offenders would see their fines increase over the course of the year as they rack up parking tickets. Anyone with five or more violations would see their parking tickets double, from $22 to $44. Those with more than 10 violations would see their tickets triple to $66 and those with 15 or more violations would see their fines go from $22 to $88 per ticket.

Innovation Theatre to Open Bend Playhouse

With the fate of 2nd Street Theater still up in the air (although there are rumors of a potential buyer for the location,) there’s some good news to be had in the local theater world with the announcement last week that Innovation Theatre Works will be opening a theater facility.

Most know Innovation for their productions of Driving Miss Daisy and the Frank Sinatra tribute My Way, both of which were performed at the Tower Theatre.

Located on the south end of town near the intersection of Reed Market and Division Street (just east of Highway 97), the facility will include a performance space that can seat 175-190 people, a lobby, dressing rooms and offices.

Innovation plans for the space to be more than a place for local theatrical presentations, expecting to hold sketch comedy performances, open mics and other events. This is in addition to the educational programs Innovation hopes to bring to their new spot.

Sitting in a wood-and-canvas director’s chair at the front of a mostly full room at the Central Oregon Environmental Center last night, former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury introduced his campaign for governor to Bend.

Wearing a suit with a red shirt and blue tie – prototypical candidate attire – and with the Segueway he uses to get around due to his multiple sclerosis leaning against the front wall, Bradbury spoke to and fielded questions from 60-some members of the Deschutes Democrats.

It’s been five plus years in the making and it’s apparently going to be at least a few more months – if not years – before the proposed urban growth boundary expansion in Bend is finalized. The city got the formal rejection letter earlier this week from state land use regulators at the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) whose staff had long voiced skepticism about the scope of Bend’s proposed urban expansion. In its 156-page rejection letter, or ‘remand’ in planning speak, DLCD said that while an expansion of Bend’s urban area is merited given the growth patterns (another 40,000 residents are expected in the city over the next 20 years) the current proposal from city staff is simply too big – four square miles too big by DLCD’s calculations. In addition to the city’s proposed land expansion, DLCD staff also sent the city back to the drawing board for its accompanying facilities plan.

After years of mounting complaints into the practices of its local office and regional manager in Bend, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) released last week the findings of a Department of Justice investigation in the Bend OLCC office.

The 39-page report, which was accompanied by a three-page letter from OLCC Director Stephen Pharo stopped short of condemning the agency’s conduct, but singled the regional manager, Jason Evers, who was not named in the report for criticism. Among other things the report said that customers, as OLCC refers to its regulatory charges, were intimidated by OLCC staff whom licensees viewed as “vindictive” and inconsistent when applying licensing standards.