You can tell I’ve been busy these last few days: I’ve got a number of things to write about but haven’t had the time to until now. These next couple of things are about articles that appeared in the Bulletin.
First: 7-story hotel planned for downtown. This, of course, will be literally right next to the five-story parking garage. I’m a little ambivalent about this. I don’t necessarily think it’s bad for downtown Bend, but does it have to be a seven-story monstrosity? Plus, it’ll turn into a cost-overrun, logistical nightmare typical of recent downtown development.
To be fair, though, the city has yet to approve the application. We all know that that’s just a formality, though, right?
And the plan is to put a swimming pool on the sixth floor. Uh, okay. I know I sure wouldn’t want any room directly beneath several thousand tons of water suspended 55 feet or so above the ground… but that’s just me.
The other item is this: Post office will test for anthrax. Yeah, that’s timely and relevant, what, three years later? Is this really news? I think bioterrorists have probably figured out by now that anthrax is kind of a no-go anymore, and are more likely to have something different cooked up. Seems to me the post office should be expanding the scope of their testing, if they’re really worried about it…
The pictures of that hotel are frightening, to me. We can’t really stop it though. If it doesn’t happen now, it will eventually, what with the growth we are experiencing (and, most likely, will continue to experience).
I’m still not sure about Franklin Crossing, either, but since that’s well underway, it seems that downtown is already headed for being occupied by buildings like that in the rendering of the proposed hotel.
Bend is quite a different place than it was when I was growing up. But had it not grown the way it has, I wouldn’t be able to make my living here. Talk about ambivalence.