Downtown Parking Committee Meets, and Wager Dispute Impacts Local Bookies

The parking policy downtown has to satisfy a lot of conflicting needs. Shoppers have to do their shopping under the two-hour limit before getting ticketed. To avoid the ticket they must move their vehicle 500 feet as the crow flies. Shoppers are not provided with a handy crow. Business owners and employees need cheap all-day parking conveniently close to their shops, but at the same time, retailers want lots of spaces out front for customers. Businesses located behind the shops or in upstairs offices -- the firms who are part of what I call "deeper Bend" -- may seldom require customer parking, but their needs for employee parking must still be met.

It's surely a Gordian Knot that may never be untied to everyone's satisfaction.

Terri Cumbi, owner of Dudley's BookShop Café, threw open the door of her shop on Minnesota Avenue at 9 am last Tuesday to host a meeting of the downtown parking committee. Chuck Arnold, the executive director of the Downtown Bend Business Association chaired the meeting of about ten shop and property owners. City mayor pro tem Mark Capell attended, as did KOHD's Lauren Biskind. I introduced myself as a local blogger. Meaning I have time on my hands.

The main issue revolved around the two-hour limit on free parking, its impact on the downtown shopping experience, and how it conflicts with the needs of downtowners who need to park their cars someplace.

Two of the members, both women, said that women shoppers find the the two-hour limit frustrating. Some of the men scratched their heads over this, surely feeling that two hour should be plenty to buy anything. But given that women do most of the shopping, their needs should be addressed.

Footzone's Teague Hatfield also pointed out that trying to have a leisurely lunch with friends from out of town while keeping your car ahead of Diamond Parking's troops is not easy.

From the employee/business owner's viewpoint, several members stated that the modest $45 per month fee for a permit which grants all-day parking on the top of the downtown parking structure is uncomfortably high.

I know of one downtown firm which is laying out nearly $1,000 a month for employee parking permits. Part-time employees who work just a few hours downtown often don't find the permit affordable.

Free parking in the structure is highly unlikely, Capell said. The city spent quite a bundle building that facility and has to pay for it.

So some downtowners simply find it more cost-effective to just keep an eye out for Diamond Parking and move their cars before they get ticketed. "Taking my chances on the occasional $65 ticket makes more sense than spending $45 a month," one downtown business owner told me.

Cumbi recently discovered how prevalent this practice is when she accompanied a member of Diamond enforcement staff for some downtown walkarounds and witnessed folk dash out of their shops to move their cars before Diamond got to them. She showed maps of the downtown with the locations of employee cars marked in red. Looked like the maps had the measles.

Some downtowners are using texting to warn friends in nearby stores about Diamond's progress. These are retailers who don't want all the parking spaces in front of their shop taken up with employee's cars but are not bothered by packing up the spaces in front of somebody else's shop, it seems.

For the meeting, the city provided a list naming names of repeat offenders who have been ticketed for violating the two-hour limit. There are around 70 people who have received ten or more citations in the past year, and the roster of those who have received five to nine tickets was said to fill four pages.

The crux of the matter is this: The two-hour limit exists because of those relatively few people who don't find the parking structure to be convenient or cost-effective, or who enjoy gaming the system. One member, the owner of a downtown restaurant, stated emphatically that he'll park wherever he wants to.

Steeply escalating the fines for repeat offenders was proposed, making it economically senseless to risk getting more tickets. Then, perhaps, the time limit could be extended by another hour, or even more.

(This reporter knows a good idea when he hears one. Boot the cars of the repeat offenders. Dynamite them off the streets, I say!)

The downtowners are taking this idea to the city council. However, this doesn't appear to be a new idea. According to the minutes of the September 23, 2008 meeting of the Bend Urban Renewal Agency:

Another issue discussed was the chronic employee abuse of the system. Mr. Russell added that parking revenues are up. Member Dempster suggested tripling or quadrupling the fines. Mr. Datwyler explained that Councilor Capell is very interested in this issue and met with the Downtowners’ Board and a tentative escalating fine structure was set up. Mr. Datwyler announced a Council work session on October 15 to discuss this issue.

[...] Member Kesgard was supportive of new fine structure and asked if the other Councilors were in agreement and Mr. Datwyler replied they agreed, but are not as adamant. Further discussion followed on the escalating citations, booting and signage.

But the minutes for the August 20, 2008 meeting state that,

Member Abernethy understood Member Capell’s concept about significantly increasing the citation amounts, but did not agree because it is not in alignment with the infraction occurring. He would increase the fine some, but $500 would be too much and limiting to three hours would be an administrative nightmare.

Looks like some smoke-filled back room negotiations and arm-twisting are needed.

The parking lot at Mirror Pond has machines that afford a method to purchase another hour beyond the first two, but there's something goofy with the way the machines are set up which some have taken advantage of to obtain a five hour pass. Ice's Marty Brazil recommended that the city take a look at re-program the things to disappear the loophole.

Wine shop owner Melanie Betti made the suggestion that another way to ease up on the congested parking is to put up signage directing out-of-towners to the parking structure. According to many, folks unfamiliar with downtown are surprised to learn of the existence of the facility. The committee agreed to take this idea to the city as well.

The downtown recently started a program where customers who got cited for overstaying the time limit could get the ticket canceled if they made a $10 purchase in any of the downtown shops and mailed a copy of the receipt along with the ticket to the city. It's a program that has been well-received. I think the number mentioned was that there have been over six hundred customers who have been granted a Get Out Of Jail card. Some shop owners are even handling the paperwork for their customers.

But, according to a few people I've talked to, Diamond can't be counted on to always put the explanatory slips into the ticket envelopes. However, this might be because the folk I talked to were referring to their own citations, and as Cumbi learned, Diamond knows the cars of downtown employees by sight.

With an eye toward finding more affordable places for employees to park, it was asked whether some of the streets on the periphery of the downtown, but still within the enforcement area, could be set up with a permit system that allows for unlimited free parking. Another idea for the city.

And what happened to the 15-minute loading spaces that used to exist on every block, someone wanted to know. How did those get changed to police parking only spaces?

This was not a dispassionate meeting. The level of frustration felt by some of the members led, at times, to raised voices. One member practically pulled a Joe Wilson ("You lie!") when Capell said that downtown parking ticket revenue was a trivial amount of income to the city and they would not notice it if it went away.

It was asked why the press was even there -- such things should not be shown on TV, it was argued, and that while the meetings should be transparent to members of the Association, showing the inner workings of a sometimes emotional meeting wasn't necessarily a good thing for the image of the downtowners. (KOHD did cover the story that evening, but avoided footage of the more interesting bits.)

Brazil, who had been largely quiet for most of the meeting, wrapped things up by acknowledging the viewpoints of the members and summarizing the action items to be taken to the city. Brazil seems to know her onions. Like Capell, she has been doing business in downtown Bend for, like, ever and is very familiar with what has been tried in the past and what works and what doesn't.

At the conclusion of the meeting, it was agreed that Arnold would step aside as chair so that Betti and Cumbi could take over as committee co-chairs, allowing for more frequent meetings than Arnold's busy calender can permit.

As we walked out, Hatfield observed that some people didn't seem to be very happy that I was there.

I later learned that the member who objected to the presence of the press was only referring to the KOHD camera, and not me. She knew that I, as a blogger with a readership that can be counted on one hand, cannot in any way be considered a member of the esteemed Fourth Estate.

Though after this in-depth story is published it remains to be seen whether I'll be invited again. Stay tuned on that.

Everyone, it seems, has a reasonable gripe, but with the exception of last night's Gallery Art Walk when we could only find parking in the the parking structure,* I've never had trouble finding spots on the streets.

I am sympathetic to the shops that feel their business might be better if the downtown's parking felt less unfriendly. Even though it's impossible to prove that business would be better if customers found more spots to park in and had more shopping time, hearing customers complain about the time limit as they leave, purchases unpurchased, buying impulses thwarted, can be discouraging.

And to some businesses, having to fork over $45/month per permit can make the difference between being in the black or going into the red.

After all, coming up even a dollar short when it's time to pay the electric bill or a supplier is a serious bummer.

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* The parking garage is not my favorite place to park, being another of those grim, utilitarian echo-y spaces which are a testament to all the former Soviet-era Russian architects who have found nice jobs in the U.S. designing these Stalinesque buildings. But it is in a good location and a coat of bright paint on the gray interior concrete walls and ducting would go a fair way toward lightening the overall mood. It couldn't hurt.

IN OTHER NEWS, the bet between Bend blogger Blackdog and me has been called off. A contentious detail had surfaced about how frequently Blackdog had to post his Daily Suck Index in order to claim the purse. We met on Wednesday night at Pine Tavern to try to reach an agreement on this delicate matter. But negotiations collapsed following a dispute about the shape of the table. Bend's bookmakers are returning customer wagers even as I write this.

Pissing Contest

I recently had an interesting conversation with local journalist H. Bruce Miller in which he mentioned that no matter how long someone has lived in Bend, someone is bound to mention that they've been here longer. Or their parents. Or their parent's parents.

It's like guys swapping war stories, or seeing who can pee the farthest.

My point of pride is the various broken bones I've endured, my titanium knee, the random assortment of screws and pins I use to set off TSA's scanners at the airport. I have enough injury-fu to smack down most anyone else ambulatory enough to get out of the house.

At airports I always get sent to Secondary Screening for a wand probing and a patdown.

"May I touch your buttocks?" said the polite white-gloved security official at Tokyo's Narita airport where Japanese security was, until 9/11, much tighter than ours. I assented, he patted my rear pockets. A good time was had by all. Or I had a good time. He never called me, though.

Miller's comment put me in mind of my one geographic boast: though my parents were Okies -- a despised group at the time -- I was born in Santa Barbara. Which gives me bragging rights in that town of newbies and interlopers.

Damn them and their fancy cars and money. They priced the homes in the market completely out of my reach.

Art Mashup

If Bend's First Friday Art Walk ends before your bedtime, you might consider checking out Poethouse Art's hybrid art event which starts at 9:30. Called "Art Fusion," it promises to be an interesting mashup of live music, spoken word and LIVE painting - fused and formed simultaneously in a continuous feedback loop of inspiration. I've never heard of such a thing, it sounds like fun.

If you've not visited, Poethouse Art is worth checking out just for itself. Located on the second floor of the building on the SE corner of Bond and Minnesota (entrance is on the Minnesota side), the attractive gallery rents out -- on a sliding scale based on what the artist can afford -- small studio rooms for local artists to work in, as well as providing plenty of well-lit expanses of wall for exhibitions, which change on a regular basis.

Several months ago I saw an exhibition of local artist Ken Roth's very nice abstracts at the gallery, but I've not been by since May, mainly because I had my famous ankle blow-out. Now I've recovered enough to visit this upstairs gallery. So I think it's high time I dropped by. On account of there should be enough going on to keep Mrs Elliott out later in the evening.

Geeking out on our VW camper

Our little 1984 Volkswagen Westfalia pop-top camper received a refrigerator transplant today. A few years ago I removed the OEM Dometic refrigerator because it didn't have the cooling horsepower to keep up with the heat of the southwest and replaced it with a more modern Norcold unit.

The Norcold kept things nice and cold, but it was too noisy for me. It made a thrumming sound whenever it ran, which was pretty much every ten minutes. And it vibrated the galley cabinet so much that everything on the stove-top or around it would rattle. I spent much time chasing down rattly things whenever the compressor it kicked on.

Well, a few weeks ago I sold that refrigerator to one of the aides at the place where I go for physical therapy -- a cyclist/runner with a Westy that has a faulty refrigerator. He said he has no problem with the noise level. Some people are bothered by noise more than others.

To replace it, I purchased a Vitrifrigo brand refrigerator, a design which uses a more efficient compressor and is much quieter as a result.

My son came over today to give me a hand installing it.

In the process of changing the door from left-hand opening to right-hand opening we immediately lost the latch spring.

P-ting!

"What was that?"

"I don't know. Wait -- what happened to the spring?"

He had to drive to Bend Lock and Safe, where he works, to find a replacement.

A little creative woodworking with a jigsaw to open up the front of the cabinet a bit, a little electrical wiring, and the new refrigerator was installed.

It's real quiet: all I can hear is sound of the little muffin fan blowing air through the condenser. It's also more roomy inside, and has a real freezer section. And a tiny, tiny little ice cube tray, Barbie sized.

Of course, there won't be any camping for many months now, but I'm glad that when we start camping next spring, I won't be getting up in the middle of the night, swearing and moving pots and pans around to quell the rattle.

A City Recovers: B of A Clock Accurate Once Again

Now that Daylight Saving Time has ended, the clock tower at the Bank of America building on Wall reads correctly once again. It was never sprang it forward when DST started earlier this year. So it's been off by an hour all summer long

I'm thankful that we can put all that behind us now. At least until next spring.

What's up, BofA? Someone lose the instructions?

Ducks or Beavers?

As transplants, we don't know where to come down on this crucial issue. Or if we should even be allowed to have an opinion. I don't have a favorite college football team so if I were to pick an Oregon team to root for, I would not be betraying any loyalties.

I know nothing about the Oregon teams.

I generally like ducks, as a race. Ducks are funny-looking. I can offhand think of several famous ducks in comics and cartoons (Donald, Daisy, Daffy, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Scrooge, and Howard). I can't think of any cartoon beavers.

Beavers aren't very interesting. About all you can say about them is that they work hard. They are just kind of big rats.

They both look pretty angry. It's unclear why.

Nope, we don't have much to go on.

Clown Walks into a Bar and Orders a Varietal

I took a cab downtown after work yesterday for my bi-weekly haircut at the Bond Street Barber Shop. Mrs Elliott has been out of town for a week and the prospect of another night cooped up alone in the house in front of the TV did not appeal, so I was looking to get out and be around people. Enjoy a light repast, some wine, do a little reading. The weather had been kind all day, and the evening was lovely.

People in costume were about. While getting barbered I saw a garden gnome pass the window. Owner Jim Wilson incorrectly identified the boy as a leprechaun. Different species of small imaginary people entirely.

There are three wine bars close to the barber shop. Two have opened very recently on on Minnesota. One in the small space formerly occupied by Chocolate e Gateaux -- I've only looked through the window there, I can't tell if it's a nice place to spend an evening. The other, across the street, is where Volcano Vineyards moved to from their former location on Brooks Street. They had found it difficult running a nice wine bar next to the rowdy, drunken crowd who spilled out of the nightclub next door. And there's The Wine Shop and Tasting Bar, also on Minnesota, which suits me quite nicely.

It's spacious enough to to not feel cramped, unlike the other two shops. They always have a fine selection of wines by the glass*, there are tables for groups and a comfortable bar, The lighting is bright enough to read by, and due to sharing a lobby with the Poethouse/tbd loft, the clientele is always interesting. I've had a number of brilliant conversations with locals, street people, artists, musicians, and visitors there. Last night there was a party going on upstairs and lots of people in costume were milling around the general vicinity.

So I'm sitting with a glass of wine and a cheese plate, reading a story in a magazine when a rodeo clown walks into the bar and orders a pinot grigio. That seems like the beginning of a joke, but the beginning's all I got.

He had just come off the tail end of a rocky marriage, and being single again, the clown was out for adventure. But under his greasepaint he was a worried clown, worried that he was too old to find someone to be with.

I "tut-tutted" him, and assured him that a man in his mid-40's needn't fret about that, at least here in Bend.

Mrs Elliott has checked Bend out to see if it might be a good place for an unmarried sister to move to and came to the conclusion that she would not like to be a single woman here. The population of single, bright, and attractive females appears to be greater than that of suitable males, so the odds favor men in that regard.

Because I am not in the habit of searching for and identifying single men, I take her word for this, but she's smart and wise and knows things like that.

The fellow seemed to be an all-right guy, well-built, a self-employed artist with a strong following, so I gave him a pep talk, a little sage advice from the perspective of an older man who's made more than his share of bad relationship choices and yet somehow managed to end up married to a sweet and generous woman.

The take-home lesson was that good things can happen, even to middle-age rodeo clowns with a taste for white wine.


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* Speaking of wines by the glass, one of my favorites has returned after a hiatus of a few months. It's the 2006 Chateau de Fouzilhon from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France; a dry red with great structure and a mineral finish that lingers on the tongue forever. At $12.99/bottle it's a good value. I missed it when it was gone. Melanie doesn't want her wine list to get stale, so she brought in one or two other dry reds for a while, but they didn't have nearly the character or structure of this one. I'm glad it's back.