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This edition of the Bend Current, the City’s monthly newsletter, includes a highlight of the great work the Fire Department has been able to accomplish with the help of a levy. You will also hear about the emergency snow zones to be implemented this winter to help with plowing, a reminder to keep grease out of your pipes, a message from the mayor, the Santa Express schedule, a look at where your tax dollars go, water quality reports, winter tips, and historic preservation grant information.
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FASTER RESPONSE TIMES =
MORE LIVES SAVED!
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The Bend Fire Department has improved response times at a lower cost despite a growing number of calls.
In 2014, Bend voters approved a levy of 20 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. This added about $2.6 million per year to the Fire Department's budget and is spent on providing a creative staffing plan, equipment and training.
With the funds, the Fire Department developed an innovative program known as the Basic Life Support system which brings in crews that do only basic life support transports and care. The levy allows us to employ 24 emergency medical technicians and staff two, full-time basic life support ambulances.
All of this has helped the Fire Department improve response times by more than a minute on average over the last four years.
Bend Fire responds to about 10,000 calls annually. Since 2013, call volume has increased about 25 percent. About 82 percent of the calls are medical emergency calls. Of those medical calls, about 60 percent are advanced life support calls and about 40 percent are basic life support calls. The new program provides a more efficient system to address all these calls.
The efficiencies allowed response times to improve. When emergency response times drop, it improves the chances of surviving cardiac arrest. Cardiac survival rates have risen from about 20 percent in 2012 to 71 percent in 2016. In other words, more people are surviving.
In December, the City Council is expected to discuss whether to ask voters to renew this levy when it expires so the City can keep improving on this crucial public service. The goal is to save lives and protect property.
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EMERGENCY SNOW ZONE PARKING RESTRICTIONS TO IMPROVE STREET PLOWING
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This winter, the City will begin phasing in a new program to designate targeted Snow Emergency Zone parking restrictions during snow emergencies.
Last winter, with record-breaking snow fall, the City identified problematic streets where on-street parking contributed to increasingly narrow roads that were sometimes impassable for two-way traffic. This year, during declared snow emergencies, we will ask that those targeted problematic streets be cleared of parked cars, to help us plow from curb to curb and prevent unwieldy berms in the travel lanes.
To learn more about which streets are affected, and how to get notified in the event of a snow emergency, go to the City's Emergency Snow Zone Parking Restrictions news release.
For more information, please visit:
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FATS OILS AND GREASE ... NOT GOOD FOR YOUR KITCHEN DRAIN EITHER
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Below our houses and streets there is some crucial and expensive infrastructure - almost 400 miles of sewer line that carries waste water from our homes and businesses to the treatment plant. When this flow is interrupted by grease, food solids and paper products, it causes blockages that can redirect the flow up into our streets or homes.
To protect this system, we recommend scraping all food, grease and fats into the garbage instead of rinsing it into the sink. Wiping off pots, pans and dishes before they go into the sink saves water and expensive labor and repairs. Blockages in a homeowner’s system are the homeowner's financial responsibility.
Be careful about what goes down your sink and toilet! It can save tax dollars and improve the cleanliness of our community and the quality of our environment.
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COUNCIL UPDATE
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A MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR!
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Hello! This is Mayor Casey Roats. I’m here to update you on what the Council is doing with Bend’s transportation system.
Transportation is one of the biggest issues facing our community and the City is about to embark on updating the City’s Transportation System Plan, a long-term plan required by state law. The plan, which addresses how we pay for the transportation system we want, is supposed to reflect the community’s transportation priorities. It was last updated in 2000 and as you know, a lot has changed since then. Bend is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. I am a fourth-generation Bendite who has watched our town grow into a city in the past couple of decades. Your City leaders are doing what we can to maintain Bend’s identity and character so it is even better for future generations.
Bend hasn’t always kept up with the rapid growth. However, in recent years we’ve made investments to improve our water and sewer systems, and those are in good shape now. The transportation system is our next big lift. This is our opportunity to begin to get caught up. We have to plan on and invest in projects that will improve our transportation system. I remember Bend with no Parkway, and no Southern River Crossing. These are great examples of investments made in connectivity that have improved the way we move around our city. My vision is to invest in more projects that will reduce congestion and improve safety for everyone.
For example, the City has been directing funds toward finishing critical east-west links such as Empire Avenue and Murphy Road. As more roads are completed, we will all be able to move around better. We’ll also make improvements in the city’s core areas to improve safety for those who walk or ride bikes.
We have identified $280 million worth of transportation system capital improvement needs and we have $80 million to $90 million worth of deferred street maintenance needs.
So what should rise to the priority list? And how do we pay for these things? These are questions that we’re tackling next with the Transportation System Plan update. I am really truly interested in hearing from the community about what they want to see built. The City is planning to work with the neighborhood associations for input. We are also forming a transportation advisory committee to help us assess the community’s values and priorities. The transportation advisory committee will be tasked with developing a transportation vision including project priorities and a funding strategy.
I am optimistic that this community will invest in more improvements that make a positive difference in people’s lives.
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Last year, The Salvation Army and Santa Express collected nearly 3,000 pounds of food, clothing and toys to help local families in need. Please join the Bend Fire Department in supporting our community again this year!
Bend Fire Department’s Santa Express food and clothing drive is heading into Bend neighborhoods Monday, December 4 through Thursday, December 7. The Bend Firefighter’s Association and Bend Fire Department are working with The Salvation Army to collect non-perishable food items, clothing, and toys (new toys are preferred).
Listen for the fire engine and Santa in your neighborhood and bring donations to the street for collection. Please advise children to use caution around the moving fire engines.
The Santa Express schedule is:
- Monday, December 4: Yardley Estates, McCall Landing, Wishing Well and Majestic
- Tuesday, December 5: Larkspur, Foxborough and Sun Meadow
- Wednesday, December 6: Providence, areas North and South of Neff Road
- Thursday, December 7: Northwest Crossing
If Santa doesn’t come through your neighborhood, there are many drop off locations throughout the community, including all Bend fire stations and numerous businesses. Collections accepted through Friday, December 15, 2017.
Maps and a list of all drop off locations can be found at bendoregon.gov/santaexpress
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Each year the City prepares a detailed report for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality outlining our pollution prevention activities across several areas, including: public education, public involvement; illicit discharge detection and elimination; construction site activities; permanent controls; municipal maintenance activities; monitoring; and underground drinking water protections. See the recently-completed report covering July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017 at bendoregon.gov/stormannualreport.
Contact Wendy Edde, Stormwater Program Manager at (541) 317-3018 for more information.
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If you own a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places and have a restoration project in mind, check out the City’s restoration grant program. The City has a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office to assist property owners with needed historic restorations. Restoration projects that meet qualifications may receive 50 percent of the project cost, up to a maximum of $3,000 in grants.
Visit bendoregon.gov/restoration or contact hkennedy@bendoregon.gov for more information.
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Accommodation Information for People with Disabilities
To obtain this information in an alternate format such as Braille, large print, etc., please contact Anne Aurand at: communications@bendoregon.gov; Relay Users Dial 7-1-1.
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