CHOOSE KINDNESS

November 13 was World Kindness Day! The City is supporting Central Oregon’s “Choose Kindness” campaign aimed at creating more positivity and kindness in Central Oregon. Many public agencies have joined together to showcase kindness this month. Anyone can participate by sharing social media posts about kindness, creating your own post and using the hashtag #ChooseKindnessCO, or just by committing random acts of kindness!

COVID UPDATES

Two-Week Freeze

Governor Kate Brown’s new “Two-Week Freeze” (measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 across Oregon) started yesterday and remains in effect at least through Dec. 2. Here’s what it does:

• Limits social get-togethers (indoors and outdoors) to no more than six people, total, from no more than two households.
• Limits faith-based organizations to a maximum of 25 people indoors or 50 people outdoors.
• Limits eating and drinking establishments to take-out and delivery only.
• Closes gyms and fitness organizations.
• Closes indoor recreational facilities, museums, indoor entertainment activities, and indoor pools and sports courts.
• Closes zoos, gardens, aquariums, outdoor entertainment activities, and outdoor pools.
• Limits grocery stores and pharmacies to a maximum of 75 percent capacity and encouraging curbside pickup.
• Limits retail stores and retail malls (indoor and outdoor) to a maximum of 75 percent capacity and encouraging curbside pickup.
• Closes venues (that host or facilitate indoor or outdoor events).
• Requires all businesses to mandate work-from-home to the greatest extent possible and closing offices to the public.
• Prohibits indoor visiting in long-term care facilities (outdoor visitation permitted).

More information is on the state’s webpage: coronavirus.oregon.gov.

Support Local Business

Our local restaurants are sure to be further impacted by this latest set of guidelines. We hope you’ll consider supporting them by ordering take-out. Have you seen Visit Bend’s guide to take-out and delivery? It even includes a guide for Thanksgiving turkey dinners to go. The Source Weekly has also developed this take-out or delivery list.

Wastewater Testing for COVID

City of Bend Utility employees are working with OSU-Cascades and Deschutes County Health Services to test wastewater in Bend that could detect COVID-19 and help provide a potential early warning system if and when an outbreak is happening. It’s an innovative and interesting project during this pandemic.

Check out this video on our wastewater testing operation:

Mask Enforcement in Bend

The City Council agreed to increase fines for businesses and organizations violating Oregon Health Authority (OHA) guidelines on face coverings, up to $750 per violation.

The City of Bend’s Code Enforcement division has a hotline to report mask violations for businesses in Bend that are not adhering to the statewide mask requirement. The mask complaint hotline is (541) 323-7155. Callers must leave a message with the following information:

• Business name where violation took place.
• Date and time of the violation.
• Description of the violation.
• Anonymous calls are not accepted.

Read more about mask enforcement and fines here.

Travel Advisories

As COVID-19 cases increase across the country, Governors from Oregon, California and Washington issued travel advisories last week urging visitors entering their states or returning home from travel outside these states to self-quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. The travel advisories urge against non-essential out-of-state travel, ask people to self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving from another state or country, and encourage residents to stay local.

From Deschutes County Health Services

Our partners over at Deschutes County have a webpage dedicated to staying physically and mentally healthy this holiday season and have posted videos of conversations with the Director of Behavioral Health at deschutes.org/safeholidays.

ELECTION UPDATES

Thank you voters!
The transportation bond passed!

On November 3, Bend voters passed a $190 million transportation bond. Our community has said that congestion and neighborhood safety are priorities, and community members helped prioritize the list of projects that voters ultimately approved. This bond measure will pay to build priority projects throughout the city to improve traffic flow, east-west connections, and neighborhood safety.

Bonds will be structured so that property taxes won’t be increased before 2022, to accommodate the economic hardships some are facing today due to COVID-19. The City Council adopted a resolution to establish a bond oversight committee of community members if the bond measure passed. This committee will report to the community on project expenses, schedules, and progress.

bendoregon.gov/safe-travel

New Council

Congratulations to four new Councilors-elect who won their races in November and take office in January. They include: Anthony Broadman, Melanie Kebler, Megan Perkins and Rita Schenkelberg.

They join Councilors Barb Campbell and Gena Goodman-Campbell and Mayor Sally Russell. In January, the new Council will begin its goal-setting process for the upcoming biennium – that’s when they identify City priorities and direction for the next two years. Council goals help shape the City’s work plan and the two-year budget.

Community Survey

Councilors consider input from a biennial community survey during its goal setting process. You may receive a phone call in early December asking you to participate in the community survey by answering questions about the City and City services. Phone calls will go out December 7 through 14. Please answer the call and know that your voice matters! The survey should take about 10 minutes. Input will help the City set priorities and will be presented to the Bend City Council as they embark on their next round of biennial goal setting.  

Also, for those who don’t get randomly chosen to participate in the phone survey, the City will launch a similar online community survey on December 14. This will give all community members a chance to participate. The online survey will be available in both English and Spanish. Online survey results will complement the representational phone survey and will also be shared with the Council.  

Watch bendoregon.gov for the online survey, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter where we’ll also post links to the online survey.

SEASONAL UPDATES

Winter on the Way!

Don’t miss the City’s winter tips webpage: bendoregon.gov/winter

Or bendoregon.gov/winter-operations for street plowing and sanding zone maps, frequently asked questions and much more.

Emergency Snow Zones

The Transportation & Mobility Department has a plan for winter street operations, including how we prioritize streets to plow and sand, how we handle driveways, and how we’ll deal some streets where on-street parking can be difficult during particularly heavy snowfall. (These are what we call “emergency snow zones”).

During declared snow emergencies, the City will ask that “emergency snow zone” marked streets be cleared of parked cars, to help us plow from curb to curb.

Learn more about where the locations are, how to find out if an emergency is declared and what to do if your car is towed.

Sidewalks and Snow

Did you know it is a property owner’s responsibility to shovel sidewalks that border the property? Many of our neighbors rely on a clear sidewalk to get to and from work, medical appointments, school or bus stops. To help keep sidewalks safe and passable for your neighbors during winter snow storms, read these guidelines about snow removal from sidewalks.

Winter Warming Shelter

First Presbyterian Church at 230 NE 9^th Street established a temporary overnight warming shelter for about 40 people each night until the Shepard’s House location is ready.

The City of Bend is supporting the Shepherd’s House winter warming shelter with $600,000 of Community Development Block Grant funding, which funds social service organizations that provide assistance for housing and community development activities that benefit low- and moderate-income persons.

The winter warming shelter is located at 275 NE 2^nd Street and expects to open next week. It will be able to shelter 75 to 100 individuals through March.

Read more about the Shepherd's House winter warming shelter here.

'Tis the Season for Holiday Cooking

Keep your pipes flowing this holiday season by putting cooled cooking fat and food scraps into the garbage instead of down the drain.

• Scrape food from dishes into the garbage.
• Limit use of garbage disposals.
• Wipe cooled grease and fats from pots and pans with paper towels before they go into the sink.

If your pipes get blocked, it can cause costly back-ups into your home or business. Yuck. Have a clog free year!

Learn more at bendoregon.gov/fog.

Watch this cute animated video about clogged pipes: