Some twinkling lights are back in downtown Bend’s trees, but at what cost?

BEND, Or. (KTVZ)-- The twinkling lights of downtown Bend have come back, but only at certain intersections, for now. The new parking system has affected the presence of the area's signature twinkling lights, and that has many downtown upset.

“This twinkle light debacle is so important," building owner Patrick Trowbridge said Wednesday, "We need to have this this holiday spirit of downtown. Like, people come down here and shop, and they expect the crown jewel of Central Oregon to look extremely beautiful.”

As we reported last week, Trowbridge and several other downtown businesses have voiced disappointment in the city of Bend's actions in installing a new parking system and taking down the twinkling lights. Citizens also have expressed their thoughts of the system being too hard to see and understand.

“I think if there are some sort of instructions or explanation, because to me that just looks like a flashing sign," one lady noted.

Trowbridge believes the system is distracting, not helpful.

"It seems to me going against, you know, the goal of getting people away from being distracted while driving, especially in the congested area of downtown Bend.”

Downtown businesses get no revenue from tickets or the paid parking lots. Trowbridge advocated for three-hour parking for the holidays. However, he notes the system is meant for better enforcement and revenue, and with three-hour parking, revenue will be hurt.

“It tells the ticket-writers exactly where the offenders are, so they don't have to go and check every car," Trowbridge said. "Now they can go right to the system, and it will alert them, let them know who is an offender, and they can go out and write tickets.”

Scott Brees helped put up the twinkling lights in downtown Bend. He doesn’t have a problem with the new parking system -- he just wishes downtown, the city, and the community could work together to bring the beautification of downtown back.

”What I am upset with is that there's very little action on the city and the parking department to actually engage people, other than downtown Bend or some of the residents that are directly affected," Brees explained.

One downtown resident doesn’t think the lights absence takes away from the beauty: “I think it's fine. I think it's still beautiful. I think people just like to complain,” she said.

Trowbridge acknowledges the city acted to make up for the loss of the twinkling lights, but believes the bigger issue is the parking system taking away from business. 

“We are competing with the (Old) Mill District, and there's a lot of people that would rather go there because they know they can park, they can go shop, they can go have a meal, they can do whatever they want -- and they know when they come back to their car, they're not going to have a ticket," Trowbridge said.

The city has put twinkling lights back up at the busy corners of downtown and plans to continue putting up more lights after the holidays.