Downtown Bend businesses dismayed that city’s new parking guidance system led to removal of twinkling tree lights

'It's a joke' ... 'massively disappointed'; also affects sponsored banner signs on light poles

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – In the past, when driving or walking through downtown Bend this time of year,  twinkling lights on the street trees made it feel like a winter wonderland, but this year, the lights have been gone, and though some new ones were installed in recent days, some business owners and others are still voicing displeasure at the changes.

“It's a joke," Liz Odell, the manager of Lark Mountain Modern, said Monday, Dec. 11. "I hate to put it that way. Not only did they not do what they said that they were going to do, but what they said was, or what they ended up doing was basically, 'We're going to do the least that we can do.'”

Odell and several other business owners say they are upset because twinkling lights they the paid for were taken down by the city, reportedly to make make way for a new parking-spot guidance system. Trees had to be trimmed by the city to accommodate cameras for the new system. And during the work, twinkling lights, which were up year-round. were taken down.

Angela Salido, the owner of outside in, is disappointed with the city for putting fewer and lower-quality lights in several trees in an attempt to make up for the twinkling lights.

"They trimmed the trees, they took out the lights, they threw them away. We had 43 trees lit up. They promised that they would replace it just the same. They ended up putting one strand of light in 18 trees. Massively disappointing," she said.

Scott Brees, who has helped put up and maintain the twinkling lights, said he feels the city was disrespectful to him and others who spent years beautifying the area.

“And for the city to have casually broken that this year at the key moment, it's not a 'win' that they are going to fix it," he said. "Someone needs to be held accountable for it. More importantly, someone really needs to show a sense of urgency with it."

In a statement, the executive director of the Downtown Bend Business Association told NewsChannel 21 the city had promised to have them reinstalled by Nov. 1, for the holidays, and the association is disappointed.

The owner of Leapin' Lizards, Suzy Reininger, said she loves the idea of the parking system but misses the special feeling of the lights downtown.

“And the fact that they got this, the parking system in place, that's a step forward trying to help people," she said. "And yes, i would love the lights to be up like, now -- today.”

The parking system has also affected the banner program downtown. Banners on downtown light poles generate revenue for businesses who share in the profits from sponsors. 

Salido acknowledges the drop in profits -- “a huge source of revenue for us. And not only that, but they're fun. We like to support the cool events that are coming into Bend and raising awareness around them. Because of this new system, we're losing a large portion of our ability to sell banners."

Bend Parking Services Manager Tobias Marx acknowledged the city's mistakes, but pointed to the benefits of the parking system.

"I I think the hope is that overall, we make parking easier," he said. "If we make parking easier. There's a benefit to the businesses, right? So that's that's my hope. That's my job."

Marx said, "There were some challenges with the lights, and we are on it to fix it. We know we messed up on that one, and now we're on a way to rectifying that.”

Bussiness owners are hopeful the city will continue to work with them to restore the magic downtown.

Salido said, “I think that the city can learn to work with us and we can work as a team and communicate more -- and really slow down before they make these massive decisions that don't only impact downtown and business owners, but it impacts the whole community.”

In recent days, the city worked on restoring lighting at street corners for the holidays, and at some point it plans on reinstalling the twinkling lights to be enjoyed year-round.