Residents hear Bend City Council candidates address issues at a public forum

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – As we inch closer to Election Day, candidates running for a Bend City Council seat invited the public out to the Deschutes County Administration Building, to meet them and hear the platforms they are running on.

The League of Women Voter of Deschutes County, as well as the City Club of Central Oregon, hosted a Bend City Council candidate forum Monday evening, with seven candidates, including three incumbents, discussing their strategies for addressing issues affecting bend like transportation and the use of bicycle lanes.

Megan Perkins, incumbent, Position 3

“Our Midtown Crossings project is something that's going to be really key in our community.  I'm really excited to see the plans for franklin and for Hawthorne Bridge going through our community, even second street, beautified.” 

Megan Norris, Incumbent, Position 1

“We have winter months where it's tougher to ride a bike, it's tougher to walk on the streets, and so I think we have a lot of opportunities with the Cascades East transportation network.”

Nick Cerveny, Position 3

“The bicycling community, while they are very important, that is not going to solve the transportation problem.  The roundabouts … so that when you put too many cars on it, they actually come to a standstill, so this can be solved through just proper engineering."

Another hot topic was housing from the developer’s point of view.

Gina Franzosa, Position 2

“Open up the types of housing that are allowed by right, as opposed to the types of housing that have to go through a land-use approval process, even if it's a minor, entry-level land-use approval process.”

Bend City Council candidates also spoke to the idea of covering the cost of city projects through a gas tax.

Steve Platt, Position 4

“One of the things that's really, really important to me is that we look at each and every dollar very carefully that we have right now and consider is that being best spent, before we have to go ask our members of our hard-working public that we need more money from them.”

Chet Wamboldt, Position 4

“The middle class has had an unbelievably difficult time over the past few years with increasing costs, inflation, and adding more taxes onto their budget right now simply isn't is not on the table.”

The City of Bend does not have rent control (though the state has a cap on yearly rent increases), so how do we get to affordable rent and affordable housing?

Barb Campbell, Incumbent, Position 4

“With tax incentives is, really I continue to believe our best. We were able to incentivize hundreds of units of housing at market rate.”

It’s worth mentioning that there was one candidate who wasn’t able to make the forum – Jonathan Curtis, who is vying for Position 1 on the council.

The Bend City Council candidates have spoken, and now it's up to you, the voters come November to respond.