Courtesy Dan Gilmour

Residents of the Brookswood community gathered Sunday in a shopping center some of them once boycotted.

But this gathering isn’t like last year. No one is upset, worried or opposed to what’s happening in the center today. In fact, everyone is pretty happy about what’s going on there.

The residents of Southeast Bend, who successfully fought the relocation of a Oregon Department of Motor Vehicle office into the Brookswood Meadow Plaza in 2010, are now celebrating what they’ve become: a community.

Cricket Kadoch, once a vocal opponent of the DMV’s attempted move to the area, is now the community liaison for the plaza. She said this first community block party is an example of how the neighborhoods in the area have come together.

“Looking back on it, I guess you never know what would have happened if the DMV had come in here,” Kadoch said. “But I do know it was great that the community here could be a part of that. It was great to see people coming together like that.”

Last year, the community and the Brookswood Meadow Plaza were at odds.

The plaza owners negotiated a lease with the DMV to allow the relocation, and neighbors responded with anger. Kadoch says the plaza’s owners now listen to what residents want to see in the area.

“They want to see restaurants and business in here,” Kadoch said. “They want to be able to have a place to work, to shop, to work out and to meet all in one place. Now there is that discussion between the plaza and the community members and it’s great.”

Center of controversy

The plaza serves as the largest commercial area in the Southeast Bend neighborhood. Kadoch said 9,500 homes are within three miles of the plaza.

“So when you come to an event like this, or you come shopping, you want to be able to say hello to your neighbor,” she said.

But last year, when the boycotts went into effect at the height of the DMV disagreement, some businesses in the plaza suffered. Last September the RiverRim Coffeehouse closed citing fewer customers in the plaza as the reason.

RiverRim later reopened under new management and took part in the DMV fight. On Sunday it served as the center of the block party.

A ‘meeting place’

Keith Frede, whose wife now owns the coffee shop, cooked barbecue for those at the party as they listened to live music on the plaza walkway.

“This is just a lot of fun,” Frede said.

“The whole point of this coffee shop is to be a community meeting place, and this has been great. Today we got to see a lot of our normal customers, but a bunch of new folks have shown up as well. This is great to see, everyone out here having a good time.”