If “in the pudding is the proof,” Bend’s war on pickup trucks downtown is still in full swing. Despite contrite assurances from Economic Development Director Carolyn Eagan and City Manager Eric King, the truce of last fall has been unilaterally rescinded.

Last fall, warnings, then $50 citations, began appearing on windshields throughout the downtown core, creating an uproar among those trying to spend money there. “Go away” was the message. Adding insult to the financial injury was that nothing had changed — no new city code, ordinance or rule. But those who parked on Bond Street on Thursday got a ticket on Friday for the same thing.

No signs, no public notice, just warnings. Or, when the spirit moved them, parking monitors would decide to issue $50 tickets to plumbers, electricians, sportsmen and soccer moms driving long vehicles.

After news articles, editorials and a lot of irate emails to city councilors, being called on the carpet by downtown business owners and The Bulletin, city officials promised to halt the arbitrary money-making scheme, refund fines, proceed with caution, be more forthcoming, and give clarity to an issue that is vital to downtown’s economy.

Or did they have their fingers crossed behind their backs?

Armed with a shiny new interpretation of the city’s code (according to Diamond Parking, the city’s hired gun on this issue), or a vague interpretation of a state statute (according to Eagan), long vehicles are again being singled out for $50 tickets. No prior warning needed, she said, because the law was already in place. (Um, yeah, but you promised not to enforce it until you put up signs and gave us notice, Carolyn.)

But it’s not all long pickups, or out-of-state plated rigs. Nor RVs, nor rock stars’ tour buses or bike tours’ sag vans, nor a Honda Accord with a four-bike rack on the bumper. Just the ones parking monitors don’t like. Or those with hunting gear in them. Or a dirty truck, maybe with a couple beer cans in the bed. Or the truck parked next to mine!

Diamond’s Terence Spakousky tells us he’s just following orders. He says it’s Eagan’s selective strategy, leaving the on-the-ground decision up to the parking czar-du-jour. It’s a judgment call, he says, and comes down to “eyeballing at some point.” What? When did “eyeballing” become the letter of the law? And when did some underpaid parking monitor in a yellow vest become qualified to interpret the nuances of law?

The law is hinky enough. What is a violation and how is it quantified? Nobody seems to be able to answer that. The city’s website is nebulous, to say the least. Plenty of pretty pictures but no lengths delineated, nor any mention of the alleged Big Kahuna of violations: causing traffic to weave out of their lane because a truck’s butt is sticking out too far. From the illustrations, virtually everything larger than a go-kart deserves a swift, $50 kick in the windshield.

City code on my citation is the same one that caught everybody last fall and was later rescinded: 6.20.000 A. It has no specifications regarding what is too long, besides “within a single marked space, both width and length.” If that was the criteria, virtually every vehicle on Bond or Wall or in Oregon should have a ticket under its windshield. But the city promised to clarify that. (Sound of crickets chirping.)

We need clarity: so many feet long, so far beyond the white line. Better still, paint lines that make sense. Put it on signs, the city’s website, issue press releases, hand out warning tickets and send smoke signals. Because right now, it is Groundhog Day all over again. Same wacky enforcement action, same cloudy interpretation, same discriminatory citation strategy.

It’s enough to send the big rigs and the money they transport shopping at the malls, Old Mill or Costco instead of the locally owned businesses downtown.

— Scott Linden is a business owner who lives in Bend.