A No Parking Any Time Sign

Sisyphus may have felt he got a bad deal, having the boulder he was forever fated to roll up a hill roll down before he reached the top.

At least he didn’t have to start first by hunting for a parking spot in Bend. It can be hard to find parking right in front of your own home.

Residents of the Old Bend Neighborhood may have it the worst. Their neighborhood is bordered by downtown, Drake Park, the river and the burst of development along Arizona and Colorado. A lot more people would like to park in that neighborhood than just the residents. Representatives of the neighborhood have shown up en masse before the Bend City Council asking councilors to do something about it.

It’s almost a certainty that neighborhood is going to get Bend’s first neighborhood parking permit system. It’s not coming tomorrow. It’s surely coming. Bend City Councilors got a briefing last week about the plans.

The details are not settled. The concepts may include:

• Neighborhoods residents pay an annual parking fee and get residential parking permits.
• A residential parking permit would be required to park on some streets.
• On some streets, think Arizona and Colorado, there would be two-hour parking, perhaps paid.
• Closer to downtown, some streets could have two-hour parking.

The city’s idea has been that the fee would be set at a level so the program would pay for itself. Any extra revenue would be reinvested in the area covered by the parking district. If it works in Old Bend, it could be expanded into different areas — conditioned on support from residents.

As we said, this is not coming any time soon. But now is the time to influence the plan. It already has momentum behind it. You can tell the city what you think by emailing councilors at council@bendoregon.gov or write us a letter to the editor of up to 250 words and send it to letters@bendbulletin.com.