I’m a fifth generation Oregonian from hearty pioneers who homesteaded into Hells Canyon along the Snake River. They had to be tough to survive. They lived off the land and used only the resources they needed to get by. I wonder what they’d do up against the likes of big money developers Brooks Resources, who strip the land of trees as they move from one development to the next. You’d think they were still in the logging business.

We moved here four years ago for the lifestyle, the view and solitude. We looked at 100 homes before we settled on Craftsman Drive. It was pretty quiet until Awbrey Butte was built out. We’ve watched the steady demise of towering trees as new homes popped up as shameful replacements. My 12-year-old daughter always pointed out the fact that trees were being murdered and asked why a person would do that. My lame excuse was that big developers have lots of money and power to do what they want. At the same time I felt like such a hypocrite because we were living in one of the first developments on Awbrey Butte, but as secondary owners. I medicated my guilt by planting as many trees and shrubs as possible to replace the ones I knew had been ripped out to build our home. I put in a few extra to compensate for the trees yet to be felled.

We originally bought our home in Awbrey Village because Brooks/Tenant Development were creating something unique to Bend: a residential area with mixed-use retail to supply the needs of the neighborhood. We bought into the idea just like a young girl newly proposed to with a ring to seal the promise. When we signed on the dotted line, Rudy’s grocery store, a video store and a dry cleaners were in residence. Two months later when we moved in Rudy’s was vacant, soon to be followed by the others. It was disappointing, the engagement broken, but we lived with the vacant buildings that were slowly filled by a real estate office, a Montessori school and, soon to be, a Unicel call center. We felt cheated, especially when we’d heard our neighborhood retail center had been written off as a dismal failure and Brooks/Tenant simply moved on to NorthWest Crossing to see if they could do better.

There was a treed lot adjacent to the retail center we were told would be additional retail development. The view off our deck overlooks the lot. We have enjoyed the buffered view the trees afforded, but were constantly annoyed by the noxious weed seed blowing onto our property and by the blight left behind by builders. It has taken several calls to the fire department to get them to clean up the section bordering our back alley. Ironically, a week later they were tearing out all of the trees. We’d heard they needed to put in an overflow parking lot to attract retail to the vacant buildings. We thought it would be worthwhile if they saved a good portion of the trees; we were assured they would. We stood on our deck and cried as we watched them rip out 100-year-old junipers and ponderosas by the roots. Joni Mitchell’s tune came to mind, ”They paved paradise and put up a parking lot!” My relatives would have tied them by their heels behind their horses and run them out of town for such lack of consideration of neighbors.

We are experiencing a classic case of bait and switch. It was illegal last time I checked. We were promised a retail center that met our basic needs, and what we got was a cell phone call center with 125 employees who will be waking us up early in the morning parking their cars and keeping us awake late at night when they pull out to go home outside the area. The traffic at the bottom of Mt. Washington is already a nightmare, and this will amplify it to horrendous.

It’s not too late for Brooks to reconsider and redouble their efforts to find retailers that will enhance our neighborhood rather than detract and destroy our property values. Oh, but that’s what they’re good at. Once a logger, always a logger. Where’s the tar and feathers when you need ’em?