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Letters must be received by noon Friday for inclusion in the following week’s paper. Please limit letters to 250 words. Submission does not guarantee publication. Opinions printed here do not constitute an editorial endorsement of said opinions.

Letter of the week receives $5 to Palate!

Corrections: The 3/10 story, “Who’s Running,” listed Vikki Iverson as a Republican running in the House 55 race in the 2022 May primary, and stated that Tim Knopp was running in 2022; those details were both incorrect.

The 3/10 story, “Tots! Moves into 9th Street Village,” incorrectly stated that the business’ new pizza cart would replace its current Tots! cart at Midtown Yacht Club. The business will soon have both carts at Midtown, and one will not replace the other. We regret the errors.

PLEASE STOP THE PROPOSED THORNBURGH RESORT

On Wed., March 9 the Department of State Lands had a public Zoom meeting for input to help determine if it should sell 400 acres of OUR public land to the developer of Thornburgh destination resort. Almost 300 people attended the meeting representing many concerns, including water for farming, water impact on current residential wells, the impact on area wildlife, the impact on the mule deer migration, disruption to hiking and biking trails and yes the overall environmental impact. 255 individuals spoke voicing their concerns and EVERY SPEAKER WAS AGAINST the sale of the land, not one person said it was a good idea. Additionally, more than 3,400 businesses, community organizations and individuals have signed onto an opposition letter and to date, 1,800 community members have submitted public comments, opposing the sale, into the record for the DSL to consider. In addition to being against the sale of public land to a proposed resort, I oppose the entire resort. The resort could consume up to 6,000,000 gallons of water per day for three golf courses, six artificial lakes and 1,000 luxury houses. The state and the developer emphasize that the money for the sale will go to schools, but there are many other tracts of land that can be used for school funding. Central Oregon doesn’t need another golf resort for the affluent, we need to protect the environment and conserve water. —Joe Craig

We live 3 miles away and supposedly have 28 acres of water rights. Last year we were cut down to water seven days on, seven days off. This year we have been warned that we might water seven days on, 14 days off. Farmers are moving away. Locally sourced produce, meat and hay will go away. Wells have been going dry the last several years. Yet somehow there is enough water for three golf courses, lakes, pools and up to 3,000 homes? And leaving the DSL land natural? Plats show roads and homes on the parcels. Plus being built next to another resort with three golf courses, lakes, pools, etc.? 2022 has a statewide drought, high fire danger, and lack of public notice since the property is surrounded by BLM is allowing this water sucking project.

—Christine Larson

ATTENTION, REDMOND TAXPAYERS

I love this city and its friendly caring people, but the Cascade Swim Center badly needs upgrading with a full restoration. It is used by many and is an embarrassment if compared to other facilities for the same purpose. Please, taxpayers, let’s opt for our dollars to go to making this facility a shining light in our community worthy of the great reputation we already have. We’ve spent a lot of money on our dry canyon which fulfills much of our exercising needs, but our old pool also fills those needs. Let’s treat them equally financially. Thanks !!

—Marcia Majors

RE: IN THE BCD, A MESS—LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY OPINION, 3/10

Please note that facilities and services for the houseless are being concentrated

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in a very small section of town, the closein east side of Bend. The Project Turnkey motel on NE Division. The Rainbow Motel on NE Franklin. The Second Street shelter south of Franklin. The growing St. Vincent Depaul shelter at 350/362 SE Cleveland Ave. The planned 36 unit Cleveland Commons somewhere near SE 5th and Cleveland. The "now on hold" managed camp on NE 9th near Glenwood. This concentrated approach has been tried for many years in Portland (Old Town), San Francisco (Tenderloin), and Los Angeles (Skid Row). What has been the result? Obvious and glaring failure. Why are Bend City Council and city employees repeating this pattern and what specifically is being done to create a different outcome here? Additionally, please note that the cycle of poverty is frequently generational. And when government intentionally concentrates poverty in a single geographic area, it perpetuates this cycle. Where is the social justice component to the concentration of poverty that is being laid down right now in Bend? Where is the equity to the traditionally underserved sections of Bend where government is now intentionally concentrating the houseless population? Is anyone paying attention to the bigger picture of what is being done to the fabric of our entire city? Help the houseless? Absolutely. But don't blindly do it in the same way that has failed miserably elsewhere and expect a different outcome. Disperse these facilities into all quadrants of Bend now.

—Tom Gugg

Bend is doing an awesome job trying to handle the houseless crisis with compassion, props to them! I know folks are having a hard time coming around, but these are human lives we’re talking about. If everyone would get involved, we could ease some of the fears and worries AND actually accomplish something, together. —Mandee Seeley via bendsource.com

Letter of the Week:

Thanks for your letter, Mandee! You get letter of the week for raising an important point: Nearly every day we see hundreds of people commenting on this facet of the housing crisis on all the social media channels— and yet, at the same time, the shelters offering people a place to stay and an alternative to the streets are always in need of more volunteers to give their time, to prepare a meal or to simply donate to the cause of helping house people and/or building more shelter capacity in Central Oregon. Cheers to the people already playing a part. —Nicole Vulcan