Bulletin Daily Paper 12/29/10

Page 1

Deschutes pub expanding

’10 on the links Looking back at a year of local golf • SPORTS, D1

Downtown Bend restaurant to begin filling vacant lot next year • BUSINESS, B1

WEATHER TODAY

WEDNESDAY

Cloudy with moderate snow and breezy High 33, Low 19 Page C6

• December 29, 2010 50¢

Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com

Lawmakers take aim at road rule City sees Law requires sufficient infrastructure to suit development BEND

savings in return of ODOT funding

By Nick Budnick The Bulletin

SALEM — Local lawmakers are gearing up for another run at a state rule that officials say has blocked job-producing development, particularly in Central Oregon. When the 2011 Legislature convenes in two weeks, Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend, and Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles, plan to introduce bills to relax or suspend a rule that requires

localities and developers to pony up funds for road improvements before approving development that would increase traffic jams on state highways. Huffman and Telfer say their efforts are fueled by complaints from local officials who have found their efforts blocked due to what’s known as the transportation planning rule. It was first adopted in the early 1990s to cut down on car travel and minimize traffic congestion.

But many communities and developers increasingly complain that they are unable to pay for road improvements before the land nearby has been developed. “A lot of our communities had said that economic development has been hindered because of the pay-forward portion of the (rule), and unless you’re a large corporation it’s very difficult to pay for all of the required infrastructure,” Huffman said. See Road rule / A4

Pete Erickson / The Bulletin

The intersection of Highway 97 and Cooley Road in Bend on Tuesday. A state law requiring improvements to the intersection delayed development at Juniper Ridge until recently. Some legislators want to change the law.

2010 CENSUS

Dashing in Drake

By Nick Grube The Bulletin

City of Bend officials recently learned it would be cheaper for them to give back about $234,000 in grant money to the Oregon Department of Transportation than to actually spend it. If that sounds strange, that’s because it is. The city typically isn’t in the business of turning down free money, especially considering it has a mounting general fund deficit that could top more than $20 million over the next several years. But because of various circumstances that have increased the city’s costs of actually fulfilling the grant, including several delays due to budget cuts and layoffs, officials now believe they can save about $11,000 by canceling their agreement with ODOT and doing the work themselves.

Necessity spurs rise in multifamily households By Michael Luo New York Times News Service

‘Sort of rare’ “This is sort of rare,” City Manager Eric King said. “We wouldn’t have passed on the grant if we wouldn’t have realized the cost savings.” ODOT awarded the city $233,700 in 2007 as part of the Safe Routes to School Program that aims to make it easier for children to walk or bike to class. The money was going to be used to construct sidewalks along Bear Creek Road on Bend’s east side between Alpenview Lane and Cessna Court. As part of the grant agreement, which wasn’t formalized until 2008, ODOT would design and implement the project, including paying for the acquisition of rights-ofway along the route and actual construction. See Grant / A4

Pete Erickson / The Bulletin

D

ash Petersen, 4, from Fresno, Calif., who has been visiting Bend with his family, runs through Drake Park on a cold and rainy Tuesday. It’s going to get even colder today. The National Weather Service predicts temperatures will be some of the coldest of the winter, so far. For a more complete forecast,

see the article on Page C1.

INVESTING

By Cam Simpson Bloomberg News

LONDON — James Burton didn’t have a penny invested in gold of the $142.8 billion he managed as chief executive officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System in 2002. Why would he? The metal had been in a bear market for two decades. Yet, after announcing his retirement from the largest public pension fund in the United States, Burton agreed to fly to London to entertain a job offer from a mining companies

MON-SAT

We use recycled newsprint

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SPDR Gold Trust holds 41.8 million troy ounces (1,299 metric tons) of gold, far more than most countries have in reserves.

By Ben Elgin, Benjamin Harvey and Madelene Pearson

trade group. In June 2002, he listened to what sounded like a far-fetched idea: selling gold as an investment to the masses. It was time to get investors to buy a precious metal they’d shunned for a generation, Christopher Thompson, the World Gold Council’s new chairman, told him that day. The key was dividing bars of gold into securities tradable on the stock exchange. He wanted Burton to lead the effort. Gold was then trading at about $328 an ounce in London. See Gold / A5

Bloomberg News

Sovereign gold reserves In millions of troy ounces SPDR

More than 110 41.8 - 109.9 12 - 41.7 5-11.9 4.9 or less

Vol. 107, No. 363, 38 pages, 6 sections

Note: Country holdings as of Dec. 15 Source: International Monetary Fund

Not included

Washington Post

The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper

Jewelry business held hostage by gold boom

Fund amasses gold

Gold bubble expands as firms grow demand

SAN FRANCISCO — In June, Bill Doddridge flew his single-engine Cessna 400 to Twentynine Palms Airport at the edge of California’s Mojave Desert and headed for an abandoned mine, a .45-caliber pistol on his belt. He was looking for gold. The firearm was to ward off rattlesnakes. The precious metal would be a sideline to his jewelry business. He sifted through dirt, climbed into shafts, and later bought the property, shut-

INDEX Abby

E2

Business

B1-6

Calendar

E3

Classified

F1-8

Editorial

C4

Horoscopes

Comics

E4-5

Education

C3

Local

Crossword E5, F2

Environment A2

Movies

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — For the three generations of the Maggi family crowded into a recession-beaten three-bedroom ranch house here, the tension from living on top of one another for the last 10 months sometimes erupts at unexpected moments. A nudge from Kathy Maggi for her 26-year-old daughter, Holly, to clean her room sparks a blowup; an offhand comment by Jim Maggi about the way bills come in “month after month” to his daughter’s fiance, James Wilson, causes days of smoldering; a bite of a chocolate bar from Grandma to 21-month-old Madison leads to frustrated chatter behind closed doors. In February, after being evicted from their Gainesville apartment, Holly, James, Madison and their good-natured pit bull, Caley, moved into a cramped bedroom in the house where Holly grew up. Neither James nor Holly had been able to find work for more than a year. See Households / A4

tered since World War II. “If we’re not making money selling gold, we might as well get into mining it,” says Doddridge, 55, chief executive officer of Tustin, Calif.-based Goldenwest Diamond Corp., a privately held company that owns 17 Jewelry Exchange stores and an online site. “It’s a whacked-out world.” The rising value of bullion — reaching a record $1,431.25 an ounce on Dec. 7 — has upended the economics of jewelry for buyers and sellers alike, with a mix of outcomes. See Jewelry / A5

TOP NEWS INSIDE E5 C1-6 E3

Obituaries

C5

Stocks

B4-5

Shopping

E1-6

TV listings

E2

Sports

D1-6

Weather

C6

ABORTION: State’s legislation could challenge Supreme Court, Page A3


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