Juniper Ridge

The city of Bend is renewing its focus on Juniper Ridge, the 1,500-acre parcel on the city’s northeast end along Highway 97 that city officials hope will be all things to all people. Besides a business “park,” it will feature a university with research facilities, a performing arts center, open space and residential developments. Or so they say.

What is happening, though, is that the city is selling the land to healthy companies for far below market value in order to show how vital the whole project is to the future of Bend. It’s then taking whatever profits there are and spending it on roads, water and sewers that serve Juniper Ridge. In other words, it’s subsidizing the companies that can afford to move to Juniper Ridge without subsidies. Yes, corporate welfare. It worked for the richest people on Wall Street in Manhattan, it can work for the wealthiest citizens on Wall Street in Bend.

This means that all available city capital is being spent on Juniper Ridge. There is nothing left to fix dangerous roads, a patchwork sewer system or water deficiencies throughout the community. In other words, as Bend tries to create a utopia at Juniper Ridge, the rest of the city decays. It’s called killing the goose that layed the golden eggs.

That is Bend’s recent history. As it seeks new growth to fill city tax coffers, Bend is left with depleted coffers, foreclosed properties and a crumbling infrastructure. Bend depended on growth to solve all its problems, but growth exacerbated the problems that were there already.

Bend always throws all it eggs in one basket, be it the timber industry, housing developments or Juniper Ridge. It never occurs to the city’s power brokers that perhaps this singular path is destructive to the health of a vibrant community. It’s a short-term philosophy shared by corporate America. It’s what imperils Bend and the country at large.