Was reading the Bulletin blog fodder this morning, and it occurred to me that what someday will be remembered as tough times, and what was once predicted would be tough times, has become...simply the reality.
Quiet acknowledgment on the part of the city that it might not be possible to both maintain the Bend Area Transit and the general police and fire services.
No flashy expensive searches for new city manager or new police chief, (hey, we're a big time city and we need big time outsiders!) simply endorsement of the competent people in place.
Realization by the Forest Service that land in Sisters isn't in demand anymore.
The big positive story in the Bulletin, Deschutes Brewery's expansion plans, is really talking about 'planning' and at least a couple of years out.
The article RECOVERY ISN'T LIKELY IN 2009, is the most remarkable in it's mundane approach. Ho, hum. We knew it all along. No big deal.
"...no real signs of a local economic recovery until 2011." (Remarkable how the headline can use the 'negative' of unlikely recovery in 2009 but the very first paragraph pushes that timeline out two more years...)
Later in the article, this comment. "Rather, Watkins sees a "long, slow crawl out" after 2011."
Terrific. So we are, what? looking at 2012, 2013?
Also buried in the article is this; "....the unemployment projection -- 15% in Central Oregon by the fourth quarter of 2010, was disturbing...."
(Personally, I think that 15% figure will be hit this year....)
Finally, I always love the quotes from Mike Hollern, CEO of Brooks Resources.
"Hopefully, all this government intervention works great, and hopefully we have really smart people making those decisions." (words highlighted by me, but I imagine Hollern muttering them under his breath.)
So the bottom line assessment, in a secondary article in the business section is:
15% unemployment.
No recovery until 2011, that will grind into 2012 or longer.
Hopefully.
Quiet acknowledgment on the part of the city that it might not be possible to both maintain the Bend Area Transit and the general police and fire services.
No flashy expensive searches for new city manager or new police chief, (hey, we're a big time city and we need big time outsiders!) simply endorsement of the competent people in place.
Realization by the Forest Service that land in Sisters isn't in demand anymore.
The big positive story in the Bulletin, Deschutes Brewery's expansion plans, is really talking about 'planning' and at least a couple of years out.
The article RECOVERY ISN'T LIKELY IN 2009, is the most remarkable in it's mundane approach. Ho, hum. We knew it all along. No big deal.
"...no real signs of a local economic recovery until 2011." (Remarkable how the headline can use the 'negative' of unlikely recovery in 2009 but the very first paragraph pushes that timeline out two more years...)
Later in the article, this comment. "Rather, Watkins sees a "long, slow crawl out" after 2011."
Terrific. So we are, what? looking at 2012, 2013?
Also buried in the article is this; "....the unemployment projection -- 15% in Central Oregon by the fourth quarter of 2010, was disturbing...."
(Personally, I think that 15% figure will be hit this year....)
Finally, I always love the quotes from Mike Hollern, CEO of Brooks Resources.
"Hopefully, all this government intervention works great, and hopefully we have really smart people making those decisions." (words highlighted by me, but I imagine Hollern muttering them under his breath.)
So the bottom line assessment, in a secondary article in the business section is:
15% unemployment.
No recovery until 2011, that will grind into 2012 or longer.
Hopefully.