Ready or not, I think Bend is going to become the poster child of excess to the mainstream media.
I suspect that the New York Times article on Bend is only the beginning. For one thing, as the rest of the country is trying to crawl their way out of the hole, Bend will still be digging. As much of the country lies panting in the mud, Bend will be still be slinging dirt.
Like it or not, we're it.
It was interesting to look up "Poverty with a View" in the Urban Dictionary and find that it is applied specifically to Bend. I sort of thought every resort community had that saying.
We'll be in the top ten lists for a long time. Over priced, under employed, and out of luck.
The rest of the country needs someplace that was worse than themselves. They need someone to wag their fingers at. Wow, we have it bad, but at least we're not Detroit or Bend, Oregon!!
Bend has beautiful surroundings, they'll say, but look what they did to themselves. It's a shame.
Our very picturesque-ness is going to be what puts us on the poster. Look! they'll say. See what happens when you build too much. When you drive too much. When you think you're special. When you don't create jobs!
Media will shake their collective heads. Sad, isn't it?
Whatever you do, don't get Bendized. (Damn Californians, mutter, mutter....well, you know how the rest of the country shakes their head about THOSE people.)
Just saying, be prepared to be kicked around for awhile. You'll get concerned calls from relatives. "Are you O.K.? We hear Bend is a ghost town!"
It's not so bad, we'll protest. Really.
But it's too late. We're on that poster.
I suspect that the New York Times article on Bend is only the beginning. For one thing, as the rest of the country is trying to crawl their way out of the hole, Bend will still be digging. As much of the country lies panting in the mud, Bend will be still be slinging dirt.
Like it or not, we're it.
It was interesting to look up "Poverty with a View" in the Urban Dictionary and find that it is applied specifically to Bend. I sort of thought every resort community had that saying.
We'll be in the top ten lists for a long time. Over priced, under employed, and out of luck.
The rest of the country needs someplace that was worse than themselves. They need someone to wag their fingers at. Wow, we have it bad, but at least we're not Detroit or Bend, Oregon!!
Bend has beautiful surroundings, they'll say, but look what they did to themselves. It's a shame.
Our very picturesque-ness is going to be what puts us on the poster. Look! they'll say. See what happens when you build too much. When you drive too much. When you think you're special. When you don't create jobs!
Media will shake their collective heads. Sad, isn't it?
Whatever you do, don't get Bendized. (Damn Californians, mutter, mutter....well, you know how the rest of the country shakes their head about THOSE people.)
Just saying, be prepared to be kicked around for awhile. You'll get concerned calls from relatives. "Are you O.K.? We hear Bend is a ghost town!"
It's not so bad, we'll protest. Really.
But it's too late. We're on that poster.