OPINION

Airport Parking Alternatives Are Coming. You’ll Just Have to Wait a While.

Officials at the Redmond airport raised prices on daily parking five years ago. Now, they want to do it again, raising the daily fee from $15 to $24 per day. It’s the same price someone would pay to park daily at Portland International Airport, they pointed out – even though we all know that the experience varies greatly.

At PDX, one can pay $24 to park there, or they can opt to hop on the light rail and get nearly anywhere in the metro area in a reasonable amount of time. They can also take a bus. They’ll also park their vehicle in a covered area that keeps it safer from the elements. There are also private parking stalls close to the airport that cost far less than $24.

Student Filmmakers One Water Video Contest

DEADLINE April 28, 2023; 5pm

Students - Create a 30-second video that may be turned into a TV commercial! How we plant, irrigate and manage our own yard plays an important part in conserving water and keeping pollution out of our river and groundwater.

Awards

Grand Prize:

• $200

• Professional reproduction of video to air on local TV

• Film screened at BendFilm Future Filmmaker event.

Division Winners:

• 9th - 12th Grade Prize: $100

• 4th / 5th - 8th Grade: $100

All Winners:

• Entrance into Future Filmmaker awards

• Film/Commercial featured on social media.

How To Enter

Scan the QR code or CleanwaterworksKIDS. com to access contest rules, forms, plus content and resource ideas.

HURRY - IT WILL BE A WRAP SOON!

Here at the Redmond airport, those coming from Bend or parts elsewhere have none of those options. Airport officials told the Redmond City Council, who may vote on the issue at the end of March, that increasing the fees would help them pay for the expansion of the airport facilities, which gets underway next year. Parking is a real cash cow, even for a facility that traffics in air travel.

Cab companies like this idea too, because it means they can increase the number of rides – to the tune of some $50 or $60 one-way to Bend. While we admit there’s an element of privilege in bringing up the pain of paying such high fees for parking or cabbing it to the airport, which many people use for leisure or business travel, it does remind us once again that we are not Portland – we just pay the prices big-city dwellers pay for less-than-big-city amenities.

If we’re going to pay those prices, we should at least invest some of the money into alternatives that would reduce the number of cars left at the airport, and cut down on general traffic near the airport, too. Eventually, our growing region will outgrow the parking facilities that presently exist at the airport – or the ones that are planned for the near future. Then it’s back to begging for more cash — or passing the cost on to travelers — for more pavement.

But those of us who resent not having a non-car option to get to the airport, or resent paying those big-city prices should take some comfort in the fact that, hopefully, if all goes to plan, there will soon be an alternative.

Over at Cascades East Transit, officials have been working for years to usher in a city-to-city route, using either existing or new routes, that picks up and drops off at the Redmond airport. Soon, hopefully, CET may have enough drivers trained to make that route a reality by the fall. (Wages and housing have been among the barriers to hiring thus far, they told us in a podcast recorded last summer.) Mind you, if the Redmond City Council approves the parking increase, it would go into effect as early as May.

While we understand that CET is a different entity with a different budget than the City of Redmond, it makes sense to have these two entities work together. Since parking fees are like crack cocaine for anyone who begins to implement them, we doubt the City of Redmond is going to nix this plan to increase fees at the airport. But would it be too much to ask to see them delay the increase until a bus between the area’s largest city – Bend – and the airport is in place?

Not only would this alleviate parking congestion at the airport, it might also help decrease traffic on Highway 97, and cut down on vehicle emissions to boot. Those who oppose an increase in parking fees at the airport would do well to support this alternative in any way they can.

Will the next WINNER be YOU?

GUEST OPINION: LET’S STOP BLAMING SURVIVORS ONCE AND FOR ALL

As the Executive Director at Saving Grace, I am routinely asked about our domestic violence and sexual assault services, other nonprofits in the area, my thoughts on policy that impacts survivors and abusers, and sometimes, “What did you think about that TV show?” or “Is this sexist?” I welcome all questions, because often people don’t want to discuss domestic violence and sexual assault. However, there is one question that I don’t like: “What steps can women take to stay safe and prevent assault?”

Let me step on my soap box for a minute to officially say that there is nothing that a woman, or any person, can do to prevent rape, assault or abuse, and these types of questions perpetuate the stigma of blame, shame and hesitation that survivors often face. While I’m up here, I’d like a chance to ask a question:

Why does our society often want to blame and place ultimate responsibility on the victim?

Victim blaming is questioning people who experience violence and asking what they could have done to prevent it. It tries to identify supposed weaknesses in a person or mistakes they made that could have made them a target. It is important to understand that sexual violence is never the fault of the person who experiences it. Sexual violence happens because someone chooses to cause harm, not because someone is wearing a certain item of clothing, said a certain thing or was in a certain place. We need to recognize that people are never required to say no “strongly enough,” fight back against an assault, or follow the many and sometimes conflicting safety tips available in order to avoid the potential for being harmed by another person.

Victim blaming can be very damaging to survivors and perpetuate a culture of abuse. People who have experienced sexual violence often report feelings of fear, stigma and self-blame regarding their experiences, and victim blaming can be a barrier to survivors receiving the support and help they deserve. So, what can you do to change this pervasive and toxic form of thinking?

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? Send your thoughts to editor@bendsource.com. 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!

• Challenge victim-blaming ideas when you encounter them.

• Resist allowing abusers to use excuses for why they abuse.

• Acknowledge that survivors are the experts in their lives, and they made the best choice for themselves in the moment to survive an assault.

• Recognize that victim-blaming can take on many forms which can be rooted in sexist, racist, sexist, homophobic and/or transphobic perspectives.

• Tell survivors, “I believe you,” or ask, “How can I help?”

We know that sexual assault and victim blaming is everywhere, and it will take all of us to address it. This is why our team works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide safe and confidential services to our community. It’s why we at Saving Grace are committed to helping survivors find safety, hope and healing. Please join us in making Central Oregon a place where all people are safe from abuse. Let's stop blaming survivors once and for all.

—Cassi McQueen is the executive director of Saving Grace. Find information about their services at saving-grace.org.

RE: CONCERT TICKET MONOPOLY

I am in on the class action lawsuit. Tried to get tickets to Chris Stapleton: Impossible. I got in a queue and I had over 2,000 people in front of me.

—Jeff Boswell

WHAT OUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS STAND FOR Everyone

in Deschutes County is represented by one of Oregon’s two Republican Members of Congress. So it is important that we understand what they stand for.

Cliff Bentz already has a track record as a MAGA extremist. His first vote in office was to disqualify Pennsylvania’s certified electoral votes for Joe Biden. He then voted against the pandemic recovery bill, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and against lowering insulin and other drug costs. MAGA Republicans, including Bentz, opposed these and many other measures that have directly benefitted Deschutes County residents.

As a freshman, Lori Chavez-DeRemer has just begun to define her record. But already we can see that her extremist beliefs and actions belie her concerted efforts to create a more moderate image. Although she touts her initial bipartisan efforts on the Farm Bill, she has joined Bentz in supporting extremely divisive and politically-motivated legislation advanced by the MAGA House leadership. They have both supported:

• The “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” a wholly unnecessary bill (infanticide is already prohibited); and

• The “REINS Act,” a bill to delay or stop regulations for public health and safety, financial reform, and worker protection, making industry even less accountable to the public, as was tragically the case in the East Palestine railway disaster.

Chavez-DeRemer also recently co-sponsored the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” a hateful anti-transgender bill that whips up public acrimony by targeting a tiny, defenseless minority group.

Is this what we want our Representatives in Congress to be doing?

-Mary Chaffin

Letter of the Week:

Thanks for sharing that info, Mary. Come enjoy your gift card to Palate!