In an attempt to respond to public opposition to its controversial $68 million water project, the Bend City Council plans to hold a public hearing on a resolution to modify plans for the Surface Water Improvement Project on March 7. The City claims this resolution will reduce the costs of the project, making it more palatable to rate-payers.
“The City has finally acknowledged the Surface Water Improvement Project (SWIP) is an expensive and flawed project. However, the resolution they’ve crafted is not a re-look at the project, which is what the City promised citizens months ago,” says Bill Smith, who advocated for an independent review of the project.
“This resolution does not change the total cost commitment of the project, and it eliminates any flexibility in water options we now have. By committing to build the $30 million pipe before listening to any public forums and eliminating the hydropower aspect of the project, the City will be building what Mayor Eager called in 2009 a ‘pipe to nowhere,’” says John Casey, a former business owner who has lived in Bend for 17 years.
Coordinator for the Stop the Drain campaign Moey Newbold says she urges “anyone who cares about rising water rates or the Tumalo Creek watershed to attend the City Council meeting on March 7 to ask the City Council to propose a resolution that takes citizens and rate-payers concerns seriously.”
For more information and to get involved, visit www.stopthedrain.org
