Relocating to Bend, Oregon from Colorado

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by j.penningham

Bend is about to change drastically. The city leaders and businesses want to put in a four-year college. It seems to be getting all the approvals along the way. For those who moved here or are planning to move here for the good neighborhoods to raise children, the college (OSU) is not planning for any student housing which will put thousands of students in our wonderful neighborhoods. I'd seriously make this a top consideration in decisionmaking. The college is leaving it's admin jobs in Corvalis, its base campus. Bend is on the cusp of changing dramatically if this goes through. Have you ever had college party houses in your neighborhood?

1) OSU Cascades already has enrollment of ~1,000 as is. Source: Future Students | OSU-Cascades

2) OSU Cascades is plannig for 3,000-5,000 students by 2025. Source: State board OKs OSU-Cascades' 4-year expansion | News - Home

That's a 2,000-4,000 increase in student body over the next 13 years.

Is that as drastic/dramatic a change as you've portrayed above? I'd argue not. Others can come to their own conclusion given the facts.




Side note: COCC has an enrollment of over 7,000 at the moment.

[NW Crow]

A bigger 4 year college will help Bend. There are plenty of party houses in Bend and every community with or without a 4 year college. If j.penningham wants "quality young people" for the daughter, I'd think enhancing the 4 year college would be a plus not a minus. Of all the things to oppose I can personally think of little from my perspective I'd oppose less than expanding a college to a bigger but still modest size. A 4 year college will make some difference in Bend's ability to recruit larger employers and help more young people find decent jobs and lead decent lives and stay in the area if they want and not have to leave or get frustrated and turn to vices.

If lots of student housing comes to your specific neighborhood and you don't want to live with the worst case college students, well that would be unfortunate. But the majority of college students are not bad neighbors. And there will be plenty of neighborhoods where the college students will not be congregated to choose from. They will be only a few percent of the total metro area population a long time down the road.

My guess is that state funding shortages for construction of facilities will keep the growth slower than projected.

When I was in college, I eventually moved off campus, not to party but to save money. The local neighborhood association was hostile to students and sued some using outdated, unfair zoning rules (4-6 or more family members can live in a house with no questions asked but more than 3 students, not "related", and you are breaking the law?) In this case the college came first and they moved right beside it. And in many cases they actually worked for the college and the college student enrollment and tuition helped make that whole enterprise run and gave them jobs. A case of wanting everything run for their advantage.

[Smiled]

The economy was NEVER strong in Bend. Never. It only appeared that way during the housing bubble. It is a tourist/retiree town. The economy appeared strong because a ton of outside money came in, and was used to build all those empty houses. I remember visiting friends, marveling at all the new developments, and wondering: Where are all these people going to work, once the money leaves? Because when the building stopped, there was an eerie quiet... folks came to the realization that they were trapped.

I saw the same thing happen twenty years earlier around Placerville (30 miles east of Sacramento). In that case, there were empty houses, but also a huge number of commuters to Sacramento for work. That's not possible in Bend, unless you make enough to fly to the Bay Area, LA, or Seattle during the week (and some do).
I see jobs in Bend in my field (Finance) but would only take them if I were young and single. I'm certainly not going to sell my house outside Portland and buy over in Bend.

Remember... Bend is known for "poverty with a view."
The friends I mentioned earlier have since sold their house (at the 2003 price they paid) and are moving to Tennessee. While that's drastic, in my opinion, it serves to highlight the problem.