Hello Modern Bend, This is my first blog and i am hoping it is successful, I would like to say that I think it is a good idea for everyone to sign in and try being interactive on this site at least ounce (that means this week ) who knows you might like it. Even if you do not have much to say, like me, at least we can keep active and get a little momentom behind us. Thanks for your time;

Gabe

P.S  I cant find a spell check so I have to remind everyone carpenters aren't required to spell well...

I'm having a Luxury Property tour on June 14th.

Jed is lightly staging one of my Broken Top houses and Gabe is going to show off his cabs.

Check out the Holbrook’s (HD Architecture) new Black Butte Ranch Community Center most recently featured in Cascade News. Slick integration of new to the existing.

Here is a link to the Sub Zero - Wolf Kitchen design contest.

http://www.subzero.com/kdc2006/default.aspx

Scroll all the way down to the bottom.

I leave at the end of the month for the national competition. Wish me luck! This will say a lot for Modern Bend too!!!!!!

Be sure to read the three articles under the real estate section... blue skies are ahead of us. Let me know what you think.

Check out under the Community tab, video's, then click on Sample the Vine, to videos and check out the Video on Life is Good. It has Bert and John Jacobs speaking as well as other interesting speakers.

www.TED.com

Many of you already know this site, but a friend of ours just sent it to us. It is TED, Technology, Entertainment and Design, and features lectures ‘inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers.’ Some interesting, and entertaining, ideas here that are in line with Modern Bend.

Sandy

Thanks, Steve, for getting Modern Bend going. Privileged to be a part of it.

Space has always been available. Look at America from the air. Only 4% of the country is built upon. All this space has bred a sense that what we do with it isn't that important. The community that mandates forward-thinking land use policy is a rarity: planning principles aren't typically invoked unless they're reacting to something already built. It's like a teacher having no rules until her classroom is out of control.

We like to contrast ourselves with the Dutch or Scandinavians, and planners often (and accurately) grumble that we're a generation behind them in progressive land use policy. But remember that their population densities are much greater, and the sense of personal space is nothing like ours. So they don't have a culture steeped in space like the American west does. That's a huge obstacle to overcome. But now that energy costs and a floundering economy are realities, we at last can no longer afford to defer to the way it's been done in the past.

People often look at the dramatic drop in construction activity and say 'now's the time to catch up on planning, and to craft a vision for the future while we catch our breath'. The irony is that long term planning is funded directly by revenues from development applications. When those applications are down, as they are now, the ability to fund the 'big look' comes into question. We have recently reshuffled revenues to keep long term planning funded, with an eye trained specifically on the expansion of the UGB. But there's more to planning than that. Good planning prevents crime, reduces traffic, enhances quality of life and creates vibrant, economically diverse communities. I bet 70% of people would agree with that, but ask them if they're willing to pay for it and that number's gonna drop in half.

So Bend has some hard choices ahead. It's easy to say 'we don't want to become indistinguishable from Toledo, Topeka or Tampa', but are we really willing to invest in our community to make it so?

Has anyone been to Walla Walla in the last 3 years? Only a 5 hour drive from Bend....and a world away. This is a community re-inventing itself on the back of a rather long agricultural history centered on wheat. The new twist...Wine. 120 wineries and counting.

Downtown WW is thriving...would you believe a retail shop where the owner's roots are in Milan, then NYC and then Walla Walla? Hotel rooms are close to impossible to find when a wine event hits town. Quality is the bedrock on which this emerging wine country destination is being built.

A unique sense of place.....economic vitality....historical leverage and very Modern. It is the young (at heart) that are fueling this shift in WW. Folks who are willing to learn and to adapt....folks fueled with passion and a vision of the next 30 years that is clear. It is fun to see and to feel.

You can feel that in Bend, too. Go downtown and see people with smiles on their faces....committed to this place and finding their way in it.

Bend, of course, has a broader economic base than a place like Walla Walla. However, there is a vision hole I'm feeling at the moment in Bend that we should discuss. We have Bend 2030 to help us envision our future and bring people together to discuss that future, but it seems to have lost some traction in the community-at-large for the moment. That needs to change. And then we have Juniper Ridge which should serve to focus the community-at-large on what the community believes to be its future, but that seems to be a rather political hot potato at the moment where the discussion is more about who will make the money than what we want to work towards as a community legacy.

Thoughts?

Sixteen Charter Contributors met on 1/4/08 to learn more of the origins while sharing the aspirations and charting an immediate course forward for Modern Bend. The energy level was high.

An active role was requested of all Contributors: to reach out to their personal/business networks and to expand the conversation... to build this community of like-minded people.

Clearly, a broad segment of the community was represented: from artists to restaurateurs to retail of all stripes to manufacturers and technologists to civic leaders to design professionals to developers of real estate.

The Modern Bend community is made up of like-minded, forward/optimistic individuals who choose to play an active role in a positive future. Bend is unique in that we can shape its future. Modern Bend is designed to become a broad-based and inclusive voice in the community-at-large. Bend's population will grow substantially in the years ahead and a significant percentage of those who come here (whether they be visitors, part-time or full-time residents) will likely be looking to connect with the Modern Bend community.

New links have already been added to the site with more coming shortly. Several in attendance suggested other's who should belong and were requested to contact them and connect them with Modern Bend for inclusion.

Importantly, it was mentioned that while Abito will take the lead in hosting this site and managing its foundation, the broad-based contributor community within Modern Bend will ultimately steer and shape the course forward.

We live in an extreme set of climate conditions. Cold winters and warm summers with oftentimes huge, daily fluctuations in those conditions. We further live in a part of the country where wood is plentiful, sustainable and affordable. There is an aesthetic here that relies on materials that reflect our place in the natural landscape. So, how are we doing... are we making that connection to the natural landscape?

Not really, and it is likely to get worse before it gets better... firstly, no developer is looking to lock horns with a national distribution system and the codes that govern what is possible. The drivers of this very large train are a handful of public companies that own most of the developable land and purchase most to the products that this country consumes when it comes to housing materials. The not-very surprising result... cookie cutter development has become the norm.

Obviously, change is not going to be initiated by these folks... they cannot afford the risk. Like all things, residential housing construction change will come from the passionate; who will spread their passion to early adopters, where eventually (with success and time) consumer demand will gain the attention of large companies and the supply chain. (Can you believe what has happened with granite counter tops in the last 6 years? How about stainless steel appliances?)

Generally speaking we build homes today not unlike we did at the turn of the last century. Compare what has happened to the car over the same period of time. You wouldn’t build a car out in the open, exposed to the elements... one piece at a time.

And, let’s not let you and me off the hook in this pragmatic overview. Three startling examples; how long have we known about the hole in the ozone layer... why have home sizes increased when our actual household size has diminished and what is up with purchases of gas sucking, over-sized vehicles given an unprecedented run-up of gas prices?

It will not be easy, timely or convenient to adopt systemic change... real change that addresses the waste stream... considers manufacturing techniques and field execution strategies that deliver on the promise of sustainability without being trendy? Ultimately, we are preparing for success by supporting those who endeavor to make a difference... real people doing what must be done in a positive fashion... who inspire and teach us what is possible... step-by-step adopting better practices.

This web site is dedicated to those people and their efforts. Great design is at the heart of it all!