Amy Holbrook had a good idea after the last Modern Bend meeting Tuesday.  Talked about initiating a design charette for 3rd St.  Which is an area where most people know something better has to happen.  As it is, it doesn't work: look at the city map and you'd think the junction of 3rd and Greenwood, of 20 and 97, would be an important civic area.  And instead it's crap. 

The city's been working on a Central Area Plan for a few years: a key portion of it is the 3rd St. corridor.  Some good things are envisioned there: memorable architecture, mixed uses, loss of asphalt, the automobile in a secondary role, a pedestrian-friendly environment.  Re-use of a decaying former core and re-thinking of urban space.  All this will take time and cost money.  The City Council is looking at a scaled-down Central Area Plan this Wednesday, June 4.  Here's a link to the executive summary of key findings and proposals:

http://www.ci.bend.or.us/city_hall/meeting_minutes/docs/Executive_Summary_CAP.pdf

There's a lot of good concepts there, concepts rooted in years of public and stakeholder input.  I'd still love to see broader involvement.  So why not have an open house complete with maps, aerial photos and trace paper?  Talk about building heights, solar orientation, corridors, open space, transportation, the railroad, all of that- in essence, the sum of 3rd St and its parts.  Draw out some ideas, no matter how off the wall.

There have been some good charettes in the past in Bend: the Westside 'ULTRA' process, for instance, packed em in.  I wonder if we can't get some similar enthusiasm here.