Sometimes I set myself up for such a big entry, I never get to it.

But here goes....

When Bruce came in to show me all the Juniper Ridge papers he'd gotten, he mentioned the 'anti-growth' slate that had once been elected to city council. I immediately thought of the 'men without ties' slate, but didn't remember them as being anti-growth so much as being anti-insider.

I'd forgotten the group that got elected later and fired Larry Patterson, a group who, while never using the actual words 'anti-growth,' seemed to have slow growth policies.

What I actually said to Bruce was, "I think this town has grown so fast, that the locals didn't have enough experience with bigger city politics, and the newcomers didn't have enough experience with Bend, and that was a recipe for disaster."

In fact, if I had to pick a moment when I think our city council went off the rails, it was the firing of Larry Patterson, who was the quintessential insider but also knew what the hell was going on. Seems like a stupid thing to do, if the majority of the city council is new, to fire the guy who knows what the hell is going on.

O.K. A few disclaimers. I only know what I read in the paper. I've lived here my whole life, but I get my info from talking to people or the newspapers. I'm basically not a meeting-goer or a politician. I'm happy alone with my thoughts, or goofin' in my store with regulars. When I read the legal papers on the Bendbubble2 blog, my eyes glaze over. Thank god there are people who are willing to do such things as read the fine print and sit in endless meetings.

But I also know what happens when you expand too fast.

I had four stores at one time. I thought I was successful with one store, so I added another, and then another and then another. But the other 3 stores were missing an essential ingredient to success -- Me. I didn't have the experience, the management style, the policies, the equipment, and the personnel to pull it off. The level of complexity seem to go up exponentially.

I also didn't realize I was riding a bubble, and that four stores weren't possible in Central Oregon over the long run selling what I sell.

When Bend expanded by four times, I think something similar happened. First, the city council misjudged the growth as solid, when a bunch of it was bubble. They lost sight of the bottomline.

But it wasn't just that it got so complex. I think the wrong kind of mentality found it's way onto the council. The 'promotional' minded mentality. I don't have any trouble with that type, as long as there is some bottomline substance underlying the promotions.

But, I'm afraid that sometimes the promotional aspects become more important than the actual reality.

So, when I listen to the city council and city administration talk about their big plans for Third Street, for instance, or Juniper Ridge, I always wonder where they think the money is coming from.

A hardheaded businessman would never have given into an ultimatum from Les Scwab, I don't believe. They wouldn't have closed off all the options for Juniper Ridge by selecting one group of developers. They would have at least done the practical, before leaping toward the improbable.

I repeat, I only know what I observe from the outside. As someone always points out, if you don't go to the meetings, you have no right to complain. But that's what it looks like from the cheap seats.