"infill hasn't got to it yet..."

So 22 building permits were taken out in Bend in May.

22.

In May.

Say no more.



Meanwhile, over at N.W. Crossing they are having juvenile delinquent problems with their parks.

I'm not surprised.

One of the first blogs I wrote was about my doubt of N.W. Crossing's chances. I felt it was a bridge too far: it was out in the boonies, it was overpriced and crowded, but mostly....it was unfinished. Vacant lots. Sidewalks leading to nowhere.

In the Bulletin editorial, they cite the isolation: "As a developed park in a relatively undeveloped area..." This would seem to me what happens when you get ahead of yourself. You build everything, retail and leisure, before you have the population. Especially, if a significant number of that populace are flippers, or second home owners. Vacant owners make lousy neighbors.

And the little beauty of a comment above: "...infill hasn't got to it yet." And pray tell, when is that going to happen? Maybe I will say more about the 22 housing permits.

In all of Bend.

22.

In May.

I've always wondered if N.W. Crossing would reach its combustion point in both residents and retail. Especially retail.

In the late 70's building boom in Bend, we built two malls. Never got even close to full occupancy before the 80's recession hit. The malls struggled all through that decade and on into the next. By the time Bend did start taking off, the malls were being bypassed. They were old and tired. Eventually, they were torn down.

But even a year ago, driving through N.W. Crossing was a dispiriting experience. Huge and wide sidewalks, with no one on them. Stores that didn't seem to have any customers other than other store employees.

I expect I'll get the usual fierce N.W. Crossing defenders; but to my eyes, people who bought into N.W.C. were buying into every fad we had to offer. Bend as amenity; mixed used urban planning; and Craftsman style -- oh, did it have Craftsman style.

Trouble with "Mixed" use plans -- and this is a lesson for Juniper Ridge -- is that all elements, residential, leisure, and business, have to be clicking, working in synergy, to work. If one of the element falls down, the other elements are dragged down with them.

Visionary planning is great, if you can pull it off. But, mostly, development is haphazard and messy and unpredictable, because humans are haphazard and messy and unpredictable.