Nimbyism for everyone.

Interesting how not just homeless camps in Bend are being opposed these days, but just about any new subdivision seems to have opposition. Nimbyism for everyone. But I wonder how these people think Bend got the way it is.

Pretty constant question at the store is how I feel about all the changes. Well, the short answer? I moved the Redmond. heh.

So, the traffic is a little much, I admit. The elitism is offputting to me: membership clubs downtown and gated communities, but overall, I think that Bend becoming a bit more cosmopolitan and diverse is a good thing. Though we will need to get a handle on the homelessness problem.

The truth is, we just aren't a small town anymore. 

I was talking to another downtown merchant a couple of days ago. She thought we'd been around about the same length of time, though I'm pretty sure I was here at least a decade before her. I didn't disabuse her of the notion. We talked about how downtown has changed, and I said, "I've gone from stocking the cheapest version of a book to the nicest version of a book."

"That's it exactly," she said. 

I suppose the downside of that is that people perceive downtown as too expensive, but the truth is--they thought that way long ago, long before the biggest changes happened. In other words, the impression was there before the reality. So there wasn't really as much of downside to going upscale as people think.

Of course, I'm still of the opinion that a bookstore needs to appeal to everyone, and having the "nicest" book I can get appeals to everyone. People don't come downtown for commodities--they come downtown for something different, something unique.  

We were never really a mass market paperback kind of bookstore, but we staked a ground in the middle, with trade paperbacks. But, as I said, I now find myself asking if the hardcover version might not be a better choice. For me, it's about the limited space and how to get the biggest bang for the footage. 

So yeah, Bend has changed. Anyone who wanted to live in a town like we were in 1990 in going to be disgruntled. But that was 30 years ago. The changes are kind of peaking right now.

A word of warning. My impression has always been that when things strike me as overheated, it is often just before a retrenchment. Vice versa, when things seem the most down, it is a prelude to an upturn. 

It seems to me that we're a little overheated right now. People have been saying that for years, but I always thought that Bend was growing because people want to live here, not because of any bubble. 

Only recently has it seemed like it might be getting a little over the top. 

But here is where I must paraphrase my favorite all-time quote (from John Maynard Keynes) about business: "(Things)... can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” 

I've always interpreted this to mean that things aren't always imminent, but they are usually inevitable in hindsight.