City Council Business Meeting

all right, we will call to order our business meeting of
the bend city council tonight,
thanks for being here.
steve platt, he/him. >> norris. She/her.
mike riley, he/him.
mendez, he/him.
gina franzosa, she/her.
and councilor perkins is
excused and proclamations, arbor
day, councilor mendez.
this is a distinct pleasure
because not many people know
that my middle name is tree.
And the way that my mom tells it lucky that tree wasn't my first
name. Whereas, in 1872, the nebraska
board of agriculture established a special day to be set aside
for the planting of trees;
and whereas, this holiday, called arbor day, is now
observed throughout the nation and the world to recognize the value of trees and their
positive benefits to human welfare and a healthy
environment; and whereas, the city of bend
is celebrating 23 years as a
tree city usa; and whereas, trees can be a
solution to combating climate change by sequestering carbon
and, by providing shade that moderates urban temperatures, reducing the need to actively
cool our homes and buildings; and, whereas, trees clean the
air, produce life-giving oxygen, and provide habitat for birds
and other wildlife, all of which
contribute to human health and
well-being; and whereas, trees in our city
increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our
community;
and whereas, bend community members have expressed their
desire to maintain a healthy
tree canopy because it protects the character of our community
and provides all of the other benefits described above; and whereas, tree planting
activities engage people of all ages in understanding the
importance of trees and proper tree care, and promote the
well-being of this and future generations;
and whereas, arbor day is a call to action for all citizens to
join in an effort to promote the good health and beauty of our
local and global environments;
and whereas, arbor week in
oregon is held the first full
week of APRIL each year. Now, therefore, the bend city
council does proclaim:
that friday the 24th of APRIL 2026, be designated " arbor day"
for the city of bend.
I move acceptance of the proclamation. >> second.
moved by councilor riley and second by councilor franzosa,
all in favor. >> aye.
and we have four groups to
accept the proclamation today, from save bend green space we
have robby silverman.
And the city of bend urban
forester, ian gray.
And teacher from middle school
and national honor society adviser, jane shine.
And we have students from middle
school, dash, theona and tyler, can we invite all up?
we don't have enough chairs.
If anyone that wanted to make a statement, we will take a
picture after this. And if anyone wanted to say
anything to accept the proclamation, is robby here?
You want to say anything.
you know me --
I don't know if ian wants to make remarks.
why don't you come up robby
and start with you two.
Foritously we have planting
event on 24th at middle crest
middle school and we have eighth graders to plant 31 trees along
with residents of the community, yeah, really excited to make that happen.
I will be super quick, we
have about 150 students at pacific crest that are involved
in the national honor society
and last year completed 4,000 community service hours and
excited to participate with ian
and our school's green team as well.
Within 24 hours we have 60 volunteers and 12 parent
volunteers ready to roll.
We are excited to participate. Thank you.
all right. Great.
well, save bend green space
is honored to be a part of this
proclamation and a 501-c
organization and our vision is
balancing bend for the growth of saving trees for the health of
our community.
As we celebrate arbor day this
year we want to commend city
council for enacting bend's tree
code and establishing urban
program and establish ian gray to be arborist across areas of
the city. to put another way, healthy
trees, healthy bend.
Which happens to be the slogan
of the volunteer based effort to inventory and assess condition
of trees launching this spring.
And kudos to you ian for leading this vital project.
And take the opportunity, in
face of all of this progress a
huge percentage of bend's trees are under attack.
As council reassesses the juniper trees under the tree
code ask that you recognize that
juniper trees make much of the
canopy on the east side of bend
where development is slighted.
Bend could risk a dangerous drop
in overall tree canopy, one will be extremely difficult to
reverse.
Thank you mayor and councilors
for commemorating arbor day and for protecting trees in bend.
thanks robby.
Take a photo. Thanks everybody.
[Applause]
All right, next is our darksky week proclamation.
well, great, thank you it's
my honor to be doing the darksky proclamation once again this
week, and particularly this
evening when we have four brave
astronauts into those darkskies
and wish them fair winds and
following following, whereas, international dark sky
week is observed in APRIL on the week of the ne

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