The Bend City Council debuted its new community engagement trailer Wednesday — also known as the Bend Block Party.
One of the common suggestions the city gets is to provide more accessible and convenient opportunities for Bendites to engage with local government. The trailer is meant to provide that.
“It’s a block party trailer, but it’s more than just a party. It’s a way of finding out what’s going on in your neighborhood, learning some new things, maybe meeting some new people, connecting and finding out how it is you can engage on the topics you really care about,” said Mayor Melanie Kebler.
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“What we heard was that we needed different forms of engagement that were outside of the public settings like here at City Hall when we have public meetings. They want to have us in their neighborhoods bringing us information about what’s happening on your own streets. So this is just a really good way to both bring information and also gather input from the community,” said Makayla Oliver, Bend Community Relations Manager.
The City paid for it with neighborhood community engagement grants.
Community groups are asked to talk to their neighborhood boards if they want to reserve the Bend Block Party trailer.
