Bend Don't Break: Steve Platt, Bend City Councilman

In this episode of Bend Don’t Break, host Aaron Switzer sits down with Bend City Councilman Steve Platt, whose journey from fighter pilot to physics teacher to public servant reveals a deep commitment to community, resilience, and thoughtful leadership.Steve shares how his global military career and experience commanding squadrons shaped his approach to civic engagement and policy-making. Now serving on the Bend City Council, he discusses his passion for affordable housing, sustainable transportation, and environmental stewardship—issues he sees as interconnected in building a thriving future for Central Oregon. As a physics instructor at Summit High School, Steve also reflects on the importance of education and the evolving science curriculum aimed at empowering the next generation.Listeners will gain insight into the challenges of local governance, the weight of public responsibility, and the power of listening—whether to constituents, students, or fellow council members. It’s a conversation that blends data-driven decision-making with heartfelt dedication to Bend’s people and places.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to the Ben Don't Break Podcast. We are powered by the Source, Ben's locally owned media company and weekly newspaper. This podcast is our eddy in the rushing waters of local journalism. We are glad that you are taking some of your time to listen to us chat with the people who shape our local community. Support us through our member program at Bensource.com.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

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SPEAKER_03 0:45

I'm Aaron Sweitzer, producer of this fine Ben Don't Break podcast and publisher of The Source. I have with me as our guest Steve Platt. He was elected to the Bend City Council in 2024. His background as both a military officer and an educator informs his vision for a thriving Bend, both in the media future and in building long-term resilience for Central Oregon. Dedicated to serving as a voice for all of Bend, Steve works to bring the community forward together. Outside of public service, he can be found with his family on the trails, around the lakes, and on the rivers, enjoying all that Central Oregon has to offer. Steve, thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

It's my pleasure. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

So I understand it's the first day of school. It is. And you are teaching at Summit. I am. So for listeners and viewers, this is a big this is a big deal that we got the steam on the first day of school amidst all the craziness.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Yeah, I've got this little hoarse first day voice, you know, so you know how time to project for the kids and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

Yeah, yeah. You're the uh you're the newest city counselor, are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Yeah, yeah, myself and and Gina. Yeah. Yep, yeah. We're the two that are uh first first term. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

So what made you decide you wanted to get into that crazy world? And and you, you know, there's time for regret.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

I mean, you are it you know, I I actually I'm really enjoying it. I really, yeah, it's it's I love digging in and and getting into the detail work. Um I think one of the things is is Catherine and I, you know, moved around with our family for 25 years in the military, and we would, you know, arrive at all these awesome, amazing communities. We lived all over the world, Turkey. We lived in all of the continental United States, Alaska, and we always would say, you know, the they're just neat things that they're doing here. Yeah. And we'd like to get involved, but then two years we'd be gone, right? Because the military told us where to live. So I think when Catherine and I finally arrived here, when the military wasn't telling us where to move, but we got to choose, uh, we said, let's let's dig in um and and see if we can help a little bit. And so I, you know, um it's our home, it's our forever home. Yeah, we've been here since 2017. And uh, you know, I I felt like I maybe had a little something to offer um that I that I might help try to make the city a little bit better um based on my experiences that I had before.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Yeah. You're um you're a veteran, your background as you as you mentioned, the military, uh, but it's not your everyday run-of-the-mill kind of service. You uh you you had kind of an extraordinary career with the military. Maybe tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Uh you know, I I uh as a high school student, I and at and even younger, I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Um and and so every kid wants to be a pilot pilot. Yeah, there aren't a whole lot of them that end up in the cockpit.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yeah, so and I and I so I I made it happen. Yeah. Uh, you know, I went to the Air Force Academy, um, and in fact, I met Catherine at the Air Force Academy. It was fantastic, and um and you know, went to pilot training and and then did the things. Did do well enough that I ended up getting to choose to go to fighters. Um uh, you know, I did all the all the things, you know. I started flying fighters in about 93. So if you know your history, sort of 93 on, I was kind of around when we were doing things in the Middle East, and so I did some of those things. Um, you know, commanded a bunch, ended up going to uh weapon school, which is like the Air Force's uh top gun, uh only a lot better than the top gun. I'm just just gonna throw that up.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Better than the movie? Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

So except no volleyball. We didn't play volleyball up there. So but yeah, so I I uh you were a commander, you weren't you weren't just a flyer, but you you commanded those those squadrons. I did, uh yeah. And I ended up as a as a uh colonel, uh Fulbird Colonel, um, commanding a group up up in Alaska. And I I found that I really, really liked uh command. It's stressful. Yeah. Um and yet you you really can have an effect. Yeah. You know, you can you can help young folks move forward in the career, you can have you can have impact on policy.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Um you know, and so there were there were young enlisted troops that I help get into the officer corps, there were um folks that were not qualified to for pilot status, and I helped them get into pilot status and and just you know the kinds of things that were just very, very rewarding for me at the same time that there's a lot of stress associated with one does not imagine being a squadron leader without a lot of stress.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

Yeah. Taking to the air and just kind of I guess that's what Sunday out at Bend Municipal Airport is for. Sure, sure. It's very similar. Very similar.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

How long had you been uh retired before you moved to Bend?

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Uh so I retired in 2015, and Catherine and I spent a couple years um in Davis, California, where Catherine got her fellowship um in chronic pain, and I got a teaching license.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Uh and so then in 2017 we we moved up here. Um and then I started teaching shortly thereafter. So you didn't let the moss grow.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

No. No, at all. Yeah, wanted to put those skills to use. So you're currently a physics teacher over at Summit High, and um and you're recently embarked on another physics class?

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Yeah, this year the um the Ben LePine schools have kind of flipped the script as as it goes to the science curriculum. Um, probably when you were in high school, when I was in high school, it was biology, chemistry, and then some other form of science, maybe some physics. Um, and I it's sort of a broader movement, just not in our district, to put physics first. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Um, and so this is So you don't you get d for science curriculum, you know, when when I went to school, we selected you could take chemistry, geology, physics. Right, right. And then I think you had to take a second one and you had to take some out of your discipline, but there you have to take physics, or you're taking it first?

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yeah, so we have a core now. And the core is you will take physics, you will take chemistry, and you will take biology. And there's not a real parachute out option. Uh, it's it's let's let's help you get there.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

That could have been painful for me. I know there's a lot of physics trauma out there. I deal with a lot of physics trauma.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Uh but but I think it's the the idea is that when freshmen are coming in uh to high school, um, if you if you put them in sort of a very conceptual intro-level physics course, there's uh some math that pairs well with the math that they're doing at the freshman level. And it's a spiral of learning where they see the math and then they apply the math in physics. Um and so there's there's some there's some science behind that science choice. Uh and I so we'll see. It's uh it's a new program. I'm piloting it for Summit. Um, and so you know, hoping for good things.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

When was there ever a moment in that brief what was it, 12-hour period during your retirement where you thought I should just take it easy?

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Well, yeah, you know, we we tried so so Catherine and I took a year uh in in Davis, the first year, and we were Uber volunteers for our son's sixth grade class. Okay. We did all the things, we were camp counselors for a sleepaway camp for the year. We helped all the the classroom, and the teacher kept saying, Are you still available? And we said, Yep, we're still available. Uh and so we we enjoyed it. Yeah. Um, and I think we said that there's a little bit more that we can help with. So that's that's great. That's why we do that.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

So um maybe share a little bit as an incoming city counselor new to um that's your first government position. I mean first um elected position. That's correct.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Um what what strikes you as uh what strikes you about that when you when you first walk in, you're sitting behind the thing, they're they're going through the minutes, the community's there. What what's uh maybe walk us through that a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Well, it's a weight of responsibility. Yeah. You know, and in some respects it it it rhymes with command a little bit, you know, in terms of I mean, you're not a commander, but you are one of seven people who who make votes that have real, real impact on the daily lives of of everyone around the the the community, all the members of the community. And so you feel that weight. Um and and for me, you feel a real desire to get it right. Yeah, you know, to man, not not walk into there unprepared. Um, and so it's a lot of homework. Yeah it's a lot of of just asking staff who I must say are very responsive questions. Yeah. Can you explain this to me? I don't understand why we're doing it this way. Can you explain it to me? And you know, a lot of times the answer is because of these these reasons, and uh it makes a lot of sense. Right. So so I I feel I feel responsibility.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Yeah. I mean, as the town, I I know having published and watched city counselors in their positions taking various amounts of the kind of weight that you're talking about. Um but the town is growing. I mean, it's just so many more people in here. I mean, if as a percentage of of the folks that are, you know, under your responsibility, it just keeps growing obviously exponentially. And and the scope and the size of the projects, the amount of money that's involved, um, you know, how much of that do you feel as you come in? Well, and you gotta see it in the faces of the staff, I imagine.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

For sure. Um, you know, one of the things that I did, pardon me, uh one of the things that I did was uh work on the budget committee for a couple of years before I before I ran. And so I, you know, I had a sense of the size of the budget, um, and you know, down to the dollars and cents. So that yeah, you so you understand the impact and you understand the dollars that are moving. I I I did do a lot of the Air Force budget when I wasn't flying jets, uh, so moved real big dollars um for there and understood the impact of those and and a well-spent dollar, a public dollar. Um and so I you know, I I um I think what I what I see is that uh those resources are so precious and really need to be allocated in a in a in a open, transparent, and defendable manner. And and we need to be able to stand behind every every choice we make. So I it I I think that's the sense that I get.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

There's a level of um intensity among people within the community on social media. I mean, I've always obviously we've we're journalists and we're a part of it, but I've I've always been struck, more so I think, even than state senators or legislatures, and maybe I just don't see them as closely, but man, do the people put a focus on city council and and council dollars. And um what does that look like from your side of the chair?

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Uh you know, I'm I'm not uh I'm not real active on the social media.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

I can't imagine you have a big Instagram page.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

I don't, no. Uh, you know, and I and and I and I don't want to disengage, right? And I and I want to honor that form of communication and also acknowledge that that's not an area that I'm particularly strong in. And so I need help understanding that. And and you know, the city has a has a a staff that communicates uh to help help us communicate with various levels of of you know with God.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Yes, I know it's it's very helpful. I'm always surprised when I see city councillors like jumping down into the into the into the city and just starting to agree. Um I think it was Megan, wasn't it? Megan Megan was we during the last campaign we were watching it like wow, like that's a level of engagement. I don't know if that's how. She's not scared. No, she's not scared. No, she's not. She she rose up to national prominence. I think she was at at during her campaign, was getting some of that kind of level. So it can get there. It can get pretty out of hand.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

It can. And you know, the emails that we get, uh, uh a lot of them are a you know, a lot of them are I see a problem. Can you help with the solution? And and that's the vast majority of them.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

But there are some uh repeat writers who, you know, have expletive laden emails to us that tell us that we're not doing a good job um in a variety of different ways. Right. Um and so it but it's important to me to to try to, you know, I read through the the the all of the things and I go, yes, and is there a problem right here that I can identify? Because clearly this person is very unhappy.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Um, and within the sphere of influence that I have, is there something that I can do to help to help adjust that? And sometimes the answer is no. Right. Um, and just like being a commander, something like that. Sometimes it's knowing that you don't know, right, or that it's not, you're not gonna be able to fix that problem. Right. And and and being okay with that. Yeah. And and acknowledging that you're not gonna make everybody happy, but I just hope they all feel listened to. And and and that's that's part of leadership. And then, you know, folks get uh another chance to tell me how I did my job, um, you know, if and when I choose to run again.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Sounds like you got the right temperament. I don't know. I don't know what I would do when that flamethrower got turned on me. I would someone would have to break my thumbs. I would probably hit that keyboard pretty hard. Yeah. What are some of the things that you um I mean, as you get in there now? And I mean, I mean, I think if I remember correctly, you kind of ran on a platform of being fiscally responsible, getting in there, understanding now that you're getting, I'm sure by now, a good baseline. Where do your interests, where are your interests drifting? What are the things you want to put your energies into? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Uh and I appreciate that uh that question. Uh, you know, one of the things when I was on the budget committee, I I sort of took the city to task on how I felt that they were allocating their their overtime dollars. Um, and you know, when they came back to the budget with us next time, and I was now sitting on council, they had made some real updates to their to their overtime policy. So I felt like they were like, oh, we won.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Well I mean a little bit. He's coming. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

And I, you know, so and I asked a lot of those kinds of questions. Right. And and, you know, I'm not saying that anybody was doing anything wrong, but it was a reallocation of resources and and I think a uh uh uh you know defendable uh position. So you know, we went through that that budget pretty pretty extensively again. So I feel good about that. But where my interests are now is I feel like we've really made some hay as far as as far as some affordable housing goes, it's a lot of work we got to do still. But that affordable housing piece, and my colleagues and the first responders that that I rode with this summer, I rode with the police and the EMS um and talked to them. And you know, the vast majority of the new hire police don't live in the community. You know, they have to live in the out out towns and then drive in every day. So I, you know, so that housing, that affordability, you know, we we say it again and again. It's if you if you live in Bend, you ought to be able to work in Bend or run in Ben and live in bed. Right. Um but uh you know, I believe that kind of thing. So the the affordable housing across the spectrum is really important to me. How we move around the city safely, the transportation system, yeah, multimodal.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

Seems like you've got a ton of focus and attention on that. I mean, if I could go back to the social media thing, that's where I see it the most.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Oh, yeah, we hear a lot on you're just building for bikes, you hate cars and all the things. Yeah, it's true. And and I will tell you, for me, the interest level really wraps that whole thing within a larger environmental perspective. Yeah. Um, because if you have to live a long ways away and drive in, you're spending a lot of time in the car, you're burning a lot of carbon. And it's just a lot of extra miles on our roads, you know, we're trying to pass this road budget right now. Yeah. Man, this transportation budget, that's exacerbating the problem. Um, you know, if you have to, and and and so if we can do something to bend the arc of our carbon footprint for the community over the long term, that is really where I'm chiefly focused. Yeah. But that housing, that transportation, all of those, um, wildfire resilience, all of those fold within that broader theme, which is where I'm I'm focused.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

I mean, especially with things like housing. I mean, you're a little hamstrung by the environment, by by what just the the the levers you have to pull at the city council level. I mean, I I I see again a lot of this commentary about, well, why can't the city, you know, do this, that, and the other? And it the a lot of that is outside of the city's purvey, is it not?

SPEAKER_02 18:43

It it sure is. Um, and you know, there's this interplay between us and the county as well in terms of of um lands within the UGB, the county uh controls and and any expansion that occurs. Um I I think, you know, I I feel like this tax increment financing program that we've put in in place where we have said that we're gonna freeze your taxes as long as you have uh a percentage of affordable housing that we agree with, 15% is a minimum. We're gonna give you a tax, a tax base freeze for um, you know, uh a significant length of time. That that program has yielded uh a little over eleven hundred proposed dwellings that have to be occupied within three years. Um so that's a big deal. And there's a and 15% of those, it's more like 18% of those, are guaranteed uh affordable housing. And and they have to those those uh builders and those owners who are gonna run those properties have to come back to us every year and prove that they have maintained the affordable percentage of their units, and then they will get their property taxes refunded too. So we we can hold that.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

So you've got a little teeth in it.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Right, right. And so I, you know, and that's as as opposed to the Muppti program that that ended based on public uh you know uh input, which I think rightly so, um, we're we're getting more affordable housing. And so that I feel like that's kind of bending the curve. However, if you look at the units that we have approved, these seven projects that we've approved, in fact, Brita Ridge just broke down, broke ground, and they're starting to happen right now. But if you look at those projects right there, there are sections of the Oregon housing needs analysis that needs to be that needs to be filled, our goal. Um and the 80% area median income to 120% area median income, most of the housing that we've approved, whether it's rental or uh uh housing that's being built out on the market, falls into that zone. And so for below 80%, right, 60% and below, and even permits affordable housing, um that is just really tough to build. And so, to your point exactly, we're trying to figure out what other levers are there, and are there dollar level a lot of it is it's probably dollar levers. Yeah. Um, and so we, you know, we have another committee that we started on that I'm on. This this housing options made for everyone, the home committee, where we're trying to figure out what are there any other low-hanging fruit that we can do to get this whole theme of this whole range of housing built out. And for me, the reason I really focus on this is because the Oregon housing needs analysis says that in the next 20 years, we need uh over 33,000 more units.

SPEAKER_03 21:41

Well, aren't you isn't not to get too wonky for people out there, but um you have a UGB expansion that is in the very early stages, if I'm if I know the the time if I understand the timeline correctly. And you're gonna be hell you You're somewhat constrained on what you can do based on Oregon's land use laws with regard to what can be allocated for affordable housing. Where can you where can you build that? Because I remember talking about this to the city, and I was like, Well, you you can do whatever you want once you open that up. And he was like, We're we're dictated to heavily by uh Salem.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

It's true. And one of the reasons Catherine and I moved to Oregon was because of the unique land use system. Right. We love it.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

We we do Redmond and Bend are still separate somewhat. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

It's true, right? And so, and so what does it come down to? Is it comes down to what we call gentle density or infill uh our options. And what does that mean? That probably means in closer, up taller, right, is is is what that means. Um, but really, I guess from the environmental set standpoint, what I look at is 33,000 more units. We've got 43,000 units right now. So that's math in public, but I I checked this, it's about 79% more housing units in the next 20 years. Jeez. And so what that now we'll see if we make those targets and things can change. But here's the rub for me as an as somebody who's focused on the environment. If you can change the the heating source and the power source for that home, that new home, yeah, that stock that we're gonna add is gonna have a dramatic increase and in the the changes that we are gonna make in our carbon footprint reduction. And so right now we are trying to do this electrification process, which is gonna get emotional. Um it really is. Yeah. Um, but we just got data in our last meeting that says that um the most recent data that we have is 95% of homes, single-family homes, had some form of gas uh in their in their permit right there. So 95%. Now, that's not all of the homes that are being produced or the the the units that are being produced, if you go to the multifamily units, those are high percentage electric only.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Um, you know, heat pumps, that kind of thing. Uh but if we are going to electrify our community over the over the coming years, uh days, weeks, months, and decades, uh, which I believe we should do, um, if we can bend the curve on the on the single family housing, that 95%, yeah, I think there's a real, that's a real effect that we can have.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

And something I'm really focused on.

SPEAKER_03 24:35

We are at the end of our time chatting. Wow. Here's Steve. I know it goes fast. Yeah. The uh anything that uh I haven't poked you about that you'd like to tell listeners, viewers. Uh I You seem like you're having fun with this.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

I I really dig it. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

And and and I just I mean, some people get in and they you know, their their bend is, you know, they they love the attention, the power, the even if it is just city council power, you know. Right. Right. But they love it. But you're you you l seem to love the numbers. I do.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

I dig in and which is why you were elected, I think. Well, thank you. Thank you. I I and I appreciate the endorsement. So uh, but uh I guess that all I'd ask is reach out, you know. Let me know what what we're missing. Yeah, because I know we've all got blind spots, so let me know.

SPEAKER_03 25:24

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

So Steve, thanks for taking the time. It's my pleasure. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 25:29

This has been the Ben Don't Break Podcast. If you like conversations like this with Councilman Steve Platt here, then uh go to our website, become a member, support uh the Source, and we will keep doing these uh for everyone that's listening and viewing. Thank you. Thanks. You've been listening to the Ben Don't Break Podcast, powered by the Source Weekly. To read, hear, and see more of what we do, go to Bensource.com.