The new Bend Business Advocate has been out talking with business owners and community members to see what hurdles they are facing. Jon Skidmore has worked on both the private and public sides of the development industry and understands why the process can be frustrating for business owners. He says they are trying to get the word out that bend is open for business: “The feedback that I'm getting is that things are getting better. There's some processes in place, like these pre-application meetings where you can come in and find out exactly what they need. That's been a big step in the right direction for the City in terms of getting the word out. We'll sit down with you; we'll actually walk you through the program before you go thru it." Skidmore says still, at the end of the day, the City is a regulatory agency and sometimes things crop up that need to be resolved so their goal is to address problem issues as early as possible.