Two articles in recent weeks on affordability in Bend, both in wages and housing, present a pretty stark difference in viewpoints on where Bend is at, economically, these days. Compare and contrast…

First, from CNBC: Bend, Oregon, is becoming a commuter town for Silicon Valley despite the 10-hour drive

While most people jump in their cars or walk to public transportation to get to work, Darren Pleasance starts up his plane.

Pleasance’s family decided to make Bend, Oregon, their permanent home in 2010 even though it meant flying back and forth to the Bay Area for him. When he was tapped by Google to lead its global customer acquisitions team a couple of years later, he explained he would be out of the country most of the time.

Allowing him to remain a 10-hour drive — or a 70-minute commercial flight — away from Mountain View, California, wouldn’t be that big of a deal, he contended. Plus, the licensed pilot promised he would check in often, whether it was virtually or flying himself in. Google agreed – and the situation has worked ever since.

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While Bend isn’t even in the same state as San Francisco or Seattle, it’s becoming an option for the tech community, especially those with families who are finding themselves outpriced by exorbitant housing prices…. according to the handful of Silicon Valley and tech industry folks who’ve moved up there, it’s the ideal balance between having an actual life outside of work and being in the same time zone as the main tech hubs — despite the long commute.

Cloud-based network technology Kollective was based in Sunnyvale, California, 2½ years ago, when CEO Dan Vetras found out his rent was going up three times because Apple had moved into its office building. So he floated the idea of starting an office in Bend.

“Honestly it was an easy sell to get people to go somewhere where the weather is nice nine or 10 months of year,” Vetras said.

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At the same time, Seven Peaks Ventures’ Abrams said its part of the tech community responsibility is to help Bend grow, yet allow it to retain its charm so it doesn’t become another San Francisco.

“Because it’s easy to get to Bend, and there are a lot more people coming from the Bay Area and elsewhere, our job is to find out how to diversify the economy and not screw up the environment,” Abrams said.

Or they could just encourage people not to move to Bend anymore.

“Bend sucks, don’t move here,” Kollective’s Vetras said cheekily.