On Thursday, we blogged about the forthcoming revision to the City of Portland's "special events" rules involving mass gatherings on the streets and sidewalks. We tried not to make it out as a major threat to free expression, although we noted that the concept of a "free speech permit" seemed mildly comical. Well, that must have hit a nerve down at City Hall, because the next day we got this e-mail message from Kathleen Butler, the regulatory division manager at the city revenue bureau:
A recent posting on your blog related to Portland Special Events code revisions was brought to my attention today. We have also received several calls with questions about this issue.
This is to clarify that the proposed program will in no way change the program's approach to free speech events. Nor will it inhibit free speech in any way.
Under the current and proposed program, planned free speech events that notify the Special Events Program receive assistance with developing a plan that encourages public safety to participants and nonparticipants alike. The proposed Special Events guidelines, such as the number of participants and application timelines, do not apply to free speech events. The Special Events Program cannot and will not interfere with the public right to assembly as it applies to the time, place and manner of an event. I have attached an updated document that we have issued to all stakeholders that I hope provides clarifications regarding the new policy.
The proposed code language regarding free speech events is intended to clarify and make explicit the current policies regarding free speech events.
Please feel free to contact me at any time if you'd like to discuss the proposal.
The "updated document" was a copy of another e-mail message, dated Thursday, and it is here. It appears that when a demonstration spills out onto the street, the "special events" program steps out of the way and turns it over to the police bureau. And when dealing with some members of that force, you'll need more than a permit.
Comments (7)
Always the "safety" issue, What horse pucky. Just a way to safely put the citizens our of sight. An idea left over from the Bush-Cheney days that a 1/2 mile down the street was the place to picket, or maybe as in the conventions, behind barbed wire.
Sure wouldn't want our poor policemen to feel threatened by citizens practicing democracy.
I see. The "free speech policy" will not hurt free speech. That is the police bureau's responsibility, and there are always a select few officers who truly relish that part of their job.
Free speech is not welcome in multi-modal venues. You are only allowed to speak freely, assmble, or petition for redress of grievances in public venues where pedestrians predominate.
"YOU! YOU there! Standing in the street. Unless you got a permit you paid for, shut the &%*# up and get out of the street, or I'll break your &%*#ing head."
If that is a "policy", we know how much that is worth....
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
The City of Portland does not honor their own policy...they don't have to...particularly if it impedes the 'Friends & Family Plan' to access the taxpayer-fed revenue streams.
So, remember kids....If it's "Policy" in Portland, it don't mean squat.
Gascón, Colosal Red 2013
Cardwell Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
L'Ecole No. 41, Merlot 2013
Della Terra, Anonymus
Willamette Valley, Dijon Clone Chardonnay 2013
Wraith, Cabernet, Eidolon Estate 2012
Januik, Red 2015
Tomassi, Valpolicella, Rafaél, 2014
Sharecropper's Pinot Noir 2013
Helix, Pomatia Red Blend 2013
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
Campo Viejo, Rioja Reserva 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2013
Locations, Spanish Red Wine
Locations, Argentinian Red Wine
La Antigua Clásico, Rioja 2011
Shatter, Grenache, Maury 2012
Argyle, Vintage Brut 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2014
Benton Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
Primarius, Pinot Gris 2015
Januik, Merlot 2013
Napa Cellars, Cabernet 2013
J. Bookwalter, Protagonist 2012
LAN, Rioja Edicion Limitada 2011
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2009
Denada Cellars, Cabernet, Maipo Valley 2014
Marchigüe, Cabernet, Colchagua Valley 2013
Oberon, Cabernet 2014
Hedges, Red Mountain 2012
Balboa, Rose of Grenache 2015
Ontañón, Rioja Reserva 2015
Three Horse Ranch, Pinot Gris 2014
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
Nelms Road, Merlot 2013
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris 2014
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2012
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2013
Villa Maria, Sauvignon Blanc 2015
G3, Cabernet 2013
Chateau Smith, Cabernet, Washington State 2014
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Willamette Valley, Rose of Pinot Noir, Whole Clusters 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Ca' del Baio Barbaresco Valgrande 2012
Goodfellow, Reserve Pinot Gris, Clover 2014
Lugana, San Benedetto 2014
Wente, Cabernet, Charles Wetmore 2011
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
King Estate, Pinot Gris 2015
Adelsheim, Pinot Gris 2015
Trader Joe's, Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley 2015
La Vite Lucente, Toscana Red 2013
St. Francis, Cabernet, Sonoma 2013
Kendall-Jackson, Pinot Noir, California 2013
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2013
Erath, Pinot Noir, Estate Selection 2012
Abbot's Table, Columbia Valley 2014
Intrinsic, Cabernet 2014
Oyster Bay, Pinot Noir 2010
Occhipinti, SP68 Bianco 2014
Layer Cake, Shiraz 2013
Desert Wind, Ruah 2011
WillaKenzie, Pinot Gris 2014
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2013
Des Amis, Rose 2014
Dunham, Trautina 2012
RoxyAnn, Claret 2012
Del Ri, Claret 2012
Stoppa, Emilia, Red 2004
Primarius, Pinot Noir 2013
Domaines Bunan, Bandol Rose 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Deer Creek, Pinot Gris 2015
Beaulieu, Rutherford Cabernet 2013
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
King Estate, Pinot Gris, Backbone 2014
Oberon, Napa Cabernet 2013
Apaltagua, Envero Carmenere Gran Reserva 2013
Chateau des Arnauds, Cuvee des Capucins 2012
Nine Hats, Red 2013
Benziger, Cabernet, Sonoma 2012
Roxy Ann, Claret 2012
Januik, Merlot 2012
Conundrum, White 2013
St. Francis, Sonoma Cabernet 2012
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2012
Decoy, Cabernet, Sonoma 2013
Marqués de Murrieta, Reserva Rioja 2010
Kendall-Jackson, Grand Reserve Cabernet 2009
Seven Hills, Merlot 2013
Los Vascos, Grande Reserve Cabernet 2011
Abbot's Table, Columbia Valley 2014
Forlorn Hope, St. Laurent, Ost-Intrigen 2013
Upper Five, Tempranillo 2010 and 2012
The Four Graces, Pinot Gris 2015
Topsail, Syrah 2013
Jim Barry, The Lodge Hill Shiraz 2013
Robert Mondavi, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2012
Adelsheim, Pinot Gris 2014
Boomtown, Cabernet 2013
Boulay, Sauvignon Blanc 2014
Domaine de Durban Muscat 2011
Patricia Green, Estate Pinot Noir 2012
Crios, Cabernet, Mendoza 2011
WillaKenzie, Pinot Gris 2014
The Occasional Book
Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
Amy Stewart - Girl Waits With Gun
Philip Roth - The Plot Against America
Norm Macdonald - Based on a True Story
Christopher Buckley - Boomsday
Ryan Holiday - The Obstacle is the Way
Ruth Sepetys - Between Shades of Gray
Richard Adams - Watership Down
Claire Vaye Watkins - Gold Fame Citrus
Markus Zusak - I am the Messenger
Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
James Joyce - Dubliners
Cheryl Strayed - Torch
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
Saul Bellow - Mister Sammler's Planet
Phil Stanford - White House Call Girl
John Kaplan & Jon R. Waltz - The Trial of Jack Ruby
Kent Haruf - Eventide
David Halberstam - Summer of '49
Norman Mailer - The Naked and the Dead
Maria Dermoȗt - The Ten Thousand Things
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
Christopher Buckley - Thank You for Smoking
William Shakespeare - Othello
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cheryl Strayed - Tiny Beautiful Things
Sara Varon - Bake Sale
Stephen King - 11/22/63
Paul Goldstein - Errors and Omissions
Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Beverly Cleary - A Girl from Yamhill, a Memoir
Kent Haruf - Plainsong
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 37
At this date last year: 104
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (7)
Always the "safety" issue, What horse pucky. Just a way to safely put the citizens our of sight. An idea left over from the Bush-Cheney days that a 1/2 mile down the street was the place to picket, or maybe as in the conventions, behind barbed wire.
Sure wouldn't want our poor policemen to feel threatened by citizens practicing democracy.
Posted by KISS | October 12, 2009 2:17 PM
I see. The "free speech policy" will not hurt free speech. That is the police bureau's responsibility, and there are always a select few officers who truly relish that part of their job.
Posted by none | October 12, 2009 2:17 PM
as long as your views fit the larger multi-modal picture.. you have nothing to worry about
Posted by Anthony | October 12, 2009 2:45 PM
Free speech is not welcome in multi-modal venues. You are only allowed to speak freely, assmble, or petition for redress of grievances in public venues where pedestrians predominate.
"YOU! YOU there! Standing in the street. Unless you got a permit you paid for, shut the &%*# up and get out of the street, or I'll break your &%*#ing head."
Posted by godfry | October 12, 2009 5:17 PM
If that is a "policy", we know how much that is worth....
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
The City of Portland does not honor their own policy...they don't have to...particularly if it impedes the 'Friends & Family Plan' to access the taxpayer-fed revenue streams.
So, remember kids....If it's "Policy" in Portland, it don't mean squat.
Posted by godfry | October 12, 2009 5:21 PM
the spouse says that the explanation sounds just like something Sarah Palin would say...
Posted by portland native | October 12, 2009 5:25 PM
Freedom is obedience to the law. Free speech goes too far when it disturbs the comfort of government officials.
Posted by Mike D | October 12, 2009 6:15 PM