Occupy Portland, breaking news, the police are gearing up...

[Rabblevox]

Update 2:17 PM: Assistant Chief Mike Kuykendall reiterates the words of the police, "Nothing is going to happen here today." Asked why more police—in riot gear and with ziptie handcuffs—were assembling, it said it was a response to the protest getting more heated by did not indicate a sweep or imminent arrests. "They're gearing up, we're not gearing up," said Kuykendall.
Update 2:04 PM: Police in riot gear are assembling on SW 2nd and Main, while the police have directed all all their traffic division officers to Central Precinct. If the street-sitters want a showdown, looks like they might get one.

Update 1:28PM — Streetgate! There's an increasing number of people sitting down in the street, deciding that this is the confrontation that needs to happen. There's a couple hundred people at the protest, all in all, with just under a dozen people actually sitting down, making a stand. They're clearly hoping for a showdown.
Some of the Occupy organizers are practically in tears, trying to get their friends out of the road. Some protesters are shouting, "Clear the Street! Clear your Ego!"

From the #occupyrandomstreet side, they're shouting, "If you give an inch, they'll take a mile." One of the protesters just said to me, "This is Occupy Earth right now, we occupy this block and then the next, then the next."

Rumors are flowing around that police are going to start making arrests, but whether that's true is entirely unclear. It feels like the whole thing could blow up because of just opening the street. A very tan Chief Mike Reese, who just got back from Budapest, is wandering around. "I'm just trying to keep the peace," he said.

I asked him: "Chief, are there any deadlines?"
He replied, "No."

The mayor's office just released this video of Sam Adams asking everyone to get out of the road:

http://vimeo.com/30452936

Update 12:45 PM—Several dozen Occupy Portland members are massed at SW Third and Main to talk through a decision on whether to give up the road between their two parks, Chapman Square and Lownsdale Square. A majority of the group, but not enough for "consensus," seems to agree—especially on the idea that mucking with the sympathies of working people might not be good for the movement.

"We are not the only citizens in this city," one man said. "We came down here to represent people who could not be here. People need to get to work. That's part of the equation."

Also, it's true: Mayor Sam Adams did show up to personally appeal for the road to reopen. "We don't want a confrontation," he said. "We just want to get the street open.... I've asked for three days and I think I've been patient."

Deputy city attorney David Woboril, when asked outside the Justice Center when the city might resort to other means of persuasion, said "the city's still making up its mind."

Adams' spokeswoman Amy Ruiz says it's still "one day at a time" on what the police response could be, but did say the next step is to "courtesy tow" some of the occupiers' vehicles that are illegally parked on Main between Third and Fourth. ("Courtesy" means "no charge.")


Original post starts here: Last week, the Mercury filed a public records request for—and then posted—a batch of emails that offered an internal glimpse at Mayor Sam Adams' response to Occupy Portland. But that batch only covered last Monday through Friday afternoon. Late yesterday, we got the latest set of missives, running all the way through yesterday afternoon.

We wondered: Has the mayor's patience—and that of the police—begun to wear thin now that the occupation is about mark its first full week? So far, according to the messages, the answer is no. The mayor has refused to let the eventual cost of cleaning up Chapman Square become an issue. And his office also stuck to a go-slow approach to getting SW Main Street—although Twitter is going off that he's down there trying to get the occupiers to move. His staff has also been receiving regular updates on goings-on at the camp, and is still closely monitoring how the parks bureau is dealing with yucky things like busted bathrooms.

All this, as pressure from business interests continues to mount to keep the movement contained and hemmed in.

Standard Insurance might not be happy that Main Street still remains closed. But maybe—what with their being a huge insurance company and all—they should keep quiet. As one city hall observer put it when told of the email: "Okay, Standard. Of all the people who should really keep their heads down right now... That's just bad marketing."

In other road-related revelations, it seems the Occupy campers made a request of their own. They want dispensation to park along Chapman Square without being ticketed. That's not going to happen, the mayor's office says. No groups get free parking downtown.


Meanwhile, Adams might not be able to avoid dealing with how much the city's embrace of Occupy Portland is costing. Last week, police officials told me it was too soon to calculate how much they'd been spending. Now, according to an email sent by Jim Blackwood in Commissioner Nick Fish's office, the parks bureau will be compiling its own list of expenses that the council will have to consider.

Full story here:
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2011/10/12/parking-permits-park-damages-and-complaints-about-main-street-the-latest-occupy-portland-emails-from-sam-adams-office

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Let 'em.

eom

[Rabblevox]

3. They simply will not let SW Main St. remain closed indefinitely, So far Occupy Portland has been...

able to successfully negotiate with the city and the police. I really believe that unblocking this road will cause the city to back off the ongoing occupation.

Just my 2c., however.

[Dawson Leery]

2. When the Koch Brothers come after their union and benefits,

the Portland, OR police will get what they deserve.

[Rabblevox]

4. I have to say, that so far, our police have been remarkably restrained and civil...

it's not like them, and that restraint is obviously fraying around the edges, but compared to other big Occupations around the country? I've got to give our cops kudos so far.

[me b zola]

6. It cannot be overstated how unlike Portland PD it is to be so cooperative and nice

They have a long history of brutality without shame. I was terrified when we marched to the camp last week, in between the courthouse and jail, even though the police had been very cooperative and nice.

[gratuitous]

5. From my vantage point, 10 minutes before 3 p.m.

The view is slightly obscured by trees, but the vehicles that have been parked on Main appear to still be there, and folks are passing across the street and in the square areas as before. I don't see anyone sitting in the street, but they may be under the leafy canopy of the trees.

[hugo_from_TN]

7. A majority of protestors wants to open the street

but they are relenting to a minority that wants to block it. Isn't this exactly the opposite of the purpose of the protests? A minority running the show and forcing their rules on the 99%.

[Rabblevox]

8. It's not exactly the opposite, but it's trying to apply the consensus process incorrectly...

you simply cannot do pure consensus in a crowd of strangers who have multiple objectives.

It's tough to achieve even among trusted allies who have worked together for years.

In a situation like this, that affects the survival of the Occupation, about the best you can hope for is a "super-majority" of 66 or 75%.

Allowing a few people to block the will of the Occupation is just wrong.

[Rabblevox]

9. 4 PM update, the Mayor is obviously running out of patience, and I think on this issue the Occupiers

should give in. Continuing the blockade of a major downtown street will bring nothing but harshness, wheere giving in on this fairly minor issue will probably let the Occupation continue unimpeded.

Update 3:54 PM—Mayor Sam Adams had this to say after Council: "I can't be patient forever. It's an important message they're trying to bring, but it has nothing to do with SW Main Street. It distracts from their message and turns people off. I want the focus to be on the message and not on a block of the city that gums up a much larger transportation system."
Update 3:09 PM—It looks like everyone's settling into a standoff. Alex Z. reports that people are now making out in the chair pictured above. Looks like they're not going to move any time soon.

The police have asked the protesters to please move out of the street, but are reiterating that this is a "nonviolent, safe event," so there are no plans for arrests. Meanwhile, the people blocking the street (who the @OccupyOregon Twitter feed is noting "do not represent #OccupyPortland as a whole.") are refusing to budge at least the general assembly meeting at 7pm.

Full story:
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/blogs/BlogtownPDX/

http://www.occupypdx.org