March 18, 2003
'Safe City' Press Conference
Mayor Katz, of course, opened the press conference, beginning by offering her reassurances that they are taking steps to keep the City safe, that the City is indeed on Orange Alert, but that there is no specific information on identified targets in the Portland area.
She explained that the Police Bureau was being charged with keeping "bridges and freeway access clear" -- obviously a response to the Morrison Brige occupation of this past Saturday.
The Police Bureau's Emergency Operations Center will be active as of tomorrow, with the City's EOC ready to be fully functional should the alert level be raised to Red.
Katz also encouraged Portland residents to develop "family and workplace emergency communications plans."
The Mayor added that the City's "thoughts and prayers" are with the members and families of the nation's armed forces.
She also explained that her trip to Phoenix to tal to Major League Baseball has been cancelled, for what it's worth.
Multnomah County Chair Dianne Linn explained that the County was also raised to Orange Alert (which always makes me think of The Prisoner; when the bald man picked up the funky telephone and said, "Orange Alert," then Rover was released to recapture an escapee). She reiterated that there are no indiciations that the Pacific Northwest is targeted.
Linn added that the County was prepared for mass smallpox vaccinations in the event of a biological attack of that type. And she also offered the County's "prayers and support" for those "in harm's way."
Next up was Chief Kroeker, who explained for those who weren't clear on the concept that it is a "turbulent time for our world."
Beginning tomorrow, Kroeker said, the Police Bureau will be operating on extended shifts, and we will all be noticing a "marked increase" in the police presence throughout the City -- a force which he described as "well-trained and professional."
"All people who want to voice opinions," Kroeker said, "should be able to do so." But, he stressed, the Bureau intends to keep the City "moving and safe" and that destruction of property (by protestors) should be avoided. The "moving" part is again an indication that they are preparing for actions such as bridge occupations.
Kroeker also warned Portland residents, in a time when emotions run high, to avoid acts of violence and hatred directed at minority or immigrant communities. He will be calling an emergency meeting of the Arab and Muslim Police Advisory Council to reassure them that the Bureau will take action against any bias or hatred directed at the Arab or Muslim community.
There wasn't much to report on as far as the Fire Chief Wilson's comments. Suffice it to say that the Fire Emergency Operations Center willbe activated when the war begins.
I will admit to having essentially zoned out for the comments by Charles Mathews of the Portland FBI. In fact, my notes for this portion of the press conference consist entirely of, "Blah blah blah."
Things were opened up for questions, the first of which was how the City was going to handle the demonstrations.
Katz responded by saying that the City "welcomes citizens to share their views" and that this is a guaranteed right. But, she said, the City will not tolerate the breaking of any laws. This again raises the (still open) question of distinction. Will peaceful civil disobedience be treated any differently than more confrontational or violent direct action?
How, someone asked, will there be any teeth in these threats to clamp down on the breaking of laws, when there is a budget shortage and we keep releasing people from jail? According to the Multnomah County Sheriff, they have specifically set aside jail beds for just this situation.
Yes, that's right, the County is putting actual criminals out on the streets, but they are saving beds for protestors. Now there's a sense of priority for you. I'm left to wonder just how many beds they've set aside for this purpose. How many protest arrests are they preparing for in this manner? I can't say, because the administrative number at the Sheriff's office isn't currently answering the telephones.
Chief Kroeker repeated his assurances that people have the right to demonstrate, and pointed to Saturday's rally and march as an example of an event that worked well.
Someone asked what a Red Alert level would look like. Chief Kroeker simply said that they don't talk about "details of operational plans."
Someone else asked how confident they all were that Portland is not going to be the target of an attack. Everyone seemed fairly confident, but Kroeker explained that it was necessary for them to "think the unthinkable" in order to plan.
The matter of "parade permits" was brought up. Kroeker stressed that protestors should obtain such permits even if they have to do so at the very last minute. Not knowing anything about the process myself, I have no idea how realistic this might be. He also repeated, again, his concern about avoiding the destruction of property and maintaining access to bridges and freeways.
He was asked if that sort of thing would be a job for specially-trained crowd control officers, and he conceded that it likely would be.
The question arose of the number of additional officers added and the cost of this. Kroeker explained that there is no increase in the number of officers, but they will be concentrating their activities and extending their shifts, resulting in some amount of overtime costs, but he had no dollar amount to offer. Mayor Katz interjected to explain that during the last budget cycle, the City Council specifically set aside a "substantial amount of money" (later detailed to be a little more than $500,000) specifically for overtime costs involved in policing local protests.
Someone asked whether the inspection and monitoring of bridges will be taking place in advance of the war on Iraq, or begin when the war does. The Multnomah Coutny Sheriff explained that it's already more or less an ongoing endeavor anyway. But he added, for the first time, that they are specifically reserving the right to begin stopping trucks heading onto the region's bridges for inspection. In response to a follow-up, he said that he "wouldn't call them blockades." But he did repeat that his office was reserving the right to deny people access to the County's bridges.
Both of the people seen above (my apologies for the rather horrid quality of that last picture) were snagged outside the Rose Room by some of the reporters when the press conference was over. Both conversations centered in some fashion around protest tactics and the contexts in which various kinds are chosen or, as was argued, required.
The latter of the two interview subjects also spent a great deal of time with one print reporter (at least I'm fairly sure it was a print reporter) explaining the media biases towards protestors, giving specific examples of erroneous coverage which portrayed peaceful protestors as "hostile."
Comments (3)
The One True b!X on 18 Mar 2003
I should add that the first activist pictured above made a point (repeatedly) of explaining to reporters that significant social change in this country often came about during times in which both legal and illegal protest tactics were employed. This seemed to be one of the central arguments he was making, and I'm not sure why I forgot about it when first posting this item.
Stephen Voss on 18 Mar 2003
Just a note, that first speaker outside the Rose Room is Craig Rosebraugh, former spokesman for the ELF. Incidentally, I think I was standing right next to you when Craig was speaking and I was taking pictures.
The One True b!X on 18 Mar 2003
Oh, that was you. Funny. The ever-small world that is life in Portland, Oregon.