(Updated) Follow-Up On Leonard's Decision Regarding Murals
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
There's some on this from The Oregonian today as well:
Beyond that short-term action, Leonard -- who oversees the Bureau of Development Services -- also said he has support from the City Council to change city sign regulations.
Mayor Vera Katz said it's not that simple, pointing to court cases where the city has lost previous efforts to regulate commercial signs and murals differently.
...
"It's an absurd ordinance, obviously," Leonard said. "This is not going to be fun for Vera to hear, but I think we have the votes to make changes."
Katz, who turned away from Leonard when he tried to explain his reasoning after a council meeting, said selective nonenforcement of the sign code could open the city to another lawsuit.
"If they reopen this, they reopen everything," Katz said. "We'll end up looking like Las Vegas."
As I've said, it might not be possible to draft a law which successfully discriminates between commercial and non-commercial "signs" without being declared unconstitutional by the courts. But at least Leonard, unlike Katz, appears to actually consider it worth trying again.
Meanwhile, The Oregonian weighs in editorially as well today, saying much the same thing.
July 10, 2003 at 07:21 AM
For the second time in as many weeks I am happy to shout "Hooray for Commissioner Leonard". He's exhibiting the kind of common sense and intenstinal fortitude which, in my opinion, has been conspicuously lacking on the City Council. I hope he keeps it up.
July 10, 2003 at 07:25 AM
It's interesting. Back during his election, I and most of my friends voted for Serena Cruz, but a couple friends voted for Leonard. I ran into them last night and after all the guff we've given them about not voting the way the rest of us had, I felt compelled to make sure they knew Leonard's action regarding murals. They were rather pleased.
I still have solidly mixed feelings on other Leonard positions (or outright opposition to them, such as his antiwar vote), but between the mural issue and the tax abatement issue, he's at this point not among the Commissioners who constantly irk me.