D-DAY for May
Day
For two weeks Police Chief Mark Kroeker has been waging
a public-relations war with his draft critique of the bureau's
May Day response. In some quarters, his tack is working.
Between June 16 and 21, three citizens' advisory panels,
including eight members of the Police Internal Investigations
Auditing Committee, essentially green-lighted the chief's
account of cops cracking out beanbag shotguns and PR-24
batons in Waterfront Park.
Critics dismiss Kroeker's draft as superficial. "It's full
of nothing," says Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch. Bill
Resnick of Police Accountability Campaign 2000 notes that
the report "gives virtually no evidence of marcher misconduct."
But Copwatch and PIIAC are horse flies compared to the
killer bees of City Council, which will receive the chief's
formal report June 28 and holds the keys to Kroeker's political
escape hatch.
Based on their reading of the draft report, the five city
commissioners seem to fall somewhere between PIIAC's gushing
praise and PAC 2000's predictable criticism. Mayor Vera
Katz, who oversees the bureau, is expected to be the most
supportive of Kroeker. She's been very quiet on the issue
since her May 2 announcement backing police conduct; no
one expects her to retreat now. A hint of Katz's line came
at the June 21 PIIAC meeting, where mayoral aide Elise Marshall
downplayed the report's scope. Commissioner Dan Saltzman
says his questions were answered, and nothing that happened
on May 1 "shakes the foundations of community policing."
Other than those two, however, Kroeker could have some
trouble.
Jim Francesconi, ever the swing vote, isn't telegraphing
his moves. He says he would like to see more discussion,
and the report could give him the chance to take up an issue
he feels strongly about: police conduct among Portland's
African Americans.
Charlie Hales--the only council member who witnessed the
May 1 police action first-hand--is pleased with the report's
subtle mea culpa tone, says his chief of staff Ron
Paul, but feels it's time for council to sit down with police
and hammer out how cops will respond to downtown demonstrations.
Erik Sten is the most critical of the report. "It begs
the big question of how are we going to work with the city
on crowd dispersal tactics," he told WW. "These are
questions for City Council and it's time for the council
to have a real discussion with the police." Sten also needled
Katz for her two-month silence on the issue. "The mayor
has got to step up and express her opinion, too," he says.
"She is the direct civilian oversight of the police."
--Philip Dawdy
And then there
was ONE...
It turns out this election ain't big enough for both a
soccer mom and a political gunman.
John Hellen, lobbyist for the Second Amendment defense
group Oregon Gun Owners, is giving up trying to beat state
Sen. Ginny Burdick to the ballot. Burdick is sponsoring
a ballot initiative that would require background checks
on all gun show purchases, including transactions between
private parties. To counter Burdick, OGO put up a competing
measure that mandates the same background check, but eliminates
the state's right to keep a record of all gun purchases.
Many gun-rights enthusiasts see such record keeping as the
first step toward fascism.
Citizen paranoia must be at a low ebb, however, because
OGO's campaign died for lack of interest. "It was a lot
more difficult than I initially thought," Hellen says. "It's
either gun-owner apathy or they agree with Ginny that background
checks are not a problem."
This gives Burdick a clear field, which she desperately
needs. Thanks to a ballot title challenge by OGO, her petitions
didn't hit the streets until April, leaving only three months
to gather the 67,000 signatures before the July 7 deadline.
Burdick says she has 35,000 signatures from volunteers and
about 23,000 from paid petitioners.
Those interested in signing a petition can call the campaign
(299-6442), but Burdick says the real focus will be on getting
people who have already collected signatures to turn in
their petitions. "They need to get them off their kitchen
tables and into the office," she says.
--Patty Wentz
LOOKING FOR
A LIFT
In a move that has surprised even the union that represents
them, the drivers of the Tri-Met vans that pick up the elderly
and disabled of Multnomah County resoundingly voted down
their latest labor contract.
"It's like it came out of the blue," Rufus Fuller, vice
president of Amalgamated Transit Union, said of the June
13 vote, in which about three quarters of the drivers rejected
the proposed contract.
LIFT drivers, who work for a California company with a
Tri-Met contract, say it is all about equity. "We've got
100 people out there driving and handling what I consider
the most vulnerable population in Portland, and they're
making 40 percent less than [Tri-Met's regular bus] drivers,"
says Ken Rothery, a driver who recently quit in frustration.
After about five years of service, LIFT drivers make $12.01
an hour. The new contract offers them a 24-cent raise, or
2 percent. In contrast Tri-Met pays its regular bus drivers
$18.52 an hour after just three years.
Drivers say the low wages have caused a third of the drivers
in Multnomah County to quit in the past six months. This,
they say, leads to inexperienced drivers who don't know
their way around and tend to get in more accidents. According
to Tri-Met records, LIFT drivers had 10 accidents in May
alone--the highest mark in at least a year's time.
But Debra Maercklein of Tri-Met,who oversees the LIFT program,
says the drivers' workload has remained steady and they
continue to complete 90 percent of the trips in a timely
fashion.
At the union's request, Tri-Met has hired a PSU professor
to study whether the agency should dump the contract and
hire the drivers directly. In the meantime, the drivers
and their contractor, MV Transportation Inc., are headed
to a federal mediator.
--Nick Budnick
Murmurs
THIS WEEK 30 PERCENT LESS FILLING
* Jim Goad, author of the Redneck Manifesto
and other misogynist works, is getting the last laugh--from
behind bars. When his girlfriend, Ann "Sky" Ryan, accused
him of beating her up, he responded by saying she started
it. Well, he went to jail for two years while she went free.
But now Ryan is serving five months for second-degree assault
after admitting that she intentionally rammed a Southeast
Hawthorne cyclist with her Hyundai and then fled the scene.
A message posted on his website at jimgoad.com says that
"Despite glaring disparities in the system's treatment of
mail (sic) and female offenders, it would be untrue to say
Jim is unhappy about this recent development."
* Thanks to a $30,000 financial boost from the Center to
Prevent Handgun violence, state Sen. Ginny Burdick
has hired some signature-gathering pros for her gun-control
initiative. Oddly enough, they learned the ropes on opposite
sides of Bill Sizemore. Donna Harris, who ran Sizemore's
Measure 58 effort in 1998, is working to help Burdick meet
the July 7 deadline, as are Ted Blaszak and James
Musumeci, veterans of organized labor's anti-Sizemore
campaigns. Still, as they stand on this common ground, they're
not exactly viewing themselves as kindred spirits. "I'm
sure wherever there's a buck," Blaszak says, "Donna will
find the ground." Ouch!
* Speaking of political pros...M & R Strategies beat
out Paul Philips to be the big gun in the anti-Sizemore
campaign. Mark Wiener will be the wizard behind the
curtain, and Aisling Coghlan, veteran field organizer,
school local-option campaign hero and Wiener main squeeze,
will be the campaign manager.
* Start humming "Pennies from Heaven." God's own rainmaker,
Oral Roberts, is coming to town. The televangelist,
university founder and erstwhile divine blackmail victim
will preach Sunday, July 2, at New Beginnings Christian
Center. Service begins at 11 am (seating starts at 8:30).
Don't forget your checkbook.
Let's Get
Tanked!
Earlier this month, to the dismay of many long-time Portlanders,
the Old Town water tank was dismantled after the city deemed
the wooden structure a safety hazard. But don't worry: Sam
Naito, the local landmark's owner, has agreed to replace
it with a new (but non-functioning) one. He wants to know
whether people want him to repaint the words "Old Town"
on the new tower, leave it blank or emblazon it with a new
phrase.
In the spirit of civic good will, we here at Buzz Central
want to help. Send us your ideas for what should go on the
tank. We'll print our favorites and send the whole batch
on to Sam. For the sake of Naito's painting crew, try to
keep your clever prose pithy. Send your ideas to:
Tanks for the Memories
Mail: 822 SW 10th Ave., 97205
Fax: 243-1115
E-mail: tanked@wweek.com
Night Cabbie
by
Willie Milkis
3:30 AM, SOUTHWEST 12TH AND STARK. Cabs cruise here all
the time. It's a good place to get fares, and gay guys usually
tip well. A drug dealer flags me down instead. Oh well.
He wants to go to Vancouver, Wash. I tell him I need $20
in advance. He asks me my name. "Ok, Willie, no problem."
Sketchy people who get friendly and use my name is a warning
sign for me. He rummages in his pockets as we cruise slowly
to the freeway, but doesn't show me anything. I stop just
before the freeway entrance. "OK, I need 20 or we stop here."
He passes two dollar bills and a tiny bag of pot over the
seat. "Hook me up, Willie." I tell him I don't want that.
I don't say anything else, just wait while he gets out of
the cab. He did have a cool purple felt hat.
Surviving
Survivor
CBS won't reveal who will be left standing on the island
of Palau Tiga, but one Portlander already knows.
Not "thinks he knows." But knows.
That's because Jeff Streich, a 37-year-old documentary
filmmaker, was hired as one of the 10 cameramen to work
on CBS's Survivor, the heavily hyped reality television
program featuring 16 men and women living on an island off
Borneo in the South China Sea. At the end of each episode,
the group votes to toss one person off the island, until
a single survivor is left to claim a $1 million prize.
Although the show's finale won't air until Aug. 23, filming
for the hit show has already wrapped up.
Streich didn't dine on grubs and grilled rat, but his island
accommodations weren't exactly luxurious. Still, the man
who's shot for The Discovery Channel's Eco-Challenge
isn't complaining. "I didn't have any problem with a lack
of creature comforts," Streich said from his cozy Northeast
Portland home. "I am used to extreme conditions."
Streich snagged the gig through the industry grapevine.
He has shot hours upon hours of "reality" footage, including
the heart-pounding Tribal Council scenes, where cast members'
island fates were decided.
This means, of course, he knows not only whether Kelly's
rafting experience will help her chances of survival or
whether Dirk ever catches a fish, but also who gets the
million smackers.
But he's not telling.
--Byron Beck
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