Chief MIke Reese says hell wait to talk tomorrow morning.
Sending rumors of an imminent raid—or at least an imminent posting of a notice-to-vacate—swirling around Occupy Portland, Mayor Sam Adams and Police Chief Mike Reese will go before reporters at 10 AM tomorrow and lay out what the mayor said would be their response to a tense few days at Occupy as well as any "next steps."

Approached outside a police oversight committee meeting in City Hall, neither would comment on what those steps might be. Adams did say, however, that he and the chief would continue an afternoon of discussions into the night, and that he'd also be huddling with his staff to formulate his response.

He said he was especially alarmed by a report this afternoon of a near-fatal overdose, coming at the same time police reported arresting an Occupy camper on suspicion of setting off an incendiary device last night at the World Trade Center.

Things are "out of balance," the mayor said.

Reese, a likely mayoral candidate, was especially brief but did address a KOIN reporter's questions about the rapidly piling up Occupy overtime bill—saying the $300,000-plus bill is about what the bureau budgets for three officers in a fiscal year.

My educated guess? If and when (and maybe that's coming tomorrow) the mayor decides he's had enough, campers will receive the standard notice the city gives to all illegal campsites—at least 24 hours. I'm told there are action plans in place—with work on them beginning before the recent escalation in tensions—for eventually clearing the parks.

The endgame began in earnest today when Commissioner Randy Leonard today told the Mercury he was now in favor of setting a deadline to shut the Chapman and Lownsdale square campsites down—a turnabout from his previous support for letting the camps stay as long as Washington was doing bad things to working people. Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Nick Fish had long ago urged Adams to do the same thing.

Adams came close in a letter sent to Occupy on Monday—before the latest incidents upset him and his staff.

Mayor Sam Adams says reports of a near-fatal overdose and Molotov cocktail events have him especially upset.
  • Mayor Sam Adams says reports of a near-fatal overdose and Molotov cocktail events have him especially upset.