TL;DR: BUTTHURT

"Signing on to ending corporate personhood and changing campaign finance laws amounts to a conveniently timed attempt to restore your declining reputation among members of the progressive left."

These people realize that Adams isn't running for reelection, don't they? (And as such, would not need to restore anything regarding his "declining reputation.")

'The actions of the Occupy Portland have made it clear where you stand and no amount of political grandstanding and a$$ kissing will fulfill your whining fantasies of a police state in downtown Portland.'

Blame the police or business community, but it was the citizens of Portland that wanted your "leaderless movement" to go.

They remind me of student government types from high school who just realized that actually they have no power, and that the principal is prepared to be a dick if they go ahead and block the pep rally to protest the fascist police state on campus.

Like Graham said before, this incarnation of Occupy has become an unfortunate end to a means. The message has been almost completely obscured.

as someone else has pointed out, it would have cost a whole lot less money for the city to provide port-a-potties, as compared to what it cost for police time.

They look like adults, but whine like little kids.
Mayor Adams gave them a 3 day window to prepare to take it down. And even that got extended.
APOLOGY ?
Fuck off.
How about listing your accomplishments that cost all of us nearly a MILLION DOLLARS?
That money could have gone to roads, bike lanes, feeding the homeless, etc etc etc etc
Nope, paying to have a bunch of babysitters look after elements of your group.
Speaking of which, how about those donations to fix the parks (at LEAST for fucks sake) - how are those doing?
Have you guys asked Nick Fish about the cost estimates, which surely has gone up from 19 grand)
and are the donations pouring in?

Eric -- why couldn't the Occupiers pay for port-a-potties?

Way to stay on message, Occupiers.

Oh god. Just die up your own ass already OP.

And that's some teal deer there. Obviously unemployed English majors in attendance.

The Occupiers better not interfere with my getting to HUMPfest on Thursday, or there really WILL be a riot!

Are they really saying "You have until 12:01 to get out" is ambiguous or demonstrates misleading communication?

And *here* is why most Democratic voters can't get down with Occupy. We can be sympathetic and hope they can make a difference - but this bullheaded inability to concede that there are other interests (not BANKS, regular people who have to get to work and pick up their kids, not camp in the park all day, etc.) in play is so solipsistic.

Before Occupy, I would have bet several needed internal organs that I would *never* side with the Portland Police in any situation involving protesters. But here I stand, siding with the police and the mayor. Thanks Occupy.

Blownspeakers, yes they could have. There have been donations to Occupy Portland and the cost could have come out of that. OP and the city should have worked that out.

Somewhere in a Galaxy far, far away, Dark Helmet is laughing, "So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb."

I support the Occupy movement, but I think we need to let go of this idea of living in parks and disrupting traffic to get our message across. It's time to move into the next stage of the Occupy movement--we've brought attention to the disparities between average american citizens and corporate executives:

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/in…

Now is the time to start talking about how to FIX these problems that we've brought attention to. The first phase of Occupy was bringing attention to the problem; the next phase of Occupy should be concerned with fixing it.

A very powerful and accurate letter. I am ashamed of our city government and their use of violent police action against constitutionally protected peaceful assembly--much more so by their underhanded tactics at seemingly sympathetic work and communication with Occupy organizers.

Folks, this is absolutely representative of the current LACK of *actual* democracy and the non-adherence by our elected representatives to constitutional principles upon which our nation is based. For the last several decades, voting has clearly proved to be NOT NEARLY ENOUGH to sustain our democratic organization of our nation.

Truly, if you're not a millionaire or you're not cold, selfish, and power hungry, then the Occupy Wall Street movement is ABSOLUTELY advocating for you, for our *entire* community, and for the improvement of our potentially great society. Do not divide and do note create division where there is none. See yourself in your community members around you, and see their strength, their struggle and their experience within yourself.

You know shit's fucked up--don't play like you don't any longer.

FUCKING SHITBALL COCKCUNTS.

I AGREE WITHT THEIR OVERALL MESSAGE OF FIGHTING SYSTEMIC ECONOMIC INEQUALITITES; BUT IF THESE SHITBIRDBRAINS THINK THE BEST WAY TO DO THIS IS BY BLOCKING ALL MAX TRAFFIC INTO AND OUT OF DOWNTOWN AT 8 AM? I'M OUT. THEY'VE LOST THE BATTLE, AND THEY'VE LOST THE WAR. FUCKING MORONS.

"Truly, if you're not a millionaire or you're not cold, selfish, and power hungry, then the Occupy Wall Street movement is ABSOLUTELY advocating for you, for our *entire* community, and for the improvement of our potentially great society."

Can Occupy PDX manage to find ONE spokesperson who doesn't antagonize reasonable people with long-winded rants? Please?

pdxnelson - WE LIVE IN A 'REPUBLIC', not a direct democracy, which is a good thing too. Look up the meaning and differences of both.
Also, yes, we have a right to protest and assembly - but there are stipulations to these freedoms too, much the same as you can't claim 'freedom of speech' and yell fire inside a theater (or mention 'bomb' at a airport)
There are still rules to play by.
These kids here with their 'list of demands' are really just feeling the loss of some meaning in their life. They had a 'cause'! People listened to them! On TV!
Now they ain't nothing but some whiners.

If the highest priority for the cops and half of the douchebags commenting here is to keep traffic flowing, we as a society are terminally fucked.

So three days advanced notice isn't enough forewarning and one person, in a rally of at least a thousand, with a pre-existing condition being hospitalized for less than 24 hours is brutality. Is that about right? Hell, the city doesn't apologize for shooting unarmed men in the back. They're sure as hell not going to apologize (nor should they) for clearing out Hamsterdam, AFTER FIVE WEEKS.

I'm starting to think that maybe the CIA is in on this, because Occupy is doing a masterful job turning off anyone who might be inclined to join or at least sympathize with the movement. It's that, or the people speaking most frequently for Occupy are the most tone-deaf, petulant whiners on the face of the planet.

Man, don't block the Steel bridge during my walk to work. It's going to be cold on Thursday and I can tell I'll need all the enthusiasm I can muster to make it in. And walking to another bridge sounds like even colder hands. Although I do have two new mittens.

More on topic, I like the theory that the CIA or right-wingers or something are running the movement. That would be far better than Dark Helmet's probably all to correct assessment that "Good is Dumb." I will now go rub my action figures together.

Cops are part of the 99% you know. Union and everything!

And could it be said that by being whiny privileged cry babies about the mayor saying, "hey gtfo we need to clean up" they're actively working against the 99%? Because I doubt the mayor is in the 1%. Also; city council, COPS, media etc.

"Stung that Portland police officials and Mayor Sam Adams kept to themselves the final timeline for evicting Occupy Portland from three downtown parks this weekend"

I guess three or four days notice wasn't enough. Or maybe they needed to be informed of the exact minute.

Dr. Dolan: You know, it's a shame about Ed.

Fletch: Oh, it was. Yeah, it was really a shame. To go so suddenly like that.

Dr. Dolan: He was dying for years.

Fletch: Sure, but... the end was very... very sudden.

Dr. Dolan: He was in intensive care for eight weeks.

Fletch: Yeah, but I mean the very end, when he actually died. That was extremely sudden.

One of the guiltiest Marie Antoinette pieces of shit Portland still has employed by its security apparatus spent a bunch of the weekend out of town at a music fest, just to give you an idea what the grown-ups were doing while that guy's back was getting broken. I didn't require an apology until I read about this actually. When Risk Management isn't fending off lawsuits maybe they can graze over the park and eat the rest of that hay like they were built to do.

"One of the guiltiest Marie Antoinette pieces of shit Portland still has employed by its security apparatus"


lol...what??

These comments are painful because the concerns are completely valid ones that I identify with, while I also support Occupy Portland's core ideas.

I agree the parks' damage is unconscionable and OP (including me, even though I never camped out) should shoulder responsibility for repairs. I also believe that in most cases the City experiences major cost overruns on all types of projects and can not be counted on to project nor deliver realistic figures. Our city's bloated bureaucracy and climate of excessive spending (e.g., inflated service/maintenance costs, the kind of riot police response that's already expensive and the readiness to use physical force that causes the City to pay out hefty lawsuits) is itself a problem that needs addressing. Moreover, I agree the original message of OP has been obscured, although the massive peaceful turnout early Sunday morning suggests otherwise.

If OP is going to gain the support of completely reasonable people like yourselves, who don't want undue burden placed on already-tight City funding and would like to see constructive action and dialogue rather than meaningless confrontation, the movement has to radically reorient its tactics. I've written an open letter to OP on the topic, which I have been attempting to spread around. I hope anyone interested will take a look at it and provide any input or ideas they have.

http://allisunknown.wordpress.com/2011/11/…

Thanks!
Joe Clinkenbeard

Careful Joe, you'll be called the Uncle Tom of occupy.

Hey Berta- I work downtown (for Amtrack) and I get hit up by homeless people all the time for money/smokes/etc. and have never once been threatened with violence when I refuse to give. Seattle homeless, on the other hand, are some scary goddamn homeless people

I haven't heard about this, what's this Occupy thing about anyway?

“Stung that Portland police officials and Mayor Sam Adams kept to themselves the final timeline for evicting Occupy Portland from three downtown parks this weekend…”

Adding to the rest of the commentators: that is false. Occupy PDX had approximately 60 hours notice before eviction. 

” But liaisons say they wanted more time and notice…”
 
Oh, so it’s not that they “kept [the timeline] to themselves”, just that the Occupy leaders didn’t like the timeline. That’s a tad different.
 
 “…heavily armed riot control officers moved in Sunday for the kill…”
 
Waiter, what’s this loaded language doing in my news story? Unless they killed someone or intended to kill someone, “moved in” suffices.

“…pushing out a crowd of families and retirees and holdout occupiers…”

Weren’t all of these groups ‘holdout occupiers’? Was adding ‘defenseless children’ at the start of the list too wordy, or just overkill when 'families' managed to conjure the same image?

I get this is “Blogtown”, but please attempt some objectivity, hm?

@pdxnelson: According to “The Nation”, only half of 18 to 29 year olds bothered to vote in 2008. In 2010, that number dropped to one-fifth. Overall, the 2008 election with people weighing in on a collapsed economy, two unending occupations, and the first non-white presidential candidate, garnered a whopping.... 57% turnout. So when you say that “voting has clearly proved to be NOT NEARLY ENOUGH”, I think that's largely because not nearly enough people bother to show up to even put down Fozzie Bear as a write-in. (Not showing up just proves laziness; showing up and deliberately voting Fozzie Bear shows discontent.)

I am in agreement with the primary argument of The Occupy *movement* - corporate interests have corrupted our government. The actual *occupation* was a directionless mess doomed to failure without a clear exit plan – a specific victory event, a decamping date – and so it was fated to either die of atrophy or get shoved aside. Neither seems a like a win to me.

As an aside, I've read variants of this a few times (from the letter): “Thousands of Portland residents of all ages came out over the weekend to support us and help defend our constitutional right to peaceful assembly.” Look, you were squatting illegally. This wasn't some ham-handed “Free Speech Zone”, this was a public park you'd claimed as living quarters. It's called 'civil disobedience.' It's a perfectly viable tactic: own it. Just quit acting like you had a right to take over the place. It makes you look either deceitful or ignorant.

rich people can be pretty funny. also, many contribute more good to society than any of us ever will. Not necessarily Zuckerberg, but a whole bunch of intellectuals/scientists/engineers/musicians/athletes... Why can't we focus on the system rather than "people with x dollars"? Excluding wealthy people from your movement based on wealth alone, and drawing such lines, seems pretty stupid. ps. I think most investment bankers are fucking selfish, lame douchebags

It's not about "keeping traffic moving". It's about the obvious disconnect between hurting working people in a very real way (making them late to work, picking up their kids, perhaps getting disciplined or losing their job due to their tardiness, etc.) and supposedly helping them in a symbolic way (if at all). If you claim you want to help working and poor people, shutting down public transportation is an obvious conflict with that belief. And the fact that this needs to be explained to Occupiers is the most frustrating thing of all.

What the hell happened to the Mercury? Lately the commenters have been more even-handed and making more sense than the writers.

Lastly, anyone who thinks Sam Adams is a 1%-er doesn't really understand this whole disparity of wealth thing. Or percentages.