Afraid that the heated negotiations over lane and tolling options for the Columbia River Crossing won't wrap up by Wednesday, Mayor Sam Adams slipped a "placeholder" suggestion onto this week's City Council agenda: convening a committee "charged with developing performance-based management recommendations" for the bridge. Outsourcing the controversial task of deciding the number of lanes for the massive bridge allows Adams—who is under pressure from former ally and 12-lane advocate Randy Leonard—to duck the issue. "This is going to do nothing to comfort our regional partners on the crossing," noted Leonard's chief of staff, Ty Kovatch.

MATT DAVIS and SARAH MIRK

A downtown judge has ruled the city's controversial sidewalk obstruction ordinance (sit-lie law) is unconstitutional. Judge Michael McShane made the ruling last Wednesday, February 18, regarding part of the ordinance requiring people to keep their personal belongings within two feet. "I found that an ordinary person would not understand from the statute that mundane and everyday behavior would be prohibited by the law," says McShane. "The ordinance encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement." The law, controversial since its inception, is scheduled to sunset in April, with City Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Randy Leonard opposed to its renewal, and Commissioner Nick Fish still on the fence with the deciding vote. Judge McShane's ruling runs contradictory to a ruling last September by Judge Terry Hannon, who ruled the law "constitutional" and "reasonable" in another case. MD