The Portland police sent out a statement today noting that crime in the area surrounding Occupy Portland has increased 18 percent since this time last year. EGADS! Another installment in the daily swaying of public opinion, which is sure to cue another crime-ridden Occupy Portland story. So what’s going on here to cause the increase […]
Occupy
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An Occupier Responds to Mayor Adams’ Accusation of Non-Sustainability
Yesterday, Mayor Adams penned an open letter to the Occupy Portland camp, basically warning them that, because of rampant crime, homelessness, and crazy issues within the camp, they need to get their shit together, or… or what? The purpose of this open letter is to underscore to all Occupy Portland supporters the urgency of dealing […]
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Mayor Tells Occupy Portland: “The Way Things are Operating Now is not Sustainable.”
Mayor Sam Adams tonight sent out an open letter to the Occupy Portland encampment that comes as close as he ever has to setting a deadline for clearing the camps out—urging occupiers to do more, and do it faster, to deal with problems involving violence and drug use and mental illness. The missive comes days […]
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Occupy Portland: Feds Say Allowing Schrunk Protest, For Now, “the American Way”
Looks like another long, cold night for the hardy group of Occupy Portland protesters chained to a barrel, and each other, in Terry Schrunk Plaza—and probably another long day, too. And maybe even a few days. Maybe. Stephanie Kenitzer, the spokeswoman for the federal General Services Administration—one of the agencies with jurisdiction over Schrunk—sent me […]
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Occupy Protest Recap! “Obama! God damn! We Will Stop the Tar Sands!”
10,000 protesters from Occupy and environmental movements surrounded the White House yesterday, urging Obama not to ink a deal for the Keystone Pipeline—a giant oil pipeline that would bring oil from Canada’s controversial tar sands to ports on the Gulf of Mexico. Here in Portland, about 300 activists marched through downtown for the cause. Freelancer […]
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About the “Missing” Toilets at Occupy Portland
The missing portable toilets at Occupy Portland—a whole bank of them along SW Madison outside Chapman Square—may not be missing for all that long. In fact, they might be back as soon as this afternoon. And a “tenuous” sanitation situation fretted over by the Oregonian (as you’ll remember, the parks bureau is stopping maintenance at […]
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#OccupyCorvallis Can’t Spell Worth Shit
I was in Corvallis yesterday and had to stop to snap photos of the graffiti covering an old gas station on the edge of town. Theories: 1) This is a right wing plant meant to discredit Occupy.2) This is the work of the youth, who can’t be blamed because the building didn’t have spell check. […]
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The Story Behind Occupy Portland’s New Dumpster: No More Parks Maintenance
Denis C. Theriault Amid ongoing maintenance concerns over the park bathrooms, labor unions have already are paying for portable toilets at Occupy Portland. Visitors to Occupy Portland over the past few days might have noticed something new along the curb next to the city’s (turned-off) electric-vehicle charging station at SW Fourth and Madison: a haul-away […]
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“Occupy Schmockupy Pizza Schmizza!”
Whoopee! The Portland Police Bureau just issued another of their “Let’s Make Occupy Portland Look Like Monsters and Sway Public Opinion Against Them” bulletins Occupy Portland Arrests and Public Safety Updates. And it’s pretty much the usual stuff: Protesters lock themselves to cement barrels in Schrunk Plaza (yeah, yeah, yeah), 17-year-old runaway found among protesters […]
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Another Way to Look at the Wealth Gap: Young People vs. Old People
Obviously, older Americans are going to have more money than younger Americans. That’s just how life generally goes—you start with nothing and accumulate personal wealth as you age. Still, the wealth disparity between older Americans and younger Americans is not supposed to be this wide: The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 […]
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Required Viewing: The Occupy Movement Occupies a Fancy Breakfast Where Union-Busting Shitbag Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin Is Trying to Speak
This is the first time I’ve ever heard “Mic check!” “Mic check!” “Mic check!” “Mic check!” and been filled with happiness—look how effective it can be in the right circumstance. Good work, guys.
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Occupy Portland Tensions Flare: Schrunk Reoccupied; Occupiers Huddle Over Drugs, Safety
Portland Police Bureau Nearly a week after close to a dozen protesters were arrested for camping in federally owned Terry Schrunk Plaza, next to the main Occupy Portland camps at Chapman and Lownsdale squares, another group of protesters has moved into the park—but this time locking themselves to a large, metal-and-cement-filled barrel and one another […]