Bomb Threat

An ominous message popped up on the Zoobomb forums last Saturday: "Your 'Zoo Run' is over!!!! Your bikes are gone. You can forget about them. They didn't float," someone nicknamed "FED UP!" posted. "Check it out, 'Zoo Freaks'! This is not a joke! Your 'pile' is now at the bottom of the river!"

Another Zoobomber chimed in, noting that the group's iconic pile of minibikes—the colorful clump of baby bikes are usually locked to a bike rack across the street from Rocco's Pizza, at SW 10th and Oak—had truly vanished. The pile's gone missing before; Portland police hauled them away in September 2003.

But Zoobomb's weekly downhill race from the zoo still happened on Sunday night. "There is a brand-new pile with all working bikes ready to be bombed," a biker wrote on the forums. That's because the whole thing was an April Fool's prank: "The pile was not stolen by 'Fed Up,' or anyone else in the West Hills," bombers explained on the group's site. "It was moved to another location for safekeeping... good work guys!" AMY JENNIGES

AN EYE ON INFLUENCE

On April 1, four months after squeaking through city council on a 3-2 vote, the city's new, stricter lobbying regulations quietly went into effect.

The new ordinance, which was drafted by City Commissioner Sam Adams and floated around for months before being approved, requires any person who spends more than 16 hours per quarter lobbying city officials on behalf of a company or organization to register with the city. They also have to issue quarterly reports on their lobbying activities.

The rules also apply to city officials—each must issue a quarterly report of who lobbied them, what the issue was, and whether the lobbyist spent any money. In keeping with the city's uneven attempt to provide all information on the web, the auditor's office has posted a document that shows all of the lobbyists who have signed up so far. As of press time, the list was empty.

The first six months of the system are being considered a test run, with changes likely by the end of the year. SCOTT MOORE