Weeks ago, Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff let the city
know—through the bureau’s “Water Blog”—that he wasn’t going
to take any more crap from knuckleheads dumping detergent in Keller
Fountain.
Apparently, it costs a poop-ton of money to drain, clean, and refill
the picturesque downtown fountain.
“We are working with police and the bureau’s security specialists to
prevent future incidents,” read his message. “We’d prefer not to go
into too much detail on this—but we will see that legal
remedies are pursued as [aggressively as] we can.”
On the afternoon of Monday, August 27, Shaff revealed his strategy,
which has been used by shop owners and tavern barkeeps since the
invention of the daguerreotype: posting photos of suspected miscreants.
The first victim/perp: Nolan Cunningham, age 19, who was cited by the
police bureau with soaping up the fountain. His photo was posted to the
Water Blog (portlandonline.com/water) with
this message from Shaff: “We will prosecute offenders we catch and we
will charge them for the water we have to dump. People up to
mischief: think twice.” Meep!
Shaff’s message comes just before a long anti-vandalism crusade by
his boss, City Commissioner Randy Leonard, was set to reach its boiling
point. This Wednesday, August 29, Leonard was expected to bring his
graffiti ordinance (which requires storeowners to keep spray
paint in secure areas) to council for its third and final
time—and for a vote.
The timing is interesting; both Mayor Tom Potter and City
Commissioner Dan Saltzman will be out of town, leaving only three
commissioners at the dais. Potter wasn’t happy about that, since it
doesn’t give him a chance to vote no, but according to Leonard, it
doesn’t matter. “I’ve already got three votes, and I don’t know why I’d
give [Potter] more time to try and kill the ordinance,” Leonard
says.
The ordinance itself includes the following finding: “‘Taggers’
openly promote graffiti activity in Portland on internet sites such as
MySpace.com.” You know what
that means—Portland officials have discovered MySpace. It’s only
a matter of time before Leonard proposes a ban on terrible bands and
underage girls wearing too few clothes.
Speaking of exploited teens! It looks like the city will finally
move forward on a plan to buy all city products from suppliers who
don’t use sweatshop labor. Sam Adams’ office and the Sweat-Free
Coalition have come to an agreement—city council will create
a policy group that will come up with a final ordinance, and the city
will give $20,000 to Sweatfree Communities Inc., a consortium that will
monitor the city’s suppliers.