Every city government has its council meeting mainstays.
In my old stomping grounds of San Antonio, it was an old white guy in a cowboy hat who’d merrily bark at the majority-minority city council about government overreach. In Portland, it’s a cadre of housing advocates and police critics (including one guy whose legal name is “Injured and Pissed Off”) who spend their allotted three minutes of public comment upholding Portland’s long tradition of civic engagement and social activism.
Lately, however, the presence of several disruptive individuals in council chambers has threatened the public’s future participation in city decisions while restricting the city’s ability to pass meaningful policy.
It’s become increasingly common for council meetings to be derailed by three or four so-called “citizen journalists” or “copwatchers”—mostly male—who interrupt council discussions with cries of murder and supposed government conspiracies. They rarely sign up to testify during the time reserved for public comment, instead shouting with a bold air of entitlement over whomever happens to be speaking.
Outside council chambers, these visitors corner commissioners, press cell phone cameras in their faces, and demand answers about government schemes that—even if they exist—remain out of commissioners’ power to address.
Usually, these council outbursts end with Mayor Ted Wheeler calling a recess, during which city security guards escort the disruptive visitor outside—further delaying the day’s agenda. Those regularly shown the door accuse city commissioners of violating their First Amendment rights. But even Portland commissioners with a history of civil disobedience say these regular disruptions only silence others’ ability to speak freely.
“This is not the spirit of speaking up for civic change that is the heart of activism,” said Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, whose first council session was immediately interrupted by a man who barged in, shouting scattered accusations from behind a video camera.
Hardesty, who spent years leading up to her council election organizing protests critical of city decisions, said she respects these visitors’ desire to be heard by their elected officials.
“However, their issues and concerns shouldn’t drown out the voices of others who come to this building seeking the same access and opportunity,” she said.
Several commissioners have heard from longtime council attendees that they’ve stopped coming to meetings to avoid the inevitable delays caused by these few individuals—and to dodge the resulting high-stress environment. At a January meeting, Commissioner Nick Fish mentioned that city employees say these visitors—who often barge into city hall offices demanding immediate attention—have made them fearful of coming to work.
“We have an obligation to maintain a safe workplace and a respectful workplace,” Fish said.
What’s worse, these individuals keep commissioners from doing the work Portland elected them to do.
Commissioner Chloe Eudaly says the council chamber’s increasingly hostile environment has made commissioners rush votes on issues they would generally take more time to stew over, in hopes of avoiding unrelated grandstanding from the usual suspects.
“I don’t believe we’re always passing the strongest policy we could,” Eudaly says.
Since Wheeler entered City Hall in 2017, he’s passed rules meant to regulate council outbursts, but these policies have only resulted in tighter security—a move that failed to dissuade regular disruptors while making the building less hospitable for curious, tentative newcomers.
It’s bad timing, Eudaly says. “We have the most progressive council now in recent history, and are poised to advance progressive policies,” she says. “We want the community to support us, to hold us accountable. But city hall has never been less hospitable.”
Funny that angry, loud activists like Eudaly and Hardesty, who never had any problem with these tactics when they were on the other side, are now discovering that it’s not at all conducive to a functional government that the public needs. It’s easy to shout, stomp your feet, and throw a diaper-pooping tantrum when you aren’t responsible for the hard work of actually running things.
Of course, the irony is lost on Hardesty, who seems hell bent on dismissing it as a tactic when it doesn’t align with her own beliefs. The rest of us had a big problem with it when groups like Portland Tenants United were doing it, and still have an equal problem when these pasty white bumblefucks do it, so at least we are consistent and not simply opportunistic when it suits us politically. You have to have a minimum level of decorum and process for effective government.
Eudaly and Hardesty did not use use “these tactics” in city council chambers. On the street, at organized rallies, the women in question did use tactics of street theater, but city hall’s parade of indignant swine is in a different category. Because I have a job, I can only watch Portland. gov on YouTube — but from what I can see, Portland’s Proud Pouts use the tactics of domestic violence: shouting, hurling abusive slurs and threats, requiring physical restraint, using bright lights to harrass councilors and so on. They stalk and menace people who are just trying to do their jobs. Most of the time, Proud Pouts don’t even make any sense. They appear to have no goal other than to posture and spout nonsense, much like the “patriot’ group from Vancouver. I would like to add a gong and a muted trumpet to the meeting room. A citizen’s group could be on hand to sound the gong when the abusers have worn out their welcome. The abusers could then be dragged off to the sound of “wah wah wah wah wahhhhhhhhh.”
The distinction between “in council chambers” and “blocking the entrance to City Hall so no business could be accomplished” is a distinction without a difference. In any event, they need to crack down on this crap. There are myriad existing legitimate channels for people to petition their legislators, and our city functions should not be subject to the heckler’s veto.