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