Update, 5:34 pm: Hales Spokesman Dana Haynes takes issue with the characterization that the mayor backed down. He says Hales’ office was making suggestions about the event, and Friends of Last Thursday abruptly quit. The mayor’s office didn’t have the time to communicate an earlier closure to the public, so Last Thursday will stay open til 10 pm.
“Backing down suggests there’s a dialogue,” Haynes says. “They did quit. We have responded. I fail to see where anybody backed down from anything.”
Haynes has steadily characterized the proposals to shrink the event as mere suggestions. Friends of Last Thursday called them conditions for receiving a permit.
[Originally posted 10:21 am]
Mayor Charlie Hales is pulling back on new proposed strictures for Alberta’s popular Last Thursdays, after the volunteer group that oversees the event loudly resigned Monday.
According to Hales Spokesman Dana Haynes, the city will close the event at 10 pm, rather than a proposed 9 pm ending. And Last Thursday will stretch its traditional 15 blocks, from NE 15th to 30th. The mayor had told Friends of Last Thursday, the volunteer group, it would end at NE 27th.
The increased restrictions prompted Friends of Last Thursday (FoLT) to throw up its hands and resign, telling reporters in a press conference the mayor’s office had acted unilaterally in creating the requirements, rather than working with them. The group had paid for street barriers, toilets and security at the event, so its absence this week will leave the city holding the bag.
Haynes says the mayor will direct city staff to close off Alberta, but no determination has been made about porta-potties. And the mayor’s office has had no contact with FoLT since yesterday’s press conference.
“We don’t know who to work this out with but are eager to work with whomever,” Haynes tells the Mercury in an e-mail.
He continues: “The goals laid out by the city – the same in May as now — were for adequate volunteers, security and porta-potties. We understand (FoLT members) Jeff (Hilber) and Maquette (Reeverts) considered these ‘unsavory’ and ‘demands.’ We disagree. We will work with whoever becomes the volunteer coordinators of Last Thursday to achieve these goals.”
Update, 2:31 pm: Hilber, of Friends of Last Thursday ramped up the rhetoric a bit in a conversation with the Mercury. He says the city’s capitulation is well and good, but his group wants to solve larger issues surrounding the event.
“We’ve not heard from the city one bit,” he says. “The fact they’re still trying to spin the story and make it seem like our fault is what you would expect from them.”
FoLT’s demands, it turns out, are larger than they communicated at yesterday’s press conference. The group’s tired of being attacked, Hilber says, when it’s trying merely to dig Last Thursday out of trouble that existed long before it took over in 2011.
“We want the city to respect the effort we put in,” Hilber says. “We want to be given a permit for one year, unrestricted. Right now they’re dangling the permit for one month in front of our face. I’m tired of being treated like a kid in the corner.”
This is the first year the city has required Last Thursday, begun in 1997, to be permitted.
With both the mayor’s office and FoLT offering relatively entrenched statements today, it’s unclear if or when dialogue will continue. Hilber says he’s heard Hales will reach out to the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods to ask if there’s interest in running Last Thursday. He’s dubious of that effort.
“Name one thing in the past two years that they’ve done to manage this event,” Hilber says. “This is like turning it over to the worst of the worst. We know that there is nobody else.”
And that is what us parents of youngsters call “rewarding a tantrum.”
Now we’re back to the city (i.e. “us”) spending $15,000 a month for an unpermitted festival, while the businesses and others who benefit from it take ZERO responsibility for their own event.
Just shut the whole thing down. Fill those blocks with the swat guys and horse cops they use downtown. Keep the street open and don’t allow anyone to set up booths for their “art” or take a corner for their “music.”
Blabby- Not the first time this happened. 39th Avenue, bike lanes on the CRC, housing without parking- if you want things your way in this town, just throw a fit.
If they can’t figure out the porta pottie situation I’m considering going there and selling adult diapers. Maybe I’ll put up a stand with an adjacent changing room of sorts. Problem solved and I get to make a little money.
It’s true. I was hoping Hales would be a bit better than Adams in terms of flailing all over to please every group that gets whiny.
AND SO BEGAN THE END OF THE HIPSTER ELK’S LODGE.
How much is the City spending on the Old Town entertainment district, and how much are the local business there kicking down for it?
Yeah, Blabby, streets are for cars and not for people anyway, amiright?
No, I just don’t want to spend our money on it. Every other neighborhood commercial street on the east side has a festival. And the organizers pay for the permit and porta-potties and everything else they need.
I don’t know what the city is paying for the entertainment district. It’s a good question. It doesn’t justify spending on Last Thursday.
Well, my new neighbors down the block are likely not lamenting their recent move from prime Last Thursday locale. Afterall, they won’t have to wake up early on Friday to hose away the urine and vomit from their sidewalk and yard (and yeah, its the real and main reason they sold their house and moved from the area).
I’m not suggesting any justification other than that the Old Town district is being promoted by the City also has to cost something to clear the street of cars, even taking it to the point of towing them.
Well, I don’t think the towing companies need to charge the city any extra. They charge plenty as it is.
Paul: The mayor’s trying to figure out a funding structure for the Old Town thing. So far, they’ve talked about extending meter hours and setting up an “assessment district” where businesses would kick in to manage the closures. Problem is: None of the businesses seem to want that. Not much of anyone seems to. Part of what makes this Last Thursday fight interesting is it shows how Hales may wind up dealing with whatever group he finds to run the Old Town district.
Maybe the City doesn’t pay the towing companies but they do pay the parking enforcement officers who write the tickets to have the cars towed. That’s could be a wash, though, after the bail is paid. Extra police patrols likely are not. Of course, the police are there anyway, right?
I agree that there must be extra costs for police and shutting down the streets.
Kill this Last Thursday. Kill it dead.
Fuck these assertions that FOLT supports “art” and “the neighborhood”– Last Thursday’s goal was to promote Alberta for development. Plain and simple. And guess what? It worked. Mission accomplished. Now artists can’t afford the “Arts District.” Great job!
It’s time to end Last Thursday. Make it a once-year event, or one that kicks off and winds down the summer. That would be tolerable. But as it stands right now, it’s just a drunken bar crawl for the benefit of bars and restaurants.
All the soy candles and organic wool scarves are fucking meaningless decoration for the 20-year-old who wants to drink booze behind a car, piss on a building and drive home drunk with his buddies come 2:30am.
That’s Last Thursday to anyone who lives nearby. Ask someone like me– who’s been here for nine fucking years. The clown house is gone and replaced by yuppie condos, the halfway decent artists have gone elsewhere and have been replaced with the type of “artists” you see selling sweatshop-made “white tiger” tapestries out of a van in a vacant lot.
It’s a complete joke. I’m tired of the litter, the parking mess, and the assholes who show up in droves from the other side of town ready to treat the area like a landfill / toilet. The sooner FOLT grows up and realizes how fucked, how immature they are and how solidly stuck their heads are crammed deep into their own asses, the better. Fuck right the fuck off.
Can’t wait to buy a house far, far away from here.
It’s simple for all you old, whiny, bitchy people…move! The city is pretty damn big and the state is bigger and the country is even bigger yet! Get the fuck out if you don’t like it! I understand you have to bitch about it and I’m sure you all bitch about it all the time and plague your family and friends with constant bitching about Last Thursday but you shallow ass people need to realize there are bigger things to be worrying about than artists, musicians and drunk kids having a good time. Move to a different part of the city, or better yet move out of the city or even better yet, move the fuck out of Oregon! Bitch bitch bitch, rant rant rant, moan moan moan, GET OFF MY LAWN!
Another low point for Last Thursday. Couldn’t meet even half of what was a reasonable goal for port-a-potties, security and volunteers, so they have to throw a tantrum and malign a Mayor who is doing the people’s business (for a change).
Who cares what their so-called supporters say when they can’t do the littlest bit to actually support the event besides whine and trash stuff?
This is all about Last Thursday FAIL.
What a shame! Last Thursday is a great event. It helps make Portland a unique place. Now it is being hurt, like a child who’s parents won’t stop fighting. Each side so consumed by what they want, that they forget why they are there in the first place… to raise a happy healthy child that will grow up and contribute to society in a constructive and creative way.
Where else can an artist get their art in front of people with no budget? Where else can a person who wants to start a business get started on a shoestring budget? Where else can you go to see a real ‘organic’ event that is healthy and growing in a thriving community? Yes, Last Thursday has it’s problems, but all events have problems.
We all agree that Last Thursday is unique event. I hope that the Mayor’s office and the organizers (who ever they are) can agree on how to pay for toilets, trash cans and security so that we can all enjoy this great event.
Peace.
We all agree that the term “we all agree that…” is used by douchebags who can’t cobble together a reasoned argument. Let’s leave that phrase at home….. because we do not all agree.
“Move to a different part of the city, or better yet move out of the city or even better yet, move the fuck out of Oregon!”
Let’s all take bets on how long BitchMode has lived in Oregon. I’m saying three years tops.
This may surprise 25-year-old, barely employed, couch surfers but some people don’t want to “just move” when something fucked up is happening in their neighborhood. They feel ownership of the place they live and the community they are part of and want to make it right so they can continue to live there.
In this entire debate, no group has more legitimate standing than the people who live in the area. The idea that they should move from a place they care for 365 days of the year, so that drunk kids from Vancouver and Beaverton can continue to have a “good time” once a month is beyond ridiculous.
All this media attention is probably going to make more people attend tomorrow’s LT event than ever before. Hope it goes well. Might even go myself if I have time.
Blabby – All FoLT members live in the affected area, one of which moved TO the area BECAUSE of Last Thursday. There will always be concerns with large events, but Last Thursday is much more than a party or a problem. There are most definitely issues with the “tourist” types that show up and trash the place, but I still feel Last Thursday holds deep benefits to the community and the City.
AltogetherPDX – Where did you hear that Last Thursday “couldn’t meet even half of what was a reasonable goal for port-a-potties, security and volunteers”?? There were MORE than the required number of security, MORE than the asked for number of volunteers, and MORE sanitation stations than required last month! Just wondering where you got your information, but I assure you it is incorrect. As for these new demands, regarding sanitation, the City was requiring one toilet per 125 participants. It’s hard to determine the total number of attendees, but even at a modest estimate of 12,500, that would be 100 toilets, more than 3 times the 30 required in May, and mandated to be implemented a week before the event! Even doubling the amount would be difficult, but would have been a MUCH more reasonable request.
That’s a lie, Brook See. I am not going to post their addresses here, but you’ve been fed a lot of bad information. I wish they would focus on their commercial districts – ne 42nd, ne 33rd, Killingsworth and 15th etc…
The fact is they couldn’t do it. They just finished paying the garbage bill for last year’s mess (because the so-called supporters are a-holes and slobs who just leave behind all their garbage.) with this year’s revenue. Their situation was seriously untenable and they needed to back out and save face by making Hales the fall guy.
Bitchy Blabby, I’ve been here all my life and I love living on Alberta and proudly supporting Last Thursday you cranky old twat. Nothing “fucked up” is happening on Last Thursdays. No one is getting robbed, no one is getting raped, no one is getting murdered. Sure, it may get a little rowdy, but there’s nothing wrong with the youth having a little fun. What the fuck does it hurt if a lamp pole gets pissed on? Couldn’t imagine your shallow, cranky ass living 100 years ago, jesus you’d be bitching about everything! Grow the fuck up and go worry about the more important issues like getting that cock out of your ass. And if you are so pissed off about the tax dollars being used to support porta potties and cleanup crews, then you really are ignorant and don’t know a damn thing about government spending. There are far worse things the political idiots waste our money on than this.
Yes, why would anyone object to having a street full of charmers like you?
Actually, theft is a big problem at Last Thursday, and I know of two stabbings at July 2012 one.
I have been to allot of Last Thursday events and they are a wonderful evening out! All those with negative comments are from people who have never attended or are just basically “downers” to begin with!! Keep your negatives to your self and try to enjoy life – who are the bitchy one now? Hales is one and done anyway – he can’t even speak for himself!
Heck, close Hawthorne down once a month!!!!!!!!!!!!