Anonymous Threats! Downtown Retailers! Another Round of Mayor Sam Adams’ Occupy Portland Emails!

Every week or so since October 7, give or take, I’ve been regularly reviewing hundreds of Occupy Portland-related emails sent from, or received by, Mayor Sam Adams’ office. Lately, there’s been such a fire hose of news, that I’ve wound up just dropping relevant scraps into stories or posts as needed.

But maybe you’ve noticed: After Chief Mike Reese’s apology and measured decision to let marchers mostly start minding themselves, the past few days have been pretty quiet. Which means this is as good a time as any to get back on the ball and post another catch-all roundup of the more interesting Occupy bits circulating through city hall.

First up! The chief’s promise of a light-to-absent police presence at marches does come with caveats. While helping to draft a response to an occupier who let Adams’ staff know about an Occupy proposal to explicitly obey traffic laws during marches, deputy chief of staff Jennifer Yocom privately reminded staffers that larger marches like October 6’s, or marches planned for busier days of the week, may change the equation. (Today’s Black Friday “fur-free” march, for example, which brought 200 people downtown, did have a modest police escort.)

Second! Portland’s Downtown Marketing Initiative (a public/private group whose members include the city of Portland and the Portland Business Alliance) was concerned enough about Occupy that they actually tried to schedule a meeting almost immediately after the eviction. Seems that may have helped address some of the “negative images of downtown.”

Third! The city is keeping track of not only who’s been donating to the Parks Foundation’s fund for cleaning up Chapman and Lownsdale squares but also of why they’re donating and whether they support Occupy or not. Turns out the support for Occupy among the park donors so far has been overwhelming.

Fourth! Adams’ office also obtained detailed write-ups from social services providers, especially from JOIN and Janus Youth Services, about their work in finding shelter or temporary housing for occupiers who otherwise had nowhere else to go in the waning hours of Occupy Portland’s encampment.

Fifth! Laurelhurst Park neighbors were freaking out, on the eve of Occupy’s eviction from Chapman and Lownsdale Squares, that occupiers might head for the lush public space in their nice part of town.

Sixth! Someone claiming ties to hacker collective Anonymous sent a stern threat to the city, angry about the way Occupy Portland had been portrayed, emailed the city and promised a widespread attack on TV stations, city hall, and the police bureau. Officials forwarding this around said they would have their IT people check for the time-bomb files that had been uploaded. Future emails make no mention of whether they found anything or not.