A proposal to expand Occupy Portland from Chapman and Lownsdale squares and set up a branch in the gentrified Pearl District—in Jamison Square—is apparently in the works, the Mercury has learned, after the group’s consensus-driven general assembly approved the proposal during a meeting last night.

Jordan LeDoux, a media representative for the occupiers, confirmed the decision and said notes from the meeting would soon be posted on Occupy Portland’s website.

We had one of our interns, Suzette Smith, on hand last night and she told me this afternoon that the expansion would be more about “testing the water” than fully committing to expansion. After a march planned for noon on Saturday, October 29, occupiers will head into the Pearl around 4 pm with sleeping bags, but not tents, Suzette says.

She summed up the discussion in an email:

As I assume you know, there’s been some weirdness in the Occupy camp between people who want to abuse alcohol/drugs and people who want to not do that so much. The guy who put forth the proposal said that Jamison Square would be a place where people who didn’t want to be involved with the substance abuse problems could go, also an answer to overcrowding, also for the people who were recently displaced by fire lanes.

The proposal passed despite concerns that Jamison Square is not as symbolic a spot as the current location (although they aren’t leaving, just expanding), concerns that it’s just surrounded by rich people, and that it’s in a residential neighborhood so it wouldn’t be able to grow much. One woman said she thought that if the people who lived surrounding Jamison Square could see a “clean, well-ordered camp” they would feel encouraged to join Occupy.

I’m not sure the welcome mat would roll out from the condos surrounding the park no matter how orderly a camp might be. Remember, neighbors had a hard time accepting a Portland Loo in their midst (although they later came to like having one in the park.)

I asked Mayor Sam Adams’ office about its response—remembering that the mayor clearly said location was among the reasons he’s blessed the current camps.

“The mayor has been clear: All parks rules are in effect at all other parks,” said Adams’ spokeswoman, Amy Ruiz, refusing to get into “what-ifs,” a frequent refrain from Adams’ office, and noting that there’s still no timeline in place to end the occupation. “Police are reminding people that the rules we currently aren’t enforcing [at Chapman and Lownsdale squares], that’s not going to be the case at any other parks.”

Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and...

15 replies on “Occupy the Pearl? As in, Jamison Square?”

  1. Funny that the protesters are leaving downtown to get away from the bums; what do you think people in the Pearl did?

    Also, the sign says hours are from 5 a.m. to midnight. How many blind eyes do you expect the city to turn?

  2. Regarding your characterization, “the gentrified Pearl District”, can you clarify what you meant by that?

    For example, how many units of affordable housing were there prior to the transformations that began in the late 1990s, and how many are there now? How many people with below-median incomes were living there before, and how many now? How many locally-owned businesses were there before, and how many now?

    Clearly, the Pearl District is somewhere that has a high level of public and private investment, and no shortage of expensive properties and high incomes. But the term “gentrification”, as commonly applied, is difficult to apply to the pearl because, as far as I understand, more people in all categories live and work there now than did before.

  8. Oh, Christ. I clearly should have gone with my first instinct and said, instead, “the de-industrialized and redeveloped Pearl District (except for the parts of the Pearl way north of Burnside that technically, maybe, aren’t redeveloped but are (semi-)newly developed).” D’OH!

  12. This is just stupid.

    1) It’s primarily a residential area, meaning a) it’s going to make them less visible for protest purposes than they would be downtown, b) they’re going to piss off people who just want to be able to sleep, get their kids to school, and go grocery shopping.

    2) The businesses that are there aren’t exactly doing well. Fenouil failed. Hiroshi failed. I know that some of the other businesses north of Glisan are suffering. They may be putting some of the 99% out of jobs if they scare off the slow stream of winter customers that get down that far. (Unless someone wants to show that the Occupy Portland folks have been purchasing from and increasing the revenues of businesses around their camps.)

    3) It’s entirely removed from anything they’re protesting. They should be in front of government buildings, bank headquarters, and the like. But underwater condos and struggling businesses?

  13. I live in the Pearl in a Public Housing Project and I think it will be very interesting to see how the people in the Pearl react to this group arriving. I do agree that they should stay strong in front of the Government buildings, and Bank headquarters downtown, but any place they decide to show what they are about is still “attention”. I can’t believe how much it reminds me of the movie “Network”, yes, we are all “Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take It Anymore”, I know I feel this way and many others do too. Why can’t people realize how simple it is to move their money (those that have any!) to the Credit Unions, that’s the easiest statement to make and it will “affect” the Banks. Yay to Occupy Wall Street, I’ll be there in support for sure!

  15. what happened to “occupy wall street,” you know the people who messed up the economy? “occupy portland” is bull s it, it has nothing to do with wall street and the 1%. occupy portland is about privatizing public spaces into private communes for anarchist sc um and drug and feces riddled deranged homeless bums. the police need to move in with force

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