Occupy Portland: Behind the Scenes in Mayor Sam Adams' Office

Portland Mercury:

As Alex Z. posted right below, one of the many things that has stood out in Portland's occupation, compared to those in other cities, has been the encouraging response by its police commissioner, Mayor Sam Adams. So the Mercury this afternoon obtained a week's worth of emails exchanged among the mayor's staff and other city officials that shed some light on how the mayor's response evolved—and what his priorities were, behind the scenes—as tension and questions mounted over yesterday's rally and today's ongoing camp drama in Chapman Square. (Read them here, here, here, and here.) One thing is very clear: Even before this week, the mayor was paying rapt attention to the challenges that an Occupy Portland event might pose. Staffers in other city offices, like parks and police, were asked to report on their contacts with organizers on whether there would be a permit for the march yesterday or not. Reports also came in after the general assembly meeting Tuesday in which it was decided there would not be a permit. And staffers were monitoring march route possibilities even as police were saying they had no such information. Adams' staff this week also compiled news accounts and statistics for other Occupy events nationwide. Seattle's example—which featured arrests, but then an offer to camp outside city hall—was particularly noted. As was Los Angeles'—where the city council toured a site much like some Portland commissioners did today. The emails don't mention whether the office purposely steered marchers to Chapman Square on the eve of the Portland Marathon. But it did show, that as the deadline for the marathon to take over the space came and went today, the mayor's office, responding to community outcry and calls from Occupy organizers, also took the lead in trying to set up a compromise. But one email from Adams really stood out. It came Monday morning, and it was an urging of sorts to the police bureau's acting chief, Eric Hendricks—that seems to have set the tone Adams has maintained even in his public communications. Adams sent it after sending himself a link to the Occupy website apparently as a reminder.

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