Mayor Opposes Police Accountability Charter Proposals

Portland Mercury:

Denis C. TheriaultMayor Sam Adams says he won't support a substantial extension of the city's Charter Review Commission so it can keep working on a trio of police accountability proposals—two Occupy-inflected ideas banning from using chemicals and horses on protesters, and a third enshrining an independent oversight system—that would ideally be put before voters this November. Instead, the mayor and his spokeswoman told the Mercury in a recent interview, he'd like the city's next charter commission (whose members have yet to be appointed) to continue tackling police accountability work. The only thing he'll budge on is a short extension, by just a few days, so the commission can vote on a proposal the mayor favors: the creation of a citizens panel to set sewer and water rates. The short extension would postpone the commission's expiration from March 2, a Friday, to March 5, a Monday. Some charter review commissioners were hoping to keep working, and holding public meetings, through the end of June. "I'm not supportive of extending the deadline. We've extended it a couple of times," Adams said. "There will be an opportunity in the next charter process to raise these issues. To deliver these things at the last minute, with what appears to be little research, I know this is well-intentioned, but this is not what was envisioned.... "This does not appear, I think, to pass the quality test." [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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