I hope the Civic Clean Up Squad are out EVERY Friday night cleaning up trash.

What? No mayehm? No bloodshed?

Anybody holding their breath for Jack Bog to admit he was wrong?

Heh. Me, either.

Rock on, Mercury. Rock on.

I watched the parade on TV and KGW is a complete joke. in a city full of beautiful sites, including bridges, parks and, well, downtown streets lined with happy kids and stuff---in a city full of all those pretty things why choose to cover the parade as it saunters out of that squared glass cave (god bless you memorial coliseum but you're not pretty) and makes it's way across a big parking lot? why? ugh.

so I ask: less tracy barry giggling and shoving her shoe in her mouth (did you catch it when she admitted stock footage of the 1915 parade along the street was alot "nicer" then the soggy parking lot site today?) and more sites of portland please. thanks for covering the parade and all but...get a clue KGW.

WOW, what a great job you all did last night.
Guess you weren't all as motivated as you thought. Not only was my tape still on the street, so was a starbucks cup, a candy wrapper, lots of cigarette butts, and one of those urine stains i mentioned. See, you all proved my point exactly. You care nothing about actually cleaning up anything, YOU just want to disrupt things that YOU don't like. By the way, if you think I'm making up the urine stained sidewalk go see for yourself I'm quite sure it will still be there for some time. It is on 4th across the street from the greek cuisina at the tri met stop in front of the pizza place. (that place has great pizza) So here is my thought to your mercury clean-up crew. If you care as much as you want the media and everyone else to believe, lets see how many of you show up next friday night at mlk and ne holladay at 7:45 for more "clean-up" My guess is zero. Maybe the news and the oregonian could show up and take pictures and interview all of the people who showed up again for more clean up. Like you all said people don't clean up their tape so there will still be lots to pull up. OOPS i forgot, there won't be anybody showing up because there is no "cause" other than just picking up the trash that needs done.
Don't worry though, 4th of July is coming and I'm sure people will want to celebrate and gather downtown so I'm sure you can come up with some kind of anti-fireworks/families having 4th of july picnics take all the hot dogs and soda from us/we don't like this or that rally that all the rebel sheep will flock to. Or I could be shocked and amazed to see people with portland mercury vests on next friday night picking up trash. Which will it be?

Richard,

From your comments I presume that you scrubbed that urine stain and picked up those cigarette butts. I'm sure that you were also sure to clean up your tape.

Thanks, man!

In the meantime, chill out. Making this city great (and clean) is everyone's responsibility. Including yours. At least the Merc actually did something and showed actual leadership instead of being a bunch of whiners and windbags. Or was that Jack Bog out there with a reflective vest and a garbage bag along the parade route? Nah, didn't think so. Much more fun to toss grenades from your easy chair.

Big surprise your name is Richard?

There was a specific aim during this cleanup, Richard. The idea was to clean-up the mess left by a particular behavior at a particular event. That is why a few years ago, I volunteered to walk the parade route and pass out trash bags right before the parade started - to attack the problem of littering at a particular event.

If you'd like to spearhead the "let's clean up all of downtown Portland every weekend" effort, I think that particular leadership slot is still open.

And yes, not agreeing with taping up a public sidewalk so that everyone has an equal chance at enjoying the parade is quite anti-family. Taping up your spot days in advance, creating an eyesore that no one likes to look at, and displaying a total sense of entitlement by trying to get one over everyone else is pro-family. Totally. Good for you, for taping your way to the top.

If you don't like the TRADITION of taping off spots don't go to the parade. Oh, wait a minute, none of you assholes went to the parade anyway. You're a bunch of hipster out-of-towners douchebags that don't attend the parade, don't clean up litter around town any other day, don't have respect for our traditions and read one of the crappiest publications in the country. If you actually would have had intentions of attending the parade there would have been conflicts involving real Portlanders kicking your hipster southern-Californian asses. Leave the city or get used to it, quit trying to change it from your lofts in the Pearl.

whoa, for someone who dwells in nature, you sure are angry. take a breath, man.

As always, when you have nothing else to prop up your argument, just tell people to get the hell out so they can stop disagreeing with you already.

I was surprised at the difference last night between the direction you guys went from the Max station and the other direction, which was all claimed and taped off, with no room for for anyone who had not staked their claim.

Now that the parade is over, look at all that tape they just abandoned. Where I looked along the parade route on Weidler much of the tape has been left to be litter.

This new "tradition" of having a bunch of selfish, messy tailgate parties along the parade route needs to end.

O.K. took a breath, much calmer; good advice. Having a bum knee keeping me out of the forest and having to watch the crap local news has me a wee touchy. What we need is to actually write down the unwritten rules of the parade to avoid conflicts. I didn't mean to say get out of the city, more just don't go to the parade (although to be fair how many tape-rippers actually went). People who leave their tape after the parade suck ass and are not following the unwritten rules. This is a tradition older than my memory and is one of those quirkey Portland things. Let's not forget that most of the people who mark out the spots (I don't, because I think it's just kind of lame and bumpkiny) are people who have long supported our 100 year old parade and they deserve good spots. This shows that there is a huge demand for the parade. Plus this is Portland not Pasadena the prospect of claiming a spot and then sitting in the rain a couple of days to keep it doesn't fly here and this is how we compensated. Besides would you rather the orderly marking of prime spots so even the elderly and disabled can get a good spot to watch the parade or more of a Macy's Day type thing where it turns into a shoving match to get to the front until somebody get's a knife to the guts. The people who had their tape ripped up who had been snagging the same spot every year deserved it; that is totally not in the Portland spirit. That said I'm getting sick and tired of people who have no respect for traditions that don't hurt anybody. This is a left-over of Portland's small town days and going around possibly ruining families enjoyment of the parade is lame! Go downtown and pick up all the copies of the Mercury I see laying around the streets if litter is your problem. Once again write down some rules but don't get rid of a tradition that most of the city has no problem with there is already enough rain on our parades. Maybe they could extend the parade route as well, that might help. Maybe people could register for a number to mark off a spot with only a limited zone of the parade route being acceptable for doing so; that way when some jerk leaves their tape behind they get fined. Sorry for the pissed off rant earlier just needed to get that out.

"Just a lot of people getting a fair shot at seeing the parade".

That was what it was all about. Good job, you guys; what you did to put the "public" back in "public property" was really pretty inspiring.

The piccy of the Burnside Bridge before and after made the point.

It's sad that some people just aren't getting the point but, looking at public opinion polls these days, even people who believe in something will fall for anything.

Kudos....

So if it actually is about everbody getting a fair shot at seeing the parade and not just being jerks about something we don't agree with can both sides of this debate actually do something cool and Portlandy and come up with a comprimise? I totally agree that the problem of people leaving behind their tape and trashing the place is unacceptable. And there needs to be a strip of the parade that is reserved for children and the disabled so everone can see the parade (I know a few people who mark out a spot because the have loved ones in wheelchairs who otherwise would be s.o.l. in seeing the parade). But at the same time for so many Portlanders losing yet another tradition is just as unacceptable. Both sides should go to the city council (Randy Leonard, I believe, is trying to pass some sort of legislation) and work this out to both groups satisfaction. Maybe if we could lengthen the parade a little and possibly come up with a lottery for a section that can be marked out if you do an hour of clean-up downtown before the parade or some other sort of comprimise that is mutually acceptable. I really don't want to see this disappear, if for nothing else than it has worked well in the past and I know of nowhere else that does this. Now I know that may sound a little stupid but so does locking up a huge piece of land just west of downtown for a park to a lot of people. I just don't want to see Portland lose it's quirkeness; how many Mercury readers have "Keep Portland Wierd" bumperstickers? This is one of our wierd happenings people; like the critical mass demonstrations, or the Springwater Loop, or our incredible access to green spaces, or Pioneer Square (cause, come on that shit is wierd central for the city). I understand that people think it sucks for whatever reasons, but people think the tram sucks, it's still here. We should have a much more constuctive dialoge not people like me getting way too pissed or people like your readers acting like brats, quite frankly, and going out and ripping up tape that was put there mostly by good people. We as a city should have a town hall style event next year in say Jaunuary and work this all out once and for all. You see there are a lot of people like me who hate seeing the typical american distaste for anything traditional, but I think we can all be adults about this and settle it without anybody being violent or confrontational or being total party poopers. Truce in the name of all that is Portland. Besides if we lose all of our Portland wierdness what seperates us from Olympia? Seriously take a drive up there some time it's just like Portland without any character. I REALLY don't our motto to go back to the unofficial state motto of the 80's and 90's "quit moving here" because that's just lame and isolationist. Once again truce; let's get this figured out. Mercury, this is your chance to rub the Portland Tribune's and the Oregonian's face in a big turd; most of your issues are crap but their's aren't much better (especially the tribune). Portland unite!!!

Good job Merc. There's lots of things worth fighting, and entitlement is definitely one of them. And for all those "tradition" apologists; maybe it's time for the new tradition, the tradition of no longer being assholes.

Naturedweller:

You have some very good points, but I keep getting lost in the miasma of words.

Paragraphs, dude. Use them.

They are your friends.

Oh my god did I find the last place on the internet that uses paragraphs? At least I tried to use puctuations.
Sorry it was a just off the cuff. By the way paragraphs are indented, just breaking your balls. You must be here to read Savage's column.
Oh yeah Jason, who's the asshole?, the brat cying "I don't like you taping off spots so I'm going to rip up your tape" or the guy trying to find a construction solution. Unless your being sarcastic, in which case it doesn't really translate to written speach.

naturedweller...first off, I want to ask you how long you have lived her in Portland? ........
Well, I have been here since birth and it was only in the past 10 years that the taping has come to pass. I was out there last night pulling up tape because I believe it is litter. And you know what dude - I pick up trash all the time on my walks. I report graffiti, I notify the city of abandoned buildings or cars. Am I the enemy?

Born and raised 25 years. Why not talk to a city commisioner like an adult would do. If you report graffiti you must know some appropriate channels. And how do you respond to the FACT that a number of tape rippers walked right by a wide variety of litter. Just admit you don't like the practice of taping off spots and I'd have a lot more respect for what you guys did.
One person in a group who repeatadly picks up litter does not change the fact that the tape ripping was motivated by a strong dislike of the taping off and not the litter factor. If it was really about litter where was this movement two weeks ago? I'm pretty sure litter was a problem then. If it's litter why not address the people leaving it behind after the parade? Why wasn't the cleanup today? And seriousley, 10 years, bah! I remember people doing that downtown when I was a kid. Once again holding a spot for two or three days in Portland during June is likely to have a negative impact on your overall health. Come on, you're from here you should know that.
But no you're not the enemy; and I applaud and thank you for being a responsible citizen and reporting abandoned buildings and cars and picking up trash; WELL DONE that's awsome.
But this simply is not a littering issue, it is a dislike of the practice of taping off spots. And while I agree that it has gotten out of hand, it is nothing more than childish behavior to go out the night before the parade and remove only one variety of litter. In the report channel eight ran the night before the parade you can actually see people pulling up tape within site of litter and ignoring it. Like I said before, go to the city council, it's called democracy.
Just a little inquire from my side, how many smokers participated in the cleanup? What happened to any ciggarette butts? When is the NEXT cleanup?
Extend the parade route and make it to where people in wheelchairs don't have to bang elbows to see the parade nor do people with children have to hold a kid on thier shoulders for two hours.
And once again can anyone tell me why you didn't do this the day after the parade instead of the night before; encouraging people to be vigilantes is not a good idea in this town (think about people in cars during critcal mass, how would the group that participated in the cleanup react to that if they didn't like it, a little throttle goes through a lot of bike messengers)? So don't mess with a tradition a lot of us obviously like as is evidenced by the amount of tape I'm sure you picked up. Be an adult, address the problem, don't just go out and be brats. I'm sure there are plenty of people who support a change of some sort to correct this, but this is not going to win converts to your mode of thinking only piss people off and further entrench the opposing sides into little opion bunkers (see american politics).
Portland unite under a banner of wierdness and cooperation. If we don't people may just start spray painting spots and THAT would suck.
And let me state that I don't really like the practice, but I do enjoy Portland being different and would rather people do that instead of just jostiling for postion (go to a concert sometime and just imagine the front of the stage being Burnside). If people started reacting the same way towards some of the other events downtown, like critical mass or protests, people would die. Look what happened at the junior parade, it's an absoulute miracle that the pot dealer and old lady didn't rack up a body count.
So please, let's have a good, productive town hall meeting about the problems of the Rose Festival, not the hot air contest I'm sure this will spark next year if we let politcians get involved. You're not the enemy and neither am I, or people who tape off spots, we're just people with different points of view who all live in our corner of this little blue marble. Although people who tape off spots are a little bit lamer than the rest of us; come on, the parade's not even that good. That's my two cents good night.

I forgot, who's down for a cleanup next week after everthings all done? God knows downtown needs it.

"people like your readers acting like brats, quite frankly, and going out and ripping up tape that was put there mostly by good people"

Good people don't think the sidewalk belongs to them personally and mark off bits of it for themselves. Good people make the effort to be prepared and show up on time if something is important to them. Good people share the sidewalk, make room for kids, scoot over a bit and let another person have a spot. The people pulling off the tape were the good people, trying to ensure access to the parade to everyone, not just the spoiled few who thought only of themselves.

Get your facts straight. Learn to recognize good people. Be one.

Based on twenty-plus years of Mardi Gras parades, I find this whole taping-off of viewing areas "tradition" incredibly anal and pointless. In Louisiana, with tenfold more people crammed on the sidewalks, and everyone scrambling for throws, a sovereign viewing area would be pretty difficult to maintain, unless you sit in a chair or on a ladder, which you would arrive early to the parade in order to set up, and several yards back from the barricades, i.e. not in a prime spot..."reserving" several days ahead of time is unheard of. At most you might see some ladders chained to a nearby tree, but the ladder-owners still have to show up early and set them up.

Marking up a spot at a comparatively less crowded parade is pretty silly, and all this handwringing over brawls over a spot to stand--c'mon, we can drink ourselves silly at parades in LA and we still manage to keep the fighting pretty minimal (aside from the rare shooting and whatnot, but that's usually over drugs or a woman, not a taped line on the pavement).

naturedweller --

Both I and my companion picked up litter as well as tape on Friday night.

I've lived in this area for 30 years, and this ridiculous and selfish taping was NOT in evidence until the mid-90s.

I've worked near the Rose Quarter for the past 6 years and let me tell you, these folks do NOT clean up their tape after the parade -- and the earlier they put it down, the more becomes litter in storm drains and carried away by vehicle tires before the actual parade.

I'd love to see common courtesy return to our public spaces. At least this controversy has opened the debate, and judging by the sheer volume of tape-haters responding on myriad blogs and news sites, I think the majority of caring folks who live here would agree with me.

"Just admit you don't like the practice of taping off spots and I'd have a lot more respect for what you guys did."

Okay. I admit it. I don't like the practice of taping off spots. I think it's ridiculously selfish as well as blight on downtown streets.

"Like I said before, go to the city council, it's called democracy."

Sure, that makes sense. Maybe we can ask them to pass a resolution saying everyone needs to be really polite to each other all the time, that would be just as enforceable. And I don't really think that ripping up the tape actually blocks anyone from seeing the parade. I don't think Portlanders are so lacking in human decency that they would deny letting a small child or someone in a wheelchair get a spot next to the curb.

C'mon, do you really need a city council to tell you what's right or wrong?

People like Naturedweller who call taping off the sidewalk "tradition" remind me of the people who still claim Iraq was responsible for 911.

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