It’s been two months since city council voted—unanimously—to extend the city’s Drug Free Zones law yet again, this time for six months. You might remember that much of the reason for that extension was to give the mayor’s DFZ oversight committee time to study the fairness and effectiveness of the policy, given what appears to be evidence of troubling racial disparity in the law.

You might also remember that the same promise was made in the spring of 2006, when Mayor Potter arranged for a one-year extension of the policy—and yet, when that year was up this April, the oversight committee had barely even been formed, had only met twice, and was still figuring out its internal battles. Still, despite wildly missing the mark on his promise, the mayor got his six-month extension.

Given the history, you might be wondering how well that promised oversight committee is doing, considering that one-third of its allotted extension has already ticked away. Perhaps you might not be surprised to learn that the committee met only once after the council vote two months ago, and is currently on hiatus.

The last communication from the mayor’s office to the committee members came on May 24th via email (they didn’t return our phone calls for comment):

Dear Committee Members:

We have been working on restructuring the committee to better utilize your time, expertise, and interest in assisting the City to review the DFZ/PFZ policy. I will send you information on our next meeting very soon and will inform you of the committee’s redefined role.

I’d like to thank you for your work thus far and hope that you will continue to provide your input in future meetings.

Maria Rubio, Senior Policy Manager
Public Safety and Security/Police Liaison
Office of Mayor Tom Potter

The “restructuring” is in part on the advice of John Campbell, a consultant/facilitator who frequently works with city committees and who was brought in to aid the DFZ committee. Given the unlikelihood of the committee members reaching any sort of compromise, he recommended that the work of data collection and analysis on exclusions be done privately, not by a committee. He’s now got the contract through the mayor’s office to review those numbers and submit a report to council.

In the spirit of fun, let’s review some of the best quotes from that council vote two months ago, just to see what the city commissioners were expecting when they voted “yes.” Council will vote again on the DFZs in four months.

Sam Adams: "As you know, my vote to renew this last year was predicated on this committee being up and running, and it's frustrating that this committee was so long in coming. I've also heard from advocates...that the group isn't working together as well as it could be."

Maria Rubio: "The six-month extension could give us time to look at a bigger group that could examine these numbers."

Portland Copwatch's Dan Handelman: "I think the time is up. City council had a year to do this, and didn't, the police bureau was supposed to report back 90 days before the year is up, and they didn't. I think you need to suspend the zones using the numbers you have until this can be fixed. Maria Rubio said these meetings are open to the public--I and my group are very invested in this issue, and I had no idea this group had even started."

Public defender and DFZ committee member Chris O'Connor: "We've met twice, and the group was started only after the state senate met to consider taking away the city's right to impose DFZs....Why renew a policy that isn't working?"

Erik Sten: "[W]e were given a year. I think we need to stick to our word, and say, 'We didn't do the work we said we were going to do.'"

Maria Rubio: "I do want you to know that we're taking this seriously."