It’s rumored Commissioner Randy Leonard may oppose the enforcement of the mayor’s Sit/Lie ordinance again.

Leonard threw a spanner in the works in June, accusing the Portland Business Alliance of being the driving force behind it, and failing to ensure enough services were available for the homeless before it went ahead with enforcement.

But Leonard and the mayor had a fairly vocal confrontation in council yesterday afternoon, over Leonard’s spray can ordinance, which would require businesses to keep their spray paint locked up behind counter. The mayor and Commissioner Saltzman think Leonard should be working more closely with the Small Business Advisory Council on the anti-spray can ordinance—but it’s rumored they only raised their objections with Leonard fifteen minutes before yesterday’s council session.

Following that “discussion,” last night Leonard reportedly decided that opening of City Hall’s toilets is not enough to satisfy council’s original concerns about 24-hour restrooms, and that he wants restrooms to be located in Old Town, where the homeless actually are.

In other words, if the mayor’s office wants to mess with Randy Leonard and lobby on behalf of the Small Business Advisory Council, many of whose members lobby for the same things as the Portland Business Alliance (PBA) on a spray paint issue, well then, Randy Leonard can easily find some plausible procedural issues to object over the PBA’s mayor’s sit/lie ordinance.

When Leonard gets out of his session with the mayor, I’ll try to find out what happened. But that’s politics, I guess. “Deeper issues,” to quote Mike Kuykendall.

Update: 12:10

Leonard says: “Attempting to open City Hall’s restrooms is a disingenuous attempt to comply with City Council’s direction, because there is nobody down here within blocks at night. The area that we are standing in right now is deserted late at night. First of all you have to buzz yourself in here at night, and it can take up to ten minutes for a person to show up late at night.”

“The homeless are in old town, and in Pioneer Courthouse Square. So my suggestion to the mayor was if you want to avoid a conflict, open the restrooms at Pioneer Courthouse Square or 1st and Davis.”

He continues: “The PBA and the mayor’s office appear to be playing ‘gotcha’ with me, and one should avoid getting into a wrestling match with a pig, because you’re going to get dirty and the pig likes it.”

Furthermore, at the request of the PBA’s Mike Kuykendall, Leonard is going on a “walk along” with a rent-a-cop on Thursday August 23rd. That should be interesting.