Finally—after months of waiting on the edge of our seats, with bated breath—the council is considering an ordinance to ban ducting taping off spots for the Rose Parade.

“We should not allow that practice to go on,” says Randy Leonard, who convened a committee that came up with rationale regulations.

We’re having lots of audio feedback via Leonard’s mic. Mayor Tom Potter suggests he slap some duct tape on it. “And this is the largest singular news event of the year!” Leonard jokes.

The package of regulations includes restrooms for the parade route, and for “some specific bleachers reserved for the elderly and the handicapped,” Leonard says.

“It’s not really about duct tape,” says the executive director of the Rose Festival Parade, Jeff Curtis, but about making the parade more accessible to everyone.

“[People] can’t mark their space days ahead of time. At the same time, we welcome families coming down the night before. It’s an amazing thing to see. And that part is tradition,” Curtis says.

“It’s not about duct tape. It’s about Portland, and who we are as Portlanders,” says Amanda Fritz, who sat on the committee that came up with the regulations. “It’s about fairness, and it’s about community, and it’s about who we are and how we should operate… to keep things equitable.”

The item passed unanimously, and moves to a second reading.