Does this mean amputees with cameras are illegal in Pioneer Square, too?

This is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. UNless PPI thinks that a monopod falls under "the placement of any temporary or permanent structure, including but not limited to any table, bench, stage, fence, tent or other facility", the rent-a-cop was full of shit. Well, he'd be full of shit even if he did think this, but whatever.

Apparently Square management (who I talked to on the phone) does believe that about monopods/structures, but that seems like a major distortion of the meaning of the structures provision.

Video is no longer available. Can you give us some more information on what a Monopod is?

As mentioned at the very end of the video, here is a product marketed primarily as a walking/hiking stick (note the compass in the handle) which also can function as a monopod.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013KON18

Would park security spin two inches off the ground if somebody came through with a walking stick which just happened to have a small camera stuck to the top?

Dieselboi -

No trouble seeing the video from here...

Here is a link to my monopod:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8657928&st=monopod&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1196470448773

(Does "link to my monopod" sound like a bizarre come-on?)

dieselboi, the video is still there. Not sure why you can't see it.

Monopod = tripod, but one leg instead of three.

We need about 40 people with monopods out there taking pics/videos of each other...see how that goes over.

Million monopod march?

Now you're onto something.

I don't have a monopod... Can I wear a monocle instead as a show of support?

Yes. Flash mob is a suitable tool for this banal intimidation.

Who's got an emailing list for a local photography association mashed up with the ACLU of Oregon?

Can we also whistle the tune to Alice's Restaurant whilst podding + clicking?

Mono-a-mono battle!

When is Portland going to wake up and get rid of these idiots?

Seriously, tell me the name of a mayoral candidate that vows to remove the pseudocops, introduce REAL police oversight and bitch slap the business alliance and I'll do everything I can to support 'em.

Here's Grumm's response, from Parks:

"First off, it probably was not a PPI officer. Pioneer Courthouse Square (PCS) has its own security officers under a different contract. And I don't think they use PPI.

PCS is a unique space in that it is publicly owned, but run by a non-profit corporation, Pioneer Courthouse Square Inc.. They then organize, schedule, and promote all the activities that happen in this space. And with minimal public subsidy, a very important caveat.

It's an incredibly challenging role PCS Inc. has with all the diverse users and groups that want to utilize the "center" of our great city. As such, they must place limits on the type of uses and when things happen, while also complying with Federal, State, and local laws. It is not uncommon for the rules in PCS to be challenged in the courts as not complying with these laws. This may be another rule that is ripe for the courts to take a look at. I'm copying the City Attorney's office on this response as they may be able to provide more information.

I believe the tripod/monopod ban is an unfortunate outcome of balancing the scheduling and revenue challenges of PCS with its public space designation.
For example, speech is a fundamental right that all are allowed to exercise in PCS. But amplified speech is not. That requires a permit, which then
can be coordinated with other events, times and applicable noise ordinances.

Another example is that one can carry a sign or placard in PCS, but that sign or placard cannot touch the ground. PCS charges a fee for the permit
if someone wants to "advertise" in this manner. You can imagine the mess if anyone could place an A-board in PCS to promote their store, restaurant, or cause. But how do we limit this without taking away fundamental rights? That's where the lawyers start mucking it up.

My guess (and I'm no lawyer) is that PCS in not allowed to discriminate based on the content of speech (and for the sake of this discussion let us
consider picture taking as "speech"), only on how it is delivered. With a permit, you can "speech" with that camera anyway you want. Without the permit, you must "speech" with that camera as PCS deems appropriate.

See how goofy I start sounding when trying to explain this? And yes, the news folks you see with a tripod in PCS paid for a permit to have that ability.

In short, when lawyers are involved and folks are trying to bring an entrepreneurial sense to operating a public space, goofy rules start popping up. Hope that helps explain stuff, although I don't blame the gentleman who filmed the video for being annoyed.

Matthew Grumm
Office of Commissioner Dan Saltzman
Portland Parks and Recreation Liaison"

Sounds to me like the dude just wanted to keep his job. He was extremely polite and informative and resisted the urge to come back at you with more sarcasm. (Here's a solution for you next time: turn your briefcase on its side and put the monopod on that. See, wasn't that easy?)

That's a good question, though, about the TV stations. Do they have some sort of blanket permit? And what was up with the skateboarders?

Heh, at least, in all of this, we get a reply from inside a Commissioner's office that amounts to "yeah, some of this shit just don't make no sense'.

I am pleased that Mr. Grumm's comments leave open the possibility that this is an invalid application of the rules. I look forward to the city attorney's response.

I wish to point out that there are shots I cannot get due to relatively shaky hands without additional support for the camera. I don't wish to diminish the needs of those who walk assisted by canes or other supports, but I do believe that it is a reasonably accommodation to allow a person who so wishes/needs to support a camera with a minimally-intrusive device, in order to obtain stable shots.

Craig comments: "He was extremely polite and informative and resisted the urge to come back at you with more sarcasm."

Yes, he was very polite. I returned the favor by responding to his absurd orders with sarcasm and not raising my voice, rather than shouting, disobeying, or open defiance.

Let's be clear here: I did what I was told, I complied, I asked questions (including a few smart-ass ones), and I attempted to obtain a permit by calling the park office. That permit was denied (unless I fork over big bucks for insurance and schedule an event in advance -- and even then, it's not clear whether they can turn me down).

"Here's a solution for you next time: turn your briefcase on its side and put the monopod on that. See, wasn't that easy?"

This very thought did occur to me (or placing the monopod on my shoe), but what authority do you have to tell me that this would be "easy"? Are you confident I won't be cited/arrested if I do as you suggest?

Matt and others,
PCS is not patroled by PPI. I do believe that the contract is given to PPS. that said, last time I checked (about a week ago) about 90% of the uniform jackets I see on the square are PPI jackets... their jackets are very simmilar, their patches almost identical outside of the PPS and PPI knitting.
thanks
Patrick Nolen
Community Organizer
Sisters Of The Road

oh yes.. the City of Portland needs to change their motto from the City that always works to the City that always sleeps.

Permits for everything? They make them up as they go along It is absurd. I see this moron-ocracy (yes new word) on daily basis.

So sad to see this city mature from being a socially, economical and a creative treasure to becoming bureaucratically retarded.

love the video !

love the response as well from Matthew Grumm, funnier than the video, trying to make common cense out of non-cense.

oh yes.. the City of Portland needs to change their motto from the City that always works to the City that always sleeps.

Permits for everything? They make them up as they go along It is absurd. I see this moron-ocracy (yes new word) on daily basis.

So sad to see this city mature from being a socially, economical and a creative treasure to becoming bureaucratically retarded.

love the video !

love the response as well from Matthew Grumm, funnier than the video, trying to make common cense out of non-cense.

I thought also about putting the monopod on your shoe, but wasn't sure if that would give you a steady shot. And I'm saying that to use your briefcase on its side would be an easy solution (sarcastically, I'll admit) because technically you're abiding by his request not to place the monopod on the decorative bricks.

Craig - thanks for the followup.

DollarPlease -

I think you've hit on something: This is not the kind of thing Portland would like to be known for when trying to attract "Creative Class" people and businesses.

My first reaction was, "I thought the square was Portland's living room?" I don't remember having to get a permit to do shit in my own living room. Until this incident, I wasn't even aware that the "public" square was managed by anyone other than the public.

Now the romance of visiting the square is gone, along with taking visitors to what I thought was something unique to many cities.

Seriously, tell me the name of a mayoral candidate that vows to remove the pseudocops, introduce REAL police oversight and bitch slap the business alliance and I'll do everything I can to support 'em.

That would be me...

Damn Kyle, you get bored of making bomb threats already?

I just went through the whole ordinance..... frankly I don't see anything that even remotely applies to this.

I do note however that he is right on the curb to curb thing.... that at least is in the ordinances.

20.04.040 Commissioner to Make Rules and Regulations. - Printable Version

The Commissioner is authorized to make such rules and regulations not in conflict with the ordinances of the City as the Commissioner finds necessary for the better control and management of the Parks. If any person feels aggrieved by any such rule or regulation, the person may appeal to the Council for its amendment or repeal by filing with the City Auditor a petition which shall be presented to the Council at its next regular meeting. Until and unless amended or repealed by the Council, any rule or regulation made by the Commissioner shall be in full force and effect as if it were an ordinance.

Since this is clearly not an issue of holding an event.... event permits don't apply.

20.12.080 Structures in Parks. - Printable Version

Except as permitted under Section 20.08.010 B and/or under Section 20.08.070, no person shall excavate for, erect, install or place, or do any act as part of or commencement of excavation, erection, installation or placement of any permanent or temporary structure or facility in or on any Park. This Section does not prohibit the mere carrying of any item in or through a Park, nor does it prohibit the use or placement of personal accessories, such as purses, backpacks or bags, or the use or placement of wheelchairs, walkers or baby carriages or child strollers in any Park, except in areas where those items are prohibited by the Director.

"nor does it prohibit the use or placement of personal accessories"

20.12.010 Purpose of Establishing Prohibited Conduct. - Printable Version

The purpose of this Chapter is to preserve the Parks for the enjoyment, safety, comfort and convenience of the public and to enhance the orderly administration of the Parks, by prohibiting conduct that unreasonably interferes with the administration and lawful use of the Parks.

Thanks, Jeff... that's what I found when I read those over but I hadn't read 20.04 before.

I'd say an individual monopod/tripod (especially a directly attended one) is far closer to a "personal accessory" than it is to a "structure".

I've seen alot of FUCKING STUPID things in my life, but this is right up there!

People skateboarding right in view of the rent a cop but he is picking on Bob.

THIS IS BULLSHIT!

This fucking City has lost its mind.

Maybe we should all just leave

The Officer was just doing his job, and might I add, was doing it very well...seems like a polite fellow.

As for this Monopod guy, just follow the damn rules. You seem to be making a mountain out of a mole hole.

Also, the "Creative Class" is killing Portland. Open your eyes.

Please do Al! One less guy like you will help make Portland a better place!

Monopoding is not a crime.

"Also, the "Creative Class" is killing Portland. Open your eyes."

[barf][puke][gag][wretch]

I suppose this asshole supports george bush too!

As for this Monopod guy, just follow the damn rules.

I did follow the "rules" (which as of yet no one has demonstrated are even written anywhere.) I was denied a permit when I called the office. I left the park after failing to persuade the person on the phone.

Is it now a crime to ask questions?

Is it now a crime to advocate for changing the law or clarifying when the rules don't mesh with the law?

Mountain out of a molehill? Get real. I was just a guy with a camera in a public place -- being told to leave by security was making the real mountain out of molehill.

I'm so glad that anonymous trolls like "hmmmm" have our backs when it comes to defending civil rights. Oh right -- they don't -- look out for many more molehills to come.

"Please do Al! One less guy like you will help make Portland a better place!"

kind sir,

uh, how should I put this?

**FUCK YOU!**

Oh, and one more thing "Hmmm";

HAVE A NICE DAY,

YOUR PAL AL

Bob, you know these guys, don't let em bother you!

Too scared to say what they have to say using a real identity.

Just a bunch of cowards, you see em all around the blogosphere.

Next thing ya know they will start posting as "al m" or "bob r".

Thanks, Al...

The trolls do seem to come out after midnight. :-)

Well, this "creative class" person is off to bed. I've just finished hanging a new kitchen cabinet (us creative classers are so lazy, doncha know), and tomorrow I have actual work to do.

G'nite, Al.

Thanks again to everyone who responded so far and many thanks to Matt for giving this publicity.

Al be a good little lemming and shut the fuck up please.

uh-oh! who let the "non-Creative Class"
out of their cages?

Hopefully this is just an oversight of a
short-term nature and soon be corrected
with the right "electorial oversight"!

I must say: "Hmmmm... indeed!"

The best thing about the MERCURY BLOG is that we don't have to play 'nice'.

Hey dickhead Gumby;

When ASSHOLES STOP thinking like FUCKING MORONS and trying to ram their Nazi rules up our collective asses I WILL SHUT THE FUCK UP.

In the meantime you can go run off the cliff as your post implies.

Chicken shit coward that you are.

We've got right wing thugs all around us.

Luckily, most of us realize that these Nazi bastards represent maybe 1% of Portland.

Many of the blog ID's are actually the same moron posting over and over.

well, glad to see everyone has not resorted to flames.
might I suggest that the rent-a-goons are acting like total retards. there is obviously no law against doing this, just as their is no law that says you can't video tape people (it says you have to inform, not ask for permission), nor is there a law that says you have to give these joker rent a cops your ID, or let them look in your bag, but they do. if we as citizens dont like this, we need to send a clear and resounding signal to our resident jackals at city hall and tell them to get rid fo them.
this doesn't however change the fact that the "creative class" has done their part to destroy Portland. all those "cool" places that now charge an arm and a fucking leg to live used to be cool when the rent was cheap and actual cool people lived their. now, the "creative class" moved in and raised the rent (because its a cool place to live), and all of a sudden its not such a cool place to live. I am waiting for the "creative class" to all of a sudden realize that all of the coolness has been sucked from the husk of what was once a great city and move on to whever they are going to next (maybe Eugene, there are supposedly cool hippies there!)
creative class? more like leaches
and no, I did not vote for george, nor did I move here from some other "cool" place after all the coolness had been sucked from its lifeless husk...

Pete;

What in the FUCK are you talking about?

EXACTLY, what is the 'creative class' anyway?

Portland is the way it is because of a

***FREE MARKET STRUCTURE***

and a

***DEMOCRACY***

in which the people of this city moved here and voted the current leadership into office.

So stop whining about this 'creative class' and learn to grow up and accept change.

You can always move to Idaho and live and live in one of those militia compounds, its a free country. (or is it?)

and live (sp)

May I humbly suggest we steer what's left of this discussion away from who should be/shouldn't be/is/isn't living here and back to Pioneer Courthouse Square policy? :-)

hehe-

Bob R-

Always the voice of reason and sanity!

No we like RUMBLING AROUND IN THE MUD BOB!

LOL!!LOL!!

You know this is my favorite type of blogging!

On line version of

R-I-O-T!!!!

Handcuff me now! I've taken so many pictures on Pioneer Square property that I belong in the State Penitentiary.

If there is is a rule with a good reason behind it, it needs to be refined to the point where tourists and locals aren't breaking any kind of law by taking pictures in Pioneer Square.

Hey Al-

Why don't you shut the fuck up! You fat ass bus driver.

Wow, you go in circles all day long, real rocket science!

Go suck Scam Adams c0(k you loser.

Links to the Portland City Code:

Title 20 Parks, Chapter 20.08 Permits
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=28626

Title 20 Parks, Chapter 20.12 Prohibited Conduct
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=28627

Wow. This is like the time I heard about the guy sitting on the sidewalk eating his lunch and getting harrassed by rent-a-cops. Or the homeless fellow collecting cans and being told that "the trash cans and all of their contents belong to the business whose stores they sit in front of". Laughable.

Anyway, why is it such a problem? Doesn't the monopod have a little rubber "foot" on the bottom of it? Either way, it would have been great to see his reaction if you had simply placed the monopod on the top of your shoe and continued filming. haha

The insurance requirement is just a procedural thing for acquiring any permit for events. The problem is how they define an "event".

I can't wait to see someone go into Pioneer Courthouse Square with a pair of gnarley tap-shoes, and proceed to whack the shit out of those bricks that have rich peoples' names scratched into them.

Cry me a fucking river, Portland.

Doesn't the monopod have a little rubber "foot" on the bottom of it?

Yep.

And another point about "structures" ... a monopod can't be a structure because it is impossible for it to stand on it's own -- it will fall over if not held in place by the photographer.

bricks that have rich peoples' names

Well, they weren't _that_ expensive. I was just barely in high school when the square opened, but I remember the brick sales being widely publicized.

If Wikipedia is to be believed, 50,000 bricks were sold, calculated to an average of $15 each (in early 1980's dollars).

The real shame here is that the square got started with some populist and democratic values (although there was quite a bit of controversy in the planning stages about just how "open" the square should be), but the current policy seems quite undemocratic.