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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Portland Duct Tape Ban in Full Effect

Posted by Amy J. Ruiz on Wed, May 28 at 1:52 PM

Ah, remember those heady days in 2007, when the Mercury and dozens of our closest friends canvassed the Rose Festival parade route, ripping up duct tape?

Our Civic Clean Up project resulted in an actual city law banning duct tape (or paint or chalk or lawn chairs) as spot-saver. This year, you can only use your butt to save your spot, and you can only start saving 24 hours in advance (or, 10 am on Friday, June 6 for the Saturday morning parade).

Over at Metblogs, dieselboi walked part of the parade route yesterday, and spotted this:

dieselboi writes:

The good news is that people who normally were taping and reserving spots almost 2 weeks before the parade got the message. The bad news is that today, someone used spraypaint to reserve their spot.

He wonders if the cops will be out enforcing the new ban and handing out tickets. Here’s what I know, after speaking with Ross Turkus from the city’s Bureau of Development Services (which oversees the new regulation): Starting the Tuesday before the parade—so, next week—the city will be sending out a few inspectors (known as the “Parade Marking Removal Street Team”) to walk the parade route, educate people about the new rules, and pull up duct tape.

So there you have it. Hopefully the Parade Marking Removal Street Team will have paint clean up supplies on hand, to rub out the “Tower” spot. (Hopefully, they’ll also have fancy uniforms that say “Parade Marking Removal Street Team.”)

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Comments

Well, isn't that where the judging/media tower will go?

Posted by richbachelor | May 28, 2008 2:08 PM

I think that may be marked off by one of the utility companies to indicate to work crews where a utility box (tower) will go.

Posted by hmm | May 28, 2008 2:11 PM

Or perhaps it's Mr. and Mrs. Tower? Or Tower of Power? Or Tower Records? Or the Eiffel Tower? Or... ?

Posted by Jon | May 28, 2008 2:14 PM

I've lost weight.

Posted by Matt Davis | May 28, 2008 2:15 PM

This could be a money generator for the homeless. They could go out and snag a spot and sleep out for one night without worry of being swept.

Posted by Bingo | May 28, 2008 2:52 PM

What a great idea, hire the homeless to hold your spot on the parade route. I bet you could hire them for less than the cost of a roll of duct tape, or a bottle of Night Train. The service could be called "Placeholder".

Posted by money | May 28, 2008 4:51 PM

I've heard urine is an excellent cleaner for unsightly spots being marked off.

Posted by LE-OH | May 28, 2008 7:04 PM

Did you criminalize chalk art?

Posted by pdxnag | May 29, 2008 6:32 AM

Is this for the starlight parade also?

Posted by jaysgirl02 | May 29, 2008 9:57 PM

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