Whose Sidewalk?
WOW.
Last night was SUPER fun! I went straight to bed after seeing the coverage on 2, 6, and 8. I was part of the tape-pulling-up contingent that rolled along the parade route. We were pretty peaceful, and no anarchists/war protesters managed to infiltrate and sidetrack us from our goal: Freeing the sidewalks and streets from tape.
My favorite moments were, in no particular order:
* Steve Humphrey standing on a paperbox and trying to remind us of the slogan (”What was the slogan again?”)
* Various expressions of awe and excitement on Matt Davis and Amy Ruiz’s faces throughout the night.
* People asking what we were doing and telling them and getting a reaction of “COOL!” and then joining us.
* Campers (the REAL tradition before the parade) being on our side about the tape.
* A Portland Police officer giving one of our group a silent thumbs-up as he went by.
* Getting to the end and doing an informal count and finding nobody had been arrested or injured.
* Running into other people I don’t get to see as often as I’d like.
* Seeing into the Mercury’s van at the end of the night, and seeing just how much tape we actually collected.
My personal problem with it is that nobody picks up their tape afterwards. Well, that and the people who cry “tradition” when there are complaints about the tape. According to a number of natives, the CAMP OUT is the real tradition, not this tape nonsense.
Speaking of natives, I emailed Commissioner Leonard and asked if he’d be joining us last night, maybe as our security detail. His reply was:
I have really had my moment in the sun on this issue already…I am looking for a dark place to hide in for a while.
I hope wherever he is he gets a good view of the parade.
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While I’m not really at odds with this tape removal ordeal, I do think it was somewhat rude.
Everybody is railing on about tradition, but for many people staking their “claim” was tradition… it would seem Randy Leonard’s plan to abolish this practice next year was sensible and “fair” for those who have done this for years and expected their “reservation” this year. They simply had too little time to make a change in their parade viewing plans, so many people today were mightily disappointed to discover the liberated streets… probably confused as well since for years it has been accepted.
I have no true interest in the parade ,I’ve never been nor does it hold much appeal for me. I would suspect that some of the tape lifters perhaps do not regard the parade as a highlight of their year as well. But for many Portlanders, suv’ers, subaranites, and Greshamites the parade is a big deal, a highlight and removing the tape likely significantly comprimised their enjoyment of today. I’m sure some people saw the news and knew what to expect but many were likely dumbstruck.
All this said, clean streets and the presumed better viewing opportunites for parade goers is quite welcome I’m sure, however I do question at what cost it was achieved.
If I had know that the taped sections were really going to be removed I would’ve gone to the parade this morning. I didn’t want to bother trying to find the one place on the whole route that *wasn’t* staked out.
I don’t include campers, they’re just fine.
If this trend toward sanity continues, I think we just might go next year.
Atlas, we’re talking about tape and people sitting on their asses for a few hours. I don’t see it as ends-justifies-the-means philosophical discussion of Kant’s concepts of categorical imperative.
Guilty Carnivore, too true! I was only airing my at-a-glance thoughts on the matter, but regarding ends, means, and justification… I don’t really see it in that light either, I was just thinking amidst the “celebration” and general feeling of smugness that I was percieving, some people were probably pretty bummed. And that those people were likely not all Yellow hummer driving Vancouver residents.
Clarification about “yellow hummer driving Vancouver residents” I mention that because it seemed that much of the disdain and scorn for the “tapers” was directed at the “them” of our society.
You’re right, Atlas, it’s not as clear cut as everybody makes it seem. My wife works for a non-profit, and one of her foster parent clients (who lives in inner-NE) and takes her 4-7 children each year to the parade and cordons of her area each year was pretty flummoxed by the whole brouhaha. Some honest, earnest folks don’t care or understand what the big deal is/was.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fat_hobo/sets/72157600329059901/