Incursio

I am not the first to blog this stuff, but I figured that I would pass them on. Here in Portland, we have one man (Eric Bryant, now complete with target on back!) who insists that the Police should be required to follow the same rules that they would happily enforce against us. I happen to agree with him. Downtown Cop gets another ticket.

A Portland Police officer sitting on the SE 9th Ave Pedestrian overpass clocks people coming off the Ross Island Bridge onto SE Powell Blvd. There were about 6 officers waiting down on 9th to take off and pull over the offenders. Here is the spot on Google Maps: View Larger Map

OK, well maybe not officially . But at least in my mind. Here I am putting on my opinion hat. This post is purely my opinion and nothing more. I am not going to (at this time) do any research on the subject. I simply want to rant a little. I love Portland. I have found so many wonderful things here. And the city government is generally one of the better city governments I have ever come across, in all the places I have lived across the USA. The Portland city government is generally accessible. You can usually have good results working with almost any bureau. They work well with people, and most of the staffers that I have met genuinely care and take their jobs seriously. Almost everyone who is "in the trenches" really cares about the city and is working to make it better. Even the elected officials tend to be pretty good. Sure, as with any elected government - there are SNAFUs like the stupid Cesar Chaves street rename BS and other crap... But that tends t...

Portland police have lately been operating "stings" against bicyclists. They have been watching for things like not staying within bicycle lanes or not coming to complete stops at stop signs (including putting your foot down). They have been targeting areas like SE Clinton around 26th, Ladd's Circle, the area between OMSI & the Springwater Corridor, the area on the east side of the Broadway bridge, and several others. (Google "Portland bicycle enforcement action" to find lots of reports). I have personally seen the ones between OMSI and the Springwater corridor, including one tonight. Often these "stings" will use massive amounts of manpower, the one at Ladd's Circle had at times six to ten officers on motorcycles and in cruisers. Tonight there were two motorcycle cops issuing citations. According to Jeremy Van Keuren, Public Advocate for the office of the Mayor Tom Potter: "In an average month, the Traffic Division will issue ...