Councilor Rich Kellum, top right, talks about the Portland unrest during Wednesday’s Albany council session.
The virtual meeting of the Albany City Council Wednesday night was about to end without anything noteworthy taking place. But then Councilman Rich Kellum brought up the recent riots in Seattle and then Portland.
Kellum was upset that people alleged to have committed arson and other crimes in those cities had been, in his words, “let go without prosecution.” He wanted the council to send a signal that if stuff like that happens here, the perpetrators will be held to account.
Kellum and other council members went on for a while on the theme that they all supported the right of Americans to protest, but causing injuries and property damage went way beyond that right.
“I don’t mind protests,” Mike Sykes said, “but when windows are broken, that’s a riot.” In his mind, what’s been happening in Portland is a cancer that is spreading because nobody including the governor is standing up to it.
In the opinion of Councilor Alex Johnson II , the violence reported from Portland was taking away from the just cause of Black Lives Matter and racial justice. He doesn’t like lawlessness, he said, and he moved to Oregon 26 years ago to get away from violence and crime.
Alone on the council, Dick Olsen took the same line as Governor Brown, Oregon’s U.S. senators, the Portland mayor and other prominent Democrats: If federal law enforcement officers went home, the protests would be peaceful.
Mayor Sharon Konopa felt “so sorry for the businesses up there. It needs to stop.”
City Attorney Sean Kidd reminded everyone that offenses rising to the level of felonies are in the district attorney’s purview, but he assured the council that anyone arrested for misdemeanors in Albany will be prosecuted by his office.
Kellum wanted the staff to write a statement on the subject, one the council could then adopt and send as a message. In the end, though, he agreed with Bill Coburn’s suggestion that he, Kellum, should write it up himself. Kellum said he’d do just that and then submit his language to the city manager.
If all this seems like the council stepping into something unnecessarily and causing a stink, well, we’ll see what happens when and if the issue comes back. In the meantime, wait for the recorded meeting to be posted here and listen to what exactly everybody said. (hh)
Dick Olsen is an idiot. The protests aren’t peaceful! They haven’t been peaceful for the last two months…it’s why federal lawful enforcement had been forced to step in.
Maybe Dick and Kate should invite the ‘peaceful protesters’ to Salem and Albany.
I don’t believe federal law enforcement has been “forced” to step in. From all the on-the-scene reports I’ve been able to gather, the protests are almost entirely peaceful and the violence is coming from the unidentified armed federal police.
The best guess about all this is that Trump is trying to establish that the federal government, rather than make a coordinated response to a pandemic, instead is supposed to take over the policing of the right of the people peaceably to assemble. This is a dangerous trend and I’m afraid he’s got you fooled, along with some on the City Council as well.
Causing $40 million in damages is peaceful! I would hate to see the damage if it wasn’t peaceful.
I agree with you Cheryl.
Cheryl P is exactly right! It’s sad to see that Kate Brown Ted Wheeler would rather see destruction and mayhem in Portland than accept help from the President. Politics is being prioritized above the health and welfare of our citizens and businesses. That nuch is blatantly obvious!
If so peaceful why is Portland boarded up? What are the fire bombs-fireworks we see on national TV? Business are financially broke. Who is going to pay to clean this up or is downtown Portland going to become a ghost town. Because of the vacancies there will be when this is over, the tax base will drop also. How cna you hold the value of property when this has happened?Come on folks the carnage that has been done in these cities is going to cost in many ways.
Olsen, maybe the first night may have been peaceful & a proper protest against alleged police violence. Then the anarchists took over and Portland had a riot for the last month, not a protest. No justification for any of it. And to claim that if the Federal agents left it would all be rosey in Portland again. Get real, the PPB couldn’t prevent the rioters from damaging the Federal buildings let alone their own downtown police hdqrs.!
You’re right James. The protests in Portland were peaceful until the Portland police started using strong-arm measures on the protesters. Some people fight back when pushed around. The anarchists then took advantage and did their best to escalate the protest to a riot. Did they want loot, or was there a political incentive? I don’t know, but, I’ve heard both theories.
I also don’t know if CNN, MSNBC, and OPB are subversive news organizations. I don’t think so, and when I see the Federal storm troopers attacking mostly white mothers trying to protect the demonstrators from being clubbed, shot, and sprayed with mace I have to side with the Mayor of Portland and the Governor to say, “No thank you and go home”.
Do I support riots, certainly not. However, when an uninvited military force invades a city, it’s not surprising that some will fight back. Maybe Portland needs a “well regulated militia” like we hear about in the constitution.
Opinions are like belly buttons. Everybody has one.
Expert amateur opinions come from folks 90 miles away.
I have been to the Portland protests. There is one block of graffiti around the federal building. No buildings are on fire. There is a lot of art. There are a lot of people exercising their first amendment rights and giving away free food. There are students from OHSU helping out as medics. This was entirely caused by Federal Agents coming in. Two weeks ago, the protests were down to 100 and now they are up to 5000. Get away from Fox news and get up and drive around. My gosh, get the source directly.
happy to know Council is aware of the results of poor public policies on Oregon and Portland. The stated action plan by BLM is to not reform anything but to “burn it down”, Alex appears to not know that. There is no just cause for that
TC
First, BLM is a movement, not an organization. Many people have opinions. I’ve never heard your point expressed by any in that movement.
Granted, some folks attending the gatherings in Portland have negative intent. They are/were known to the Portland Police. It is difficult to separate these folks out without appearing to be aggressive.
Paranoia Great Destroyuh
Thomas,
Did you actually watch the City Council meeting? I made it clear how I felt about what’s going on in Portland and other municipalities across the country.
I do not condone destruction, lawlessness, violence committed by anyone. If you would get to know me, you would realize that your preconceived ideas about me are inaccurate and misplaced.
However, I do know, from personal, and professional, experience that racism and racial injustice is real in this country and it needs to end.
I am an American. I am a taxpayer, I am a business owner. I am an employer. I am a community servant. I am a elected official.
What makes anyone more American that me?
Alex–I did not, would not question your patriotism or Americanism.
No I did not watch the video. I was responding to your comments as reported by HH. that “violence takes away from the just cause of BLM”. I appreciate your stand against the violence. Many folks think BLM people are justified for using violence. I do not agree with that opinion. When you say you think BLM is a just cause; that appears to compromise the rest of the story. I have met you face to face; had a great dialogue with you and respect you. BLM does not have a just cause when their stated goal is to burn it down.
Oh, people please! Use some common sense instead of always jumping to the wrong conclusions. I. If there were serious riots going on every single night for 50 days we all would have been hearing about it over and over again. 2. Both a mayor and governor have not expressed outrage or alarm because there hasn’t been anything significant to be alarmed about. Neither one wants to see violence or destruction of a city or town and they would be speaking out against it if that was happening. Even PPD has said the situation has been manageable. 3. BLM is about addressing systemic racism and have been assembling peacefully to express their grievances, not to tear down a local or federal government. 4. Most businesses are open, some have boarded up windows as a precautionary measure. 5. The federal government was not asked to send assistance, which right there should tell you it is not the issue Trump is making it out to be. Instead we’re seeing actual footage of violence against unarmed demonstrators who have their hand up committed by militarized police. Trump is running a law and order campaign. He’s planning to send Border Patrol and FPS to Albuquerque. There isn’t anything happening in Albuquerque. So you’re willing to trade your Democracy in for an oppressive fascist regime because you “think/believe” (but don’t know for a fact) people are doing things alleged by a pathological liar. That’s far worse than a few broken windows and some graffiti.
If you only watch CNN and read the Oregonian, you can be ignorant all you want. How do peaceful protests cause $40 million in damages and the damages to federal buildings is considerable. The fact it doesn’t reach the $500 million Minneapolis wants from the feds doesn’t mean it isn’t a lot of money and mostly coming from private citizens who pay taxes and expect police to respond when called. Not to be told by the governor and mayor to stand off and let them loot and damage. And your last sentence is absolutely without question the dumbest I’ve ever read. Did broken windows and graffiti cause the damage reported by the Oregonian?
WOW
No idea where you get your info. It doesn’t square with info from family on the ground.
The FUDmeisters have been busy
I got my information from oregonlive.com which clearly is not a conservative organization. What is a FUDmeister? You.
FUD
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt
Sown to upset a populace and make them pliable to messages they would likely reject otherwise
Another way to look at it– a story repeated often enough becomes truth, even if it’s a whopper of a lie.
You should probably take your own advice. Maybe make a trip up to Portland and see for yourself the incredible amount of damage. At the very least…do a simple Google search and then click on “images” and see all the photos.
The area in Portland is about 2 blocks by 3 blocks. (Portland blocks are 20 to a mile).
The monetary citations, the boarded up building claims, are hype to stir a crowd. If Portland were a dog, this area would be a wart on a flea’s rump.
Hopefully, those in power in Portland will be charged with aiding and abetting the destruction of government property and and will be formally charged.
ALL LIVES MATTER!
If you need to add a color, then at a minimum, you are a segregationist.
I’d like to hear about segregation from your personal experience, and then I’ll share mine. You know, just to see if we know what we’re talking about.
Hey Bill!
You are right! All lives do matter! But, all lives can’t matter until all lives can live the same without worry or fear. And, right now, Black lives don’t matter to 99% of the police and the people who are suppose to be protecting them. I found a good image to easily explain whats happening: https://chainsawsuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/20160707_allhousesredux.png. Its a simple cartoon drawing, but it shows how narrow minded people like you really are towards whats going on.
Well, your cartoon would make sense if you didn’t have people burning down their own houses- You know, like resisting arrest.
You are going to have racism until ALL groups are treated equal.
As long as one group has ANY perceived advantage over another group, you are going to have an unhappy group. Kind of like women being upset because they don’t have urinals in their restrooms. There are going to be some that think there is an “unfairness”, even if it’s stupid.
That’s just the way it is.
Well a lot exposed but at least…
At least Bessie didn’t close down the downtown library just yet. Ugh.
These people….