Kulongoski Slaps Down Oregon Restaurant Association
Randy Leonard
When I first took office nearly 3 years ago, I immediately began drafting an ordinance to allow the city to finally crack down on the handful of Portland liquor establishments that have no regard for their neighbors. Those businesses, best exemplified by the now closed “Fuel” in Northwest Portland, thumbed their noses at surrounding responsible businesses and neighborhood residents.
I spent over one year meeting with neighborhoods, businesses, the police and representatives of the Oregon Restaurant Association (ORA) in my effort to craft a potent but balanced tool to help Portlanders reclaim their neighborhoods from rogue bars and taverns.
The new ordinance has become more popularly known as the Time, Place and Manner (TPM) ordinance. In essence, the TPM allows the city to cause a liquor establishment to close as early as the surrounding neighborhood has documented that problems begin to occur in and around the liquor establishment.
From the beginning, the Oregon Restaurant Association worked to defeat the ordinance by lobbying other members of the council. After it passed in 2004, they unsuccessfully challenged the TPM ordinance in court.
At the beginning of the legislative session this year, the ORA introduced legislation to overturn the TPM ordinance. During the session, I met with individual legislators to explain how important the TPM was to Portland neighborhoods. I also testified, along with neighborhood leaders, before several legislative committees in the hopes of defeating the ORA’s attempt to thwart Portland’s effort to take control of alcohol-fueled shootings, fights and near-riot conditions in some areas of the city
Shockingly, the ORA indeed had the muscle to overcome our best efforts to defeat this very self-serving legislation. In the final hours of the legislative session, both the Senate and the House adopted HB 2056 which nullified, among other special interest provisions, Portland’s TPM ordinance.
I met with Governor Kulongoski last week to ask him to veto HB 2056. He listened intently as I made the case for our TPM ordinance.
I told the Governor that the only testimony for overturning Portland’s ordinance was from the ORA. On the other hand, neighborhood leaders, on their own time and at their own expense, made many trips to Salem to testify against repealing the TPM. The Governor focused on that point. He indicated that the only reason he could see that the legislature would have passed HB 2056 was to satisfy the ORA. I told him that I could not agree more.
Today Governor Kulongoski called me to inform me that he would indeed be vetoing HB 2056, thus allowing Portland to continue to use our TPM ordinance.
I have been a long and consistent supporter of Governor Kulongoski. Today gave me one more reason why.
On behalf of all Portlanders, thank you Governor!
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Aug 24, '05
Randy-
With all due respect, after a legislative session where his lottery recommendation was essentially overruled by the ORA, he failed to get Aucoin through the Senate, he bowed to pressure by the pro-measure 37 people, chose to fight the meth problem solely by requiring prescriptions for decongestants (and this is just off the top of my head), and has spent most of his time trying to lure Hollywood to Oregon, this bone thrown to Pdx hardly merits praise for Gov. Kulongoski.
You do get props for your stance on the So. Waterfront tax abatement issue, though.
Aug 24, '05
Yes, Randy, the So. Waterefront schemes must stop. Your leadership in this regard is outstanding. Additional exploration into the PDC and past use of this program is also a must. The real numbers and cost of many of the subsidized units will likely be in excess of other better alternatives to bring about more housing units for more people. I think is will be shown that there has been a total absence of tracking costs. This must stop. Thank you Comissioner Leonard.
Aug 24, '05
Doug, about this comment : he failed to get Aucoin through the Senate
please be advised that there are those who think the dumbest thing Kulongoski has done this year is the AuCoin nomination. And the most amazing thing that happened this year was the LARGE coalition (Ferrioli on the right all the way over to the Green Party member who posted AuCoin's forestry issue record on Counterpunch) which, in the words of my friend who works for a Democratic state rep. "allowed AuCoin to slash and burn himself".
Anyone stupid enough to send out a nasty email in a confirmation process where there wasn't really a vote to spare and then misspell the name of a major Senate Democrat did not deserve to be confirmed for anything.
11:50 a.m.
Aug 24, '05
OK, folks, back on topic. This post is about the Time, Place, & Manner ordinance. Talk about the upcoming gubernatorial election on the appropriate posts - and there are plenty of them.
12:44 p.m.
Aug 24, '05
Thanks, Commissioner Leonard, for all your work on TPM.
It's not a sexy political issue, but it means a lot to people who are just trying to live their lives in their neighborhoods.
Aug 24, '05
Thank you, Doretta.
Aug 24, '05
Ok. If this is an important issue -- why isnt the removal of things like the Porn shop at the corner of Ockley Green Middle School in North Portland not an important issue? And if anyone refers to Oregon's Liberal Civil Liberty laws -- I'd ask how the right to sleep at a decent hour qualifies)
Aug 24, '05
Excuse poor grammar in above comment. My point is that there is a "Time, Place and Manner" for such establishments as the Adult Stores -- and directly across the street from a school isnt among them.
4:13 p.m.
Aug 24, '05
Thanks to the Governor, Mayor Potter and Commissioner Leonard for their leadership on this issue. It is important to the quality of life in our city, and may even save a few lives. The House and Senate were clearly "Legislating Under the Influence" and should have their legislative licenses suspended.
And for my two cents, Les AuCoin was a GREAT Congressman and would have served the state well if he had been given the chance.
Aug 24, '05
Speaking as someone who was disillusioned enough in 1992 to want to take back all the times I had defended the 1st District Congressman from critics, with regard to this comment, And for my two cents, Les AuCoin was a GREAT Congressman and would have served the state well if he had been given the chance. I would agree with it from his election up through 1991.
But as I tell people now to explain why some still have such strong feelings, that 1992 primary was "Swift Boat nasty".
Or perhaps it was misjudgement by his campaign manager? That would be Mary Beth Cahill, who ran the 2004 Kerry campaign.
And then there is the issue of AuCoin having taken positions over the years on both sides of timber/ forest issues. And the question of what was wrong with the person in that job. I know this has been discussed elsewhere, but those who are fans of AuCoin should realize that just as Al French and the Swifties may be recalled with disdain in future decades, and just as people are still talking about other attack ads of the past (incl. those by Bill Witt being discussed when he ran against Charlie Ringo), public figures are responsible for their public actions. That includes AuCoin.
Aug 25, '05
I just wanna know one thing, Randy.
When is "Dottie's" officially changing it's name to "Dotti's Dumpy Casino and Gambling Emporium"?
Dottie's is just Las Vegas West w/o the girls and the glass chandeliers!
What a scam.
Aug 27, '05
Thanks, Commissioner Leonard. Oregon needs more leaders willing to stand up to powerful groups like the ORA who are more interested in their own bottom line than everyone else's safety and quality of life.
Aug 29, '05
The fact that you won against the ORA is quite amazing, their power in Salem is simply astounding. Congradulations! And thanks.
The ORA don't always win provisions they request, like this slap are PDX, or a lowered minimum wage for tip earners, but they do seem able to kill most bills others bring forward and they oppose.
Any chance that the blue restaurant owners could be enticed to establish a counter organization? I hear that of all our favorite restaurants, only the owner of Ken's Place stood up for restaurant workers against the ORA and NFIB when they wanted to minimum wage cut this session. Anyone what to help ask restaurant owners to form up?
Aug 31, '05
Thanks to Commissioner Leonard and the Governor for upholding the TPM. I didn't even know it existed until the bar across the street from my apartment building in inner-southeast decided to install outdoor tables on the sidewalk. Constant sorority giggling and frat-boy arm-wrestling exclamations of "over the top! over the top!" kept me up well past 2am. Calls to the bar went unanswered, but after dealing with the lady in charge of the TPM ordinance and the tables are gone. The bar has even put up little signs asking patrons to respect the neighbors.
Aug 31, '05
You have given an excellent example, Oregone, of how the Time, Place and Manner ordinance is intended to cause misbehaving liquor establishments to respect their surrounding neighbors AND businesses.
Thank you for sharing your experience.