PortlandWiki Calendar 2011 4 28
Protest Portland Rejoining the JTTF
Thursday April 28th 12:30 pm at City Hall
Later: Public Hearing 2:00 pm at City Hall
LOCATION: Outside Council Chambers
Portland City Hall
1221 SW 4th Ave
Portland, OR 97204
Portland City Hall has confirmed that City Council will be meeting Thursday April 28th at 2:00 pm to discuss and hear public comment on the resolution to rejoin the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the FBI's domestic spying program. It is also confirmed that the Council may call a vote at this meeting.
The resolution was only presented to the public this Wednesday, and the meeting on the 28th is being promoted as a public hearing to discuss the resolution. If Council votes on Thursday, then they will have only given us 8 days to consider the proposed resolution and give feedback. The Council will also not be able to integrate any of the comments or feedback from the hearing into a new draft of the resolution, and it will be apparent that the hearing is a token and not a meaningful opportunity for our community to be involved in the process.
Included in this announcement are contacts for writing City Commissioners and links to the draft resolution and an online forum the City Council is providing for feedback.
We need to flood them with our comments on why we don't want the JTTF in Portland!!
Key Points:
● We don't want the JTTF in Portland.
- Having officers assigned to work with the FBI will in no way serve the needs of our community.
● We need to pursue ways to have accountability, control and oversight when it comes to the FBI and the JTTF in our community that involves elected officials signing off on any cooperation without expanding the role of the JTTF, the FBI, or any domestic spying programs that threaten our civil liberties and our ability to monitor law enforcement activities.
● A vote at the public hearing on Thursday the 28th would be premature. How will public feedback be integrated into the resolution?
● If you are going to vote, VOTE NO.
● Rejoining the JTTF will cost the City of Portland.
- Not only do we pay for the police officers who will be working for the FBI and not the city, but we also will open ourselves up to serious financial liability when the FBI is negligent or abusing its power. This is not how we want our tax dollars being used!
● The FBI has thousands of documented abuses of civil liberties and often operates outside of the law.
● The FBI and the JTTF targets groups where there is no evidence of illegal activity.
- The groups being targeted include anti-war protesters, Palestinian rights activists, Muslims, environmental activists, animal rights activists, the house-less and ethnic minorities. This is not acceptable!
● We want a strong healthy democracy that does not punish individuals or groups for engaging in peaceful dissent.
Here are links to the draft documents: http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=346016 the most recent draft... http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=50265&a=346469
Here is the contact info for City Council Commissioners.
Please cc each commissioner in your emails and post comments directly to mailto:mayorsam@portlandoregon.gov?subject=JTTF.
All questions/comments and respones will be posted at http://www.mayorsamadams.com/jttf
- where you can also find background information on this issue being provided by the city.
Sam Adams
Mayor, Commissioner of Finance and Administration
(503) 823-4120
E-mail: Samadams@portlandoregon.gov
Amanda Fritz
Commissioner of Public Utilities, Position Number 1
(503) 823-3008
E-mail: amanda@portlandoregon.gov
Nick Fish
Commissioner of Public Works, Position Number 2
(503) 823-3589
E-mail: Nick@portlandoregon.gov
Dan Saltzman
Commissioner of Public Affairs, Position Number 3
(503) 823-4151
E-mail: dan@portlandoregon.gov
Randy Leonard
Commissioner of Public Safety, Position Number 4
(503) 823-4682
E-mail: randy@portlandoregon.gov
Contact:
Alaina Melville
Oregon Progressive Party
alaina@progparty.org
www.ProgParty.org