New late-night ban on vehicles starts in Old Town
PORTLAND, Ore. - Some streets in Old Town will close to traffic Friday night as part of the new Entertainment District designed to reduce traffic congestion during the busy nightlife hours.
The E-District, as it's called, covers Northwest Couch and Davis (between 2nd and 4th Avenues) and Northwest Third (between Everett and Burnside).
The streets will close from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and major holidays. If you park there during those hours, you could get towed.
Also, the streets and sidewalks will be for pedestrians only - no bikes allowed. There is an exception to the rules - taxi cabs, limousines and pedi-cabs will have a designated area to pick up passengers.
So why is the city doing this?
The sidewalks in the area often become crowded on Friday and Saturday nights as folks enjoying a night out on the town overflow on to the streets. Add vehicles to the mix and it can be a recipe for danger. Also, according to Mayor Sam Adams, it's the place where police are called to most on the weekends.
"Some weekend nights, especially towards nicer weather, we have 10,000 to 20,000 people going from bar to bar, night club to night club," Sgt. Pete Simpson with the Portland Police Bureau said. "So by preventing vehicle traffic, we eliminate the chance of pedestrian and vehicle-related conflicts."
The street closures would extend the sidewalks quite a bit and give everyone a little breathing room. Right now, when the clubs and bars in the area get packed and there are long lines of people waiting to get in, it can be hard for folks to get through.
Police will have a special detail in Old Town Friday night to make sure the new E-District gets off to a good start.
The closures will be in place through April 1. The city will then re-evaluate the plan with businesses and people who live in the area to see if it is working.
Lets ban vehicles in downtown. Yeah that'll do it. Just turn it over to the bicyclists and watch the city really go down the toilet.
Oh I see, because people are too drunk and stupid to stay out of the street we just make cars illegal! Â BRILLIANT!!!!
So why is the city doing this? Â To get more money.Â
So the HOUSED PEOPLE can DRINK & DRINK & DRINK & DRINK all they want in the "E" District 's Bars, but if a homeless person has a beer outside by his tent/camp he's a "STREET-GUTTER ALCOHOLIC".....
 @August100 Yeah that's how it is when you're a contributing member to society.. The folks going to the bars can't drink in public either...Â
Are jet-skis allowed?Â
OH BOY!! This is going to go over like the proverbial fart in a space-suit. The city has this whole thing all wrong and wants PPB to be the 'straw-man' in all this in case anything goes wrong they will have some other agency to blame...Â
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 @boomer You're in desperate need of the facts and an education.. .
@boomer Really? You want to comment like this? Because of gays, of all things to target, you target gays?
So, a new 'Entertainment District' is what they want to call Old town? Really? It's a no brainer that you do not go into downtown Portland after dark.
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But, on a much more important matter, has anyone noticed that the price of gas is starting to creep back up?
many other big cities do this in their entertainment district and have done so for years. I live in Austin TX and they have been closing the 6th Street entertainment district for years.....and its not been a problem for anyone. Actually the few times that I do go down there, it makes it alot easier to get around by turning the street into one big promenade where you don't have to worry about cars hitting you when trying to cross the street, etc. Putting a ban on vehicles does not mean that absolutely no vehicles will be allowed....i.e. emergency vehicles and other authorized vehicles that are for essential services can still get in.Â
 @Keith "where you don't have to worry about cars hitting you when trying to cross the street"
We already have spots where you don't have to worry about cars hitting you when trying to cross the street......they are called Cross Walks.....they even have signs that turn green when it is "safe"
 @Keith you can stay right where you are thank you
 @Keith Austin, eh? You must be part of the Obama liberal elite.
Oh the bridge and tunnel crowd from the Couv is going to be very upset. Don't need that trash anyway.
I wonder how many KATU commenters actually live in downtown/inner Portland.
 @teejayvanslyke Only the 99 % ers live in Portland , The rest of us have learned to avoid the cesspool like the plague. we have learned that stepping over human feces and bums is does not fit our lifestyle.
Ya, and you're a 1 %er ?? Ya right !
 @Civ Exactly. Stop complaining about policy which doesn't concern you.
How about that they just shut down the Downtown district at 9 PM? Close down the remainder of Portland at 10 PMÂ to vehicles and establish Marshall law from Midnight to 6 AM with a mandatory three day jail term for anyone other than Law Enforcement during that period? Anyone caught in violation of the curfew would receive automatic life sentences to the FEMA Work Camps.
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After all, it is an Obamanation that we have in effect, isn't it?
 @Mack Rhoades I bet you don't live in Portland.
 @teejayvanslyke Nope...would not live or work in Portland.... might be willing to set off a Nuke down there if asked.... or just pave over the whole place, after all it is where the sewers dump out... gotta keep it too weird & gay downtown.
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 @Mack Rhoades  @teejayvanslyke Set off a nuke? I know a Somalian I can hook you up with.
so i guess people in motorized wheelchairs will have to stay out of the area from 10 to 2am or bring their manual one. i saw no exemption for them in their pdf draft. You do know you can get a dui for driving a motorized wheel chair don't you. looks like special taxi and limo  and pedicab zones for pickup and drop off will be allowed in the zone.
 @32jim2 Driving a motorized wheelchair doesn't give you an excuse to be a drunken fool though.
@32jim2 Actualy you can get a dui on a bicycle. I know (knew)a guy that got one a couple weeks before he got drunk and swerved into traffic and was killed.Bummer:{
 @iamtroglodite  @32jim2 I am almost positive that would never happen in Portland, Bikelodites are worshiped and above the law in Portland.  Not t
@Civ @32jim2 your probably right. This was in Salem.Wish they had taken his bicycle away. Might still be alive.
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I like your "avitar" if that is still what they call it. Good looking dog!
Note they are only doing it in the winter until april 1st to keep the people safe from the bad people who would be out in the summer time. it safer when its cold and wet out.
That sure does eliminate a lot of parking...I wonder what kind of affect this will have on the businesses in that area? People might just avoid it at all costs now.
 @mikeyb123 *effect
What I find funny is working in the telecommunications field and having worked in that area at 9 - 2 or 3 am. Those who have to service cell sites will not be able to do so. Also couple that with the fact that with cellphone sites have what we call E911 Which is what allows all of us to actually call 911 from our cellphones and give the police the ability to see where we are within feet so that they can find us if we are in trouble. They will be unserviceable because we need our work vehicles in order to do so.  This affects a much bigger picture then just not having cars on the road.Â
 @NewsinÂ
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I bet there are backups.
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Besides, does BOEC even know how to use Enhanced 911? I have heard "great" things form their CAD ROFLMAO.
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 @Newsin if you have to get into that area as part of your job, I'm pretty sure they're not going to tell you that you can't go in there. If circumstances dictate that for reasons such as what you have listed require you to get in, then you'll be able to get in. They won't be forbidding anyone and everyone from bringing a vehicle in there - it's called an access permit and there will be a process to obtain one I'm pretty sure.....quit trying to make it sound bad when it's not
 @Newsin Shouldn't be that hard. Considering I've snowshoe'd sweep gear, tools, rigging, and my harness 1/2 a mile once at Abernathy Peak, walking a few blocks with the same shouldn't be that big of a deal. I do it all the time when doing service on rooftop sites anyway and my guess is there's going to be exceptions made to service/emergency vehicles.
Well good, King Sam got another useless law enacted before he left office. Such a gracious king he has been.Â
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..is it January yet?
This will of course be a cluster.
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As people block all the streets nearby to park, get in and out of cars and try and navigate the now closed areas (that are all through streets normally).
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Of course there will be gangs of people now who can gather together and without the barriers keeping them in small groups will feel even more empowered. Thus more fighting additional violence and then police won't be able to get their with patrol cars so they will feel even MORE empowered.
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Finally there will be the fact that it won't actually solve any of the issues the businesses have. People will crowd near entrances for the safety and shelter of building, awnings from the elements (natural and man made). People still won't be able to get into or out of these establishments and thus see point two.
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It's a good thing i decided decades ago that it was unnecessary, expensive, too much trouble and too little fun to bother with the "night life" downtown. For all I care the entirety of the central city can burn to the ground.
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This area is now called the entertainment district, where you can show up in your limo, dance your booty off, get a lapdance, and then go home and vomit after getting in a fight with some random hipster who almost hit you with their bike.
 @portlandborn83 No, the new ordinance still allows you to vomit and get into fights. Only now, you can do both in the streets instead of being restricted to the sidewalks!Â
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Wooo-Hoooo!
 @MarkKpic  @portlandborn83 YES!
This is ridiculous! What happens when people not in complete (if at all) wander (or stagger) outside of the restricted area? I can't wait for the new year to be rid of Sam Adams and his idiotic ideas!
isnt this bum town??
They only mention cars. May I drive on through with my pick-up?
My plain side is concerned. My frosted side, curious.
 @Lips Message received and will forward on. Thanks Lips!
But bicycles aren't banned? Ever get hit by one of these two-wheeled assault bikes on the sidewalks? Of course, bicyclists never ever operate under the influence of any substances! LOLÂ
 @jpk When was the last time someone was killed by a drunk cyclist in Portland?
I don't know, but does there have to be one at all? I do know of a lot of near misses by the enlightened, ennobled and enfranchised pedallers who apparently have God on their side!
 @jpk I'm sure injuries are possible, but bicycles are simply a lot less lethal than most motor-vehicles as far as getting hit by one goes. Someone riding a bike under the influence is still less dangerous than someone driving under the influence. Â
 @jpk Bikes are banned too. "Also, the streets and sidewalks will be for pedestrians only - no bikes allowed."