More Protests—Expect Traffic Delays

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

GoLocalPDX News Team

It is not a protest about President-Elect Donald Trump, this one is about a pipeline, but Portland should expect more traffic delays, according to police.

Two protests scheduled for Tuesday afternoon may affect traffic in Downtown Portland and the Lloyd District. The protests are part of a "national day of action" against the North Dakota Pipeline (#NoDAPL).

At 4:00 p.m., protests and rallies are scheduled outside Army Corps of Engineers buildings, located at 333 Southwest 1st Avenue in Downtown Portland and 1201 Northeast Lloyd Boulevard. The events in both Downtown Portland and the Lloyd District may affect commuters and TriMet users if participants block streets and/or affect transit lines. Protesters are reminded that stepping into the roadway and blocking transit lines is dangerous and illegal. Protesters are asked to be considerate of other people's needs to use the roadway and the transit system.

As with all demonstrations and marches, the Police Bureau's goal is to ensure a safe, secure and orderly event for community members, minimize disruptions to traffic, and to protect property.

While there is no information at this time to determine if there is intent to affect traffic, recent protests suggest that there are people that may embed themselves in large crowd an attempt to influence crowd behavior. Real-time updates will be shared by the Portland Police Bureau through the Bureau's Twitter page, @portlandpolice

It should be clear that "free speech events" do not require a permit; but, marches or demonstrations occurring in public streets that restrict movement of other community members do require a permit issued by the City of Portland to allow for the safety of all. No permits were issued for today's events.

Related Slideshow: Slideshow: Oregon’s Most Violent Cities

Five small towns in Oregon have more violent crimes per person than the city of Portland, a GoLocalPDX analysis of FBI crime data found.

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Portland

The city of Portland with a population of 598,037, had a rate of *violent crimes per capita of .5 percent. Portland topped the state for the total number of violent crimes with 3,093 including 20 murders in 2012.

*The FBI defines violent crime as murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes involve force or threat of force, according to the FBI.

Photo Credit: Ian Sane via Compfight cc (image cropped)

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# 5 Medford

Medford came in with more violent crimes per capita. There were two murders in Medford, whose population is 76,037, as opposed to 20 in the much larger city of Portland. That said, Medford had a 1.6 percent violent crime rate over five years, much higher than Portland's.

Photo Credit: By ZabMilenko at en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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# 4 Lincoln City

The coastal town of Lincoln City also had more violent crimes per capita than Portland, at a rate of 2.7 percent.

Photo Credit: By Justin Lonas [GFDL (see link here) via Wikimedia Commons

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# 3 Ontario

On the east side of the state, Ontario, with just 11,348 residents, experienced a violent crime rate per capita of 3.1 percent.

Photo Credit: banspy via Compfight cc

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# 2 Veneta

In Veneta, a small town of 4,616 just west of Eugene, the violent crime rate was 4.0 percent. The majority of the 2012 reported crimes – 20 – were for aggravated assault. Police also reported five rapes and three robberies.

Photo Credit: Tex Texin via Compfight cc

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#1 Lakeview

Lakeview, a town of just 2,313 people off highway 395 in southern Oregon, experienced 4.4 percent violent crimes per capita over a five-year period from 2008-2012, the analysis revealed.

Photo Credit: by Orygun - Own work. (see link here) Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution via Wikimedia Commons