May 28th, 2015

FEATURING:

Five Quadrants of Portland producer Joe Fischer interviewing the Oregonian's City Hall reporter Andrew Theen about the decade-long debate around disconnecting the Mt. Tabor Park open reservoirs.  Having served as Portland's drinking water source and a beloved historic site for many years, the city now plans to disconnect the reservoirs to comply with a rule enacted by the EPA in 2006 that effectively banned open reservoirs, in an attempt to lower risk of contamination.  Passionate local water activists argue the city hasn't tried hard enough to fight the federal mandate.  The Historic Landmark Commission unanimously approved a disconnection plan in February, which is being appealed by both the Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association and the Portland Water Bureau.  The appeals hearing took place this afternoon in City Council, and efforts to restrict the number of people allowed inside in connection to an activist-shutdown of a recent council meeting on water issues were sharply criticized by activists as a suppression of their first amendment rights.

AND:

Dennis Rosenbaum and Amy Watson of Rosenbaum & Watson LLC, the city-contracted team tasked with overseeing Portland's compliance with federally mandated police reforms.  The Compliance Officer/Community Liaison or COCL position was established after the Department of Justice found that the Portland Police Bureau engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force against people with actual or perceived mental illness or people in mental health crisis and mandated sweeping reforms.  The Chicago-based COCL team will release quarterly reports tracking reform progress, and this month have released their first quarterly report, nearly 100 pages long.  The report comes in the wake of the withdrawal of former Oregon Chief Justice Paul Demuniz as the team's locally-tied member.  Mr. Rosenbaum and Ms. Watson are in Portland for a public meeting tonight to answer questions about their report, as well as introduce Demuniz's new replacement, longtime community advocate Kathleen Saadat.