17 Comments
User's avatar
Brian Owendoff's avatar

Here is my testimony. Was told “we know where you live”. Those that have to censor and threaten violence means your viewpoints are WEAK and cannot stand up to scrutiny!

Good afternoon, my name is Brian Owendoff, and I live and work in District 4.

I am here today to express deep concern about the City of Portland’s inconsistent enforcement of noise ordinances and riot laws—specifically in relation to the 30 consecutive nights of unlawful gatherings and violent activity outside the ICE facility on South Macadam Avenue.

I strongly support the right to peaceful protest. But when demonstrations cross the line into harassment, violence, and the disruption of neighborhoods, the city has a duty to intervene—consistently and lawfully.

Over 500 residents live within a three-block radius of this federal facility. For weeks, these neighbors—many of whom are low-income renters, veterans, and individuals struggling with PTSD—have endured unrelenting noise that violates city ordinances nightly from sundown until 2:00 AM. This is not a free speech or First Amendment issue; this is a public safety and quality-of-life crisis.

The city has no role in federal immigration policy, and yet Portlanders are suffering as if it does. The police have been constrained from enforcing basic ordinances and laws due to political pressure and a one-sided interpretation of the DOJ settlement agreement. Meanwhile, federal law enforcement officers, governed by a different set of rules, are left to handle the fallout.

It is particularly disturbing that extremist groups—self-identified members of Antifa and the Democratic Socialists of America—are engaging in dangerous behavior including doxxing unionized federal employees and the property owner by releasing private home addresses and phone numbers and encouraging violence.

22 people have been arrested for actions from antifa throwing a machete at an ICE officer to Riley Freeman who was charged with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and possession of an unregistered destructive device (a BOMB).

Antifa are the violent aggressors and when they are arrested for clearly felonious actions they play the victim?

These are tactics consistent with domestic terrorism, and yet there has been no meaningful municipal response.

When ICE closes its Portland office, the folks hurt the most will be those immigrants legally pursuing their citizenship that will now have to go to Tacoma for processing. There are excellent articles by Street Rootsand Portland Mercuryhighlighting the harm a closure will cause to the immigrant community to shut down the Waterfront facility.

Once again, Antifa’s violent and illegal actions harm law abiding tax paying Portlanders and businesses which continues to hurt Portland’s economy and national & international reputation.

If we only enforce laws selectively-depending on who is involved or what cause they claim to support—we undermine the very foundation of our legal system. We cannot look the other way when laws are broken, simply because the perpetrators share political alignment with certain council members.

I am calling on this City Council to take immediate action to enforce the City of Portland’s noise ordinances- particularly the emergency revisions recently passed by Councilor Dunphy, who made this a centerpiece of his campaign. The Portland Police must be allowed and required to uphold these ordinances and protect residents from ongoing harm.

Selective enforcement of the law is not justice—it is favoritism. The residents of District 4 and all of Portland deserve consistent application of city ordinances, without political interference or ambiguity.

I urge this Council to take swift action to restore order, protect vulnerable communities, and rebuild public trust in our institutions.

We either enforce the laws equally, or we admit we are no longer governed by law.

Thank you.

Expand full comment
Max Steele's avatar

Thanks Brian.

Anyone who wants to hear Brian's testimony and the audible reaction from the crowd can click on his name in the piece. It takes you directly to the timestamp.

Expand full comment
Alex's avatar

Well said. It is dismaying how normalized "we just won't pay attention to laws that we don't like" is becoming on the radical left, and how easy it is for them to get away with it.

Expand full comment
Douglas Levene's avatar

Thank you, Max, for an enlightening report. I moved to Portland in 2019 after a few years of visiting my kids here, and I still can’t get over how much damage (physical, economic and psychological) the 2020 riots did to the city and can’t believe that the same idiots are trying for a rerun.

Expand full comment
sillyflippy's avatar

I was at this city council meeting. It was a parade of freaks and liars. Councilor Mitch Green was also in attendance, sitting with DSA. He knows where his bread is buttered.

Expand full comment
M Harley's avatar

“The civil war never ended” that’s news to me lol.

I don’t think the activists realize that being so extreme, not only do they take focus away from the immigrants, but they run the risk of polarizing the city against them

Expand full comment
Alex's avatar

The cognitive dissonance of a group of people arguing that they shouldn't have to comply with federal law/agents because they are in conflict with local values invoking the US Civil War is truly astounding.

Expand full comment
Ciatta Thompson's avatar

Shhhh. Don't tell them.

Expand full comment
Monica Cory's avatar

These people are just on a hamster wheel of emotion--freaking out without logic. Thank you for providing it. I pray daily that our pitiful councilors get smart fast. They tolerate the know-nothing reactionaries instead of saying, yeah, we hear you, so now go home and let us set a policy and work a plan because your noise and destruction are a costly distraction. You know, cause and effect. And please, media, stop saying "peaceful" protests. Obviously residents and taxpayers don't see it that way.

Ever wonder if cartels are funding protestors?

Expand full comment
Ciatta Thompson's avatar

These rioters are self funded.

Expand full comment
Max Steele's avatar

They really are. It's surprising what a Cash App tag on an Instagram post will raise if it's for "smashing the fash/state/man/corporation/patriarchy."

Expand full comment
Ciatta Thompson's avatar

Thanks for the quote Max. It's so upsetting hearing these little crazies talk about fascist this or that. They literally have no idea. But it's very satisfying because they continue to expose their psychopathy to the normies. Zimmerman needed to be hardnose with the rioters. Cut it out or PPB will arrest you. He'll be called fascist regardless. I fully believe Morillo is grooming Novick. He's lost. While I think it's fair to advise people to stay away from ICE chaos I do believe it's important for normal Portlanders to band together to counter protest against DSA/Antifa. For far too long residents have stayed quiet.

Expand full comment
Michael Constan's avatar

Are you sure it's not the Committee of Public Safety? https://worldhistoryedu.com/committee-of-public-safety/

Expand full comment
Max Steele's avatar

It was right there in front of me. 🤦‍♂️

Chef's kiss.

Expand full comment
Mosby Woods's avatar

Thank you, Max. Another great, if disturbing, article. I recall an interview with Ted Wheeler in which he was asked about his role in Portland’s descent into crime and chaos, specifically his early support for withdrawing the PPB from cooperation with the federal defense of the Hatfield building. He cited the will of the protesters in the streets—a few thousand at the time—as representative of the will of Portlanders. Was it?

Sadly, peace did not follow. Instead, the city faced a cascade of unintended consequences. The siege of the Hatfield courthouse reminded me, at the time, of Fort Sumter in miniature.

Now we see the rise of 21st-century sanctuary cities, which in some ways echo 19th-century Southern nullification. A key legal difference lies in whether local governments cross the line into active interference.

What is the will of Portlanders now? My sense is that wild hatred of ICE has replaced Ukraine and COVID fear as the required good person metric. Still, the city’s shocking decline has shifted priorities—peace and order seem to carry more weight, a lurking reality check. But the activists, as you’ve described them, wield disproportionate influence on the Council, but appear unwilling to settle for anything short of revolution, hell and ruin.

Expand full comment
Max Steele's avatar

I (and I think many of us) view the 2017-2021 period as the worst years of Portland's recent history. A slow slide toward disfunction and then almost total financial collapse.

The activists view it as a taste of victory: a Portland so much closer to their vision of ideal. Almost no police. Almost no laws. Mutual Aid replacing core government functions. Corporations leaving and nonprofits "flourishing." Anarcho-communism was within reach (or felt that way). They were soaring.

Then the money started to run out and they are now unwilling to come back to reality and realize it was inevitable. You can't just fire up a socialist utopia, period, but especially not in the middle of a country that is not socialist. You cannot simply "tax the rich" and "pay for everything."

Now they fight to wrestle us back to 2020 as the city slides back into normalcy. They can still do so much damage as they kick and scream. Reality is reasserting itself and we still have a bit of a choice about how rough this landing will be as it comes up to meet us.

Four more years of Trump put gas back in their tank. I think the death blow might be Mamdani crashing and burning in NYC. If that happens we will need to capitalize on the momentum to sweep all of them out of power in 2026 and 2028.

Expand full comment
Richard Cheverton's avatar

These clowns are acting exactly the way the new city charter was designed. The 25-percenters don't give a damn about the majority--they'll live or die on the partisan, minority-disciplined, get-out-the-voters. Everyone else is sheep waiting to be shorn.

Expand full comment