Oregon Public Broadcasting

Members of Occupy Portland sought an apology Tuesday from Mayor Sam Adams for ejecting its members from two downtown parks. 

Kayla Anchell / OPB

Mayor Sam Adams is standing firm on his decision to get the movement out of the parks.  But in a discussion on OPB’s Think Out Loud today with Occupy Portland members, he urged the movement to evolve to  its next incarnation.

About an hour after movement's liasons told the Mayor to apologize, another Occupy member, Jimmy Tardy, took it a step further, confronting Adams on OPB's Think Out Loud.

"Mr. Mayor, I would like to suggest that you step down as Mayor," Tardy said.

Adams didn’t respond directly to that suggestion. But he did take on claims that the city had rolled over constitutional rights to free speech.

"I used a lot of discretion in this situation - more than other cities across the country," Adams claimed.

Their dispute came on the same day the New York State Supreme Court ruled to uphold a camping ban used to force Occupy Wall Street Protesters out of a New York City Park overnight. 

Kayla Anchell / OPB

New York officials made clear that when protesters returned, they should not bring camping gear. The court agreed, saying protesters had not demonstrated a First Amendment right to protest with tents, structures, and generators.

After staking out their positions on legal precedent for Portland's encampment, Adams and Tardy had a conversation about which way Occupy Portland should turn next. Adams talked about his own background, and his sympathy for the ideals of the movement.

"I'm just speaking as someone who got into government to make it work better, and came from a hard-scrabble family and believed that government has an important role to play for the vulnerable and I think the initial approach has had huge success. I just think it needs to evolve," Adams said.

 "What would that evolution look like?" Tardy asked.

Adams replied, "I think among other things, focus. And I think the Occupy movement agrees and you are working on that.  And I think  focus on some key national issues that can come from these grass roots efforts around the nation. Being able to advocate, for example, to the federal delegation, with the smarts and the passion that the Occupy movement has ample amounts of. That can be very effective."

Adams stopped short of suggesting what should be on the movement's priority list, but he says, it must develop a few clear goals.

It's hard to say if Occupy Portland will adopt Adams advice.  Occupy's Ilona Trogub suggested there was value in the encampment's disruption of downtown business as usual.

"You have to understand what we're doing is an extremely heavy process. It's going to take some stepping aside from people who don't have the energy to be in the movement but who need to be supporting it. People need to be uncomfortable with what's going on outside their houses first, and we are bringing attention to that," Trogub said.

Another Occupy volunteer, Bob Kelly, invited Mayor Sam Adams to take a step toward the movement.

"I know you're working within the system and that's great. The system's broken. Come down and join us. Don't come down as the Mayor, come as a citizen.  Join a commitee, do some heavy lifting with us, help lead from within,” Kelly challenged.

"Yeah, I want to participate, and I want to be supportive as a citizen. I'll look for those opportunities that work, that are useful for the movement and that work for me and everything else I’m balancing," Adams replied.

Adams acknowledged people were angry with him for decisions he made over the weekend. But he says he believes there is an evolution going on in the Occupy movement, and that Occupy Portland still holds a great deal of promise to foster change at all levels of government.

Tuesday night, Occupy Portland moves into a new phase. Instead of the movement's mass general assembly, a Spokes Council  made up of designees from various committees will convene, to try and figure out Occupy's next steps.