https://x.com/KatieDaviscourt/status/1948852312166068618

“My heart goes out to you…,” Judge Rosenblum told Elvengrail, not once but twice. “This has to stop. You need to be able to sleep.”

But the judge wouldn’t help her.

“The duties of police always include discretionary acts on their part…,” Rosenblum said, adding that she might not have agreed with all the decisions made by the police command staff who testified during two days of testimony.

“Could they have done a better job? Absolutely,” the judge said, even suggesting that Portland police should have used more discretion in assisting Elvengrail.

Smiling and speaking in a soothing voice, Rosenblum thanked the woman for being “amazingly stoical.” She praised Evengrail’s attorneys — Julie Parrish and Thomas R. Rask — for their superior job.

In a peculiar flashback, Judge Rosenblum sounded like she was revisiting one of her old stump speeches when she ran successfully for state Attorney General.

“Seniors and kids were who I looked out for most of my last term,” she said.

Elvengrail is neither a kid nor a senior.

She lives alone in a less than 700-square foot apartment on the fourth floor of Gray’s Landing, located diagonally across from the ICE facility. For the past few months, protesters — including Antifa (some dressed in traditional black bloc, as well as trans), anarchists, communists, Trump haters and illegal immigrant sympathizers — have posted themselves near the facility, day and night, to object to the presence of ICE. (See “Tear Gas Ahead.”)

Because Portland is a “sanctuary city,” and Oregon is a “sanctuary state,” Mayor Keith Wilson and the Portland City Council don’t want local police defending ICE. Some Portland City Council members have made comments in support of the protesters. The feds are on their own.

So are Elvengrail and her neighbors. When they call police to report fighting in the streets, bullhorn speeches, noise amplifiers and fireworks in violation of the city’s noise ordinance — which runs from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. — nothing happens. No response. The disturbances go on. If they erupt into physical clashes with ICE officers and tear-gas is deployed, the chemicals seep into residents’ apartments.

Elvengrail sued.

Portland is famous for its tolerance of riotous behavior. Local politicians typically cite the First Amendment’s free speech protections in allowing protesters wide leeway. Elvengrail’s attorneys noted there is a reasonable time, place and manner to exercise free speech. Protesters outside ICE have been given illegal free rein when they venture onto city streets.

“Protesters are also regularly using sound amplification devices, akin to a long-range acoustic device, to weaponize against the ICE facility noise that cannot be reasonably construed as any speech activity, let alone protected speech activity, and at all hours of the day and night, when such activity would be otherwise governed by Noise Laws.”

Some of the sounds mimic air raids. On one occasion, a piercing and pervasive sound caused bleeding in Elvengrail’s ear. She called Portland Police Bureau’s 911 line a half dozen times. No officer arrived.

Elvengrail went out to confront the protestors herself.

“PPB never arrived to diffuse the situation at that time or issue citations or make arrests for Noise Law violations,” her attorneys wrote.

She has made more than a dozen calls seeking relief for noise violations. On one occasion, a dispatcher on the non-emergency line advised her to leave her home.

By comparison, since June 27 of this year, Portland Police Bureau has received dozens of calls related to noise disturbances by citizens in other parts of Portland, and police have responded to investigate.

As a result, Elvengrail asserted that by protecting the rights of ICE protesters to violate the noise ordinance, police and the mayor are engaged in viewpoint discrimination against her. (In Matal v. Tam, the Supreme Court said viewpoint discrimination occurs when the government restricts speech based on the views or opinions expressed, which is a violation of the First Amendment.)

Even Portland City Councilor Steve Novick’s dog Barney rates higher concern than Elvengrail.

Her lawsuit noted that on July 2, 2025 Novick held a press conference urging people to comply with the Fireworks Ban. He told a story about how the noise terrifies his dog, causing him to try and dig a hole in the wall to escape.

“I spend six hours every year doing nothing but holding my dog trying to keep him from tearing a hole in the wall,” Novick said.

Compared to his six hours of annual torment, “(Elvengrail) has been living trapped in a war zone that the City has ignored … and wonders why the City Council has not acted to protect low-income residents living across from the ICE facility the way they have chosen to protect animals… .”

Elvengrail’s suit wasn’t successful, but two days of testimony revealed the depth of politicization that has forced Portland police into a corner. Are they now in bed with Antifa? Certainly not. Antifa protesters would kick them out.

But are Portland police ignoring not only the noise ordinance but crimes such as disorderly conduct, unlawful directing of laser lights into people’s eyes, aggravated harassment, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and unlawful applying of graffiti?

https://open.substack.com/pub/portlanddissent/p/a-win-for-protesters?r=4t5cs3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false