Read Eileen Brady's 2003 Letter to Sam Adams Following Her Exclusion from Tom McCall Waterfront Park

Eileen Brady

As WW reported in today's print edition, Portland police excluded Eileen Brady from Tom McCall Waterfront Park in June 2003 for 30 days after she ignored an officer's order that she walk her bike through Rose Festival crowds. According to the police report, Brady, who's now running for mayor, reacted angrily and tried to get the officer to back off, telling him she had three "close friends" on the city council and that she hoped that fact would influence him.

Brady has denied invoking her contacts at City Hall. The day of the incident, Brady did send a letter of complaint to Sam Adams. Adams, whose job she is now seeking, was at the time the chief of staff for then-Mayor Vera Katz.

In her letter, Brady criticizes the police officers' handling of the incident.

"I was scared and felt intimidated by these officers and am still not sure what I did to deserve the citation," she wrote.

Brady tells WW that she doesn't think Adams responded to her letter, nor did she appeal the 30-day park exclusion to a city hearings officer, as the law allows.

Here is Brady's letter (PDF) to Adams.

WWeek 2015

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