Portland Business Alliance Pulls Ads From Street Roots

The Portland Business Alliance and Street Roots, which became a PBA member in June despite the newspaper's disagreements with the alliance over Portland Police policy downtown, have hit a bump in the road.

Israel Bayer writes on Street Roots' blog that the PBA is upset with the newspaper over an Aug. 21 editorial called "Monsters and Men! Right here in River City!"

It begins:

It's hard to tell fact from fiction in downtown Portland these days. The police and business community have outdone themselves with a public relations ploy that aims to make our city seem more like a zoo than a healthy downtown feeling the repercussions of an unforgiving recession — all because of a sidewalk ordinance.

Bayer says the editorial was meant to be a critique of the media and Portland Police. (The whole piece is available at the link above.)

But the PBA "felt uncomfortable" with the editorial, says Megan Doern, a spokeswoman. She said the editorial accused the business community of "manufacturing" a problem. And as a result, the PBA decided to pull its ads from the newspaper -- for at least the next few weeks.

The PBA was not paying for the ads; they were part of a year-long trade agreement that doesn't expire until mid-2010. Doern says Street Roots is still a PBA member.

Bayer is disappointed anyway. "We're not able to always agree," Bayer says. But there are still a number of positive things Street Roots can do with PBA, he says. Doern also says she expects the business alliance to continue working with Street Roots. For now, however, there will be no ads.