NEWSBUZZ: ZONING IN

In the next few months, the City Council will consider whether to label a
large chunk of residential North and Northeast Portland a drug-free zone.

Such zones aren't new--Portland already has four. What makes this zone
different from the rest is its sweeping scope.

While the four existing zones each have a narrow geographic focus, the
proposed zone includes parts of 13 neighborhoods, their characteristics
ranging from open-air crack markets to manicured lawns. The proposed zone
encompasses four square miles, nearly four times the next-largest zone,
which includes Old Town and the downtown bus mall.

A drug-free zone is a tool to target repeat drug offenders. When a person
is arrested on drug charges in one of the zones, he is not only punished
for the crime, but he is also excluded from the area for a year. If he's
caught in the zone during the exclusion period, he's subject to search and
arrest on criminal trespass charges. Without the zones, police have to wait
until they have evidence of a crime before they can make an arrest.

In the past, drug-free zones have been criticized by a vocal minority.
There was some dissension in the Eliot Neighborhood Association, where the
board chairperson cast a tie-breaking vote of support for the proposed
zone. In general, though, the new zone has been winning the support of
neighborhood groups.

Deputy District Attorney Jim Hayden, who is in charge of the project, says
the new zone is needed. "You have people that have been selling drugs in
Northeast Portland from the same spots for years," he says.

He believes that other zones have been effective. The one in Washington
Park was so successful in combating marijuana dealing that the zone was
later eliminated. In the Beech Street zone and the Alberta zone, drug
arrests have declined. "The area is on the rise," he says. "Property values
are going up. There are more businesses, more housing. Crime rates are
going down. Is the drug-free zone responsible? Does it contribute? I think
so."

The zones certainly ensnare large numbers of offenders: 3,259 people were
under current exclusion orders for the existing four zones as of Sept. 1.

There are those, however, who worry about giving the police additional
powers of arrest. "Certainly it would need to work very well to balance out
the general loss of constitutional rights or freedoms," says Jon Kart, an
Eliot board member who voted against the proposal. "It's easy to give them
away and impossible to get them back. I think what needs to be done is
[something] more labor-intensive, like neighborhood block watches."

The issue will be discussed at the Chief's Forum, a twice-monthly public
meeting, next Monday morning before moving toward City Council
consideration.