Freedom of Speech in Portland , Oregon. Did the City of Portland Trash My Newspaper?

Freedom of Speech in Portland, Oregon maybe under attack? I created a new newspaper called the "Fake News" and built a news rack to distribute it on the street. The night I put it out next to all the other news paper vending machines in front of City Hall is the same night the whole thing completely disappeared the by the morning. Nobody else's Newspaper of free give away paper there was touched just mine. I had thought that I had an equal right to put my newspaper out with the rest. I selected that particular spot in front of city hall because I was invited to be part of the Keep Portland Weird Show and had previously talked to people in city offices about my intentions of putting it there and I did receive a bit of flack over it but I had thought that the government was not able to censor newspapers it did not like and I guess I was wrong. I will say , however, that I thought I was invited and that thought that I had the right to put out my news rack like every one else with out a permit or a processing process which seems to be the local law. It still is a mystery and I am not necessarily accusing the city but still wondering?

In order to be able to park and place the news rack in its intended position I had to get there after midnight. I arrived and immediately started putting the news rack in place and was soon greeted by a security guard form City Hall. That particular spot is guarded by more security cameras than perhaps anywhere else in the city of Portland. The guard came out and I identified myself and said I was putting it there as part of the Keep Portland Weird show . Unfortunately I did not have a business card but I think i showed him my drivers license. Can't remember. Because the cameras are there I would expect there is some record of what happened after I left. I used a big suitable lock and chain to connect it to the other news racks there in a row.

The next morning I received a call from city hall people working on the keep Portland weird show that an other piece i had placed out in front of city hall was broken in pieces at the Federal Building across the park from the Entrance from city hall. I was told that a trimet driver complained about the Object and had it removed and then later they denied they ever told me that. I called the federal building security number they gave me and went over with a friend tor retrieve the piece and found it had indeed been broken into pieces and they told me that someone had just tossed it into the park which happens to be leased by the city over the federal building parking lot. I asked if they had also seen or found my news paper rack and they said no. The lock on the piece I retrieved had a heavy duty chain cast into solid concrete that was sawed off by a very professional cut. Soon the trim et driver story was taboo to repeat. That particular piece was not exactly a newspaper it was a portal to hell called "Hell to Pay" in bright shocking orange. I had thought I had let city hall know in advance it was coming but that did not mater. The Hell to Pay art work was retrieved and fixed but the newspaper was still gone and a mystery that must be on tapes of all those security cameras there?

What was my newspaper like that the city might not have liked it? The news rack pretty much looked like the other free paper racks but it was made of clear corrugated vinyl with big block letters that identified it as the Portland Fake News. The newspaper was special because I used old recycled newspaper rolled them into big crumpled balls and taped pretty gift wrapping bows on top of them. If that was not a Fake news statement what is? It was intended as both a newspaper and an art piece but never got to be seen by the public because someone somewhere, who ever decided it had to go. Maybe it was just vandalized ? But it really had not been there long enough for that to happen and the poor vandals would have been on security cameras doing their vandalism.

The way the story was first told to me was that someone from city hall complained to trimet or it was a trimet driver who complained and Trimet came and removed my newspaper but that story only lasted about an hour. As it happens my art work became a study in the social impact of starting an undesirable newspaper and having it trashed or stolen without a trace. I guess that is a form of art work in getting that degree of impact from something as lame as the Fake News? I am still interested in finding out what happened to the newspaper rack and its contents not just because I put about $24 in materials into making it and several hours of time but because I would like to finish the story. If anyone has any information on what happened please let me know. Help solve the mystery of the fake news and let me know if I actually did violate Portland Oregon's Free Speech rules or committed some other crime like having bad taste in art and news? I readily admit to being a bad artist but I rather hoped to allow the community to react to my object before it was removed and or trashed by authorities if that was the case? If it was an official reaction to my keeping Portland weird I really am a little surprised!

Later in the year I was reading local papers that said a downtown Starbucks removed newspaper vending machines out in front of one of its down town stores and the owners of those papers were fuming mad as they had every right as I did to have my paper on the sidewalk like anyone else's. I tried to get in touch with them but I am persona non gratis? For all my work I do still have an interesting little story and you just read it. If I violated the Portland rules of free speech again let me know and tell the associate content people to remove this ditty from the INTERNET because it may be too dangerous to read? Does Portland have a law that defines what a newspaper is and how it can be distributed? Maybe so? It may be time to quit art because it is becoming too dangerous! I did not complain to the city very much at the time because I feared they might trash my art pieces on loan inside city hall for the Keep Portland Weird show. I am still not complaining just interested if anyone can help solve the mystery?