City will add high-tech security gear to 'living room'

The Oregonian
Aug. 18, 2005

Big Brother -- as in cameras and security equipment -- seems to be everywhere in these post-9/11 days. Now, Pioneer Courthouse Square is bracing for his arrival. Steve Janik, in his final meeting as president of the nonprofit square's board of trustees, announced a $50,000 state grant "for certain public spaces that may be vulnerable to terrorist attacks." Oregon Office of Homeland Security awarded the grant through the Urban Areas Security Initiatives Program. A board committee will study how to spend the money, working with police, Bureau of Parks & Recreation, Portland Patrol Inc. and TriMet. "We have a year to decide what to do with the $50,000," Janik told the board. "Among the eligible capital improvements that we could make would be a magnetometer, which is a portable device that measures radioactivity." Surveillance cameras and bomb-resistant trash cans also could become fixtures at the open-air square, commonly known as Portland's "living room" and recently praised as one of the best urban public squares in the nation. "The bomb-resistant trash cans are such that if someone -- in the middle of the night -- were to put a bomb in a trash can on the square, these hopefully would eliminate any collateral damage," Janik says.

In 2004-05, there were 301 programmed event days, including the well-attended and free Noon Tunes summer concert series that continues through Sept. 1.

For square management, emphasis on a secure environment is equal to that placed on activities and events.

"Our goal remains the same," Janik says. "Keeping Pioneer Courthouse Square a safe and enjoyable place for the almost 9.5 million people that walk through."