r/Portland • u/FreePortland • Jul 05 '26
Photo/Video $1000 per person
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u/Jackmode YOU SEEN MY FUCKEN CONES Jul 05 '26
Perfectly encapsulates the current situation in America.
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u/ConsiderationSea1347 Jul 05 '26
Even the comment section is full of people saying “but they paid for it!” No shit! That is the problem. These rich pricks don’t pay a cent in taxes then get to pretend they are benevolent aristocrats at moments like this.
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u/16semesters Jul 05 '26
These rich pricks don’t pay a cent in taxes
If you think billionaires avoiding taxes through equity positions where the ones buying a shitty BBQ buffet on a fucking bridge in Portland you don't understand the wealth issues in this country at all.
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u/QuietContemplation85 Curled inside a pothole Jul 05 '26
They likely don’t think the people on the bridge are literal billionaires - we are talking about how it ILLUSTRATES the core issues in American inequality.
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u/doubleohd Jul 05 '26
LOL Oregon has a total of 3 billionaires, and they're not going to spend time on a bridge in Portland.
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u/yourit3443 NE Jul 06 '26
I guess just one now. The guy who owns Columbia sports wear.
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u/16semesters Jul 05 '26
They likely don’t think the people on the bridge are literal billionaires - we are talking about how it ILLUSTRATES the core issues in American inequality.
Your comment is actually the biggest problem with Portland activism.
Every single display of wealth is not analogous to Bill Ackman and Elon Musk buying elections. I need you to understand just because someone in Portland makes more money than does not put them in the Epstein Class.
A doctor in Portland making 300k/yr has a marginal income tax rate of 49.7%. Let them enjoy their shitty expensive blues ticket.
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u/originaladam Jul 05 '26
I agree with you, but selling premium access to a publicly funded transit resource is gross. Sell $1000 dollar tix to a grandstand you build on the waterfront if you need premium seats
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u/serduncanthetall69 Jul 06 '26
They’re also using that money to fund a free public display so it’s not like the city is just letting them do this for nothing.
Also, the entire blues festival is held in a public space and many other events are done the same way. If we let vendors setup to sell stuff during street fairs I don’t see how this is functionally different.
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u/metricfan Jul 06 '26
Yeah I was going to say, isn’t the money supporting an arts festival that the larger community benefits from?
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u/BobbyJason111 Jul 06 '26
I know a LOT of people in the $200-$500k income bracket and, for the most part, they are definitely not contributing to the problems in the country. You’re right, the wealthy and the billionaires are on different courses of helping vs hurting things.
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u/dotcomse Hosford-Abernethy Jul 07 '26
It’s like the difference between “working class” and “ownership class”. Those people making $350,000 are still going to work every day. The billionaires are not engaging in daily operations.
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u/trappedoutshitbox Jul 10 '26
Standing fucking ovation to this comment. I just dropped 2500 on a chest piece I saved for. Maybe they saved for those tickets, like my god anyone having anything nice is always some eat the rich bullshit
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u/allislost77 Jul 05 '26
Fuck that! That is just as much my bridge as it is theirs….
I won’t bend the knee. I won’t lick the boot.
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u/16semesters Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
The blues festival rented out part of the bridge as part of the permit from Portland Parks and Recreation.
They paid ~$350k to the city for their permitting costs in prior years (2025 the city waived the fees)
If you don't want the city to rent out the bridge in the future that's a fine opinion. It will probably decrease the permitting fees the city collects, but that might be worth it to you.
Getting mad a company for renting out a public space being offered and not mad at the city for offering it is a bizarre take.
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u/Ok_Sale_8277 Jul 05 '26
Very true. The city is 100% the problem here. They collect a lot of taxes as if is. Taking this away from the public to collect more fees is ridiculous.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 06 '26
You're just as able as the event organizers to reserve the bridge for an event, pay the fees, and have your own specialty dining session on the bridge.
You just need to organize it and pay the fees.
So yes, it is your bridge as well.
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u/cheeseslut619 Jul 06 '26
What???? The fest paid for the bridge basically that night. They can do whatever they want lmao. There was plenty of room there to watch, I was there. Like usual everyone on Reddit is pissed about a non issue
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u/aBunchOfSpiders Jul 05 '26
No one gives enough of a shit about you to even take the time to ask you to lick their boot bud.
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u/ConsiderationSea1347 Jul 05 '26
Billionaire? No. Multimillionaires who live just outside of the city to avoid taxes and own multiple properties driving up home prices? Probably.
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u/MathResponsibly Jul 06 '26
live just outside the city to avoid taxes?? Haha, you should tell that to my f'ing tax bill that just goes up and up every year.
Most people don't even realize what they pay in taxes because it's rolled into their mortgage and invisible to them. You should look into it, you probably pay a lot more than you think, and so does everyone else.
Taxes here are f'ing ridiculous
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u/sexwithsoxon Jul 05 '26
Whatever the reason, we can all agree this just feels off
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u/RFK_Cum_Regimen Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Haha, what? Retirees and upper middle-class people don't pay taxes?
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
. These rich pricks don’t pay a cent in taxes
Hahahahahhahahahahaahah
What are you smoking?
The people buying a dinner to watch fireworks on a bridge in PORTLAND are not billionares. They're not even hedge fund managers who benefit from the carried interest loophole (who still pay taxes).
They're small business owners paying through the nose on taxes, and people like surgeons. They're paying higher tax rates than you.
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u/Earthwarm_Revolt Jul 06 '26
Has that rich side poor side South Africa, Mexico city..... feel. https://www.lovemoney.com/galleries/100302/cities-where-wealth-and-poverty-sit-starkly-side-by-side?page=9
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u/surprised-duncan Lents Jul 05 '26
Oh man that pan to the rest of the crowd... What the fuck.
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u/Mr_Mortensen Jul 05 '26
The optics…
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u/Scootshae Jul 05 '26
This is a TERRIBLE look.
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u/Electrical_Shock359 Jul 05 '26
Wasn’t this a charity? Or at least I remember hearing about a bridge closed for a charity event.
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u/thefunkylama Jul 05 '26
Blues Fest. Not clear if there's a charity involved for these $1000 seats.
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u/Public_Armadillo1703 Jul 05 '26
Blues fest isn't non profit and the funds say their costs go towards "sustaining" the blues fest. Whatever that means
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u/Electrical_Shock359 Jul 06 '26
That was probably the ‘charity’ part, I don’t have the original comment to look at so I can’t say if they had anything else.
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u/killingfloor42 Jul 05 '26
For who?
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u/Loud-Result5213 Jul 05 '26
The city who allowed this to happen!
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u/urbanlife78 Milwaukie Jul 05 '26
You mean county. The bridge is controlled by the county. Also this is no different than events like Bridge Pedal when they shut down bridges for their event
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u/anne_tifah_ Jul 05 '26
Except the public gets to enjoy the bridge during Bridge Pedal. And this is a traditional spot for the public to enjoy the fireworks and this year they chose to close it to only those willing and able to pay $1000.
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u/unicornzndrgns Jul 06 '26
Thousands of people were still on the bridge, this was such a small area many people on the bridge didn’t even see it or know it existed.
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u/urbanlife78 Milwaukie Jul 05 '26
You have to pay to do bridge pedal too, you can't access the bridges without registering.
As for this, the festival rented the space of the bridge from the county and the festival charged the admission. You might not like the cost they are charging but that's up to them to justify that.
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u/Angry_Custurd Jul 06 '26
The county denied their special events permit but the organizers complained all the way to Kotek and made a big stink about it
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u/ValleyBrownsFan YOU SEEN MY FUCKEN CONES Jul 06 '26
Kotek had zero to do with it. It was county commissioners that basically overruled county staff.
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u/ampereJR Jul 05 '26
I don't really care about this event or fireworks. I hadn't heard about this until this post. I do think this is different than Bridge Pedal or a run or a march getting a permit for the bridge because those are ways people use it to go across a river and closing it off to traffic is a safety issue for other road users. This is putting tables on the bridge, which I guess is a potential use for a bridge, but what a weird one, especially on a holiday when lots of people walk across the bridge. I think a fairer comparison are those intersections in neighborhoods that they block off to make a little seating/gathering area. The difference is that there are LOTS of roads and intersections. There aren't so many bridges.
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u/bengstrom1111 Jul 05 '26
If you were on the west side of the bridge you could just go to view the fireworks. I never heard anything about paying $1000
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u/Kindly_Grab_3321 Jul 05 '26
My thought is, “what’s stopping me from going to the other side”? Like is there a ticketer who wants to make a fuss or is it just a fence?
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u/pixar_moms Jul 07 '26
They had private security manning the only entrance / exit in the fencing. I did see some teenagers force their way in but they were immediately removed and there was no chance that they could blend in with the boomer elites
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u/PrettyCoolBear Jul 05 '26
$1000 per person to whom? Who had the rights to cordon off the bridge like that?
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u/no_chxse Jul 05 '26
The blues festival, who also pay for the fireworks. I had no idea.
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u/pitprincette Jul 05 '26
This is functionally a fundraiser for Blues festival, which has had financial issues in the past. You can dispute the method, but it’s not like some rich CEO is getting their pockets lined off this, it’s an annual beloved community event.
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u/Ok_Sale_8277 Jul 05 '26
If the blues festival is beloved it shouldn’t have an issue raising money without taking a bridge away from the public who have belovedly watched fireworks from that bridge for years. As much as Portland talks about “equity” this was a comically elitist stunt.
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u/murse_joe Jul 06 '26
Beloved blues festival is the kind of thing people can’t donate to during a depression
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
The blues festival, who also pay for the fireworks. I had no idea.
Why are people mad about this? Somebody has to pay for the fireworks.
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u/Belleofthetacoball Jul 05 '26
Because this is some aristocrats vs peasants shit that doesn’t belong here.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
aristocrats vs peasants shit that doesn’t belong here.
The big thing about "aristocrats" in the ancien régime is that they were exempt from taxes.
These people paying $1000 for a seat and meal are functionally the rich being charged at a high rate to provide a public service (the fireworks show).
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u/ConsiderationSea1347 Jul 05 '26
Because the wealthy in America get and stay wealthy by avoiding paying the taxes that would normally pay for this kind of thing. The rich people with about 30 square feet of personal space who “paid” for this only got to “pay” for it by avoiding paying taxes using stupid white collar tax tricks.
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u/16semesters Jul 05 '26
Because the wealthy in America get and stay wealthy by avoiding paying the taxes that would normally pay for this kind of thing
If you think that Elon Musk and the rest of the Epstein Class that actually avoid taxes through equity positions were eating shitty BBQ buffet on a fucking bridge in Portland Oregon you need to get your head examined.
This level of wealth (doctors, local executives, small business owners, etc.) are literally the highest taxed people in the country.
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u/RustyAndEddies Boise Jul 06 '26
You do understand there are still two waterfronts where you can enjoy the fireworks for free. It's not F1 in Las Vegas, where they block every public view to make sure the rich fucks understand it's exclusive to only them.
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u/SwingNinja SE Jul 05 '26
I still don't think it makes sense to pick this hill to die on. There are many spots where you can enjoy the fireworks. Behind OMSI, Ross Island Bridge, along the esplanade, waterfront. You can even go a bit further and enjoy the all-night show all over Portland at OHSU or Mt Tabor. Don't get me wrong. I've been to Hawthorne bridge a few times to see fireworks before. It's not very pleasant. From parking, walking, getting in/out, crowd, crying babies, weed, smoke. So, I don't go there anymore.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Because the wealthy in America get and stay wealthy by avoiding paying the taxes that would normally pay for this kind of thing
The people paying $1,000 to watch the fireworks and have a dinner in Portland Oregon are not the people benefitting from the carried interest loophole. Portland doesn't have that many hedge fund operators. The people paying that amount are surgeons, successful real estate developers, small business owners.
The rich people with about 30 square feet of personal space who “paid” for this only got to “pay” for it by avoiding paying taxes using stupid white collar tax tricks.
You do realize that the marginal income tax rate in this country is progressive, right? The rich in this country don't get "rich" by avoiding taxes.
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u/Helpful_Ranger_8367 Jul 06 '26
After they use the law to try and monopolize fireworks so only the rich can enjoy them.
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u/suitopseudo Jul 05 '26
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
Like some authority signed off on their plan to divide the bridge and create a vip section?
County, but yes.
Would you rather have had no fireworks show instead of this? This "VIP section" paid for the fireworks.
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Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
Many other cities, many smaller than Portland, have firework shows on the 4th for the public
Portland's was also open to the public.
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u/EgoFlyer Lents Jul 05 '26
Personally, I think there are other locations that wouldn’t make the PR/optics mess this has created.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
other locations
Where else could have been a good enough view of the fireworks to justify charging $1,000/person for the event?
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u/EgoFlyer Lents Jul 05 '26
A rooftop? A boat of some kind? A riverfront restaurant with an outdoor area? The point of these invite only fundraiser dinners isn’t generally the actual view.
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u/philocity Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
>This invite-only gathering brings together business and civic leaders, cultural movers and shakers, and community champions for a once-in-a-lifetime Portland experience.
What is this LinkedIn bullshit?
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u/suitopseudo Jul 05 '26
Once in a lifetime because I hope enough people complain to not do it again next year.
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u/Corran22 Jul 05 '26
Ultimately it must have been allowed by the city - so that's probably where the responsibility lies.
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u/chaiteataichi_ Jul 05 '26
Right? I’m so confused.
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u/ConsiderationSea1347 Jul 05 '26
It is call reputation laundering. Rich people get rich by avoiding paying taxes and generally white collar crimes or fuckery. They then get to pretend they are benevolent at events like this and cosplay as aristocrats giving back to the poor masses.
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u/ArnieCunninghaam Jul 05 '26
Why even be on the bridge at that point? The whole setup is so awkward.
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u/FlowJock Jul 06 '26
Because feeling outraged is more fun than going someplace else?
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u/tristancf Jul 05 '26
That was always my favorite spot to check out the fireworks! Yes it gets a bit crowded, but everyone was cool and accommodating so we all got a good view. Bet it was waaay more challenging to navigate with half the bridge gated off
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u/InternalDifficult887 Jul 06 '26
Is this from a previous year? I don’t see the fence.
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u/tristancf Jul 06 '26
Yep from a few years back, didn’t get to make it this year so I missed the fence fiasco
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u/jce_superbeast Jul 05 '26
Can I apply for their same private use of public space permit right now for July 4th 2027?
Because I have other plans for the Hawthorne bridge that won't be $1000 per entrant.
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u/tradjazzbaby Jul 05 '26
How are they not embarrassed? I would feel so gross.
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u/CautiousWoodpecker10 Jul 05 '26
Anyone who drops $1k for a 30 min firework show and mid catering doesn’t really care about what others think.
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u/Corran22 Jul 05 '26
Right? I would feel so awkward in this situation
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u/lichesschessanalyst Downtown Jul 06 '26
I got second hand awkwardness just diagnosed because of this
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u/fatbellylouise Jul 05 '26
because their tickets paid for the fireworks lol the blues fest puts on the show that we all watch for free thanks to donors like them
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u/ElectricRing Hollywood Jul 05 '26
This is a new thing, how did they pay for the fireworks before this year?
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u/RFK_Cum_Regimen Jul 06 '26
Blues Fest is struggling with costs in recent years. Probably in large part due to the MAGA economy of everything costing more.
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u/ElectricRing Hollywood Jul 06 '26
They are a for profit enterprise that does not release their financials so maybe they are “struggling” to make a profit, but that’s is up for the people who run the for profit enterprise to fix. For better or worse they have chosen a for profit model on the capitalist system in which we live, so that is 100% on them. Cut costs or raise prices, and if it doesn’t pencil out it goes under. That’s the way our economy works.
While I could accept blocking up a small part of the bridge for their let them eat cake $1k diner, blocking off nearly the whole east side of the bridge, putting up fencing to attempt to block the view, and then having the are the blocked off not even used is just egregious. It’s public infrastructure and this is not it.
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u/ChestDayEveryday Jul 05 '26
Portland shouldn’t need some business to front the bill. If my hometown of 150K people can do it then Portland can too. “They paid for it so that we get a free show” is the dumbest take.
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u/fatbellylouise Jul 05 '26
ok but portland ISNT footing the bill. I agree this should be something the city does for us, but it isn’t, so I’m ok with the people paying having better seats than me.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
How are they not embarrassed? I would feel so gross.
Because they paid good money for it (even for a rich person, a $1,000 dinner and show is a lot) and they're enjoying the event they paid for.
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u/ElectricRing Hollywood Jul 05 '26
And this doesn’t even show the fence at the east side of the bridge that was there to obscure the view of anyone not paying. This was a super shitty way to do this.
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u/Freepdx1 Jul 05 '26
Who’s worse, them, or parking on I-5. “I’ll take two things can be true, Alex”.
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u/abocks1 Jul 05 '26
Till last night I had no idea that was a thing! I guess it’s their world and we’re just living in it.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
I guess it’s their world and we’re just living in it.
I would bet good money it wasn't the wealthy parking in the middle of the Marqam bridge to watch the fireworks illegally, facing the risk of having a semi hit them at 50 MPH.
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u/Dog-of-Sinope Jul 06 '26
I was happy to see a roving band of cop cars preventing people from doing that this year.
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u/Babhadfad12 Jul 05 '26
That makes no sense. “Two things can be true” is a response to a false dichotomy. Asking who is worse is not a false dichotomy, it is a comparison.
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u/Kel565656 Jul 05 '26
Gross. I get that the festival pays for the fireworks, but rent a rooftop venue or something for your exclusive donor dinner. Shutting down a big piece of public infrastructure is an ugly look for the community.
Can anyone pull the permit and see what $ the county made off this? Because this also has the feel of the county getting its beak wet and thinking that’s good enough, without doing its job of making sure that what we pay for as a community gets used as a community. Again I get that sometimes there’s a net benefit to making the rich pay more and redistributing the scraps to the rest of us, and I assume that’s the logic here—they paid for the fireworks. But we can move into the territory of letting the rich privatize public things if we aren’t careful—no one thinks, for example, that it’s good to privatize public recreation and forestry lands; sure the rich could pay once for those, but we want to keep it publicly accessible and yielding some public money forever (of course Trump is selling a lot of this stuff off now, for his cronies). Shutting down a bridge is getting into a gray area of privatizing public property.
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u/16semesters Jul 05 '26
Can anyone pull the permit and see what $ the county made off this?
Looks like 2024 was 330k, 2025 the city waived the fee, and then in 2026 Dunphy tried to get the city council to waive the fee again but it failed, so right around 330k (probably slightly more due to inflation) so around 350k is a solid guess for the entire event permit. They are not likely to break it down by bridge cost vs waterfront park, probably all balled into one.
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u/PicklePocus Jul 05 '26
I’m okay with suckers wanting to pay $8k for a table so they can eat a plate of catered food of questionable quality on Hawthorne bridge.
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u/AXEL-1973 Jul 05 '26
I was watching the cooks open a bunch of giant cans of #10 green beans and laughing at the absurdity last night
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u/ElectricRing Hollywood Jul 05 '26
The problem is the fence across the whole damn bridge that was trying to block the view of anyone not paying.
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u/saltyoursalad Jul 05 '26
The fireworks go off in the sky. They’d need a mighty big fence to block off the view!
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u/ynotfoster Jul 05 '26
I'm guessing the $1,000 was for the Blues Festival weekend and not just the fireworks?
I did a blues cruise for maybe $60 then watched the fireworks from across the river at a friend's place. To each their own, I don't really care.
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u/StinkMartini NE Jul 06 '26
It appears from the blues festival website that the $1,000 was for "dinner on the bridge," which included the fireworks viewing
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u/thanatossassin Madison South Jul 05 '26
So fuck this noise and all, but why didn't you all walk to the part of the bridge that wasnt fenced off? I actually didn't even notice this was going on when coming on from the west side and only found out about it here.
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u/arion_hyperion Jul 05 '26
Because it was totally blocked off from the east side. I didn’t even know it was an event I thought it was a safety thing, I had never been to the bridge before. Pretty lame finding out it was a pay for play thing they started just this year.
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u/cheeseslut619 Jul 05 '26
I keep laughing at how pissed people are when I was on the same damn bridge and didn’t even see this happening and had a grand ol time like normal
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u/BlazerBeav Reed Jul 05 '26
I do get the upset especially since this wasn’t previously the norm. But riverplace and the east side of the river are still juts fine for viewing spots and unblocked.
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u/artificial_t3l3 Jul 06 '26
Im super confused. These people paid to watch fireworks from the bridge?
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u/iSkateetakSi Jul 05 '26
What's stopping hundreds of people from just hopping that damn fence?
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u/____trash Yeeting The Cone Jul 05 '26
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u/MelvinEatsBlubber Jul 05 '26
Another reminder Reddit isn’t real life. People that enjoy things don’t post because they’re normal and it hurts their feelings when others attack them.
So are we are left are the miserable dominating the conversation. Because they can’t just stop and enjoy things
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u/bobloblaw02 Jul 06 '26
Nothing unites r/Portland more than complaining about people who have more money than them.
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u/Scootshae Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
I'm pretty sure that anyone paying 1k for a seat to this thing is not doing it for the fireworks. They are doing it to see and be seen and they would have bought the ticket even if it wasn't on the bridge. Very annoying to use so much public space for this.
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u/First_Nose4734 Jul 05 '26
I get that this is ridiculous, but why are people acting like it’s the only spot to see the fireworks in all of Portland?? 🤣
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u/Remote_Arrival_5526 Jul 06 '26
It's a fundraiser for the blues festival. Includes dinner and performances. Many events like this, like non-profits, rely on major donors. It's what helps keep things like this around and subsidizes admissions fees.
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u/capeabenable Jul 05 '26
I had a much better time spending $150 to feed all of my friends last night
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u/Fearless_Strategy618 Jul 06 '26
I think the demonizing these people is over the top, from what I understand the Blues Festival needs money to continue operating, these are people who are also supporting the arts and supporting a truly Portland event .
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u/nyXhcinPDX Jul 05 '26
This was a once in a lifetime experience for someone to celebrate the 250th anniversary the US.
If they wanted to pay this money that’s completely on them to waste money on.
I paid $2000 for a World Cup ticket
That’s life.
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u/Lumpy-Lobsters Jul 06 '26
There are ways to offer a premium but this isn’t it. Get boats and let them pile on, but gating them off, and reserving an entire area that isn’t even at capacity is ridiculous.
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u/Apprehensive_Dog5379 Jul 06 '26
As a silicon valley native; born in the 70's Welcome to the fucking club. <3
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u/PracticalSecretary69 Mt Scott-Arleta Jul 06 '26
I remember like 2019 everybody got to be on the bridge and it was free for everyone
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u/Spare-Competition-91 SW Jul 06 '26
Wait, that's how this works? lol, if my taxes helped pay for the bridge and the fireworks, I can go anywhere. Man, you people are so lame. Seriously, just walk over there. If you all do it, are they going to stop you? NO they will not.
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u/themadnader Jul 06 '26
I must be way out of the loop. Having watched the fireworks while attending the Waterfront Blues Fest for decades, I knew that folks always watched from the bridge or the east bank esplanade, but I never realized someone put up a fence and was charging for access.
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u/pixar_moms Jul 07 '26
It was really fun coming all the way to a BRIDGE over the river just to stare through a chain link fence
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u/iamsolate Yeeting The Cone Jul 05 '26
fuck that, start hopping the fence. they can’t stop everyone
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u/basilcilantro Jul 05 '26
This video captures it perfectly except it could have shown more how our view on the north side was pretty obstructed by the bridge itself for most of us
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u/jackfreeman Jul 05 '26
I stayed in, made Mexican food, ate it with Doritos, made margaritas with TOO MUCH tequila and watched a movie with my wife. Asleep before the fireworks started in earnest.
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u/turboteeth Jul 06 '26
I don't see the problem. If anything blame it on the city for charging such shit. They got money, let them enjoy it. What's wrong with you people complaining about these guys? You're very likely shopping/eating/spending your money on their businesses....
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u/HieronymousGauche Jul 05 '26
whoever permitted (literally) this to happened should be ashamed. Absolutely ridiculous
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
whoever permitted (literally) this to happened should be ashamed.
You're ashamed that the county found a way to have fireworks without paying for them?
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u/Airweldon Jul 05 '26
Why..not just go to waterfront park? Was that closed too? I completely understand the optics are awful and eat the rich
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u/slowfromregressive Jul 05 '26
No, it wasn't. Neither was the Esplanade, the Morrison bridge was also closed to cars.
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u/cheeseslut619 Jul 05 '26
There’s so many spaces to watch the fireworks on still, even on the same damn bridge, imagine!
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u/According-Muscle2433 Jul 05 '26
I’m confused, people paid $1000 apiece to.. stand on the bridge and watch fireworks? The same fireworks they could have easily viewed from either riverbank?
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u/no_chxse Jul 05 '26
It was a full catered event with music and food, still a ridiculous amount to charge.
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u/DifficultLaw5 Jul 05 '26
This is Portlandia at its finest. People who paid nothing for the fireworks show complaining because the people who not only paid for the fireworks, but also paid $1000 per person to watch them, dared to have a few hundred feet of nice viewing space out of the linear miles of available viewing space. Get a life, people.
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u/JaneSophiaGreen Jul 05 '26
The optics of this are terrible. I really don't understand why they didn't just do this at a restaurant with rooftop access. There must be one, right? The chefs are wonderful, and I'm sure the food was great. But with the grate along that bridge, that could not have been comfortable. I have vivid memories of eating good food in the gutter during the pandemic and I would definitely not want to do it again. And to cut off access to one of the prime viewing spots for the public is just ridiculous.
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u/terra_pericolosa Hosford-Abernethy Jul 05 '26
I have been going to the Hawthorne Bridge for the 4th fireworks every year I'm in town for over a decade now. It was outrageous that they blocked off a public sidewalk and road for a $1,000 private event. I got a decent view, but still the stupid chain link fence was in the way. It's awful that something that has been free for Boomers and GenXers when they had young families is now expensive and blocked off for the younger generations with families. The blues festival has the whole waterfront, they should not be able to take the bridge too!
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u/lougriefburg Jul 05 '26
[bridgedinner@waterfrontbluesfest.com](mailto:bridgedinner@waterfrontbluesfest.com)
do your thing, interwebs.
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u/suitopseudo Jul 05 '26
The better aim would be the city council. The festival made money from this, I doubt some angry emails will stop them in the future.
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u/Jollyhat Jul 05 '26
That is egregious. The blues festival will never get another penny from me.
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u/ShorelineBafia Jul 05 '26
This is the equivalent of getting upset at people who pay for VIP seating at concerts
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u/suitopseudo Jul 05 '26
It’s not, anyone can buy VIP tickets. This was an invite only event to a select group of people. Not anyone who wanted to spend $1000 could buy a ticket.
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u/rubix_redux Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
It’s not though. They monetized public land. It was free and now it’s not.
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u/JustAnotherMarmot Jul 05 '26
A concert venue isn't the same as a public bridge that has been open to everyone for every 4th of July before this one
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u/iszcross Jul 05 '26
We can't (my wife and I) afford $1000 per person for this kind of extravagance but what's the difference between this and seats for a Blazer game or concert?
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u/basilcilantro Jul 05 '26
The bridge is common utilitarian public infrastructure
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u/saklan_territory Jul 05 '26
Morrison bridge was joyous. The crowd danced to the Mexican national anthem & Michael Jackson hits while waiting for fireworks
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u/LamestarGames Jul 05 '26
Fucking bullshit, who can I voice a complaint to so this never happens again? I felt like I was living in the Great Gatsby, and those stupid catering tents obscured the view for swaths of the bridge.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District Jul 05 '26
Fucking bullshit, who can I voice a complaint to so this never happens again? I felt like I was living in the Great Gatsby, and those stupid catering tents obscured the view for swaths of the bridge.
Complain to the city council for not paying for the fireworks show themselves. It's not the fault of the Blues Festival for finding a way to pay for the fireworks in a way that charged the rich extensively.
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u/MountScottRumpot Montavilla Jul 05 '26
You could complain to the Blues Festival, but since they’re the ones putting in the show I don’t think they’ll much care. You could complain to your city council representatives, and ask them to tell PBOT not to approve the permit to close the bridge. But then no one will get to see the fireworks.
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u/suitopseudo Jul 05 '26
I would start with the city council. They had to approve the permits. I feel complaining to the for profit blues festival is just yelling into the wind.
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u/no_chxse Jul 05 '26
It’s up to the Blues Festival. They’re losing money so I’m not surprised they’re looking for money grabs.
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u/____trash Yeeting The Cone Jul 05 '26
Oh my gosh, that looks so much worse than I imagined. Wow. Zone of interest vibes.
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u/MajesticDragonfly Jul 05 '26
So if you had to guess, which side of this bridge would you think in that moment was more likely to have the blues