Portland Cars and Coffee

sounds like a piss poor attitude and what i call security guard syndrome. Give someone a sense of power and its inevitable that they let it get to their heads.

 

maybe it's time for the C&C to move to a new location.

 

Mark was not there yesterday. Joel was running the event.

 

Maybe not the whole event.

I would be happily share coffee and parking with any of the FerrariChat contingent at other locations.

 

Mark's a member here. If he cares what we think, I'm sure he'll chime in. For that matter, I saw at least one other "ground control" name who is a regular member here.

 

My concern is that if we try to "peel off" the Ferrari contingent, we'll lose the opportunity to see some pretty interesting rides. Admittedly, there were an awful lot of Nissan GT-Rs and late model Audis there on Saturday, but that comes with the territory, I would think.

 

I managed to contact Mark through a Facebook link. He was at a Ferrari meeting in Kansas City, and therefore was not there at Saturday's C & C. He said he will get back to me and I believe he will.

I view this as an issue of: "If something is not broken, pretend it is broken, so we can exercise our authority to fix it!"

I wonder, would the Sheriff who would "issue me a ticket on the spot" be the same one that was illegally parked at the entrance, blocking access to Starbucks?

The guy that approached me seemed truly proud of his new-found "authority."............You are truly "special."

(I am fortunately?? past my Rugby days when I would rub your face in the concrete to teach you a lesson in manners)........... I guess I should say that you should be proud of your new position of "ground control."


C & C was all supposed to be about people having fun with cars!!!! I love cars, I build cars, and I drive them, but I don't need rude and obnoxious harassment.

Don't break it up and divide it, just have a good time.

I won't be a "burden" again.

David

 

I am certain that all members of Ground Control are well-intentioned.

The problem is that C&C has grown so popular that on clear, sunny Saturdays there are too many participants for the venue to comfortably handle, thus traffic control is deemed necessary.

No doubt the "kinks" in the system will soon be worked out, but I wonder: has the event outgrown the venue?

What other locations, if any, offer ease of access, coffee / pastries, sufficient parking, and permission to be used for this event?

What price success?

 

I wouldn't want to peel off just Ferraris. I like lots of different cars-- but if it's too big for the location, then separating off and starting a new venue just makes sense.

 

larger venue would be ideal

 

That facebook link above is interesting. They're talking about banning people, and preventing "banned" people from entering. Not good.

 

It will be interesting to see the standards for banning and not being banned. How they are published and who actually owns/manages the property will also come in to play. Especially if somebody chooses to contest or question that activity.

 

LOL seriously banning? when the internet meets the real world.

 

I imagine that the World of Speed Museum folks would love to host something like this, once they open their doors. The only thing is, it's not all that far from the existing C&C.

 

How far are they from opening their doors? We were supposed to attend a couple events there now that have had to be rescheduled pending their opening getting moved. One was last year and one was for next month.

Their website shows and April 24, 2015 at 11:00 Grand Opening:
World of Speed

Do you know anybody there Don?

 

I've met with the director of the World of Speed and have his email.....but i'd like to give Mark a chance to respond.

 

I've met with them, and seen some of the collection. The April date is what I've heard as well, but I haven't spoken with anyone there in a few months.

 

"Jonny Law," the originator of this thread would be the person who did the leg work to get us into the Sequoia Parkway location. Up until recently, I would have called him lead on this event even though he was quite quiet about it. I do not recall having seen him there thus far this year so he may have other projects taking priority.

One of the things that was wonderful about this location was that you kinda needed to know where it was but it was still easy to get to. Once the event became promoted there was a tipping point after which the nature substantially changed.

 

Here is the update on Portland Cars and Coffee at the Sequoia location. Yes, the delay in my response is because I was at the Ferrari Club of America national board meeting in Kansas City this weekend.

In short, property management is now requiring us to control the event, or we will lose the location. We are working on alternate locations, but that cannot happen overnight. Yes, World of Speed is one of the alternates being considered.

The long version:
Starting in the fall, we began attracting the attention of several car groups which used to attend the Cascade Cars and Coffee group. Different demographics including many tuners, domestics, and project cars from the surrounding North and Northeast Portland neighborhoods. Apparently in this group burnouts and loud stereos were tolerated.

In January and February, we had four weekends with over 250 cars. We quickly realized that the event had grown beyond relying upon it to control and police itself. Virtually every weekend there were multiple vehicles doing burnouts upon leaving. The "grassroots" nature of the event to police itself was growing unrealistic. "Dude, I didn't know the rules about burnouts" was heard frequently.

Joel and I reached out to Jon, to see if we could renew our discussions with property management. Jon indicated that he was tired, and no longer interested in being part of the management of the group. Therefore Joel and I met with property management to form an entirely new agreement. We frankly had no choice...

The new agreement requires us to patrol the parking lot and prevent cars from parking in the clinic parking spaces or in the fire lanes. They have also required us to sign a usage contract for the parking lot and provide liability insurance. All reasonable requests. If we do not, then we will lose the parking lot.

In order to put these very reasonable controls in place, we enlisted a group of over 40 volunteers who are willing to show up every weekend and patrol the parking lot. We have given them lanyards and laminated badges identifying them as "Ground Control Staff". Their job is to walk around the event as ambassadors, gently reminding folks to not parking in the fire lanes or in the clinic parking spaces.

We have also created signs at the clinic spaces (Clinic Parking Only) and the driveways (No Burnouts).

Everyone who enters the parking lot is given a 1/4 page handout with the four basic rules of the event:
1) Please enter and leave the lot at a reasonable and safe speed.
2) Please park in designated spots only.
3) Please respect other people's cars.
4) Please don't rev your engine unnecessarily.

And we have hired both the Tigard police and the Washington County Sheriff to park nearby and enforce the speed laws in the public street. So far, donations have paid for this expense.

This Saturday was the first time we were able to put the pieces in place. Volunteers, signs, and police. For the most part, it worked extremely well.

I understand that there were conflicts with both Steve and Dr. Dave this Saturday. And I have heard multiple versions of the events second hand. I have offered to sit down with both Dr. Dave and Steve to discuss it in the first person. My invitations are still outstanding.

If we want to keep the current location, we have to put reasonable control measures in place. This is non-negotiable with property management.

We have no comprehensive mechanism to broadcast the changes which have been put in place, besides our volunteers handing out the papers and making polite requests. Yes, Facebook is our only social media outlet, and we know it is limited. That's why we have the volunteers.

And we are looking at alternate locations for future growth.

I will be there this Saturday, and I'm happy to discuss this further with anyone who has questions or concerns. Find me in the bright yellow Ferrari pullover.

 

I suggest relocating, and require that only true exotics be permitted in the show spots.

Don't know about you guys, but I have no interest in 350Z's, Audi A6's and new Dodge Challengers.

Sorry if I come off as a bit elitist but hey, there it is.

 

We have been discussing the growth of this event since October 2014.

We have made NO significant efforts to promote this event, yet this event continues to grow.
In 2014, we had seven days where the car count was over 250.
In just January and February of 2015, we have four days of 250+ cars.
So it continues to grow, and we realize we must put control measures in place before summer comes and it explodes in a fireball, consuming the event.

We have created plans for the logistics of three different levels of managed growth:
1) Low - volunteers monitoring the parking and overall behavior, with a specific effort to maintain the current casual atmosphere and unregulated participation (except clinic spots and fire lanes) This is what we have chosen to do for now.
2) Medium - established "show" and "spectator" zones. Requires formal control of parking lot with cones and entry gate, and scheduled workers. Wanna try establishing the "show" criteria for entry? Enforcement method? Paid entry? Yes, elitist is only one of the terms that would be expressed.
3) High - relocation to another parking lot which will accommodate 400+ cars. Anyone want to run a weekly car show of this magnitude? I prefer to remain married, thank you.

All three of these require the expense of liability insurance, police enforcement, cones, radios, and other consumables. Did I mention that this event is still free? So far it has been paid through donations of a few generous folks, but those funds will run out before summer begins.

[Said with tongue in cheek] I would invite any of the armchair quarterbacks to contribute to the discussion of logistical plans of moving a six year long "spontaneous" event with absolutely no mailing / email / distribution list of participants to a new location. How would you get people to change locations? And no, simply creating another event is not a consideration at this time.

Lastly, don't even get me started on the overwhelming lack of appreciation for what we do. Most days, it feels like we are hosting a live performance of The Little Red Hen. Everyone wants to attend a car show, yet hardly anyone wants to contribute the volunteer time or financial resources to put it on. And when we look at making it a formal (paid entry) event, the complaints roll in about "how it used to be".

 

Remember; good deeds never go unpunished! ;-)

 

Lastly, for the comments about our efforts to "ban" folks from the event:
Yes we have trespass authorization from the landlord should we need it, and this includes having any vehicles towed from the lot if they park in the clinic spaces or in the fire lanes. Again, this comes directly from property management. It has nothing to do with a badge or feeling of authority.

We hope to never need it. And we don't want to use it.

We do make an effort to collect photos and videos from the collection of amateur photographers on the sidewalk of the burnouts and bad behavior. These images are shared among the Ground Control volunteers. If a recognized vehicle returns, we will let them know that they are not welcome to participate. If it looks to escalate, then we will simply invite the police to continue the conversation on our behalf. So far, we have only had a couple conversations, which appear to have resolved reasonably, at least until this past weekend.

Lastly, we view the police as our partners in this event. A couple of the participants are law enforcement themselves. We do not condone criticism of them at the event or in the Facebook group. And we have offered to serve as witnesses if the recipients of their tickets want to contest them in court. We already have one court date on the calendar.

 

Why is liability insurance required?

Exactly "who" is being insured, i.e. who or what is the named insured?

What risks are insured against?

 

Hmmm....

public event
private property
property management company (PacTrust)
exotic cars
not-so-exotic cars
spectators
kids
dogs
people who are still on their first cup of coffee
and burnouts

What could possibly go wrong?
;-)