Vancouver, Wash., mayor smashes coffee mugs in bid for respectTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, July 13, 2005 · Last updated 6:05 a.m. PT
VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Mayor Royce E. Pollard didn't find what he wanted at one Starbucks, so off he went to another, paid $20 and change for two Portland, Ore., souvenir mugs and smashed them to bits.
Pollard's stunt Tuesday was part of his campaign to get more respect for a city in the dual shadow of its much larger neighbor across the river from Portland and its even larger namesake 250 miles to the north in British Columbia.
After bashing the mugs against each other inside a garbage can by the front door and picking up the few pieces that escaped, Pollard got what he wanted: Starbucks announced the removal of Portland cups from all 15 of its Clark County locations and 13 licensed sites in grocery stores and other outlets.
"We understand the mayor's concern," said Martha Nielsen, Starbucks regional marketing manager in - where else? - Portland.
"Mainly these cups are collectors items," Nielsen said. "People collect them as they travel around the country, but we made the decision to pull the mug. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone."
Pollard started steaming six weeks ago when he got a call from a business operator, Arch Miller, who noticed some Portland mugs on display at the Starbucks in Garrison Square.
After hearing from another resident, Pollard asked municipal economic development manager Steve Burdick to call Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. Two e-mail inquiries elicited a five-sentence answer Monday that was "maybe the most evasive and disingenuous e-mail that I have ever received," Burdick wrote the mayor.
The next day, after alerting The Columbian newspaper, Pollard went to the Heritage Place store, but manager Melanie Goodman had quietly checked with the head office and shipped two dozen Portland mugs across the river.
"It was because of you," she told Pollard, and got a hug.
The mayor found his prey at the Starbucks in Uptown Village, where he announced who he was and what he was doing, telling barista Minna Long not to display any more of the offending mugs.
Praised by another barrista and getting a thumbs-up from customers, he left satisfied.
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