A group of people opposing the annual tradition of taping the sidewalk to “reserve” spots along the Grand Floral Parade route plans to pull up duct tape all over Portland Friday night.

The effort was organized after an article apeared in this week’s Portland Mercury newspaper. The editor complained that the tape trashes the parade route and many agree.

The article in the Mercury calls on Portlanders to tear the tape up, with one exception. If parade fans are already sitting in their taped-up spots, they’ll remain untouched.

“If a few, self-centered individuals want to jump in line, we don't feel like that's fair. You can't tape off a spot at the DMV or at the bank and say I'm here, I'm first, and come back tomorrow. You know, stay up all night. Earn your spot," Mercury reporter Matt Davis said.

But on the other side of the issue, some of the thousands of people who mark their spots with tape said they were only following tradition, it’s been done for years and years, so why mess with tradition?

“It's one nice thing about Portland, and I'm proud to be a Portlander and I'm proud that I've adopted this tradition," proud taper Thi Pham told KGW.

"This tape deal seems new to us. We believe traditions are to be enjoyed by everyone, and not just the self-centered few," Davis argued. “We're going to clean up the tape on the sidewalks, so the sidewalks look beautiful, so that everyone can enjoy it."

Some fear this could escalate into some pretty angry parade fans.

But Davis said his group isn’t trying to stir up trouble. They just want everyone to get a fair chance at watching the parade.

Police said, since the sidewalks are public, it’s perfectly legal for anyone to come out and remove the tape.

 More: Leonard urges Portlanders to pull tape

Davis and the Mercury have an ally in Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard. He proposed an ordinance that would ban people from using tape to reserve their spots along the parade route.

He’s also urging people to ignore tape that’s already there, or tear it up if they arrive and the spot is unoccupied.