PORTLAND, Ore — A woman in Southeast Portland woke last Thursday to find the tires on her SUV deflated, along with a note from a climate activist attached to the door handle of her vehicle.
The note read, "Attention, your gas guzzler kills. We have deflated one or more of your tires. You'll be angry, but don't take it personally. It's not you, it's your car."
Nicole Driscoll said she was in disbelief when she read the note. She said she immediately got out of her vehicle after reading the leaflet and checked the tires.
"I looked and I was like, 'holy crap, they did it, they deflated my tires," she said.
All four tires were deflated. The note in question came from the website of a climate activist movement spreading to cities across the world, with people encouraged to deflate SUV tires in the name of climate change and pollution.
"I get activism, I appreciate it, but not in this form," Driscoll said. "Don't mess with people's property."
Driscoll said she had to get her kids to school that morning, followed by a meeting at 10 a.m. "I was in total emergency mode," she said.
Luckily, Driscoll has AAA and they came to fix her tires.
Driscoll, who works for a nonprofit, said there are plenty of ways to create change that don't include property damage.
"We need volunteers," she said. "We need lots of them. There are a lot of good things we can do in this city, and this is not one of them."
Driscoll said other neighbors also had their tires deflated.
In Oregon, deflating a tire is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and fines reaching $1,250.