Recent content by MarkHB

RON?

I think my question there is, did the loads diminish because of changing business considerations, or because the hedge fund owners were letting it die by attrition because they wanted to flip the land? And was the moribund ownership of Pan Am Railways (since replaced by CSX) also a factor?

I think the question there is, is it reasonable to put a large, public-facing attraction in the midst of a heavy industrial facility that operates on its own timetable (no guaranteeing that bulk cargo ships won't need to unload during games)? Particularly when the current owners of the facility...

Also, looking at this thread ... Did the dance area happen? Because Bar Publica (which just closed) doesn't seem to have been that.

Does anyone know what the excavation is in front of the Barnes & Noble / Nordstrom/ Men's Wearhouse shopping center ( also home to Target, but it's not by them) in South Portland?

The goal is to have platforms on both sides, very similar to what is being built at Wells. The jail owns the land on the opposite side of the tracks where the platform and structure for the overhead walkway would need to go. The jail doesn't want a train station (read: convenient escape route...

Given that it was only built in the 1990's and is the largest county jail in the state, it's highly unlikely. If you factor in the necessity of convincing the entire county (including the folks in New Gloucester and Harrison) to vote for a very large bond issue for the sake of making the train...

That leaves out the other neighbor: the county jail, who are adamant about not wanting a transportation facility right next to them, and who own the land on the opposite side of the tracks which would be needed for an opposite-side platform. And, their land cannot be taken by eminent domain...

I was down there yesterday. They did do a good job fixing the steps, and I've previously seen that they seem to be doing something with the large old building (cleaning, stabilizing, whatever), but to what I imagine is no one's surprise there is no sign of activity at the planned condo site.

Jim Cohen, former mayor of Portland (in the pre-elective days), chair of the NNEPRA Board of Trustees and one time high school debate champion (sorry, he and his partner were unstoppable), has an op-ed supporting the train station proposal (I'm gifting you all the link). I'll just say what I've...

Ethan Strimling has a piece opposing the stadium proposal. Of note: apparently Sprague was bought out by a hedge fund a couple of years ago, so it's entirely possible that they've let business go fallow to make a bigger profit flipping the property.

I also meant to say, the Breeze Facebook account Liked my reply to their post asking for PWM-FLL. For what that's worth.

That's what makes sense to me. And Providence for Cape Cod and the islands.

Interesting: I just noticed that, at least for SFO on the 12th, the outbound flight has been changed to Sunday morning the 13th. Inbound, it's still an all day affair getting in late in the afternoon Saturday. Edit: Jinx!

I wonder how things will go going forward, as we transition from the time of year where people would want to escape the heat of LA and SF to come to Maine, into the time of year when we start think about heading to warmer places!