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All great ideas, but the frustrating part is that the ease of suggestions in a vacuum is greater than that of suggesting/proposing something within the political and funding constraints that exist at every turn in the actual policy realm where decisions occur. I don't mean that your ideas...

Hard to say, because there are so many of them, and plenty have probably never even seen a proposal because they are cash cows as parking. This seems to be changing with renewed interest in the "city" portion of Portland.

No problem. Many of the vacant sites will more likely than not be dramatically transformed this year or in following years (one seems questionable). You can see in one that the construction for a major mixed use project 100 apartments/condos) underway. Lots of infill going on in Portland...

Some here and there, both of development sites and of projects in Bayside, West End, and Eastern Waterfront Site of the Newbury Street Lofts Potential site of Jordan's phase II Danforth on High Community Housing of Maine

It's a public garage!

Good thinking. I think part of the desire for a parking garage in this neighborhood is to free up the surface lots in precisely those areas. Little known fact -- Marginal way right of way is deliberately broad to incorporate or at least not preclude light rail.

Yes, but in this instance the choice is between millions in investment or a dump yard. I think the public knows that. I'd like to see the whole trader joes building itself come down and replaced with a high rise to complete the urban block. How odd will that be once this project is built...

The fences in front of Trader Joes along the trail may stay. As I understand it the property owner has it there and doesn’t seem interested in removing it. This may or may not have something to do with a personal tiff with the adjacent landowner. I don’t think the NIMBYism will prevent this...

Bayside Project Financing Deal OK'd http://www.pressherald.com/news/bayside-project-financing-deal-okd_2012-09-20.html

I won't say you're incorrect, but I will say Westbrook is not alone, although I wish it was. That's the state of a number of Maine downtowns today. It is really gross. And the reasons you cited may have something to do with it. Housing was built for a robust mill economy, when that ended the...

Your description of Westbrook is in line with my observations of most urban downtowns in Maine. Exact description of the scenery. It raises the question of what we, as a community, view our downtowns as. Do we think of them as cultural centers or places to hide the less than desirable sights...

First of all, wow. That's impressive and will do wonders for that neighborhood. Ultimately, it would set the stage for a much more densely urban downtown setting there, as opposed to a New Urbanist village sort of place, which I'm OK with but am a bit surprised by. Pleasantly. I guess I...

I suspect that, as usual, the debate will be centered on whether too much parking is being required. Probably it is, but at the same time the City has a grant for the garage and is mandating it as a larger approach to economic development in that neighborhood, so it's probably also going to...

Housing policy is tricky--low income shouldn't be in the core (which is in theory the most expensive and attractive area of a city), but it shouldn't be in the suburbs either (need to be near services that are accessible), yet it has to be somewhere. I think if the ten units that are "market...

I think an empty site is better than more low income housing here. This is a struggling area in the center city and doesn't need an infusion of low income residents to help it out.

Thanks for posting, I don't like the entrance, but overall very nice massing. Is a drive thru necessary on the corner? The harbor hotel has it, I suppose, and that doesn't do too much bad to the area, but it could be better and I wish there was a way to make it so.

Would be nice from an urban design perspective to see something here because it completes a major area. I think the height is appropriate too, because it rises above the Fore St. buildings but is below Canal Plaza, so it is a stepped skyline. Also, some avesta housing progress

Would you be surprised? Deals like this fall apart all the time. It's one of the problems with mega projects. From what I understand, the P&S contract is pending some due diligence issue resolutions, and some other kinks may have been getting worked out, but the general direction was that it...

You’re right, and that’s why Manchester is such a better place to visit or live than those other cities. But it still has the same challenges as those cities, regardless of the greater extent to which it has counterbalanced them with success in other respects. Just noting it for the record so...

I noticed that too. But I wonder to what extent this is just prep work versus serious pre-construction work. There are no approvals I'm aware of for a hotel on that lot, although I know Shinberg Construction did some master planning for the site a while back and I have heard rumors (not...