General Portland Discussion

[stick n move]

I feel like Portland has a ton of potential to grow into one of new englands best cities. It already is a great city, but I mean it has the potential to grow into a city that could have a population around Providence’s and bump it up into a more important city economically, population wise, and culturally than cities like Worcester for example which are much larger.

One thing that I feel that is holding it back is the same thing holding back most cities after ww2 and that is the street grid. The way that the areas around downtown have grown is pretty suburban, disconnected, and par for the course of many other cities. The problem with portland is how small it was when this happened, meaning it has a phenomenal downtown core, but it wasnt able to grow out a large dense street grid before the shift to sprawl happened.

A city like Providence is a fairly small city but it has a massive interconnected street network throughout its surrounding metro area which makes it many times larger and also in a much better position to grow the right way than portland.

Providence

Portland

So a couple questions I have I guess are does Portland even want to grow into a bigger city and metro area more on par with a city like Providence where more people can stay and work in Maine vs having to commute to MA?

And if so is there any plans for how they plan to fix the street grid of the metro area by connecting lots of existing streets together, adding a much denser street grid in the areas where it does not exist, stopping more disconnected sprawl type streets from being built, and adding new connections between areas in the metro and towards downtown?

 

[markhb]

I think the answer to your first question is no. It's worth noting that most Portlanders don't live in the urban core; they live in the predominantly single-family home neighborhoods off-peninsula (conclusion drawn from the city council districts). And I know we like to cry NIMBY here, but the fact is that people invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a home in part because they like the neighborhood and the ambiance as it is. I have no desire to live in a dense, walkable community; I'm much happier availing myself of the solitude of my car to go grocery shopping.

As for your second question, look up "Gorham Connector" and I'll think you'll find your answer.

 

[Portlander]

It already is a great city, but I mean it has the potential to grow into a city that could have a population around Providence’s and bump it up into a more important city economically, population wise, and culturally

Great questions and I'll give you my take. I do not think Portland's residents would be onboard with that type of growth especially the locally born and raised segment. Even though both cities have around 20 square land miles to achieve their population counts, Providence has old school BOS/NYC density with over 10,000 people per square mile compared to Portland at just over 3,000. The amount of high rise residential construction that would be required to boost Portland's population from 70,000 to 190,000 would be insurmountable and the infrastructure would have to be greatly improved and expanded. I thing Portland's city population will max out to around 80,000 in the next two decades and would be surprised to see any higher numbers without annexing South Portland, Westbrook or Falmouth which will NEVER happen.

Personally, I think Portland is content to stay in its lane and maintain its status as the largest metropolitan area north of Boston. As far as northern New England, it is the recognized hub with no disrespect to Manchester, probably the most popular "city" for tourism, nationally acclaimed restaurants, excellent transportation network along with AMTRAK and the 4th busiest airport in New England, improving education opportunities with USM and the upcoming Roux campus, and an outstanding arts scene along with a major expansion of the Portland Museum of Art on the horizon and did I mention lobster? However, the one asset that separates Portland from the rest is the gritty waterfront with over a mile of finger piers and wharves that handle everything from lobster boats, container ships, ferries, mega yachts, tankers and cruise ships.

In closing, Portland has no desire to be as large as Worcester, Providence, Springfield, Hartford or New Haven. We have found our niche in the northeast corner of New England and even though our city is far from perfect, it's a pretty cool place to live, work, play and retire. As a proud native it always pleases me to hear such positive comments from previous visitors when I travel abroad and I am never ashamed to answer the "where are you from" question!

 

[Portlander]