General Portland Discussion

Portland is gong to need to build new housing because there is going to be a major influx of people out of Trump states looking for peace of mind and state governments that still believe in education, medicine and science. This might be an opportunity for Maine to increase its population with younger transplants and families.
 
Portlander said:
Portland being a "de facto" suburb of Boston (107 miles apart) is my favorite! So that means that Hartford (100 miles) and Springfield (90 miles) are also Boston suburbs and Philadelphia must be a "de facto" suburb of New York being 94 miles apart? This site would be far less entertaining without our friend TC! :)
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Some companies used Census CBSAs to demarcate compensation. The NYC CBSA has one county in NE Pennsylvania and all of Long Island, but nothing in CT. Folks are much more likely to be coming from CT than that one PA county.
 
Portlander said:
Portland being a "de facto" suburb of Boston (107 miles apart) is my favorite! So that means that Hartford (100 miles) and Springfield (90 miles) are also Boston suburbs and Philadelphia must be a "de facto" suburb of New York being 94 miles apart? This site would be far less entertaining without our friend TC! :)
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When a small city with significantly less to offer is relatively close to a much larger one (90 minutes drive now from Portland to Boston), people will travel there for many reasons. Remember, before there was Fore Street and a few other restaurants, and the Sea Dogs, there was little if anything to do in Portland. And work there, then? At Jordan's Meats? Porteous? Springfield and Hartford don't offer direct train service to Boston (as a backup). And why would someone in a city of over 2 million (Philly) need to travel to another on a daily basis? The owner of Hardshore Distilling in Portland said that to me, that Portland is a suburb of Boston. He's originally from Brooklyn. Nice guy. Smart too. True, things are getting better in Portland with Roux and a focus on education, so that's good. But USM in Portland needs to go up another level or two to really make an impact. It needs to be a "beast" of a school. Boston is on the way or already is the top city in the world for tech and education. It has earned its nickname, "The Hub." It's also the most expensive place to live in the country now (for the good kind of reason--it's desirable). I'm planning a physical office there in the not too distant future. Go walk around in Back Bay, downtown, Cambridge, and The Seaport. And don't worry, you won't have to walk over or around zombie drug addicts in the key parts of the city like we do in Portland. The intellectual and powerful "illuminati" in Boston will toss out city leadership, if so.
 
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TC_zoid said:
The owner of Hardshore Distilling in Portland said that to me, that Portland is a suburb of Boston. He's originally from Brooklyn. Nice guy. Smart too.
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Until you or your distilling bro become the director of the Office of Management and Budget I'm going to stick to the factual world and not the de facto orbit you operation in. Portland is far less reliant on Boston than it was in years past as evidenced by many of your previous posts touting the evolution of Maine's largest city. People from Philadelphia (2M) do travel to NYC (7M) for greater opportunities just like Portlanders travel to Boston, but it does not make them suburbs in any stretch of the imagination. Using your logic, Hartford and Springfield must be suburbs of NYC because they are connected by AMTRAK? Now, maybe in a few decades if demographic and population shifts occur and Boston's CSA map is extended north to include Portland then I will buy you a drink if I'm still alive. A 90 minute drive from downtown Portland to downtown Boston, maybe in the cover of darkness or a hovercraft from the Jetson's!
 
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Portlander said:
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Until you or your distilling bro become the director of the Office of Management and Budget I'm going to stick to the factual world and not the de facto orbit you operation in. Portland is far less reliant on Boston than it was in years past as evidenced by many of your previous posts touting the evolution of Maine's largest city. People from Philadelphia (2M) do travel to NYC (7M) for greater opportunities just like Portlanders travel to Boston, but it does not make them suburbs in any stretch of the imagination. Using your logic, Hartford and Springfield must be suburbs of NYC because they are connected by AMTRAK? Now, maybe in a few decades if demographic and population shifts occur and Boston's CSA map is extended north to include Portland then I will buy you a drink if I'm still alive. A 90 minute drive from downtown Portland to downtown Boston, maybe in the cover of darkness or a hovercraft from the Jetson's!
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Ha! Concord Coach last month from the Portland station to half-way across the Mystic River bridge--91 minutes. I checked my phone--more than de facto, but actual. I'm not talking about grandma in her Subaru. Follow the Boston arch blog and you will see what is happening in Boston. It's kind of scary, but the good kind of one. More and more connections with Portland and Boston will be made in the coming years, and the work focus is Boston. I know someone who commutes from Wells to Boston on the Downeaster, and was told some UNE grad students do a few days a week from Saco to Boston for internships--they have housing a few hundred feet away from the station. And you don't have to commute every day to Boston with today's more flexible schedules and work efficiencies. I'm sorry, but I do love Portland, but Boston is so far ahead of Portland in so many ways, or if you take the time to research them. It's my anchor now with Saco when I'm in town. Portland is a great place to go out to eat and drink. But watch out for the zombie drug addicts. I don't seem them in Boston, or in the key parts of the city. Fix it.
 
I love the Downeaster, but it's the drug train for a reason from Lowell and Haverhill. I have seen some interesting zombie drug addicts get on... as with greyhound from South Station
 
TC, we are on the same page on many issues. I do follow the Boston arch blog and have mad respect for the "hub of the universe" and all it has to offer and it would be my top choice if I were to choose to live in a large city. I personally have never compared Portland to Boston in any capacity, it would be like comparing Portland to Presque Isle when it comes to dining, entertainment, sports, transportation, shopping, medical and cultural opportunities. Will keep an eye out for those zombie drug addicts on Congress Street! :)
 
In Manhattan (NYC) now, some or many hi-rise office buildings are undergoing conversions to housing. I don't think anyone can see the downtown core along Congress Street coming back to office space, condos or hotel with the present miscreants and drug addicts. However, put together an incentive partnership with key developers to convert the Time & Temp and Fidelity Trust buildings, then head down for more buildings until stopping at Congress Square. UNE, MECA, more USM students, Univ of Maine Law & Business, and now all those upcoming Roux students could be housed here. The schools all have their own security, so anyone unwelcomed will be harassed until they leave. Private security is the way to go--they don't hold back. This way, the city core on Congress Street stays vibrant--maybe even reaching a peak. It wasn't that long ago that MECA and First Friday made this area truly sing. I don't see this area becoming better without conversions to some type of energetic residential. Architecture changes because people do. Fix the city.
 
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I'm counting 7 large yachts in the harbor at this moment (6 at Fore Points Marina and 1 at DiMillos). Someone still likes it here. Let's make America, I mean Portland, great again--all over, not just down at the waterfront and Old Port.

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Portlander said:
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Until you or your distilling bro become the director of the Office of Management and Budget I'm going to stick to the factual world and not the de facto orbit you operation in. Portland is far less reliant on Boston than it was in years past as evidenced by many of your previous posts touting the evolution of Maine's largest city. People from Philadelphia (2M) do travel to NYC (7M) for greater opportunities just like Portlanders travel to Boston, but it does not make them suburbs in any stretch of the imagination. Using your logic, Hartford and Springfield must be suburbs of NYC because they are connected by AMTRAK? Now, maybe in a few decades if demographic and population shifts occur and Boston's CSA map is extended north to include Portland then I will buy you a drink if I'm still alive. A 90 minute drive from downtown Portland to downtown Boston, maybe in the cover of darkness or a hovercraft from the Jetson's!
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Laconia, NH is a suburb of Boston but not Kittery, ME? 😂😂😂
 
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