Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

Corey said:
Not to steal the whole question from you Pat, but....


Maine's only law school is in Portland is somehow part of USM.

Since I go to the University of Maine (which is in Orono), I can say that it seems to stack up okay as a college town. It is definitely the only thing that the town has going for it. It is a great resource for students and the community alike and both are very dependent on each other. There really isn't anything to do outside of school, even in Bangor which is a 15 minute car ride away. The actual town of Orono is okay looking, I would compare it to Saco or Westbrook's down-towns. It's not really worth going out of your way to visit though.
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Hmm, I guess Burlington, VT really stands out then as the ideal home of a state flagship college in New England, though it seems a little unfair to compare it to the others because they are all smaller towns. Durham, NH is a nice quaint little town, but there really isn't much in terms of nightlife, restaurants. I only drove through Storrs, CT but it didn't look like a particularly hopping place. Kingston, RI probably stands out as the worst in my mind, based on some of my experiences there. I remember staying at a friends dorm and we couldn't even order pizza on a Friday night at 10:30pm, because the few places they had already closed. I was only in Amherst, MA briefly, but from what I've heard it's a relatively decent college town. I always found Conn. strange, because so many of the state colleges are in such struggling cities - Willimantic, New Britain, even Southern in New Haven is located in a rough part of the city.
 
As much as I don't want to, I will have to admit that Burlington is in fact THE ideal college town. Add in all of the students to the resting population and you get 52,000 people crammed into 1/3 of manchester's geographic area (10 s/m) for a 5,000+ ppl/sm density figure.

add to that church street, which is like portlands old port, or something youd find in portsmouth, and you have plenty of tourists as well.

you can order pizza there until 3:30 AM at some places.

the bars close an hour later than they do in portland.

and despite being in the largest "city" in vermont, UVM is still situated on a grassy campus with rolling fields.

I hated it there.

there are also champlain and burlington colleges within the city, plus the med school.
 
Boston is pretty nice college town too :wink: 8)
 
Corey said:
Boston is pretty nice college town too :wink: 8)
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I think of Boston as a college city and Burlington as a college town...to me there is a big difference. Boston clearly has more college life, but in terms of a "college town" that is stereotypically thought of, like one you might see in a teen movie or something, burlington has just about everywhere else beat (save boulder, berkely type places).
 
Terror rules may restrict plan for pier
The city of Portland's plan to transform the Maine State Pier into a platform for mixed-use development may run into an obstacle: federal security rules designed to protect cruise ships from terrorist attacks.

City officials are confident they can win approval. But others worry that the pier's narrow dimensions would make it difficult to provide security for cruise ships while allowing open access to shops, offices and a hotel - uses that the city plans to approve.

The city may have to forgo cruise ships if it wants a hotel on the pier, said Brian Nutter, executive director of the Maine Port Authority.

"A cruise ship demands high security, and a hotel needs open access to visitors," he said. "Those things can be mutually exclusive."

But Jeff Monroe, the city's ports and transportation director, said the project can be designed to allow for different levels of security, much like an airport, with some areas open to the public and others tightly restricted. In the case of the hotel, balconies and open decks would not be allowed on the side that faces ships.

The city is still in the planning stages for the pier, which is now zoned for industrial uses. Officials plan to change the zoning and ask developers to submit proposals. Ocean Properties Ltd., the largest privately held hotel operation and development company in the United States, has shown interest.

Portland officials have yet to talk to the Coast Guard, which will have final say. Any firm that submits a development proposal should "take a hard look up front" at the security issue, said Alan Moore, who handles port security in Portland for the Coast Guard.

The trend nationally is to transform cruise ship terminals into mixed-use facilities. Several ports have such facilities, including Tampa, Fla., and New Orleans. But those sites are much larger than the narrow Maine State Pier and provide more distance between the cruise ships and other uses, typically retail.

In New Orleans, for example, a shopping mall is built on a wharf, but it is located about 120 feet from the cruise ships. In Tampa, retail shops and restaurants are about 90 feet away.

In Portland, there is less room. The entire pier is about 120 feet wide, and there is just 36 feet between the large blue building and the edge of the pier.

The closest U.S. model may be San Diego, where the port authority is redeveloping a cruise ship terminal near downtown. The project calls for building a 125,000-square-foot shopping complex on a wharf that will be only 50 feet from cruise ships.

The project is designed to give people a view of the water while providing a barrier between the public and the ships, said Greg Mueller, a lead designer with Tucker Sadler, a company involved in the project.

Another model is Vancouver, Canada, which 20 years ago built a large finger pier that has a parking deck on the first two floors, a cruise ship terminal on the third floor and office space, a hotel and a convention center on the top floors.

Canada's security rules are similar to the ones put in place by the United States after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Evangeline Englezos, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Port Authority. Her office is located on the pier. Looking out her window, she estimated that the cruise ships are 40 to 50 feet away from her building.

The Coast Guard steps up security restrictions as the nation's risk level increases, and that can pose a challenge for a mixed-use terminal, said Steve Lewis, a consultant for CH2M Hill. The global engineering and construction firm specializes in projects with high security needs, such as airports and ship terminals.

For the Maine State Pier, he said, a developer would have to design the security operations and the facilities so that a response plan operates smoothly when the risk level is stepped up.

"I'm not saying it's easy," he said. "But it's doable."
 
Portland: Zoning change sought for Munjoy Hill condo project

PORTLAND ? Developer Greg Shinberg is seeking a zoning change to build a condominium project at 121-135 Sheridan St., on Munjoy Hill.

He's asking for a conditional zoning change to build a 21-unit condo building next to an existing single-family home, said Alexander Jaegerman, Portland's planning director.

A workshop on the proposal is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 209 of City Hall.

Portland: Portland panel to review city parking requirements

PORTLAND ? City officials are planning to review parking requirements in Portland to see whether new residential construction can more often share parking areas with existing commercial development.

The goal is to make better use of existing parking rather than create more paved areas, said City Councilor James Cloutier, chairman of the community development committee.

Cloutier said his committee also wants to consider future development for public works land in Bayside and 3.5 acres of city-owned land on the eastern waterfront.

Portland: Work on ship terminal to cause detours of traffic

PORTLAND ? The intersection at Commercial and India streets will be closed next week for road work related to construction of the Ocean Gateway cruise-ship terminal, city officials said.

Traffic will be detoured Monday through Friday while crews work on water and natural gas lines. In addition, foot traffic on the Eastern Promenade Trail will be detoured to Fore Street for the duration of the $15 million terminal project, which is scheduled to be finished in late fall 2007.


Neighbors remain concerned over Morrill's Corner project

A proposal to build housing and a Stop & Shop supermarket at Morrill's Corner is still raising concerns among neighbors and Planning Board members.

Several people questioned the developer's plans for addressing pedestrian safety, parking requirements, noise concerns and traffic congestion at the busy intersection of Forest and Allen avenues during a workshop Tuesday evening.

They also questioned part of the 20-acre proposal that would increase the size of the Portland Boxing Club from 14,000 square feet to 42,000 square feet.

"It does not, to me, meet what (it) was zoned for," said board member Shalom Odokara. "I don't see myself voting to approve that."

Packard Development of Newton, Mass., wants to build a 66,000-square-foot supermarket, 20 townhouse-style condominiums, 63,000 square feet of additional retail space with 11 apartments above and a 12-unit apartment complex. The project, known as Morrill's Crossing, would include 7 acres of open space, including a public recreation field and a pedestrian walkway.

The $20 million project, which received special zoning approval from the City Council in 2004, is scheduled for a final public hearing before the Planning Board at 7:30 p.m. July 11. Odokara and other board members asked for additional information before that hearing, which will consider the project's compliance with site plan, subdivision and traffic standards.

Packard's engineers described a variety of street improvements that would be made to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety at the intersection. Those plans include widening travel lanes and sidewalks, improving traffic lights and train-crossing controls and moving the entrance to a nearby apartment complex.

"There's no question their mitigation plan is going to help," said Thomas Erico, Portland's traffic consultant. Erico also called the project's parking plan "sufficient" and noted that the pedestrian-crossing proposal was based on the state's plan for the intersection. Erico recommended a follow-up study to make sure the developer's plan works.

David Roy, who owns Portland Dry Cleaners on Allen Avenue, said he believes the improvements will help traffic in front of his store. "I think it will allow my customers to leave more safely and turn in without holding up traffic," Roy said outside the meeting.

Thomas Johnson, an Albany, N.Y., engineer hired by Hannaford Bros. to help neighbors who oppose the project, questioned whether the proposed widenings are possible given right-of-way limits and sidewalk obstructions.

Peggy McGehee, attorney for the Morrill's Corner Neighborhood Association, questioned the developer's plan to address noise created by the supermarket and whether the project's 697 parking spaces would be enough, especially the 34 spaces for the recreation field.

The City Council granted a special zoning contract for the project in November 2004 and agreed to sell 3.5 acres of city-owned land to the developer for $530,000.

my response:

Dear Portland Press Herald, please stop writing about people who oppose projects, you only give the false perception that everyone is against development, which leads some people, who are like sheep, to follow the crowd, since if everyone else is saying it (thats the false perception) then it must be true. Your paper did the same thing about the boulos tower planned in 2005, which old folks in franklin towers believed would create wind tunnels that would knock them off of their feet as they crossed cumberland avenue. Earth to everyong in maine: two adjacent 17-story towers would not have created a wind tunnel, sorryy. and also, since when have supermarkets been unreasonably noisy, as they are feared to be in this story? Morril's crossing site looks like a dump right now, I for one am for anything that will change that. wake up people, hold the developers to a high standard of construction and traffic improvements, certainly, but DO NOT block this project and lose an opportunity that may not arise again for years.
 
Patrick said:
I hated it there.
Click to expand...

Alright Patrick, I'm going to take a few stabs...

It can get extremely cold there. Pretty isolated, particularly from the rest of NE. A little too hippy, okay a lot too hippy. Long brutal winters make you stir crazy. The whole Vermont superiority complex (which can get soo annoying) Too many dreds, not enough hairbrushes.

So which is it? Am I close?
Thanks for humoring me.

PS- The bar time thing is great. NH is 1 AM which I think is ridiculous - might be part of the reason for all Manch's nightlife problems. What times are VT and ME?
 
University to establish marine research program in Portland

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- The University of Maine plans to start accepting students in 2007 for a new marine research graduate program it's establishing on the Portland waterfront.

The university, whose campus is in Orono, would accept five or six students next year for master's and doctoral-degree candidates in the Portland program, and would expand later to eight to 20 students, said Professor David Townsend, director of UMaine's School of Marine Sciences.

Townsend said he hopes to make UMaine's School of Marine Sciences one of the 10 largest marine research and education programs in the United States.

The school's expanded program will be based at the recently completed Gulf of Maine Research Institute. UMaine has hired two marine science professors, from the University of New Hampshire and Cornell University, who will start setting up the graduate program at the institute in September.

They include Jeffrey Runge, a UNH research professor who specializes in zooplankton ecology and food web dynamics, and Andrew Pershing, Cornell assistant professor who specializes in using computers for biological oceanography.

Townsend said he and UMaine President Robert Kennedy started talking about expanding the School of Marine Sciences five years ago in response to growing interest in the environment, climate change and fisheries preservation.

The program may eventually expand to include undergraduate students and faculty of the University of Southern Maine and the University of Maine at Machias, Townsend said. He noted that UMaine offers the only graduate-level marine science program in the state university system.

UMaine will spend $471,000 to start the program this year and plans to spend more than $200,000 a year after that.

"That kind of money speaks to the commitment that the university has to developing this program in southern Maine," Townsend said. "Our educational interests extend across the state and our marine research interests do as well."

The University of Maine School of Marine Sciences has 55 faculty members, 70 full-time graduate students and 150 undergraduate students. It includes the Darling Marine Center in Walpole and an aquaculture facility in Franklin.
 
Smuttynose said:
Patrick said:
I hated it there.
Click to expand...

Alright Patrick, I'm going to take a few stabs...

It can get extremely cold there. Pretty isolated, particularly from the rest of NE. A little too hippy, okay a lot too hippy. Long brutal winters make you stir crazy. The whole Vermont superiority complex (which can get soo annoying) Too many dreds, not enough hairbrushes.

So which is it? Am I close?
Thanks for humoring me.

PS- The bar time thing is great. NH is 1 AM which I think is ridiculous - might be part of the reason for all Manch's nightlife problems. What times are VT and ME?
Click to expand...

Oh my God its like you hooked into my head and read everything I have thought about vermont for the last 4 years!

have you spent some time there yourself? The biggest one was the vermont superiority complex, which can get MORE than a little annoying, because vermont really isnt anything much at all. sure they have mountains, but there are better ones in new york right next to them...and probably better ones in maine and NH for that matter as well. and not to mention NY NH and ME all have bigger cities too, so VT has nothing going for itself.

it was everything you mentioned.

Burlington bars close at 2:00 AM and Portland bars, like manch bars, close at 1:00AM.

They think this help nightlife but it hurts it tremendously by being the root cause of violent attacks. now we dont have shootings all that often like ive heard manchester does, but we do have regular fist fights, brawls and the occasional stabbings, and some clubs you have to be frisked before you can enter. Vermont has no real security bouncers, and they have no shootings, stabbings, or even fist fights. I have never seen even one.

a few of our bars have late night liscences that let them operate til three, but alcohol stops flowing at one o'clock all the same. I say let people leave on there own, not at a certain closing time, and that way it will be a more gradual process, rather than throwing everyone out into the street, drunk, and close together, which causes havoc.

you mentioned you saw warf street (cobble stones and clubs) when you visited last? well that used to have one more club on it than it did when you saw it, and at 1:00AM there would literally be probably 600-700 people in about a block just nnot knowing what to do and hannging out...then the street sweeper comes through like clock work at like 105AM and pushes everyone even closer together, and then the police have to go arrest someone for busting someone elses head for something dumb that happened in the club. never would happen if the times were later.
 
Portland: Public to get look at details of USM's redesign plans

PORTLAND ? The University of Southern Maine will unveil new details of its campus redesign to the public June 29.

Two separate meetings have been scheduled, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the University Events Room on the seventh floor of the Glickman Family Library. The library is at the corner of Forest Avenue and Bedford Street.

Koetter Kim and Associates architects and other campus design team members will talk about plans for University Commons, the redevelopment of university-owned land between the Abromson Community Education Center and the library. The land is bordered by I-295 and Bedford Street.

The proposal includes a new home for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and the Muskie School of Public Service and the creation of a public promenade.

USM plans to file for permission to build the project later this summer.
 
Waterfront business owners: City pier rezone is unfair

PORTLAND ? A plan to allow no large blue shed that sits on it.

The city worked extensively on rezoning for the area a few years ago, when preparing for the Ocean Gateway project. Rezoning for the Maine State Pier and Ocean Gate, however, were put off last year so the city could concentrate on the Central Waterfront Zone, which some say was a more pressing issue.

Wharf owners were most upset the city?s proposal would allow ?non-marine uses that complement the passenger industry? to be located in the zone, including a hotel. Hotels are prohibited along the rest of the waterfront. The draft rezoning as tinkered with by the CDC allows for up to 35,000 feet of the zone to be used for complimentary businesses which could be retail shops or restaurants. Each business would be limited to 7,000 square feet.

?The Maine State Pier shouldn?t be allowed anything the Waterfront Central Zone can?t have,? said Ken McGowan, the owner of Custom House Wharf. He said the city has slowly taken away his business during the past decade or so, first by offering Casco Bay Lines cheaper rent to relocate and then building the Fish Exchange which lured the fishermen away. McGowan was allowed a zone change a couple years ago which relaxed the amount of space that had to be occupied by marine uses in his buildings. He is required to use the first floor entirely for marine use though.

?People are renting at the pier for $4 a square foot,? he said. ?If I did that I couldn?t pay my taxes.?

Steve DiMillo, whose family owns Long Wharf, said the city should slow down the rezoning process.

?Rushing in to allow a facility I can?t compete with I don?t think is fair,? DiMillo said.

The Planning Board is scheduled to discuss the proposed zoning changes at its meetings June 27 and July 11. It is expected to hold a public hearing and vote on a recommendation at its July 25 public hearing.

The City Council could get the zone proposal as soon as Aug. 7 for a first reading. An item on the June 19 agenda that would bring the city?s Comprehensive Plan in line with the proposed zone changes was unanimously tabled until the Aug. 7 meeting.

Seth Koenig contributed to this report. Kate Bucklin can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 106 or kbucklin@theforecaster.net.
 
Wouldn't have been such a problem had the city got rid of its height restrictions...

City considers fee for developers who opt for fewer parking spaces

By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright ? 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

Developers in Portland may soon be allowed to pay a fee for the right to provide fewer parking spaces than required by zoning.

The city would charge a fee for each space that's not provided and use the money to build public parking garages. City officials have yet to discuss how much the one-time fee would be, but it could be thousands of dollars.

The proposal will be considered in a review of the city's parking requirements, starting in July. The study is meant to address the growing demand for parking and the limited land.

The issue is likely to raise concerns in a city where downtown residents jostle for on-street parking and some people pay more than $100 a month to lease a parking space.

The parking review also will consider ways to encourage shared parking where demand occurs at different times, such as between offices and apartment buildings.

"We want to make sure the development requirements are fair and the best use is made of resources that are scarce and expensive," said City Councilor James Cloutier, chairman of the council's community development committee.

The parking review will include city staff and members of the council's housing and transportation committees. Proposed ordinance changes will be submitted to the full council by the end of the year, Cloutier said.

Fees in lieu of parking are used in many U.S. cities and range from $2,000 to $27,520, according to a 1999 report in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

Under city zoning, developers must provide a certain number of parking spaces per apartment or condominium in multifamily projects and per square foot in commercial projects. The number of spaces depends on the size and location of a development. Downtown zoning requires at least one space per dwelling unit.

The city is reviewing parking regulations, in part because the cost to build and operate parking garages is skyrocketing with the price of concrete and steel, said Jack Lufkin, Portland's economic development director. The going rate in Portland is $18,000 to $21,000 per space to build and $150 per month per space to operate a new garage, Lufkin said.

As a result, city officials have been asked to allow fewer parking spaces than required by zoning with several recent commercial and residential developments. They include a proposed student housing project on Marginal Way that would share 100 spaces at night and on weekends in the parking garage of an office building to be built next door.

More recently, a 27-unit condominium proposal for a city-owned lot at Danforth and High streets would have 15 parking spaces that would sell for $10,000 to $15,000 each.

Godfrey Wood, head of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, said his organization would support a coordinated look at how parking can be improved.

"Especially if we can relax parking requirements to encourage development, and as long as there are provisions for parking alternatives," Wood said.

He pointed out that many parking areas are used extensively during the day and sit empty at night.

David Cowie said he thinks building more parking garages in Portland is a bad idea. Cowie is a board member of the neighborhood group on Munjoy Hill, one of the city's more congested downtown neighborhoods.

He believes city officials should seek ways to encourage greater use of public transportation, such as providing shuttle service from the outskirts of Portland to reduce the number of vehicles downtown. He sees little benefit in allowing developers to build less parking if the city builds more parking elsewhere.

"We're playing a zero-sum game," Cowie said. "Building parking is ridiculous."
 
thanks for sharing, S-roll. I think its stupid to charge for not building parking spaces, because what if ti costs the same amount it would have to build the damn garage that much bigger? in the end its not much of a win for developers, if at all, and we all know the city doesnt know what to do with money it gets (libra arena). i think parking should be up to the developer, because if they think they can sell a unit with no parking, it should be their own gamble, as they will be the ones to benefit or lose from it.
 
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Some new renovation pics, finally, of the building that the new The Skinny will be in. God damn they've been dilly dallying with this project for like two years. Must mean they are serious now though on getting it done. The hipster black framed weezer glasses college of art roll your own cigarette people will be excited. Basically 95 % of the under 40 crowd on Congress st and downtown. "Ohhh, that is like, sooooo, like, random...we were like at this party...and like, I was like ohhhhhhh, let's go to the White Heart so we can smoke out in front of it. We'll like hit up Geno's like later....ohhhhhh. We can like check out an indie movie on Exchange st. and grab a coff at Breaking new grounds before."

Damn I hate our absurdly large population of hippie hipster wanna be dufus underground open hip hop indie night, subaru driving, weenies. Still excited to get the Skinny back though.

http://www.theskinnyspace.com/photos.html
 
grittys457 said:
Damn I hate our absurdly large population of hippie hipster wanna be dufus underground open hip hop indie night, subaru driving, weenies. Still excited to get the Skinny back though.

http://www.theskinnyspace.com/photos.html
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gritty's --

you have no clue what it is like to live in a hippy town. Portland and portsmouth type places attract some yuppies, for sure, but you aint seen nothin until you have lived in borthern vermont. Burlington is terrible when it comes to hippies. at least people here where shoes. there they walk around with walking staffs, no shoes, peter pan pants, dogs with no leash, and coffe mugs that say "the workers who picked these beans were paid a livable wage." there are camp outs in the city for livable wages where people pitch tents and everything. like i said, you aint seen nothing yet.
 
They are turning the post office into offices. Yeah yeah im sure it is historic, but nobody asked me if i wanted it preserved. would have much rather seen it torn down and become part of the bayside redevelopment plan with mid rise structures on that lot. it might as well have just stayed the damn post office cause now i still have to look at it but it no longer brings me any convenience.


Huge postal center set to open on July 8


A massive mail plant is set to open in Scarborough in a couple of weeks, a culmination of the U.S. Postal Service's effort nearly 10-year effort to consolidate the area's mail processing and distribution in a larger space.

The 429,000-square-foot facility - the size of about 7 1/2 football fields - stands on a 51-acre site near the South Portland border. The center is expected to employ more than 600 people who will handle all mail for southern and central Maine. It opens July 8.

The $82 million project brings together operations from the facility on Forest Avenue in Portland and satellite operations. The 275,000-square-foot Forest Avenue location will be renovated for district administrative offices now on Riverside Street and letter carriers in various locations.

The opening of the new center - considered mid-size and typical for many major Northeastern cities - comes at the end of a long road marked by delay and a battle between the Portland and Lewiston-Auburn areas about which would host the facility.

"I think it's been a good process. We should all be proud of what's opening in our backyard," said Godfrey Wood, chief executive officer of the Portland Regional Chamber, which was involved in the fight to keep the center in the Portland area. "I think it's good for the entire region."

In 1996, a search for a new site began after a report found the Forest Avenue facility was 40 percent too small.

Three locations in Greater Portland were announced as finalists the next year. But by the summer of 1998, the Lewiston-Auburn area emerged as a contender as well.

Scarborough was chosen in 2000. Budget constraints and security issues after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks delayed work on the project for several years.

Members of Maine's congressional delegation, who became involved in the process after employees who faced a longer commute campaigned against moving to the Lewiston-Auburn area, applauded the plant's opening.

In a statement, Sen. Olympia Snowe praised the plant as an "innovative and technologically sound" plant that will improve service and do justice to postal employees.

Hundreds of employees have waited years for the opening, Sen. Susan Collins said in a statement. Collins said that during the budget-related delays, she expressed her concerns to Postmaster General John Potter, who assured her the facility remained a top priority.

"I am pleased that that promise will soon be fulfilled when the Scarborough facility is finally online," said Collins, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Postal Service.

Mail processing and distribution operations have long outgrown the Forest Avenue facility, which handled about 1.1 billion pieces of mail last year. The facility, built in 1933, nearly tripled in size in 1963. Satellite locations were added in the early 1990s, said Tom Rizzo, a spokesman for the district of Maine.

Consolidation allows a more efficient layout of current and anticipated equipment, which will smooth mail flow and hold down mail processing costs, Rizzo said. The relocation also is expected to relieve traffic congestion around the Forest Avenue facility and provide more room for mail trucks, he said.

The location near the highways is expected to reduce weather-related transportation delays in mail delivery, he said.

Scott Adams, president of Local 458 of the American Postal Workers Union, said the move was needed, but the excitement workers should feel about the new facility is overshadowed by fears about their assignments and schedules, which had not yet been announced, he said.

While no one will be laid off because of the move, some may have to work different jobs and hours, Adams said. He expected fewer driver and clerk spots in Scarborough.

"Everybody's got this 'What's going to happen to me?' attitude," Adams said.

Although the Postal Service pays no property taxes and the new center needs no additional employees, civic and government leaders see an economic benefit.

Scarborough Town Manager Ron Owens and Wood said the number of employees will help support nearby businesses such as retail shops and restaurants. The center is near Scarborough Gallery, a new shopping center anchored by a Lowe's and a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Owens said the facility, located in the W.C. Neilsen business park, also may help attract business to the area.

Collins said construction jobs already have boosted the local economy and that the Postal Service is expected to award about $6 million a year in contracts to local vendors.
 
Ahhh Patrick, you must read exactly what I said. The hippies are not here in Portland. The hippie hipster dufuses are. The plain old Phishhead hippies have been away for a while now. Now it's the shirt with some random shit on it, retro sneaks, corduroy pants(left over from regular hippie era), framed glasses stolen from the emo crowd, hair as messy as possible, girls wearing mismatched clothes riding old style bikes with baskets, nose ringed, getting breakfast at Big Mama's or Marcy's cause it's dirty, going to Geno's/White Heart/Amigo's, and last but not least rippin' cancer sticks till the cows come home.

Honest to God, is the overall smoking rate in Portland like 97%?
How many freaking heaters can one city's population burn through? I always laugh at these hipster dufuses, because they are like sooo like pro the environment, like save mother earth,.... but they treat their own bodies like a freaking toxic dump. Rippin butts, smoking the reef, chugging PBR tall cans, eating at Granny Burritos, not exercising(minus of course hacky sacking and ultimate frisbie).

And I know you are free to share your personal views, but you can limit your car to like say, five or ten bumper stickers? I mean, I could walk now and find in a few minutes at least 5 cars that have at least 10 or 20 bumper stickers on them. Yes yes, I know you don't like Bush. But you should like your car. In Boston I don't see these cars plastered with stickers. I'll see a car with one Kerry sticker on it. Even one "W with the line through it" should cover all the bases if that's how you feel. Free Tibet? Gee, I never thought of that until I read the sticker on your shitty volvo. I'll get right on that.

I feel better now.
 
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