WHERE WE THROW ALL THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH.
WHERE WE THROW ALL THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH…
Mike Conkright demonstrates the undulating brick sidewalks of Portland by putting the Mayor in a wheelchair for a tour… Attorney General Janet Mills advises Mainers to screen all calls to avoid scams… The East End’s Print: A Bookstore celebrates its first anniversary, here’s to the written word… Planning Board okays plan to move the Children’s Museum to Thompson’s Point… Portland residents asked to report sightings of stink bugs to Maine Department of Agriculture using this link… Former Mayor Michael Brennan announces run for House District 36… The Inn on Carleton and the West End Inn are each on the market for well over $1 million… Ben Meiklejohn ranks 50th on list of famous UMaine alumni… St. Luke’s gets a new parking lot… City spells ‘Tuedsay’ on parking signs… Press Hotel’s Union Restaurant announces vegan options along with turkey on Thanksgiving… After 1200 shows DJ Steve Hirschon performs his last Thursday morning for WMPG… The Metro bus system provides free rides on Election Day… Clifford Tremblay documents cherry tree blooms in November… On International Stout Day Portland is ranked 9th best city for beer drinkers in America… Bayside Bowl wins architecture and design award for recent renovations…
WHERE WE THROW ALL THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH…
The new Canal Plaza opens with a 17,000-square-foot courtyard and restaurant area… Late October storm takes out a large tree by Mellen Street Market crushing a car and knocking out power for hundreds in Parkside… Economic opportunity nonprofit CEI celebrates its 40th anniversary… Jacqui Deveneau is awarded the 2017 Peace Action Maine Peace Worker Award… Everyone’s wondering who’s behind the new satirical news website New Maine News… Rosemont Market announces new location for Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth… Councilor Pious Ali speaks at a Republican City Committee meeting… City Councilors welcome Leslie Odom Jr. and give him the key to the City for his work in the musical Hamilton, and Wells Lyons must be so jealous… Steven Biel takes a leave of absence from Progressive Portland after sharing an email list with candidate Bree LaCasse… Spencer Thibodeau debates Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Indigenous People’s Day… Spose makes an album in 24 hours… Portland Fire Museum on Spring St hosts an open house… Baxter Boulevard closed to motorists to make way for the 3,500 runners in the Maine Marathon…
WHERE WE THROW ALL THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH…
Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum begins restoration of the last historic narrow gauge railway snowplow… City searches for the perfect 45 to 60-foot tall evergreen, spruce or fir for Monument Square and you can submit your tree online…City Councilor Spencer Thibodeau visits Switzerland and see the Matterhorn… West End photographer Barbara Peacock wins $10,000 Getty Images Editorial Grant for her “American Bedroom” series… TD Bank unplugs Penny Arcade coin-counting machines after a class action suit alleges that the machines were short-changing customers… Robo-ticketing is on its way to downtown streets as enforcement staff get new wireless devices to digitally chalk tires and issue citations directly to the cloud… Plane flies over downtown with a banner supposedly urging Senator Collins to oppose health care repeal… Mayor Strimling helps send off Climate Riders travelling by bicycle from City Hall all the way to the Common Ground Fair in Unity… Former West End school board rep Steven Spring is glad to see the City Council supporting Indigenous People’s Day… Bill Linnell creates a boat-shaped food cart for Cap’N Bill’s Lobster on Commercial Street… The Language Exchange in the Old Port begins its 25th year… Voting for Indie Biz Awards is closed find out in October who the big winners are… Mainely Wraps opens a Portland location across from One City Center… Pat O’Donnell finishes her first scarf for Chase the Chill Knitting and now is tackling a pair of mittens…. Bangor Daily News photojournalist Troy Bennett pens song lyrics, “Back Cove, Not Back Bay”… Hundreds rally in Longfellow Square on Labor Day to support paid sick leave ordinance…
WHERE WE THROW THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH…
Portland Downtown’s Shop for a Cause Day raised $4,500 for the Locker Project to help distribute food at Reiche and other local schools… Water Aerobics class continues every Thursday 8 to 9 am at Reiche pool for only $4.50… Portland Buy Local announces Mary Alice Scott as Executive Director… Penny Stevens demonstrates crocheting for WEN’s Tony Zeli… 75 State Street opens Residents’ Art Gallery on Sundays between 1:30 and 3:30 pm… Portland Paddle leads a solar eclipse kayak tour… Portland Public Library shares eclipse glasses in Monument Square… Portland Monthly Design Director Meaghan Maurice honored as one of FOLIO’s “30 Under 30”… A kitchen fire at Otto Pizza in the Arts District causes water damage and closes the pizzeria for several days… Portland’s first-ever Navy Week begins with a sailor swearing-in led by Mayor Ethan Strimling… Roma Café reopens at Rines Mansion… State Theater begins restoration and illumination of historic marquee… Trattoria Fanny Italian dining on Bramhall Square closes its doors for good… City starts delivering 25,000 new recycling carts and West Enders wonder where to store the giant new containers… Owner-occupied landlords group forms in West End to connect landlords and improve relations with tenants… Marine biologists study habits of great white sharks off the coast of southern Maine…
A jumble of unused rocks becomes Rocky Hill playground feature at Deering Oaks Park… Portland Conservatory of Music launches a new adult concert band open to adults of all ages and experience… Peaks to Portland swim gets a record number of over 500 swimmers… Principal of Falmouth High School Gregg Palmer nominated as new principal of Deering High… Portland Jetport opens a new gallery space with an inaugural exhibit from Bigelow Laboratory featuring huge photographs of the tiniest ocean creatures… Reade Brower of Camden and owner of Press Herald buys Lewiston’s Sun Journal… C-SPAN visits Portland to record the non-fiction literary history of the city to air on BookTV and American History TV the weekend of October 21… Children’s clothing retailer Little on Exchange St. wins first ever Portland Downtown Summer Window Display Contest… Volunteers plant six American Chestnut seedlings at Harbor View Park near Commercial St… Natural Resources Defense Council claims Maine among 15 worst states for smog and pollen… East Enders complain to the City about noise from the Maine State Pier… Justin Alfond says he won’t run for governor in 2018… Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca reports sightings of bright green algal blooms in Back Cove… Parking meter rates go up for the first time in eight years reaching $1.25 per hour… WEN Publisher Tony Zeli elected Secretary of the Board for Portland Buy Local…
City Council begins live streaming their meetings on Facebook Live… Protect Our Neighborhood Schools’ campaign lit encourages bullet voting to fix all four schools including Reiche… Local activist Wells Lyons starts Resistance Enterprises an apparel company selling tshirts with messages of dissent… Homeless Voices for Justice members sit out in Tommy’s Park for the 10th Annual Longest Day of Homelessness Summer Solstice Vigil… Riverside Golf Course locates the first of several bee hives on the course and plans to plant more than 150 pollinator friendly plants and trees… Catholic Charities Maine commemorates the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees on World Refugee Day, held every year on June 20th… Progressive Portland gets behind Portland Protectors and their push for a South Portland-style pesticide ordinance… York Street restaurant Outliers will not reopen and building is for sale for 1.4 million… Family owned department store Renys among those honored by Memic for workplace safety… Deering High begins search for new principal as Ira Waltz retires at the end of the school year… Reiche second graders don hairnets and tour Mercy Hospital’s kitchen at 144 State St… City Hall lit green in support of Paris Agreement… Farm Truck Juice starts a “Pay What You Can” coffee program… Cruise ship season begins with the Grandeur of the Seas and its 2,000 passengers… Old Port retailer Simply Scandinavian celebrates their 19th anniversary… Poll issued by Progressive Portland shows competing school bond questions have about equal support with 58% of Portland voters ready to vote yes for either…
WHERE WE THROW ALL THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH…
South Portland sports bar the Griffin Club is closing after being evicted for potential real estate development in Knightville neighborhood… Hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses converge on Cross Insurance Arena for one of 14 regional conventions… Friends of Casco Bay celebrate 25 years of the Water Quality Monitoring program… and 22 years of service by Citizen Stewards Coordinator Peter Milholland… Chicken parts spilled for a mile along St. John Street cleaned up by offending business and City crews but not before residents get a nose full of fowl odor… Jenny Anastasoff and sweetie Justin find some very interesting litter while volunteering at Harbor View Park… Rosanne Graef celebrates Norwegian Constitution Day at Maine Wildlife Park… Children of Dr. Philip Thompson make a $25,000 donation to the Eastern Trail Alliance “Close the Gap” campaign in his honor… Comic book heroes Spider-Man and Deadpool seen hanging with Slugger the Seadog in Longfellow Square… St. Pius Church on Ocean Avenue begins live streaming Masses seven days a week… Jenn Thompson will relocate with her family to Indiana and Portland Buy Local searches for a new Executive Director… Around 1200 workers got free coffee and goodie bags on Downtown Worker Appreciation Day… Mayor announces first Sunday in May to be Yellow Tulip Hope Day in honor of Mental Health Awareness month… Westgate Shaws runs out of Monopoly game tickets… UMaine Marxists and Socialist Party of Eastern Maine honor workers on May Day at USM… Still a Good Cause thrift store celebrates its first year anniversary with a check to the McAuley Residence for single mothers…
WHERE WE THROW ALL THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH…
Friends of Shinagawa celebrate blooming cherry trees in front of City Hall with Taiko drumming… Wayside Food Programs start a three-day food drive at Whole Foods… Spencer Thibodeau dons a life jacket at City Council and presents a resolution for May’s National Safe Boating Week… Over a thousand March for Science up Congress Street… Several city neighborhoods celebrate Earth Day with April Stool’s Day liter pickups… Eric Poulin continues former WMPG show The People’s Soapbox by offering it through podcast… Nightlife mag Dispatch stops publishing after six years… Crash Barry leads a canna-giveaway in Monument Square at high noon on 4/20… Joe’s Super Variety reopens along with the sidewalk between Vernon Place and Avon Street… Marilyn and Paul Miller stand in line for over an hour to see Bernie Sanders… Reiche ramp demolished so please use the Clark Street entrance to access the community center… April the Giraffe gives birth and then injures her leg, but the injury should be temporary… Easter marks the first reported incident of fireworks in Harborview Park for the season… Lincoln Park rehab work begins and park will be closed for eight weeks… SPACE reopens after a month of renovations with sound, light and acoustic upgrades… Spose launches video game app that features a final battle with Paul LePage… Spencer Thibodeau visits his alma mater Fairfield University home of the Stags… Water Board votes to keep graffiti wall at the sewage treatment plant open to public art… Maine Brew Bus buys out competition and expands fleet to 15 beer buses…A redesigned city website features the photography of Corey Templeton…
WHERE WE THROW ALL THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH…
Mayor Ethan Strimling admits that he is a Giants fan… Former NPR foreign correspondent Annie Avilés chosen to lead Salt Institute for Documentary Studies… A $3,500 check from the Bangor Savings Bank helps to create a Cultural Competency training program for Portland Public Schools’ staff… Kolawole Bankole named city’s new Public Health Director… Holly Seeliger restarts the Portland Green Independent Party… The fifth annual BikeMaine ride has sold out… Vinny O’Malley reminds the neighborhood that the original St. Patrick’s Day parade still leaves from the Irish Heritage Center on the morning of… Former State Senate candidate Asher Platts gives himself a proper 1300’s surf haircut… Maine Board of Pesticides Control finds 14 synthetic pesticides in Portland stormwater… Maine’s only professional opera company PORTopera has changed its name to Opera Maine… Maine Small Business Development Center celebrates 40 years… City crews jump the gun and start spring street sweeping before season’s final snow storms… Lincoln Middle School students perform Pop-up MacBeth during PortFringe theater festival… Heather Sanborn and Mary Allen Lindemann, respective owners of Rising Tide Brewing and Coffee by Design, support $64 million school bond… Dick Stevens is reigning champ of Mexican Train Dominoes at Games & Fun at Reiche Community Room… Joan Grant had one round where she never left the station… S&P updates credit rating for Portland to AA+… Herb Adams reads Paul Revere’s Ride for Longfellow’s 210th birthday…
Correction: In March issue’s Dumpster column, we stated that Jet Video was launching a fundraiser to save its Post Office. This was incorrect. Its Post Office is fine and not going anywhere.
WHERE WE THROW ALL THE STUFF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH…
Ed King works on new book of cartoons entitled Alternative Truths… Maine Airbnb hosts earn $26 million in 2016… Portland hosts 51,241 Airbnb guests… Fernleaf Bakery makes Best of Maine 10 best bakeries in Maine… Health Care is a Human Right Coalition leads march to Susan Collins downtown office to defend the ACA… Fresh Approach celebrates 25 years serving the West End… Chase the Chill warms up Valentine’s Day with free volunteer knitted hats, gloves and scarfs… Snowy Monday causes METRO to suspend service… Wendy Stanley wins One Longfellow Square Night Out raffle… Figgy’s takes a winter break and reopens March 6… Jetport sets all-time record with 1.78 million passengers in 2016… Reader reports Adam Marletta to the FBI for seditious writing… Students from Deering and Portland high schools hold unity events to show solidarity with students from Casco Bay High School after a racially biased assault… Portland Trails launches new mobile trail map with geo-location… Michael Brennan attends new Portland Food Council community party at Fork Food Lab… Masaya Nakamura known as the Father of Pac-Man dies at age of 91…
