JANUARY 2014
Some West Enders watching the Puppy Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday…Goodwill to
offer weekly job skills program at the Parkside Center…West End Deli moves to
Congress Street…Mesa Verde closes...WENA to sponsor Portland Fire Department
CPR program…West Ender Jodie Lapchick hosted West End NEWS editor on her
WMPG talk show Local Solutions…Lots of new condos being planned for Munjoy
Hill…Hilltop Coffee now open at former Bar Lola site…Local soup maker aims to
make Maine “the soup capital of the world”…Portland’s branch of the NAACP
celebrating 50th anniversary… Lobstermen wanted for new reality TV show…Lita
Morin stuck on the open Casco Bay Bridge…Local physician/playwright/comic Hal
Cohen offered a role in upcoming movie…Munjoy Hill’s Tom Kelley accepted to grad
school in France…Local French Braids going into show business…City Councilor Ed
Suslovic did NOT travel to Greece, lose his wallet there, or need a loan to get back
home…
Guy on a unicycle on Congress Street…Peter Hall back from Eastern Europe and
Suzanne Gagnon back from India…Andy Doukas on his way to Durban, South Africa
to dance aboard the Queen Mary…Local waterfront honcho Phin Sprague lunching at
Becky’s Diner…Scott Scharf just missed seeing the new baby panda bear at the
Washington Zoo…Local YMCA will be open to everyone free until February 7th…
Latest Planning Board meeting lasted nearly 7 hours…Rustic Overtones giving benefit
concert at Maine Med…April Singley treading the boards in Boston’s Porpentine
Player’s production of “A Man for All Seasons”…Kate Suslovic interning at Open
World in DC…Green Party running one-day ‘Campaign School’ at USM…Red Sox’
Jackie Bradley Jr. one of the featured guests at Portland Sea Dogs Hot Stove Dinner…
Bayside Neighborhood Association and Maine Historical Society to study Anshe Sfard
Synagogue, once located in Bayside…East Bayside’s Tandem Coffee Roasters received
Good Food Award in San Francisco…
The Reiche School math team is called The Reiche Denominators…Linda Cohen
honored for public service by SoPo Lions Club…Suzanne Gagnon going to her first
Bollywood movie in India…Governor to lead trade mission to Iceland and UK…
Planning Board OKs first phase of Bayside Midtown project…City may charge ten-
cent fee for plastic grocery bags…Civic Center to re-open February 16th with Home &
Garden Show…Charles Bragdon considering a run for the US Congress… Kimberly
Curry back from her whirlwind trip to Hyderabad, India…Former Mayor Pete
O’Donnell walking the East End Trail…Big Papi giving out hugs on the streets of the
Big Apple... Somebody’s not cleaning up after their dog at the Pleasant Street park…
Local TV personality refers to West End merchant as ‘Queen of the Knuckle
Draggers’…Enterprise Records moving around the corner to Park Street…Pamela
Cragin and friends planted 1,000 mangroves in Guanaja Island swamp…
Couldn’t spot the Aurora Borealis from Pleasant Street…Bayside group looking to
convert Public Works buildings into housing and work space for creative folk… Steve
Hirshon and Colette Bouchard dining at Safari on Washington Avenue…Portland one
of 14 places you should visit in 2014 according to Business Insider…Munjoy Hiller
Christina Feller headed back to East Africa…Baysider Ron Spinella brunching at
Fresh Approach…Judge rules against zoning change for Williston West Church…
MHNO turns 35 this year…Victoria Mansion featured on This Old House…Mayor
Brennan paying his own way on trip to Japan this Spring…Liz McMahon and Hal
Cohen performing improv comedy for First Friday at Children’s Museum…Lisa
Walker in town for New Years from Hanoi, Vietnam…Rosa Noreen moving her dance
studio to the West End…Is Jenny Anastasoff still riding around the county on that
unidentified bus?!…State Rep Diane Russell named Marijuana Woman of the Year by
The Weed Blog…Katie Brown home after brief respite in Florida…Cliff Gallant would
like to see a return of New Years Portland…Hal Cohen headed to Philly for Eagles’
playoff game…Local State Senator and family becoming West Enders…Jarrah, Gypsy,
and Ruby dog-partying on Pleasant Street…Steve Luttrell and Russ Sargent
conferencing in front of Yes Books…David Levi opens his first restaurant, Vinland, in
Congress Square…Bill Cohen to be keynote speaker at Martin Luther King breakfast..
