The Portland Daily Sun, Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Page 1

Overheard question begs for an answer

Coffeehouse typecasting: At least we coffee addicts are indoor users

White House notes Maine in ‘Dr. Zhivago’ plan

See Maggie Knowles on page 4

See Natalie Ladd’s food column on page 4

See Curtis Robinson’s column on page 5

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2011

VOL. 3 NO. 5

PORTLAND, ME

PORTLAND’S DAILY NEWSPAPER

699-5801

FREE

Where Fore art thou? Sculpture or scrap? BY MATT DODGE THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN

People have called it an eyesore, an embarrassment, and even described it as dangerous. Now they’ll have to say goodbye as a controversial landscape sculpture is set to be removed from the city’s public art collection. The city council unanimously voted down a resolution Monday night that would have encouraged the Public Art Committee to consider relocating the “Tracing the Fore” sculpture from its current Boothby Square location to another site in Portland. “I don’t see deaccessioning as a repudiation of public art, I see it as a wide acknowledgement of failure of this piece to succeed in fitting in with its

“If the artist came to us and said ‘we want to get that back’, that’s something that the community and the council could consider. Or we could sell it for scrap and make some money off it that way.” — City Councilor Dave Marshall location,” said councilor John Anton. The city council voted 7-3 in November to remove Shauna Gillies-Smith’s piece. But the search for a

new location began in earnest amongst the art committee when city councilor Dave Marshall suggested the committee draft a resolution to gauge council support for relocation. Monday night, the council met the relocation proposal with a resounding no, unanimously voting not to support the resolution — with councilors citing the $30,000 to $50,000 price tag of such a move as a major deterrent. The art committee will not discuss options for deaccessioning the piece, which include selling the sculpture to a private collector, returning it to the artist or selling it off for scrap. However, the committee will vote on a course of action and see SCULPTURE page 3

Shovelers get a breather as storms abate Today’s cold snap should ease in time for weekend WinteRush BY DAVID CARKHUFF THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN

Nearly a foot of snow has fallen this month so far in Portland, setting the stage for a snowy WinteRush winter festival this weekend. Even with a high of 38 degrees on Monday, 19 inches of snow remains on the ground, according to the National Weather Service. “We’re about a foot above normal right now,” said Mike Kistner, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray. A total of 53.4 inches of snow has fallen in Portland so far this winter, compared with 41.1 inches in a normal year, the weather service reported. Portland has seen 11.1 inches of snow in February so far. A cold front pushing through the area will reverse a recent warming trend, bringing below-zero readings across the board today, Kistner said. Portland will likely see single digits, he predicted. see STORMS page 6

Vincent Aceto clears his roof in Westbrook Saturday, following a series of snowstorms that threatened to cave in roofs across Maine. Acadia Insurance of Westbrook offers the following tips on winter roof maintenance: “‘High-risk areas’ on a rooftop may include: large open flat roofs, barrel roofs, roofs with less than 30 degrees of slope, multi-level roofs, heavily insulated roofs, roofs with previous structural damage and those that have already experienced collapse. It is also important to pay attention to roof areas that are shaded from direct sunlight, which may cause snow to freeze into ice, increasing the snow load.” (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)

Once again, Old Port bar denied liquor license BY CURTIS ROBINSON THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN

For the second time in two years, the city council has rejected liquor license renewal for an Old Port bar that police say is a center for trouble. The bar’s owner counters that he’s just in the middle of it all. “We have real people’s jobs at stake here,” said

Thomas Manning, owner of The Cactus Club on Fore Street. He also argued that his club has been targeted by police and often gets blamed for problems that originate at neighboring night spots. “We are absolutely in the middle of what’s going on there in Old Port,” said Manning, adding that the location means a lot of problems begin elsewhere and end up on his doorstep.

The city first took aim at discontinuing the club’s liquor license in February of 2009 when police outlined a list of problems at the club. During that debate, some councilors questioned police recordkeeping, especially around how “calls for service” are noted. But that license denial was overturned last see BAR page 7


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