“We Print the NEWS So You Don’t Have To!”
Volume 14 Number 3 Portland, Maine September 19 - October 2, 2014
Paving of Deering Oaks Pond Delayed
The City’s Transportation, Sustainability and Energy Committee will delay a project to replace the bottom of Deering Oaks Pond with gravel and concrete to learn more about green options to improve the pond. The 3.5 acre pond near State Street in Deering Oaks Park was created around 1880 from damming tidal flats during a sewer installation on what is now State Street. In recent years the City has worked to improve the pond’s water quality and aesthetics. The primary issues are from fecal coliform, algae blooms and stagnation. At the Committee’s September 17th meeting, the Public Services department recommended that the City use an EPA grant and $500,000 of local funding, on a $1 million project to replace the pond bottom with a combination of gravel and precast concrete blocks. ”We are essentially paving over a wetland,” said Amanda Martin, an Environmental Studies student at USM. Martin became interested in the City’s plans while researching a project on Deering Oaks Pond as a wetland, where birds and other wildlife find food and shelter. The existing pond bottom is too soft to allow city crews to clean it with excavators and other large equipment. In 2010, after years of accumulation, city crews removed 4000 cubic yards of trash, leaves,
“Maybe It Won’t Snow this Winter” Portland’s Director of Public Services Mike Bobinsky answered a barrage of questions at the monthly West End Neighborhood Association meeting on September 10th, some of them having to do with the City’s plans for removing snow from over 120 miles of streets and sidewalks in the city this coming winter. Bobinsky talked about the City’s revised Parking Ban policy which allows car owners to park on some streets while City crews are still clearing other streets. The policy change opened up a number of parking spaces during storms when it was first instituted last winter. More details on the Parking Ban policy can be found on the City’s website. (www.portlandmaine. gov/429/Winter-Operations) Bobinsky also discussed the City’s sidewalk-clearing policies. Property owners are required to clear the sidewalk in front of their properties, providing a 4-foot wide, ice-free path for pedestrians. The City imposes stiff penalties for repeated violators (‘frequent fliers’, Bobinsky calls them) of this policy. “Maybe it won’t snow this winter,” Bobinsky suggested hopefully at the end of the Q&A.
-Ed King
sediment and debris from the pond. In 2013 City crews got an excavator trapped in the pond’s muck. Martin pointed out that if the pond was under Maine DEP jurisdiction that they would require looking at green options, such as vegetation that can soak up metals and pollutants, along with gray options, such as paving. “We haven’t even considered the alternatives and that is what bothers me about this,” said Martin. Friends of Deering Oaks Park supports the project because they think it will improve the algae problem in the pond, but Martin pointed out that some of what is called algae is actually water lentils, or duckweed, an important source of food for the ducks that call the pond home. “I’d like to be assured that we’ve examined other ways to improve the natural ecosystem there,” said Councilor Jon Hinck, a member of the Committee. The committee requested more information on green options to explore if introducing wetland plantings rather than replacing the pond’s bottom will better enhance pond water quality. The question remains, is the pond a fountain or a wetland?
Seagulls near Deering Oaks Pond.
-West End NEWS Photo
USM CUTS WILL BE DECIDED IN FORT KENT
Leaf Blowers Driving West Enders “Crazy” Citing concerns from noise and dust, to clogged sewers and air pollution, some West End residents are asking for a citywide ban on leaf blowers. At the September 10th meeting of the West End Neighborhood Association, residents complained to city staff about leaf blowers and sidewalk sweepers creating a nuisance in their neighborhood. Complaints mostly centered around noise levels. “It’s enough to drive you crazy,” said West Ender Jennifer DeFilipp about early morning leaf blowing. Other concerns included clogged sewers and messy streets caused by the debris that is blown off private property into the public way. Public Services Director Mike Bobinsky suggested that the City’s current regulations on noise and decibel levels might help manage nuisance leaf blowers through a complaint-driven process. West End resident Peter Hall said that if the City is unable or unwilling to regulate leaf blowers, then residents will do so themselves. “If we have to we’ll get signatures and put a petition on the November ballot,” Hall said. According to the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, a national nonprofit, dozens of communities across the country have instituted regulations on leaf blowers. Regulations span from all out bans to partial bans of gasoline-powered blowers. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city ordinance limits the use of leaf blowers to the Spring and Fall seasons between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
-Tony Zeli
Students and faculty held a press conference at USM to urge trustees to meet in Portland before cutting programs. -West End NEWS Photo The University of Maine system will hold an important board of trustees meeting on December 22nd, in Fort Kent. On the agenda at the meeting are program cuts to the University of Southern Maine that include eliminating staff and programs in American and New England Studies, the Arts and Humanities at the Lewiston campus, and Geosciences. Students for USM Future, a group of students and faculty who are fighting the cuts, held a press conference on September 12th, to urge University officials to hold the trustee meeting at USM, where it was originally scheduled. “Students and faculty have a a right to speak,” said Meaghan LaSala, a member of USM Future.
The meeting was originally scheduled to be held in Portland, but in June of this year it was moved to Fort Kent. Dan Demeritt, the director of public affairs for the University, and former director of communications for Gov. LePage, said the meeting was moved for weather considerations. “The decision has been made, and the meeting is going to happen [in Fort Kent],” Demeritt said. “The change was made after students and faculty left for the summer,” noted LaSala. It is more than a five-hour drive to Fort Kent from Portland, but organizers are working to secure a free bus. Search #USMFuture for more information.