2009 February | Charting Maine’s Future

Help set GrowSmart’s priorities: Take our survey February 24

Filed under GrowSmart Maine news by Kim | 0 comments

In the face of this unprecedented economic downturn and shrinking resources for almost every non-profit, we are reviewing and evaluating our priorities and programs, to ensure that our work is as effective as possible and focused in the areas where GrowSmart Maine can have the greatest impact.

We need your advice and guidance as we decide which activities to continue, which to put on hold, and which to move out of altogether.

Please take five minutes to take our priorities survey, linked below. Your comments are, of course, confidential.

Click here to take the survey.

What’s next for Portland’s working waterfront? February 18

Filed under Planning, Redevelopment by Kim | 0 comments

Boston Globe photo of a tanker on the Maine State Pier
Longshoremen and a tanker on the Maine State Pier. Photo by Fred Field for The Boston Globe.

Portland’s working waterfront has been in the news a lot the past couple of weeks. The Boston Globe published a story on Monday that’s a bit superficial, but it’s a decent enough overview. Better coverage and more details are available from this overview blog post by journalist Colin Woodard, who has been doggedly covering the political and economic developments on Portland’s working waterfront for several years now.

Pier owners would like the city to relax some of its extremely restrictive zoning regulations in order to attract a broader diversity of businesses, reduce maintenance costs, and raise the money they need to repair piers.

How the Crash Will Reshape America February 12

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Richard Florida, the geographer who has championed the “rise of the creative class” and the importance of cities’ and regions’ “quality of place” as an economic development asset, has published a new essay, “How the Crash Will Reshape America,” in the Atlantic magazine. An excerpt:

“Every phase or epoch of capitalism has its own distinct geography, or what economic geographers call the “spatial fix” for the era. The physical character of the economy—the way land is used, the location of homes and businesses, the physical infrastructure that ties everything together—shapes consumption, production, and innovation. As the economy grows and evolves, so too must the landscape.”

In the essay’s introduction, Florida asks “How might various cities and regions fare as the crash of 2008 reverberates into 2009, 2010, and beyond? Which places will be spared the worst pain, and which left permanently scarred?” If you’re interested in Florida’s guesses at the answers to those questions, and his ideas for building a new, more robust economy, I highly encourage you to click here and read the article.

A somewhat related, and also highly recommended item, is yesterday’s Planet Money podcast from NPR, in which reporters Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg explain in easy-to-understand detail what’s wrong with our banking system, and how the new Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner plans to solve the problem. I should probably warn that listening to their explanation, and gaining a better understanding of what’s going on, will probably make you feel fairly pessimistic about the state of our monetary system. But it is excellent reporting, so I still recommend listening:

Planet Money: How to Save A Bank

A graphical view of the proposed stimulus bill February 5

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The Washington Post deserves credit for this graphical breakdown of the House of Representative’s $819 billion stimulus bill, which was passed last week and is now awaiting action from the Senate. Even better, the line chart at the bottom shows how quickly the bill’s various earmarks are expected to be spent:

Action alert: Support a smarter stimulus! February 4

Filed under Quality Places, Uncategorized by Kim | 0 comments

The economic recovery package now under consideration is a tremendous opportunity for Maine to begin building a greener, innovation-driven economy.

GrowSmart Maine is working with the national Transportation for America coalition to support smarter transportation spending, with a greater focus on energy-efficient, non-highway transportation, a “fix it first” approach for road investments, and improved accountability measures across the board.

Please write or call your Senators today!

Click here to send Senators Snowe and Collins a message through our e-advocacy webpages.

Or make a quick phone call, using these talking points:

A “fix it first” policy for our roads will prioritize the repair of existing infrastructure instead of spending billions on new highways we can’t afford to maintain.
The nation’s highways have enormous maintenance backlogs: Maine alone needs over $160 million just to pave existing roads.
The upkeep of our railroads and transit systems is similarly stressed: for instance, Maine’s Downeaster service is delayed on a regular basis thanks to track maintenance issues in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire.
Stronger investments in non-highway infrastructure - our ports, ferries, railroads, and bus systems - will save energy costs for Maine households and improve the efficiency of our transportation networks.
Thanks to their commitment to bipartisanship, Maine’s Senators are in a strong position to demand greater accountability and smarter investments in the stimulus proposal.

Contact information:

Senator Susan Collins
Phone: (202) 224-2523
http://collins.senate.gov/

Senator Olympia Snowe
Phone: (202) 224-5344
http://snowe.senate.gov/

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