To the editor:
Sally Noble’s story on the stalemate in the potential new mega development on the Portland waterfront [WWF Nov. 1007] highlights one of the city’s biggest problems in moving forward generally — the virtual lack of creative leadership and an increasingly ineffective city government. The city only has a decorative “mayor” and no senior elected official to prod the dithering city council to action.
It took well-coordinated citizen action to protect the working waterfront 20 years ago. If the city fathers and developers had had their way the Portland waterfront would be a wall of condo towers and fern bars today. In spite of expert opinion and numerous feasibility studies telling us that the waterfront was commercially dead, the harbor blossomed to new life when its working piers were protected by community inspired legislation.
As a mariner and small business owner in the Old Port, I want to see a successful, thriving project underway. But Casco Bay is not here just to provide a picturesque view from an expensive hotel room. It is up to us as citizens to remind the city fathers and developers that many Mainers still depend on this harbor for their livelihood. Developers also need to remember that tourists come to Maine to experience Maine. They are not looking for more expensive boutiques and antiseptic, overpriced “cuisine.”
The waterfront will continue to change. We need to embrace it and help direct that change. The council members need to make a decision so everyone — fishermen, small businesses, property owners — has an idea of what to expect in the future. And the developer, when chosen, should listen carefully to the harbor community, a community with knowledge that can benefit everyone concerned.
Steve Bunker
China Sea Marine Trading Co.
Portland