Livable Portland News: 09/26/2022

Livable Portland Updates

Happy Fall! We are getting back into the swing of regular meetings. I am scheduling the next one for Thursday, October 6th at 8 PM. Every two weeks may be too frequent but the idea is both are on different days so everyone can come to at least one. There is no need to come to a meeting to get involved. Everything official we discuss will be shared in the Discord and in this Newsletter so please weigh in if you have thoughts and can't make a meeting. We discussed and agreed on a few potential official stances in the last meeting. I will share them here and in the Discord and we can discuss them once more in the next meeting to make sure everyone has had a chance to weigh in!

Official Business

• We are working on refining our proposals from the Re-Code wish list into a cohesive document. The document can be found here. The Re-Code team is working on amendments so now is the time to get our recommendations together.
• In the meeting we expressed support to officially endorse Nathaniel Ferguson in his campaign for District 3. Nathaniel is running on a platform of zoning reform and transit that is totally in line with our goals.
• In the meeting we expressed support to partner with the Franklin Reclamation Authority to advocate for prioritizing the Franklin Street Master Plan. While we would like to see some improvements to the plan, there will be space for those discussions and the existing plan is the best way we can move forward re-doing Franklin Street in the near term.

The Next Two Weeks

Announcements

• On October, 3rd the city will be releasing a survey on the pilot program of placing the foot trucks in the Cutter Street Parking lot. Be sure to be on the lookout for it if you want your voice heard.
• The Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG) is conducting a survey on GP Metro route changes. Be sure to fill it out if you want your voice heard on the new routes.

City Meetings

• Portland Planning Board Meeting on 09/27/2022 at 4:30 PM (Agenda Link, Zoom Link)
  • A workshop to consider the development of a three-unit 1,230 square foot residential building at 31 Forrest Street, in an R-6 Zone. The project plan is available here https://css.portlandmaine.gov/ with reference number PL-002018-2022
  • Public hearing for conditional use for an emergency teen shelter at 343 Cumberland Avenue in a B-3 zone. The full plan can be viewed here https://css.portlandmaine.gov/ under plan number CU-002134-2022.
  • Public hearing for a conditional use for a Health Sciences building at the University of New England's Portland campus at 780 Stevens Avenue in an R-5 zone. The full plan can be viewed here https://css.portlandmaine.gov/ under plan numbers CU-002017-2022 and PL-002015-2022.
• Portland City Council Meeting on 10/04/2022 at 5:00 PM
  • No agenda yet
• Portland Housing & Economic Development Committee Meeting on 10/05/2022 at 5:30 PM
  • No agenda yet
• Historic Preservation Meeting
  • No agenda yet
• Remote Zoning Board of Appeals
  • No agenda yet

The Last Two Weeks

City Meetings

• City Council Meeting
  • It was announced that the Re-Code team is working on drafting amendments and aiming to get them ready by the winter for voting. These will need to be approved by the Planning Board and City Council.
  • Eight new parking spaces with free one hour parking and available for long term parking to people with Island Residential parking passes were added on the south side of a new segment of Thames Street near the new development

Media

• Portland will look for public feedback on Eastern Prom food truck pilot program: Portland Press Herald Article on the Food Truck Survey

• Workers want better, cheaper parking options in downtown Portland: Portland Press Herald Article about downtown workers having difficulty finding street parking

  Editorial: Parking difficulties like this are inevitable when we design our city, and it's surrounding suburbs around the car. Downtown Portland is around 20% parking already, we will never build enough to keep up with the demand for parking cars require. Hopefully, we can work towards solutions to get people from place to place without devoting so much of our land to parking.

• Countering capture in local politics: Evidence from eight field experiments: A Research Paper showing that mobilization of renters can be effective in combatting NIMBYs. 20,000 renter households were randomly assigned to receive emails that encouraged them to participate in city council meetings. The households subsequently provided 8% of total comments in meetings and 46% of pro-housing comments.

• Crossing the Street Shouldn't Be Deadly (but it is): New Not Just Bikes video on crosswalk safety