March 2009

By Carol McCracken

Even though its’ more than a month away, the organizer of the East End Neighborhood Cleanup, would like you to save the date for that important community activity.

Jill Sady has announced that on Saturday, May 2 there will be a neighborhood cleanup that will run from 9:00 a.m. until noon. She asks participants to: meet by the east end beach parking lot, bring a pair of gloves, spread the word and come – rain or shine!

It’s expected that because of the 17th Annual April Stools Day occurring on Saturday, April 4 (see previous announcement) that all the poop will be gone and there will be none of that to pick up!

If you have questions, please email Jill at jillsady@gmail.com

IN THE MEANTIME, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! A LARGE TURNOUT WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

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By Carol McCracken

“Water warriors” they call themselves. Over fifty of them celebrated United Nations Water Day at the North Star Café this past Sunday afternoon. It was an opportune time to bring water concerns to the attention of people from all over the State of Maine.

One group of the water warriors hailed from the southern part of Maine. Last fall they’d undergone a very scary experience concerning their water supply. They wanted to tell others about it as well as rally the troops for the next battle. Nestle Co. will be back, they say. Nestle Co. owns the Poland Spring Water Company.

Last fall, just days before a contract was to be signed between Nestle Co. and KK&W Water Co., the water company that is chartered to serve parts of York County, Jamilla El Shafer discovered what was about to go down. The two companies were about to sign a contract with no public knowledge. It was a very flawed contract between both parties, said Lynn Williams, of Bar Harbor, who is an attorney. Among other problems, it was a 50 year contract which would have been hard to get out of. Opposition was strong. The contract didn’t get signed.

Nestle Co. will be back in York County looking to expand their water business the activists concede. “Our state is precious cause we have a lot of natural resources,” said Shafer. “We need to protect our natural resources.”

“Nestle Co. has an unquenchable desire to pump water from our communities,” said Cynthia Howard, an architect from Biddeford Pool. Part of her community would have been impacted by the new contract had it gone through last fall. “We are still getting educated about this. We are more active cause we’ve been threatened. “It’s a real David & Goliath battle,” she added.

Lynn Williams, is a registered candidate as a Green candidate for Maine Governor in 2010.

Please visit www.SOH20.org

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By Carol McCracken

The Peaks Island Council, (“PIC) unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday evening, March 25 supporting the testing of the wind to see if a wind turbine on the Island is justified. The resolution was put forth by the Peaks Island Energy & Action Team, (“PEAT”).

Ultimately, PEAT hopes the Portland City Council will approve the resolution as well. That could pave the way for the City to forgive the 35 ft. height restriction on the Island in this case. “We thank Energy & Environmental Sustainability Committee chair, David Marshall, for his assistance with these procedural matters,” said Sam Saltonstall, a spokesperson for PEAT in a press release.

It appears that the Trott-Littlejohn Park will be the testing site for the wind tower. There are no easements on this City owned land. Unity College hopes to have the tower in place by this summer. The data collected after a year will be analyzed, free of cost. If the potential for wind power is good it could then be matched to several turbines of similar size to determine which turbine can produce the most power given the results of the tests. The analysis will be provided by Unity as it trains its students for careers in the wind power industry.

Finally, the tower would be supported by guy wires which come down to four points where they are anchored into the ground. “We are aware that Trott is used for hiking and skiing during the winter and would like to hear from you if you have specific concerns about the tower so that we can try to factor those into the siting process,” said Sam.

Please call Sam on Peaks Island at 899-0922. if you have questions about the proposed wind power testing on Peaks Island.

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By Carol McCracken

That the Eastern Cemetery, 224-246 Congress Street is Portland’s oldest cemetery?

It was established in 1668 and is registered on the National Register of Historic Places. The oldest headstone is dated 1717. The cemetery bordered the early settlement whose center was on India Street. Many noteworthy citizens are buried here as well as four black American Revolutionary War soldiers. There is a memorial there to Alonzo P. Stinson, the first city volunteer to die in the Civil War which was erected in 1908. Bordering the cemetery on the Mountfort Street side and on the Federal Street side is an impressive granite restraining wall. It was built to continue Federal Street to Mountfort Street and beyond to Adams Street. A portion of Adams Street was eliminated along with other streets in the area to create the Munjoy South housing community in the 1960’s.

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