February 2010

By Carol McCracken (Post # 398)

The city’s planning board has just announced that it will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, February 23 at 3 pm to continue its on-going discussion of the
proposed changes to the WCZ on the Portland waterfront. The meeting will be held in Room 209, 2nd floor of the city hall.
Public comment will be taken at the time.

The proposed changes to the waterfront central zone (“WCZ”) were initiated by a coalition of 11 wharf owners last October. The proposal calls for a relaxation of regulations in the city’s comprehensive plan. The three individuals representing the coalition are Steve DiMillo, Charlie Poole and Dick Ingalls.

This meeting is in preparation for the two public forums on March 2 and March 3 at Merrill Auditorium, Myrtle Street entrance.

For more, please contact Bill Needelman, senior planner, at wbn@portlandmaine.gov.

For more background information, please see previous Post # 396, posted on February 16th.

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Leonard Cummings, David Paul & Arron Sturgis at Abyssinian Press Conference

Today was another milestone in the restoration of the Abyssinian Meetinghouse on the southern side of the Hill. Leonard Cummings, president of the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian and David Paul, its treasurer, issued the good news jointly: the Committee has received an additional $50,000 from the 1772 Foundation, Connecticut, to restore the exterior walls of the historic building. That work will not begin, however, until the replacement of the roof has been completed. The joint statement was made this morning at a press conference at the Newbury Street location.

According to Paul, who grew up on the Hill, the Foundation has already contributed $150,000 over the last 3 years to the restoration of the Meetinghouse. However, much more is needed to complete the project. Thanks to the National Trust for Historic Restoration, Boston, “we have been linked to about 30 other historic African-American sites in the United States. Soon, we can all go on a Google tour through the northeast,” Cummings said.

Arron Sturgis, owner of Preservation Timber Framing, Berwick, said that his company’s restoration work has demonstrated that the buiding was constructed by extremely talented craftsmen. It’s also an extremely sturdy building having survived fires and exposure to all kinds of weather.”

Cummings said that the Abyssinian is being rebuilt by federal, state and city funds so that it belongs to the entire community. His vision is that concerts, lectures, performances and academic pursuits be headquartered at the Meetinghouse when it’s completed. “It’s unique because we are a minority program,” Cummings said.

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Steve DiMillo, Charlie Poole and Dick Ingalls at a planning board meeting last fall

The City of Portland has announced there will be two public forums next month to garner public feedback on the possible relaxation of the city’s zoning ordinance for the “WCZ” of the waterfront. The first forum will be held on March 2, from 7 pm until 9 pm at the Merrill Auditoirium Rehearsal Hall, Myrtle Street entrance. The second forum will be held on March 3, same time and same place. “WCZ” is the waterfront central zone and runs from the Maine State Pier to the International Port at the other end of Commercial Street.

These two forums are a continuation of a process begun last fall when three representatives of a coalition of eleven wharf owners began looking for more flexibility in the city’s ordinance as to whom they can rent to and whom they can’t rent their property to. At that time, Bill Needleham, presented a detailed process that was to have begun last month for this review to take place. Also, at the time, then planning board chair, David Silk, said such requests for changes would require a complete review of the city’s comphrehensive plan. Last October, then planning board vice chair and current chair, Bill Hall, said he believed that “some changes are needed” in the ordinance. The three representatives of the coalition last fall were Steve DiMillo, DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant & Marina, Charlie Poole whose family owns Union Wharf and Dick Ingalls, former chairman of the Harbor Commission.

The current zoning ordinance prevents owners from renting ground floors of buildings to non-marine businesses, allows only commercial docking space at the wharfs and requires parking on the piers for new developments and businesses. (The current ban on hotels and condominiums would remain under the proposed text amendment of the “WCZ” coalition.) That ordinance was passed seventeen years ago to protect the waterfront from hotel and condominium development. Specifically, it was in response to the building of the condo, Chandler’s near DiMillo’s Restaurant.

Whether or not to develop the waterfront and to what extent has long been a controversial subject for many residing on the Hill.

Last fall Steve DiMillo expressed frustration as to how slow this process has been. “However, the city’s planning office staff has been really great to work with,” he said earlier today.

For more background information, please visit post # 336, dated November 25th, post # 320, dated November 6th and post # 312, dated October 28th.

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Frm. State Senator Anne Rand Calls For Good Business Practices by the Owner of the Front Room

Protestors, led by former State Senator Anne Rand, stood quietly outside the Front Room restaurant on the Hill at lunchtime today as Valentine’s Day diners inside the controversial eatery enjoyed a holiday lunch. The dozen or so protestors held signs asking for overtime pay, justice and for the owner, Harding Smith, to meet with the Restaurants Opportunities Center of Maine to try and resolve the “bad business practices” of which Smith has been accused.

Meanwhile, Front Room bar tender Bob Murphy, sat on a barstool at the front door of the restaurant passing out copies of a letter to the editor in which he and others defended Smith’s business practices. The letter appeared in the “Portland Press Herald” on January 11th. “I’m sick of this (expl. deleted) ROC group bothering our customers,” Murphy said before re-entering the restaurant.

“We are not trying to hurt his business,” said Rand. “This is not a boycott. We just want Mr. Smith to sit down with us and try to resolve the issues laid out in the complaint. We want to highlight the greatness of our restaurants and the skilled workers who work in them. March is restaurant month and there are some planned events to emphasize the great workforce in our restaurants,” Rand added. The ROC group stayed for almost an hour.

Inside the crowded restaurant where MHN ate lunch, most of the customers seemed oblivious to the protestors. Bruce Frick, Yarmouth, said: “There are two sides to every story. I don’t know all the facts, but I would believe that it is important to give both sides a fair chance to be heard. However, I wouldn’ stop eating at the Front Room.” When he tipped his waitress, he quipped with her over whether he should leave cash or not, to be certain she doesn’t get ripped off by management. When MHN left, there was a line waiting to be seated.

The Restaurant Opportunities of Maine filed a complaint on behalf of a number of defendans in the U.S. District Court here in Portland in early January. Charles Eislinger, Pierce Atwood, has filed an appearance on behalf of his client, Smith. Smith also owns two other popular restaurans in the area: The Corner Room and the Grill Room.

For background information on the subject please read post # 368, dated January 9th and post # 365, dated January 7th.

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