Does equality under the law apply to all three options on the Portland Homeless Shelter ballot?
It's not just about the homeless shelter anymore! It's about fairness in the electoral process. Path towards 200-bed Homeless Services Center in Portland clears hurdles following referendum.
Read full storyWhy are social impact investors trying so hard to defeat smaller shelters for the homeless?
"Social Impact” developers in Portland, Maine seek to squelch a referendum for smaller shelters called for by qualified practitioners with concrete experience in the field. A large sign says Vote C to support the Homeless, small handmade sign next to it says Untrue! That sign is paid for by developers who want/ Photo by Jess Falero.
Read full storyThe major role played by Idexx in crafting the Major Business Headquarters Expansion Act
In an advanced era of public-private relationships, private corporations are writing the statutes that create their own benefits. Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Scalable Grid Engine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Read full storyHow Paul LePage codified the global capitalist world order into the Maine statutes
Disclosure: The opinion and analysis presented here are by a layperson, based on an independent study of Maine economic development statutes. In 2018, Amazon was looking for a location for new headquarters.
Read full storyCan non-profit fundraising be used for public education post the enactment of Maine's Industrial Partnerships Act?
Can Fiscal sponsorship be used to advance a free-enterprise-social enterprise movement?. General Provisions:The author of this story is not a lawyer and is offering a layman’s opinion about the law and social justice.
Read full storyPaul LePage's one liner- eliminate the income tax
One of many pieces in a puzzle. What is the larger picture under construction?. Paul LePageGage Skidmore Creative Commons licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Paul LePage is running on eliminating the personal income tax, which accounted for 43% of state revenue in 2020 with sales taxes at 42% and corporate taxes a whopping 6%.
Read full storyMoney flows like water on the Boothbay Peninsula until the water doesn't flow
Let history be the guide in the urban to rural migration. The warnings about the effect of development on the water supply came in seven years ago, before the Botanical Gardens built a parking lot in the watershed, and before a large construction project reconfigured the roads in the center of town, and before Topsham rebuilt its water pumping facility when development on the peninsula was already occurring at a faster than average pace but no one paid much attention to warnings.
Read full storyDeconstructing Workforce Housing in The Martha's Vineyard Model Used by Boothbay Region Housing Trust
Realtors in the Boothbay Region, Debrah Yale, and Cindy Winston have selected the Martha's Vineyard Island Housing Trust as their model for the Boothbay Region Housing Trust. Following the Island Housing Trust's lead, Winston and Churchill have identified "the professional working classes" as the targeted group to be served by the Boothbay Region Housing Trust.
Read full storyThe Future of Work is Remote So What Then is the Future of Housing and Community Development?
Reality check on the rush to develop large-scale workforce housing on the Boothbay Peninsula and Beyond!. Hongkong version of the coveted large-scale workforce housing for the coveted large-scale employers.Skull Kat / Unsplash.
Read full storyPaul LePage And Paul Coulombe's Public-Private Relationship With The Boothbay Peninsula
Governor Paul LePage celebrating Paul Coulombes Boothbay Country Club in the Lincoln County News May 2016 “This is going be to a treasure for years to come, and it’s going to be an attraction for people to come here,” LePage said. “All we have to do now is build a huge hotel so we can get people to come and stay here and play.”
Read full storyHow the Industrial Partnerships Act repurposed public education
In Boothbay Maine, there is a political faction made up of developers, realtors. town leaders, and politicians who are promoting a fifty million dollar school system for the peninsula which has two endangered water supplies and one of the smallest youth populations anywhere in the USA.
Read full storyMarketing of Inevitability in the Boothbay Region
RDS- Rich Developer Syndrome- Where the assumptive power of money trumps common sensibility. After my last Substack post, a rambling rant on the manner in which the Boothbay roundabout was sold to the public, I got to thinking about how local leadership frequently exaggerates the amount of traffic on the peninsula or else projects a continual increase in traffic as if high traffic is a measure of progress, and as if the “progress” they envision is inevitable., and therefore can be superimposed on the present and demands can be made that something needs to be done about the projected future traffic congestion Now!- in the manner of a strategically planned self-fulfilling prophecy.
Read full storyWhy All Towns in Maine Need a Town Charter
Under Maine statutory law. the only power that the inhabitants of a municipality are granted pursuant to the development of the municipality is that "they shall have a voice", identified as public hearings and permission to submit comments to the municipality but the process of submission is left undefined. Public participation stops there, as you shall learn by reading on.
Read full storyThe Hidden Facts of the LePage Years: Part One
Government transparency makes a good talking point. Much of the history of the Lepage administration fell under the radar of the mainstream media, so now that LePage has officially announced that he is running to be Maine's first third-term Governor, after unofficially announcing it as he walked out the door at the end of his second term, it is time to shine some light through the shadows engulfing the LePage legacy.
Read full storyNo Plan? Or Just Not Saying? Boothhbay's Unfunded Fifty-Million-Dollar School. Time to Visualize An Alternative Way.
In the recent Boothbay Register write-up about Boothbay's fifty-million-dollar school project, school board member Bruce MacDonald commented on the missing discussion pertaining to education.
Read full storyEducation Provokes a Culture Clash on the Boothbay Peninsula
Developers push for acceleration but practical ideas take time to crystalize. Man chasing moneyIllustration by mohamedhassan / freerangestock. In Maine, attracting young people to the state is a long-running challenge, especially on the Boothbay Peninsula, the number one baby boomer demographic region in the USA.
Read full storyThe Archaic Life of Fishermen Confronts the Progressives of the Windmill Ecosystem
Quality Rural Lifestyles Threatened by the Advancing Megalopolis. In my hometown of Boothbay, Maine, a consortium of interests, anchored in the public-private state, are installing the first floating windmills in the USA in the waters surrounding nearby Monhegan Island, where the fishermen have been fishing and maintaining the ecological balance for centuries.
Read full storyCan NewsBreak Transform a One Party Town?
There is a new concern about the survival of local news talked about across forums as the shift to online media has affected local news providers just as online has affected everything else.
Read full storyWhat Do Lessons from the Industrial Revolution Have to Tell Us Today?
The nineteenth century influenced the social-political and economic development of human life on earth in vibrant living color. Not! The nineteenth-century industrial revolution produced dreary over-crowded unsanitary conditions for human life, at its best.
Read full storyLewis Mumford, a thinker for the ages tells a tale of cities since the Middle Ages
My Dad often spoke about his admiration for Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 — January 26, 1990) but I had never read Mumford and so when I saw a paper in my email on Lewis Mumford, I downloaded it, which only made me want to read Mumford in his own words.
Read full story