The Portland Daily Sun, November 16, 2010

Page 1

A great notion

Korean quest

See Bob Higgins on page 4

See Margo Mallar’s food column on page 4

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2010 VOL. 2 NO. 204

Trader Joe’s bag: Cool tote, or tool of certain death?

See Curtis Robinson’s column on page 5

PORTLAND, ME

PORTLAND’S DAILY NEWSPAPER

Evangeline closes as chef’s priorities change

See the story in Locavore, page 6

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699-5801

Riverton fights to save its library ... again Meeting today confronts fears that branch is targeted for closure BY CURTIS ROBINSON THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN

Donna Ryan recalls trudging through snow, asking neighbor after neighbor to sign a petition to keep the Riverton community library open; the facility meant so much to her and Madeline, her infant daughter who loved the Friday story hour.

City cuts developer parking fees

“They’ve been trying for years to close this library.” — Riverton community library patron Donna Ryan In fact, as with many in the community, the library had become a sort of community center, linking her new family with other parents. That was more than 10 years ago. Little “Maddie” is 12. And another petition drive is focused on keeping the library open. The effort is similar to the one

that saved the facility last year. “They’ve been trying for years to close this library,” Ryan said yesterday as she shopped at Moran’s Market on Forest Avenue, adding that she’s signed the current petition and will again work to keep “a real community place” operating. Steve Weigle, branch manager at the Riverton library, might phrase things just a bit differently: He might say “they” have actually been trying to keep the library open for years. see RIVERTON page 8

An artistic rendering of a recent renovation

Vote reduces per-space fee from $10,000 to $5,000 BY CURTIS ROBINSON THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN

Potential commercial development in Portland got a bit easier last night as city councilors reduced parking obligations for new projects. The city has been reviewing parking requirements for months, installing for the first time a chance for developers to pay a fee instead of providing actual parking. That fee was set earlier this year at $10,000 per space not provided. The resulting fee was somewhat controversial because it creates a fund that can be used not only for parking, but for other transit projects like busing or improved bicycle access. Several residents speaking against the fee worried that allowing developers to pay into a see CITY COUNCIL page 3

City Councilor David Marshall, a professional artist, starts working on an acrylic painting of the Via Group marketing building , the recently renovated Baxter Library Building at 619 Congress St. “It’s another building on Congress that I’ve wanted to paint for a long t ime,” Marshall said. He estimated the painting would take 15 to 20 hours to finish. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)

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Series gives authors a chance to see how a work plays live Scratchpad Reading Series No. 4 Tonight at 7 p.m. Mama’s CrowBar, 189 Congress St. Free, 21 plus, cash bar BY MATT DODGE THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN

The Scratchpad Reading Series is a quarterly event which calls on local literary talent to share their unfi nished and unpublished works of fi ction

and non-fiction. Hosted at Mama’s Crow Bar on Munjoy Hill, the series is the creation of writer Mary PhillipsSandy who, in moving to Portland, noticed a lack of such a forum in a town literary events tended to skew toward the poetry and spoken word side of the spectrum. “It occurred to me that if I wanted it to happen I would have to start it myself,” said Phillips-Sandy. As luck would have it, Phillips-Sandy’s plan to

start a local reading series coincided with a change in owner ship at Munjoy Hill’s Mama’s Crow Bar (formerly Awful Annie’s), with Tricia Pryce Henley (the “Mama” of lore) taking charge of the cozy bar at 189 Congress. In taking over the bar, Pryce Henley, a poet active in the local spoken word scene, re-imagined the space as a neighborhood gathering place that reflected the cultural pursuits of today’s Munjoy — see SCRATCHPAD page 12


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