Keeping an eye on Canada See Bob Higgins on page 4
TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2011
Learning to trust and enjoy at the Asian food markets
He dreamed he saw Kim Jong-Il
See The New York Times editorial, page 5
VOL. 3 NO. 39
PORTLAND, ME
See Margo Mallar’s food column on page 6
PORTLAND’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
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Labor mural removed from state office
Mayor: Proposal to hang artwork at Portland City Hall ‘on hold’ BY CASEY CONLEY THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
Last Friday, state Rep. Ben Chipman, I-Portland, predicted somewhat ominously that the newly controversial labor-themed mural hanging at the Department of Labor in Augusta might be gone when the building re-opened Monday. Turns out he was right. The mural depicting images from Maine’s labor history, which hung relatively unnoticed in the building’s lobby for three years before being targeted for removal by Gov. Paul LePage, was nowhere to be found Monday. Adrienne Bennett, a spokesperson for LePage,
Natural gas job to start in Old Port
confirmed that the artwork was taken down, just days after she assured this reporter that the mural would remain on display until a new home was found. “The administration feels that the action taken this weekend was appropriate, and that’s all we are releasing at this time,” Bennett said Monday afternoon. Meanwhile, LePage’s proposal Chipman to “loan” the 36-foot mural to Portland has been met with growing skepticism. At least three city councilors expressed opposition to the
plan, offered Friday as a sort of compromise to keep the artwork in public view. “I believe that the mural is the property of the state and should remain with the state,” said Councilor John Anton. “I think the city and the state together face several common economic challenges and our time would be better spent discussing those.” Councilor Dave Marshall on Monday likened the state’s loan offer to a “Trojan horse.” “The mural should stay as the property of the state and be properly displayed in the Department of Labor,” said Marshall, who attended rallies on see MURAL page 12
Commercial St. is first stop for $64M gas-line upgrade BY DAVID CARKHUFF THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
Early next month, Unitil will start digging up and replacing natural gas lines on Commercial, Market and Exchange streets as it begins a 14-year, $64 million project to upgrade pipelines, officials said. In a nod to potential impact on the city's tourism industry, however, Unitil is pledging to schedule early-morning and evening work when possible and will try to wrap up this season's trenching and paving by May 30 to limit the disruption to Old Port businesses, officials said during a press briefing Monday. Also, the job, sanctioned by the state's Public Utilities Commission and funded by Unitil, will take little bites of the Old Port each year of its 14-year life as the company replaces 113 miles of cast-iron pipe with what they say is safer, sturdier plastic pipe. "In order to keep construction localized, they're going to do a little bit in the downtown area each year and that way they're not completely disrupting all of Portland," said Matt Doughty, local project administrator with the city's Department of Public Services. "The Old Port area, obviously that's one of the busiest places in Portland, there's a lot of tourism," said
During a press conference Monday, Bill Hobart, manager of gas operations in Maine for Unitil, discusses a 14-year, $64 million gas-line replacement job planned in Portland and Westbrook. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)
Bill Hobart, manager of gas operations for Unitil in Maine. "We have strategically sectioned that so we do a small portion of the Old Port each of the 14 years of the project so we don't cause a lot of disruption down in that area." Unitil has been operating the natural gas system since 2008, when the company bought Northern Utilities. During review of the project last summer, the
PUC anticipated a community relations and project management budget of $5.8 million out of a total cost of $64.5 million. It's what Unitil is calling one of the largest natural gas-line replacement efforts ever undertaken in the Northeast. Doughty, the city's liaison on the project, said he will be communicating with business owners as the old pipelines are dug up and replaced. see GAS page 16