Portland leaders spar over downtown revitalization

Panelists on stage at Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce event

Photo / Renee Cordes Portland Mayor Mark Dion, right, speaking at Thursday's panel discussion organized by the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce around the theme of downtown revitalization.

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By Renee Cordes

When it comes to revitalizing Portland's downtown, Mayor Mark Dion said the city cannot solve everything on its own and called on members of the business community to pitch in.

“If you leave it to us alone, be wary. Be very, very concerned,” he said at Thursday's event organized by the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce. “We are a resource and we are a partner, but leadership is going to have to come out of this room as well.”

More than 350 people registered for the panel discussion, getting this season's “Eggs & Issues” series off to a fiery start around the theme “Downtown is in trouble — what reinvention will take.”

The forum was held amid a time of transition for Maine’s largest city, which continues to grapple with vacant storefronts, vagrancy and concerns over safety and sanitation in the Congress Street corridor.

Dion was joined onstage by Cary Tyson, executive director of Portland Downtown; developer Kevin Bunker, principal at Developers Collaborative; Elizabeth Jones, deputy executive director at the Portland Museum of Art; and moderator Robb Atkinson of MEMIC.

The mayor took umbrage with the term “trouble." Dion said he prefers the term “challenge” when talking about downtown, where the former sheriff has spent many hours walking the streets talking to business owners and unhoused individuals.

“I love this city. I believe in this city, and because I believe I know our work can realize success for all of us,” he said.

Examples of the city’s “good work” to create safer and cleaner spaces include increased patrols and a new community policing office on Monument Square, Dion said. He also gave a shoutout to Portland Downtown’s new Ambassadors for helping the city's cleanup efforts.

'No silver bullet'

“Our folks are out there doing all the things that Public Works couldn’t do because they can’t go on private property,” Tyson explained. “They will pick up needles. They’ll deal with human waste, they take care of graffiti – these are the little things that turn into big things.”

However, he also noted that there’s no single solution to turning the situation around, saying, “There is no silver bullet.”

Offering a developer’s perspective, Bunker highlighted the importance of adding residential density as he aims to do with various "adaptive and reuse" projects, like plans to create affordable housing in an annex of the Time and Temperature building on Monument Square.

“There are a lot of other easier projects and easier opportunities that have less risk,” he said, “but these are the ones that matter."

Nevertheless upbeat about the city’s ability to bounce back from what some are calling an urban “doom loop,” Bunker said that "the good news about the doom loop is that it comes back around.”

He also said that while he feels like “the seeds of recovery are there,” bureaucracy often stands in the way and called on city officials to partner with business “to figure out how to get to yes.”

Making a plug for the PMA’s planned $100 million expansion and for the arts in general as anchors for civic life, Jones said that the addition was intentionally designed to face Congress Street as well as “activate” upper Free Street to better connect the Old Port with the downtown Arts District.

Her ask of the the public sector: “We really need more government support for the arts," she said.

Call for investment

After the event, Quincy Hentzel, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, told Mainebiz she agrees with the panelists that reviving Portland's downtown will require cooperation between the government and private sector.

“We join their voices in calling on the city to welcome investment in Portland and find ways to get to yes with those who want to join in the growth of our community,” she said.