Date
10-24-2014
Volume Number
XVI, No.42
Pages
8-10
Abstract
Article describing how a community of Portland residents led a successful grassroots effort to counter the unlawful sale by the city of Congress Square Park to Rockbridge Capital- the owners of the Westin Harborview Hotel (formerly the Eastland Hotel) for the construction of a building extension.
Congress Square Park was created in 1982 through a Federal development grant while the Payson wing of the Portland Museum of Art across the street was being built. The local activists' involvement, including bringing the issue before the Portland City Council and the Maine Supreme Court, along with the creation of the Friends of Congress Square Park, led to a referendum which succeeded in saving the urban park as well as also protecting additional Portland parks.
From the article:
"In an age where more and more spaces are being privatized and communication is increasingly becoming disembodied, it is important to maintain public spaces where anyone can gather."
Subjects
Portland ME, Parks, Public spaces, Congress Square Park, Communities, Activism
Recommended Citation
Lunden, Jennifer, "How to Save a Park : The Citizens Effort to Preserve Congress Square Park." (2014). Maine News Index – Portland Phoenix. 3561.
https://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/news_phoenix/3561