Portland, Maine: A ‘Walkable’ but ‘Seatable’ City?

 

An Analysis of the Public Seating Available in Portland and Policy Suggestions to Increase Public Seating for the Common Good

 

 

Jackie Sullivan

December 17, 2014

 

 

Research Question

 

One of the most highly valued yet often underrated experiences of a city is sitting in a public area and watching the world pass by. This experience is very telling of the culture of a city, and is not always observable by walking or driving. Sitting in a public place can be an activity for tourists, residents, and commuters alike, always offering a refreshing perspective. In order to increase the usage, accessibility, and efficiency of public space throughout Portland, I propose a policy that will increase public seating to make public space more accessible to all. Although a simple proposition, it is extremely significant and can have amplified effects for the culture of the city. Not only will this encourage people to occupy public spaces more often, increased public seating will also foster a sense of community. Portland will become a city of sitting, enjoying, observing, and absorbing, and will not be for the passerby’s. In order to implement this proposal into the idea of the smart city, becoming increasingly relevant with technological growth, I propose implementing seating with warming features. This will allow people to continue to take advantage of public space during the cold winter months, and will create a greater sense of community throughout Portland all year long.

 

Approach to the Common Good for the City

 

Significant policy recommendations for Portland must be applicable to the common good. The common good can easily be promoted through public space and can be simplified to embody equal accessibility to all. Available public seating is an important component of accessibility. Although Portland is fairly walkable, a technical definition of “walkability” includes components of physical access, proximity, and places.[1] It has been shown that people are willing to make tradeoffs between house size and price for the benefit of “walkable” neighborhoods.[2] Public seating provides a convenient resting stop between places, offering physical access as a means to enjoy public space. According to “Walk Score”, which measures the walkability of locations based on pedestrian friendliness and proximity, Portland has a walk-score of 57, meaning it is “somewhat walkable and some errands can be accomplished on foot.”[3] The most walkable neighborhoods were identified as West Bayside, East Bayside, India Street, and Park Side. From the transect walk I completed throughout the West End, I know that walkability can be improved. My policy recommendation of increasing public seating benefits the common good throughout Portland.

 

Approach to the Smart City

 

This policy proposal can be implemented into nearly any city. Some cities are “smarter” than others, but all could benefit from an increase in public seating. Although Portland, in comparison to a city such as Songdo, is not “smart” by certain definitions, technology is beginning to gain a larger presence. As Greenfield discusses, smart cities can refer to retrofitting networked information technologies into existing urban places.[4] In Portland, an urban area, the only missing segment is the use of technology. I recommend implementing technology to ensure public seating is available to residents all year long. Integrating warming features will allow public seating, for instance benches, to always be used. Even when snow and ice take over the city of Portland, access to public space should not be limited. In the long winter months in Maine, the snow and ice will melt so people will still be able to access benches in public space.

This is a similar strategy to heating benches in the NFL. While the purpose of heating benches in stadiums is to keep the players warm, it uses a similar method. Frank Floyd Jr.’s Reliable Construction Heaters of Cleveland makes these heated benches, which can now be found in 16 different football stadiums in the US.[5] These benches are heated using propone or natural gas blowers, allowing the players to maintain a comfortable body temperature.[6] This same idea can be taken to heating public benches in Portland, at a much lower level of power. This warming ability could increase the use of public seating in the winter months since it would allow people to access them even in the snow. Although costly, it is something worth exploring since it enhances the city experience. By melting snow and ice, the probability that public seating structures will be damaged from winter weather conditions decreases. This benefit means public seating will last longer than those seats that are damaged during the winter, and it can be argued that the payoff of heating public seating is worth the initial investment.

Increased public seating can also be used in another technological capacity. When new public seats are created, their locations can be added as a data layer to future applications and maps of the city, which is currently unavailable. Seating is not taken advantage of because people are unaware of where public seating is located. If this data is added to maps and other pieces of information about the city, people will increase their use of public spaces.

 

Literature Review

 

Many pieces of literature, both academic and media driven, discuss the use of public space, particularly in relation to seating. Beginning with William Whyte’s video on public space from 1988, he observed that the use of public space is directly dependent on the availability of usable public seating.[7] Although people are innovative and use structures that are not explicitly created as seats, they are not willing to invest large amounts of effort to create these opportunities. It is clear from Whyte’s research that the public greatly depends on convenient seating. Other studies show that seating does not need to exist in the form of benches or chairs. There are innovative creations of such seating and objects in public space that can serve multiple functions. For instance in a review of public space in New York City, there are granite planters surrounded by ledge seating and metal rails at a location near Fulton Street.[8] Additionally, Tony Rosenthal’s Steel Park is on East 80^th Street, which provides a collection of metal panels and shapes, also doubling as seats.[9] There are many instances where the objective of increasing public seating can be achieved without designing specific seating installments, but rather allowing for creative freedom.

Seating is further examined through John Perrem’s research at the Architectural Association of Ireland (2009). Perrem describes that “areas where people sit act as nodes of stillness in a sea of movement and flux.”[10] He believes that sitting in a public space offers a new understanding of an area. It is a necessary part of society to create an accurate experience of the city, prompting the need and desire for seating. Perrem agrees that creative installments are a good way to implement the element of seating into public space, and he discusses informal versions of seating as alternatives to benches.[11] Both Perrem and philosopher Gilles Deleuze, as cited by Greenfield, recognize the connections that public seating creates among people and with the surrounding space, sights, sounds and smells.[12] There is an additional sense of community that comes with public space creation and it is clear that many researchers believe public seating enhances the use of public space. Elet offers a historical view of public seating, providing analysis of the form and the function of public seating influencing urban environments.[13] He claims that benches carefully integrated into public space do so purposefully with the intent of bringing out culture, ever since ancient Greece.[14] Clearly, there has been great importance placed on public seating throughout history, showing its significance on the formation of societies.

Lefebvre introduces his idea of the “right to the city” when he discusses that cities are part of public space.[15] This can directly relate to the common good since there is joint ownership among everything in the public sphere, and nobody should be excluded. Low has similar ideas when he discusses the five qualities of spatial rights: freedom of access, freedom of action, freedom to claim, freedom to change, and freedom of ownership.[16] All of these ideas have influence when defining what public space encompasses. This promotes large debate, and Perrem discusses the rise of pay-to-sit locations and the decrease of free public seating.[17] He claims this phenomenon is a result of the increase of city life and the corresponding decrease in value people place on a city. This causes those who cannot afford to pay for seating to be excluded from public spheres.[18] The rise of this issue causes a direct violation of Lefebvre and Low’s principles, which should always exist in public space.

There is also an increased discussion of these issues surrounding public space in the media world, particularly with the rise of technology. In San Francisco, there has been a recent push for increased public seating to encourage more people to spend time in the city.[19] Over the past two decades, there have been movements to decrease public seating due to their serious problem of homelessness. Most public benches were removed throughout San Francisco since they had become spaces for the homeless to congregate.[20] However with the reinstallation of seating in recent years, following an increase in efforts addressing homelessness, the future of San Francisco’s public space is promising. This is something that needs to be taken into consideration in Portland. Portland has a large population of homeless people and there is always the risk that they will gather in public areas with seating. Places like Preble Street are contributing much time and energy to alleviate the problem of homelessness throughout Portland. However, the amount of homeless people in Portland is continuing to rise, with an average of 434 people seeking shelter each night in October 2012.[21] Although increasing public seating potentially creates a place for congregation, the benefits of creating usable public space for the rest of the city outweigh this risk. Portland, a much smaller city than San Francisco, needs to focus on creating public seating for the common good, while simultaneously combatting homelessness.

According to the Portland Comprehensive Plan, the section titled “Green Spaces, Blue Edges” discusses various recommendations in terms of creating and maintaining usable public space to benefit all demographics.[22] There is a specific goal outlined to foster public-private partnerships to increase the resources available to residents in public parks and maintain the care of such public spaces. With the revival of “Green Spaces, Blue Edges” in 2001, there was an increased emphasis on refurbishing walkways and infrastructure located in public green spaces in order to make them more usable and desirable for the public.[23] Increased seating was mentioned in this policy document, although not a clear priority, highlighting a weak portion of the plan. Rather than pushing corporations to increase infrastructure in parks, I recommend encouraging artists to design infrastructure for public parks in the form of creative seating. This promotes the art culture that already occupies a big part of Portland, rather than corporate branding. Many are enthusiastic about continuing to find new ways of implementing art into every day life, and this provides ample opportunity.

Along the same lines, there have been recent initiatives throughout Portland integrating art into the creation of public space. Just this past spring the SPACE Gallery in conjunction with Congress Square Park, commissioned artist Michael Klyde Johnson to design and construct a form of public seating to increase the use of the Park.[24] Currently, Johnson’s structure provides the basis for seating and largely increased the use of this public area when the structure was introduced just this past summer. A similar initiative occurred in 2011 with the intention of holding a competition for the design of public seating to be installed along the Bayside Trail through the Portland Public Art Committee (PPAC).[25] Three locations were chosen for the public seating installments, with goals of enhancing the Bayside Trail experience, engaging the public, providing year-round, easily maintained, and long-lasting functional public art in the form of seating (Figure 5).[26] The final budget of $42,500 was intended to fund three public seating clusters and could be distributed to up to three designers.[27] Although in the end the PPAC did not reach a conclusion to proceed, they made significant progress in promoting the idea of public functional art.[28]

I recommend that Portland revisit this competitive nature to create public seating and foster a sense of community. It would be beneficial for such institutions as the SPACE Gallery or MECA to assist in these competitions to ensure the quality of work submitted would be effective, aesthetically pleasing, useful, and fulfill all of the requirements outlined – something which the 2011 competition lacked. Portland has tested this idea before and I would encourage the city to do so again. Very recently, a report was released from the Congress Square Redesign Study Group, which outlined two concepts for Congress Square Park, an area in need of redesign to ensure sustainability.[29] These two ideas stem from either a redesign of a public park built by the city at the cost of $1 million to $1.5 million from taxpayers, or a public-private partnership with the Westin Harborview Hotel combining a park and event center.[30] The City Council will review these two plans, however the Redesign Group already expressed favor towards the park only idea, after a very split vote. The goals of these ideas are to improve public space, as well as increase the value of the Congress Square neighborhood, which has economic benefits for the entire city.

All of these pieces of literature help relate to the image of public space, particularly through past initiatives, studies, and current state of affairs within Portland. Public space is clearly a defining feature of a city and it is important to be able to improve and promote such through increased public seating.

 

Methods

 

My inspiration for this policy recommendation began after I saw William Whyte’s video on the influence seating had on public space. I became particularly aware of this feature of public space during my transect walk in the West End neighborhood of Portland on November 24, 2014. Taking note of both the existence and lack of available public seating, I was inspired to learn more about how Portland could increase this component, especially in parks where seating is often taken for granted. I noticed the unpleasant appearance of many of the benches in the West End, which inspired me to integrate artistic competitions and technology into my policy suggestion. I took detailed notes during my time in Portland and recorded the locations of public seating, as well as took pictures of structures that could act as such. I only noted six benches in the Western Promenade and seven benches in Deering Oaks Park, which is a shockingly low number for such large green spaces. This experience provided the primary foundation for my research.

In order to create the most comprehensive and complete view of what policies I should encompass, I looked at many data sets describing the city of Portland. In particular, I used the City of Portland 2014 shape files to create maps on QGIS, including open space, streets, and ocean layers. During my transect walk I recorded the longitude and latitude of benches throughout the West End and I was able to utilize data that Luis Panaigu recorded of seating on East Congress Street, which I have mapped in Figure 1. I also looked at the available areas of green and open space, which are areas that public seating could easily be implemented. Since parks and open spaces exist throughout the city, it makes most logical sense to begin implementing public seating in these areas first. I have mapped suggestions for increased public seating in Figure 2. Although this is not exhaustive, it is a good start to my policy implementation. Since certain demographics impact the use of public space more than others, I looked at the median age for Portland residents in Figure 3, leveraging Portland’s Public Map Gallery. The elderly are more inclined to require seating than younger generations, since they are unable to walk around the city unassisted. A large population of elderly would create reason for an increase in public seating, something I accounted for when making my bench location suggestions. I chose not to look at the population of homeless people in Portland when conducting this research. Although a large amount of homelessness could mean a higher probability of inappropriate use of public space, the efforts of Preble Street have helped eliminate this detail so it does not have a substantial influence the placement of public seating. The benefits of increased seating much outweigh the risks of potential inappropriate use of public seating by these demographics.

 

Findings

 

As I began to look for data layers pertaining to public seating, it was clear that nobody has previously attempted to create such data about public seating. I used the locations of benches in the West End which I had recorded, with an emphasis on the Western Promenade and Deering Oaks Park, and leveraged the data that Luis Panaigu collected of benches on East Congress Street. Figure 1 provides an accurate map of observed benches. Although it is not inclusive of all the benches across the city, it is telling of the lack of benches in certain areas and the need for more data collection on this topic.

 

Figure 1:

 

Using background research and observations in the West End, I have mapped suggested locations for seating in addition to the existing locations in Figure 2. I was particularly struck by the lack of benches surrounding the pond in Deerings Oak Park and would like to see an improvement of public seating in this area. This implementation will allow the public to enjoy the park and in particular the pond more easily and often.

 

Figure 2:

 

 

To increase my knowledge about the relative demographics of Portland, I leveraged the map represented in Figure 3 from Portland’s Public Map Gallery. The blue coloring represents older ages who are particularly volatile to the lack of seating throughout Portland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3:

 

 

Map of 2010 Median Age Distribution throughout Portland

Source: Public Map Gallery, City of Portland, ME[31]

 

Something that caught my eye specifically in the Western Promenade was the state of the benches that were available. They were rickety and falling apart, not where I would picture myself sitting for a prolonged amount of time. This helped inspire my recommendation for seating combined with public art.

 

Figure 4:

Bench located in the Western Promenade, Portland, ME

Source: Jackie Sullivan, Transect Walk, November 24, 2014

In my research I found a map of proposed seating installment locations from the competition conducted by the Portland Public Art Committee in 2011. Although this initiative was never completed, there has clearly been some thought about where proper seating installments would benefit the public, which I would like to see revisited. Below is one of the three proposed locations.

 

Figure 5:

 

 

Map of Proposed Seating Installment Locations following Creation of Artistic Competition

Source: Portland Public Art Committee: Bayside Trail Seating Project, 2011[32]

 

 

Reflections/Discussion

 

            All policy proposals for Portland should benefit the Common Good; providing equal access to all is one of the only ways that large investments can be justified. In order to ensure that all members of Portland, regardless of age or demographic, have equal access to the city experience, I propose increasing public seating throughout Portland. Although rather basic, this creation can transform the experience of Portland. Public seating is often taken for granted, but when there is a shortage of public seating it is extremely noticeable and inconvenient. After completing my transect walk in the West End, I noticed the extreme lack of public seating in terms of physical structure, as well as the lack of maintenance of public seating. The benches located along the Western Promenade were falling apart and there were no visible efforts of improvement (Figure 4). Similarly in Deering Oaks Park, none of the benches seemed to be matching and they were all run-down. Although this proposal requires a large initial investment and continued maintenance costs, I believe that it can truly enhance the experience of the city and encourage those to spend more time in public space throughout Portland.

As a way to encourage community involvement and bring enjoyment to the creation of public seating, I recommend creating art competitions surrounding the design of public seating. A similar competition was conducted in 2011 among artists to design public seats along the Bayside Trail in Portland.[33] This creates both opportunities for artistic freedom and produces public art in addition to usable and unique public seating. Figure 5 represents a map of where the public seating was suggested following the 2011 competition. Public space very much involves a sense of community, which nicely coincides with this friendly competition in the creation of public seating for the use of public space.

In order to implement technology to help Portland move in the direction of a smart city, I would recommend installing warming features in order to allow public seating to be accessible all year. In the winter months snow and ice prevent benches from functioning, but if there were features that melted this away, the public could still take advantage of seating and continue to enjoy public space. Despite the large costs that this could incite, the benefits of continued enjoyment from the public would surpass the cost. With the melting of snow and ice the public seating structures would be better protected from weathering. The benches in the Western Promenade (Figure 4) clearly were weathered and not well maintained, but the warming features could alleviate at least a portion of this problem.

To begin, I think it is most logical to increase public seating in the parks throughout Portland. Deering Oaks Park specifically caught my attention during my transect walk, since there were only a few benches that were placed in odd locations and did not seem usable. It would make most sense to begin increasing public seating throughout parks, such as Deering Oaks Park. There is a wonderful pond in the middle of this park, however it cannot even be enjoyed since there are no benches surrounding it. Increasing public seating in green and open spaces should be the first priority of the city in order to increase public traffic in these areas. I have mapped open spaces in Figure 2 to highlight areas of opportunity. This project should not be limited to parks however, and unique seating structures should be installed throughout the city. Along streets, in the historic district, and in the many squares throughout Portland, anything will be utilized.

This proposal especially influences the elderly who are not able to enjoy walking the entire city, despite Portland’s relative walkability. It would be best to increase seating where there are higher populations of elderly people (Figure 3) as well as areas where they likely to go, often public parks. With Maine having the highest population of baby boomers, an age demographic that is increasingly in need of assistance in the form of seating, this should become a focus for Portland.[34] Many cruise ships dock within walking distance of the Portland Art District and the Old Port.[35] Although claiming that the entire city is walkable, the demographic that is typically found on cruise ships could especially benefit from an increase in public seating.

Conclusion

 

Overall, my recommendation to increase public seating seems to provide a wide range of benefits to many different demographics of Portland. It increases not only the desire to occupy public space, but it allows for all people to have equal opportunity to do so. It is truly a suggestion for the common good. Having spent a semester in Europe I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in public areas in every city that I visited and came to enjoy all that I learned about the city’s culture and the people through the power of observation. With an increase in public seating throughout Portland, this too can be possible. For residents, commuters, and tourists alike, there are many people who would enjoy this opportunity, especially if equipped with warming features for the wintertime. It is clear from many of the mental maps collected that people are attune to the desire for an increase in usable public space, and this is an accurate mean to achieve this greater objective.

 

 

Works Cited

 

“Arriving via Cruise Ship.” Official Travel of Site for the Greater Portland Region. Accessed December 14, 2014. http://www.visitportland.com/cruising-to-portland-maine.aspx.

 

Bouchard, Kelly. “Maine summit tackles challenge of aging population.” Maine Press Herald, January 17, 2014. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.pressherald.com/2014/01/17/ maine_summit_on_aging_under_way_in_augusta/.

 

City of Portland MIS Division. “Public Map Gallery.” 2012. Accessed December 10, 2014. http://click.portlandmaine.gov/GISPortal/

 

Elet, Yvonne. “Seats of Power: The Outdoor Benches of Early Modern Florence.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 16, 4 (2002): 444-469.

 

Elinson, Zusha. “A Renewed Public Push for Somewhere to Sit Outdoors.” The New York Times, January 28, 2012. Accessed December 10, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/us/in-san-francisco-a-push-for-public-benches.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar.

 

Greenfield, Adam. 2013. “What is the Smart City?” Against the Smart City. 1.3 edition.

 

“Green Spaces, Blue Edges: An Open Space and Recreation Plan for the City of Portland.” Portland’s Comprehensive Plan, 2001. Accessed December 10, 2014. http://www.portlandmaine.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/3380.

 

Hewins, Steve, and William Becker. “Maine Voices: A public-private partnership would make the best Congress Square.” Maine Press Herald, December 11, 2014. Accessed December 14, 2014. http://www.pressherald.com/2014/12/11/maine-voices-a-public-private-partnership-would-make-the-best-congress-square/.

 

Kayden, Jarold S. “Privately Owned Public Space: The New York City Experience.” John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York City (2000): 1-349.

 

Koenig, Seth. “Is Portland ‘too attractive’ to homeless people?” The Bangor Daily News, December 21, 2012. Accessed December 12, 2014.

 

Lavey, John and Jennifer Hill. “What is Walkability?” Community Builders: The Business of Building Stronger Communities, February 2, 2014. Accessed November 17, 2014. http:// communitybuilders.net/walkability/.

 

“Living in Portland.” Walkscore, 2014. Accessed November 20, 2014. https:// www.walkscore.com/ME/Portland.

 

Low, Setha M. 2002. “Spaces of Reflection, Recovery, and Resistance: Reimagining the Postindustrial Plaza.” In After the World Trade Center: Rethinking New York City, edited by Michael Sorkin and Sharon Zukin, 163-172. New York: Routledge.

 

Mitchell, Don. 2014 [2003]. “To Go Again to Hyde Park: Public Space, Rights, and Social Justice.” In The People, Place, and Space Reader, edited by Jen Jack Gieseking, et al, 192-196. New York: Routledge, 2014.

 

Newcomb, Tim. “How NFL Fields, and Players, Stay Warm in January Games.” Popular Mechanics, January 6, 20120. Accessed December 9, 2014. http://www.popularmechanics.com/ outdoors/sports/football/how-nfl-fields-and-players-stay-warm-in-january-games.

 

Perrem, John. “The Importance of Seating in Local Public Space.” Building Material, 18 (2009): 70-71.

 

Pringle, Anne. “Maine Voices: ‘Art Benches’ would show Portland’s commitment to public art.” Maine Press Herald, February 1, 2011. Accessed December 10, 2014. http://www.pressherald.com/2011/02/01/art-benches-would-show-portlands-commitment-to-public-art_2011-02-01/ .

 

Public Art Portland Maine. “Bayside Trail Seating Project: Request for Qualifications.” March 21, 2011. Accessed December 12, 2014. http://portlandmaine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2942.

 

SPACE Gallery. “Untitled Patio with Benches and Planter.” Accessed December 10, 2014. http://www.space538.org/exhibitions/untitled-patio-benches-and-planter.

 

Whyte, William H. “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.” (1988). Internet Archives. Accessed November 17, 2014. https://archive.org/details/SmallUrbanSpaces.

 

[1] Lavey, John and Jennifer Hill. “What is Walkability?” Community Builders: The Business of Building Stronger Communities, February 2, 2014. Accessed November 17, 2014. http:// communitybuilders.net/walkability/.

[2] Ibid.

[3] “Living in Portland.” Walkscore, 2014.

[4] Greenfield, Adam. 2013. “What is the Smart City?” Against the Smart City.

[5] Newcomb, Tim. “How NFL Fields, and Players, Stay Warm in January Games.” Popular Mechanics,

[6] Ibid.

[7] Whyte, William H. “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.” (1988). Internet Archives.

[8] Kayden, Jarold S. “Privately Owned Public Space: The New York City Experience.” John Wiley and Sons, Inc: 103.

[9] Ibid, 276.

[10] Perrem, John. “The Importance of Seating in Local Public Space.” Building Material, 18 (2009): 70.

[11] Ibid, 71.

[12] Greenfield, Adam. 2013. “What is the Smart City?” Against the Smart City.

[13] Elet, Yvonne. “Seats of Power: The Outdoor Benches of Early Modern Florence.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians: 444.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Mitchell, Don. 2014 [2003]. “To Go Again to Hyde Park: Public Space, Rights, and Social Justice.” In The People, Place, and Space Reader, edited by Jen Jack Gieseking, et al, 192-196. New York: Routledge, 2014.

[16] Low, Setha M. 2002. “Spaces of Reflection, Recovery, and Resistance: Reimagining the Postindustrial Plaza.” In After the World Trade Center: Rethinking New York City, edited by Michael Sorkin and Sharon Zukin, 163-172. New York: Routledge.

[17] Perrem, John. “The Importance of Seating in Local Public Space.” Building Material, 18 (2009): 70.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Elinson, Zusha. “A Renewed Public Push for Somewhere to Sit Outdoors.” The New York Times, January 28, 2012.

[20] Ibid.

[21] Koenig, Seth. “Is Portland ‘too attractive’ to homeless people?” The Bangor Daily News, December 21, 2012.

[22]“Green Spaces, Blue Edges: An Open Space and Recreation Plan for the City of Portland.” Portland’s Comprehensive Plan, 2001.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Space Gallery, “Untitled Patio with Benches and Planter.”

[25] Public Art Portland Maine. “Bayside Trail Seating Project: Request for Qualifications.” March 21, 2011.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Pringle, Anne. “Maine Voices: ‘Art Benches’ would show Portland’s commitment to public art.” Maine Press Herald, February 1, 2011, 2.

[29] Hewins, Steve and William Becker. “Maine Voices: A public-private partnership would make the best Congress Square.”

[30] Ibid.

[31] City of Portland MIS Division. “Public Map Gallery.” 2012.

[32] Public Art Portland Maine. “Bayside Trail Seating Project: Request for Qualifications.” March 21, 2011.

[33] Public Art Portland Maine. “Bayside Trail Seating Project: Request for Qualifications.” March 21, 2011.

[34] Bouchard, Kelly. “Maine summit tackles challenge of aging population.” Maine Press Herald, January 17, 2014.

[35] “Arriving via Cruise Ship.” Official Travel of Site for the Greater Portland Region.

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