COUNCIL BUSINESS

Prince moves east

By Noah Bruce

In a marathon session that began at 4:30 p.m. and ran until 12:45 a.m., Portland City Council made the expected decision to go ahead with plans to put the Scotia Prince on the East End.

Prior to this meeting, plans to move the cruise ship eastward were halted in response to popular sentiment concerned with the ramifications of the move. The city agreed to study alternatives, including moving the container business, which currently occupies the International Marine Terminal with the Prince, west of the Casco Bay Bridge and leaving the Prince where it is.

Councilor Peter O’Donnell, who is co-chair of the Waterfront Master Planning Committee, suggested postponing for another two months the decision to move ahead, so that more information could be gathered. However, co-chair councilor Karen Geraghty disagreed.

“I do not want to go back to the committee without being in a position to work on these problems,” said Geraghty. The problems are the concerns that citizens, especially Peaks Islanders and East End residents, have raised throughout the process, including a large, surface parking lot, traffic, and restricted waterfront access.

In an interview with the Phoenix, councilor Nathan Smith stressed that “there are no definitive plans right now,” but that the city is in a position to address these issues.

The directive to go ahead with the East End plan passed seven votes to two, with O’Donnell and Kane voting against the measure.

In other business, the council voted to put a referendum to the voters in November that says that Portland supports the concept of a single-payer, state-run health care system. Roughly 100 demonstrators showed up for a rally outside the courthouse and some brought signs into the chambers.

Not everyone was in support of the measure, however. One speaker said that state-run insurance would hurt alternative therapy practitioners, while another warned of government inefficiencies. Councilor Jay Hibbard said he felt this was a state rather than a municipal issue, and he “did not want to be used as a tool” in the fight for universal care.

Councilor Smith said it is “ironic that we are the wealthiest country in the world and we cannot afford to provide healthcare for all our citizens . . . and it is time we had a discussion about this.”

The council voted six to three to put the measure on the ballot, with councilors Hibbard, Mayor Cheryl Leeman, and Jack Dawson voting against it.

Finally, the council tabled most of the issues concerning the Old Port bars, including a tax to be levied on bars to pay for additional police protection in the area. The council did pass a measure that will charge the Portland Downtown District $15,000 to pay for the extra police.

That still leaves $30,000 to be made up in some way, either by charging all the bars in the Old Port, only the bars that have problems with the police, or all the businesses in the area.

Councilor Geraghty raised an interesting question regarding the need for police coverage of the Old Port during mornings. “We should talk about reducing coverage,” she said. “I don’t think we need [police] down there at 8 a.m. on a Sunday or a Monday or Tuesday.”

The council also tabled an amendment that makes it clear that after-hours entertainment on weekend is available only from 1 to 3 a.m. and only for people aged 18 to 21 (yes, really, just those folks). The amendment would currently apply only to the Industry.