old people and singles ruining portland

[pvenne]

Portland, Maine: Growth Comes At A Price

Portland, Maine tops a variety of lists as one of the most livable communities in America, but can it afford to pay the price of its success?

Feb 09, 2004, 01:00 pm PST - Maine

Contributed by Chris Steins

Still, while most people like living in Portland, the city faces critical challenges in the next decade, namely high property taxes, expensive housing and, increasingly, the white-knuckle traffic congestion that comes with urban sprawl... City officials worry that the West End and Munjoy Hill, downtown neighborhoods that once welcomed working families, are becoming gentrified. Homes and apartments built for families now house one or two people. Often they are young professionals or empty-nesters moving back to the city. Real estate prices have doubled or tripled in the last decade, depending on the view of Casco Bay.

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thoughts? i personally wish portland would remain a working class city and keep the rich people in the suburbs...or the waterfront...cities filled with rich single people in their forties and up are not cosmopolitan at all...

[pvenne]

why is it that willmington, the biggest city in deleware, is so much more metropolitan looking than portland, a city of roughly the same size? in fact, at its largest, portland had almost 10,000 more people than willmington...i know it is near philly, but this cant explain it all. any input? this is wilmington pictured below...i believe it has a few 30 story buildings (not floors, but stories, calculated by height)...not even manchester has this, and manchester has 35,000+ more people than wilmington.

[M. Brown]

^ I have no idea.

[pvenne]

well my hope is that if delaware has shown that it is possible to have skyscrapers in a small-city, then i wish mainers would shut up about portland is too small for tall buildings and this and that etc...etc...oh man, the attitude is so bad up here as far as development is concerned. whenever there is a decent proposal for anything, they have to hold these stupid neighborhood meetings where all the old people who have time to go to them sit around and talk about how they dont want portland to change...im gonna have to move out of here for good if something doesn't change i think.

[billpa]

A couple things about Wilmington: They have some very favorable tax laws in Delaware and, because of that, a lot of large businesses set up their headquarters there- I imagine that has a lot to do with the highrise situation. Secondly, for the most part, Wilmington is not that great a city; there's a high crime rate there and there's not much to do after dark. Portland VS Wilmington? Portland would win every time.

As far as the height of the buildings go?

Remember, what looks impressive from half a mile away, doesn't matter when you're on the streets below...in other words, if there's nothing to do at the street level you don't have a very nice urban setting. What makes a city 'great' is on the first floor, not the 50th.

[pvenne]

A couple things about Wilmington:  They have some very favorable tax laws in Delaware and, because of that, a lot of large businesses set up their headquarters there- I imagine that has a lot to do with the highrise situation.  Secondly, for the most part, Wilmington is not that great a city; there's a high crime rate there and there's not much to do after dark.  Portland VS Wilmington?  Portland would win every time.

As far as the height of the buildings go? 

Remember, what looks impressive from half a mile away, doesn't matter when you're on the streets below...in other words, if there's nothing to do at the street level you don't have a very nice urban setting.  What makes a city 'great' is on the first floor, not the 50th.

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wow. all good to know, i wouldnt have guessed it was that bad cause it looks so impressive, but i guess if all those buildings are just corporations riddled with crime at street level in a city with no night life then portland should probably not envy wilmington.....thanks a lot for the info.

[BigCityAttitude]

Another possible factor: Wilmington was nearing 120,000 before the White Flight. I'm guessing a lot of those buildings are from the pre-WF days.

[pvenne]

Another possible factor: Wilmington was nearing 120,000 before the White Flight. I'm guessing a lot of those buildings are from the pre-WF days.

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oh, well then that makes more sense. i didnt know it was that big at one time. p.s. is white-flight as bad as it sounds?