In the mid 90's the town of Hermon, where I grew up, (by Bangor) built a new high school, with a 700 student capacity for $12.5 million, today the neighboring town of Hampden is building a new high school for $52 million.....with a estimated capacity of 800 students.....that means cost went up by almost 400% in 15 years
Reality is just the site work, and cleaning up the site will cost over $1 Million...he is also paying the cost of the demolition of the Mill from the fire 2 years ago...over $100,000..and the city is restricting uses on the property(so not a new McDonalds on Main st)...
Option B...Leave the site undeveloped and its current form for the next 50+ years....
If a deal doesn't happen and I lose WGME Channel 13 I expect a lower rate....fair is fair...right?? after all I saw my cable bill went up again last month for no reason...
Whats wrong with transferring ownership of the Great Falls School to Community Little or some other non profit group...then the city say DON'T ask us for taxpayer $$$ for this property anymore...this is now yours......
By lewiston taxpayer, unverified — Thu, 12/02/2010 - 11:55
Whats wrong with transferring ownership of the Great Falls School to Community Little or some other non profit group...then the city say DON'T ask us for $$$ for this property anymore...this is now yours......
what the city needs to do is transfer ownership of the building to CLT or some other group for $1.....then say you are on your own....the building is yours, its yours to upgrade etc, DON"T ask the City for taxpayer $$. If supporters are truly behind it, they can pull it off...
By Lewiston Taxpayer, unverified — Tue, 11/09/2010 - 09:58
The full review of the county building is needed....It currently is northing more than a money pit, hopefully it can be redone for a reasonable amount. Please no large Long Term Bonds, would prefer to see a pay as you go approach
By lewiston taxpayer, unverified — Mon, 11/08/2010 - 08:17
Auburn should be looking at all options like Lewiston...but then again you are talking about Auburn, the city that last year had a reputation of eliminating recycling....
I watched them build a new road, then after the new road is built they drive in the supports to stabilze it....wouldn't it had made more sense to stabilize the base BEFORE building the new road?? granted I'm not an engineer...just thinking common sense....
You can talk all you want and slam the PD's all you want but can you do better?? I have a feeling if you did the investigation there would be thousands of criminals walking around and nobody in jail.........
By Lewiston Taxpayer, unverified — Tue, 08/24/2010 - 09:35
I agree with Brian....the building has been there for 40 years and I'm sure the cost to build the building has been more than paid off. Yes I'm sure many of the mechanical systems need replacing, (Heat, AC, Roof, Electrical updates, pool work & general updates to the building, but this shouldn't be $700,000 in debt al at one time....it seems that somebody should do a good review of the books for the past few years
Ask the hotels, restaurants, sandwich shops & convenience stores in L/A....Does this event the area....I believe most will say YES.....All Hotels in the area were booked solid a year in advance for that October weekend and have beeen turning away reservations ever since, going to a restaurant on that Friday or Saturday Night will almost definitely be lines, in addition to the bikers there are hundreds of family members in town spending $$....This event definitely helps the city businesses.....and at $2800 for the weekend that is very reasonable...
By lewiston taxpayer, unverified — Wed, 07/07/2010 - 08:38
It's rare that I agree with Mike Farrell, but I must agree with him...the Comprehensive plan needs to promote business & development.....Look at the Walgreens proposal that the City killed, because it didn't like the traffic plan....what is there today (3 ugly vacant buildings) is alot better
Previous news article said that on April 10,2010 he pleaded guilty and agreed to spend 2 years in prison....we are only 2+ months from April 10....I know overcrowding is an issue but this is ridicolous...
I agree fully............Longly and Martel are under a mile apart....and Farwell is only another mile away(which is brand new)......Even if you replace these 2 schools with 1, it would still leave 5 elementary schools...a number that seems much too high considering 2 of those are under 5 years old......ideally they could add on to Farwell but that is doubtful considering it is a tiny lot...with little or no expansion room....
I am a registered democrat but am pretty certain Lepage will have my vote in November. Also very impressed that he spent a relatively small amount of about 150,000 and managed to get over a third of the vote while running against 6 other people...
for reoporting news that the local board of selectman, and the local town goverment and court system take action on?? No I don't work for the SJ or have any affiliation with them, just my thoughts.
I could never see why public services & public works were 2 seperate departments, they do similar types of work, it always seemed to me likeBennett created a situation for 2 of his buddies to keep their high paying jobs with an abundance of staff...
While I'm happy to see the improvements planned, and sure the football field needs improvement, once again the entire Bates Campus is $100+ Million tax exempt piece of land in the center of the city
Remember AHO, gave a warning these would be tough harsh cuts, and recomended against it...the council wants these cuts and ultimately they have the final say on the budget, as city residents can';t vote for the budget....they they must vote for the least sl;imey politcian....if there is such a thing...................
Gleason & Gerry are crazy...they like every other councilor are saying cut $1 million from the budget.....but don't cut anything until July 1st.....keep spring cleanup in place....Reality the spring cleanup is VERY Costly, and if there are ways to save $$ between now & July 1st he should.....save $$ now and bank it, carry the $$ saved forward
Lewiston is actually doing a very good approach on spring cleanup....Brush only.....this stuff can be chipped and later used as mulch/woodchips around the city, making it sothey don't need to spend as much $$ buying mulch from outside vendors.....basically a break even...
At the same time they are opening the gates to the Lewiston transfer station for free for 1 week to get rid of other unwanted jnk....also take advantage of the Community Credit Union recycle day next Saturday to get rid of E-junk...stuff like old computers, monitors, laptops, TV, microwaves, etc....
I hear Lewiston saying they are expecting a BIG increase in the cost of picking up trash & recycleables. Their contract expires in 2011 with the current trash collector.
Auburn is complaining about low recycling rates, their contract also expires in 2011.
Work together, make a joint effort to purchase trash & recycling services through one comapny as 1 contract(perhaps single sort or some type of program that encourages high recycling rates), and each city is likely to get the best deal.
I know I'm asking for alot but it has been done before.
Great Article, the people that jumped in to help are real heroes...Pitbulls do have a very bad rep. Would I own one?? Absolutely NOT, although I know many that are great dogs, It is all in how a dog is raised, many people raise these dogs to be fighting machines, and abuse the dogs, generally speaking these are the ones that make the entire breed have a bad reputation....the work of a few....
True blessing that these neighbors were home & able to jump in and save this boy from dying...
12 year old, 7 year old & visiting 11 year old...none we re in school....and the second dog attack by the same dog in a month, this case needs to be escalated.
While they aren't offering the true spring clean up of years past, they are still oferring free Brush pickup....that is the majority of what many property owners put out. They are also opening the transfer station free to all Lewiston residents for 7 days(includes 2 Saturdays) to get rid of other junk...tv's, appliances, computers, building materails, scrap metal, etc, etc. This means Lewiston residents can get rid of their junk for free.....but may actually have to work a little....imagine that...
I'll be happy to see what he can do with this building, there is an enormous amount of potential at this location. Seeing what he has done in the past with the 2 locations for Davinci's.....those have both been remarkable transformations.
People say they want to see more cop cars patrolling the area....Their is little incentive for the city to do this....why??
Because the state recieves the $$ from traffic violations, yet the department that employs the officer who gave out the ticket must pay the overtime for the officer to go and sit in court, in order to prevent the ticket from being thrown out. This is time when the officer is not out on the street being productive...its paperwork time. For this reason, many cases towns & cities do not encourage the issuing of tickets, and prefer to give warnings.
Auburn manager Glenn AHO actually has eluded to this in the past and saying that the state needs to change its practice, and they could see a statewide increase in tickets and revenues.
If the state were to let the department that issued the ticket, you would see a much broader enforcement.
Tron, what you're suggesting is ludicrous. You are suggesting that landlords basically make a weekly visit to all of their buildings and inspect the meters to make sure there are no red tags on any of the meters. 90% of the time they probably would have no issues. If someone owns several units, doing this or having a maintainence person doing this tedious work is very time consuming & costly, especially when you have 1 & 2 family rentals where the lease agreement is the tenant does their own routine maintaince (lawns, plowing, trash, etc) and only calls the landlord for big issues. If a person has a full time job in addition to being a landlord, your idea is even more ludicrous. The simple method would be for the poer company to notify the landlord when power is cut (or say 5 days prior to cutting the power, to give the landlord advance warning).
I suggest you try being a working man and a landlord and try doing this task every week for a year, and you'd see how dumb your idea is.
The problem is actually in cost & regulatory issues.. In order for a new cable company to come into town they have to run all new lines and build an entirely new infastructure which is insanely expensive..
It should be more similar to telephone land lines where competing companies can use the same lines and basically pay a fee/royalty to the owner of the line. In order for this to happen though it needs to be done on a national level (like the 1984 breakup of AT&T by congress) which is unlikely to ever happen because cable companies will fight it, to make sure it never happens. They don't want competition...
Bennett has the best seat in the house right now, home in front of his TV when the council meetings air....where he can watch the council & Gilbert fight like children, and doesn't have to deal with all the council (& Gilbert) brats...all while still earning a nice paycheck for the next 11 months...
Councilor Reed: I loved how you show'd fiscal responsibility in your addressing Nelson Peters on appropiating Keenedy park money with your comment of "how this wasn't your money(dircted to Nelson Peters) that we're spending" ...when in reality it is......in addition to being a councilor, he is a taxpayer of Lewiston, and while this may not be property taxc $$....if it comes from the State or Federal Govt, it must be accounted for and if we don't use it, we loose it....
Then to vote to spend 100K to fire Bennnett, and give $3.5 million to CMP, WOW you are a very fiscally responsible Accountant.....I'll make sure I NEVER have you do my taxes....
so the City council agreed to spend up to 3.5 million for CMP to improve their transmission system to send power out of state and $100K + to fire Bennett...all in 1 night...I guess they had vey open wallet's last night..........
Great way to spend $200,000 + ....by firing Bennett and because of his contract that the current city council renewed within the past year, have to buy him out for a years salary plus benefits...and then the added cost of searching for a new manager and another $100,000 to a new administrator while still paying Bennetts salry....Great fiscal responsibility on behalf of the Lewiston council... BONEHEADS that they are....Although I do respect the Peters brothers as they seemed to be the only 2 with their heads on straight.
Obviously this firing had been fully pre-planned over somebody's kitchen table as it was the first item of business and a 5-2 vote..
As a sidenote how many of the boneheads are running for re-election.....I know a story in the SJ about a week ago said only wanna-be King Theriault had filed papers at that time...
I would really like to know if councilors Bailey & Dube jknow how to talk or disagree with other council members, as whenever I see a council meeting, neither of them ever say a word and always vote with the majority.
Recent Comments
Construction Cost are crazy
In the mid 90's the town of Hermon, where I grew up, (by Bangor) built a new high school, with a 700 student capacity for $12.5 million, today the neighboring town of Hampden is building a new high school for $52 million.....with a estimated capacity of 800 students.....that means cost went up by almost 400% in 15 years
The article makes it sounds like its Free land
Reality is just the site work, and cleaning up the site will cost over $1 Million...he is also paying the cost of the demolition of the Mill from the fire 2 years ago...over $100,000..and the city is restricting uses on the property(so not a new McDonalds on Main st)...
Option B...Leave the site undeveloped and its current form for the next 50+ years....
So my rates will drop, right??
If a deal doesn't happen and I lose WGME Channel 13 I expect a lower rate....fair is fair...right?? after all I saw my cable bill went up again last month for no reason...
Whats wrong with transferring
Whats wrong with transferring ownership of the Great Falls School to Community Little or some other non profit group...then the city say DON'T ask us for taxpayer $$$ for this property anymore...this is now yours......
Whats wrong with transferring
Whats wrong with transferring ownership of the Great Falls School to Community Little or some other non profit group...then the city say DON'T ask us for $$$ for this property anymore...this is now yours......
what the city needs to do is
what the city needs to do is transfer ownership of the building to CLT or some other group for $1.....then say you are on your own....the building is yours, its yours to upgrade etc, DON"T ask the City for taxpayer $$. If supporters are truly behind it, they can pull it off...
The full review of the county
The full review of the county building is needed....It currently is northing more than a money pit, hopefully it can be redone for a reasonable amount. Please no large Long Term Bonds, would prefer to see a pay as you go approach
Auburn should be looking at
Auburn should be looking at all options like Lewiston...but then again you are talking about Auburn, the city that last year had a reputation of eliminating recycling....
I may not be angineer but
I watched them build a new road, then after the new road is built they drive in the supports to stabilze it....wouldn't it had made more sense to stabilize the base BEFORE building the new road?? granted I'm not an engineer...just thinking common sense....
Maybe you should be a detective
You can talk all you want and slam the PD's all you want but can you do better?? I have a feeling if you did the investigation there would be thousands of criminals walking around and nobody in jail.........
Audit Needed
I agree with Brian....the building has been there for 40 years and I'm sure the cost to build the building has been more than paid off. Yes I'm sure many of the mechanical systems need replacing, (Heat, AC, Roof, Electrical updates, pool work & general updates to the building, but this shouldn't be $700,000 in debt al at one time....it seems that somebody should do a good review of the books for the past few years
Hopefully Maine voters are smart in 2010
and votes Hinck and other tax happy legislators out
Looking forward to going
Looking forward to going there....been to the Brunswick one before and was satisfied, and expect this will be equally good. Glad to hear it
Ask the hotels, restaurants,
Ask the hotels, restaurants, sandwich shops & convenience stores in L/A....Does this event the area....I believe most will say YES.....All Hotels in the area were booked solid a year in advance for that October weekend and have beeen turning away reservations ever since, going to a restaurant on that Friday or Saturday Night will almost definitely be lines, in addition to the bikers there are hundreds of family members in town spending $$....This event definitely helps the city businesses.....and at $2800 for the weekend that is very reasonable...
It's rare that I agree with
It's rare that I agree with Mike Farrell, but I must agree with him...the Comprehensive plan needs to promote business & development.....Look at the Walgreens proposal that the City killed, because it didn't like the traffic plan....what is there today (3 ugly vacant buildings) is alot better
Why was this puke free??
Previous news article said that on April 10,2010 he pleaded guilty and agreed to spend 2 years in prison....we are only 2+ months from April 10....I know overcrowding is an issue but this is ridicolous...
Consolidate
I agree fully............Longly and Martel are under a mile apart....and Farwell is only another mile away(which is brand new)......Even if you replace these 2 schools with 1, it would still leave 5 elementary schools...a number that seems much too high considering 2 of those are under 5 years old......ideally they could add on to Farwell but that is doubtful considering it is a tiny lot...with little or no expansion room....
AHO=Grinch
Normally I support Aho, but it seems like he is the Grinch........
LEPAGE 2010
I am a registered democrat but am pretty certain Lepage will have my vote in November. Also very impressed that he spent a relatively small amount of about 150,000 and managed to get over a third of the vote while running against 6 other people...
its the papers fault??
for reoporting news that the local board of selectman, and the local town goverment and court system take action on?? No I don't work for the SJ or have any affiliation with them, just my thoughts.
So was your justice breaking
So was your justice breaking an officers leg in places??
The odds of a police officer
The odds of a police officer having a broken leg in 2 places when responding to a call.....what do you call that??
give me a Break..
give me a Break..
New Building for Sherriff's
New Building for Sherriff's Dept....And how much will this cost?? How much of an increase to county taxpayers??
I could never see why public
I could never see why public services & public works were 2 seperate departments, they do similar types of work, it always seemed to me likeBennett created a situation for 2 of his buddies to keep their high paying jobs with an abundance of staff...
Tax Exempt
While I'm happy to see the improvements planned, and sure the football field needs improvement, once again the entire Bates Campus is $100+ Million tax exempt piece of land in the center of the city
looking forward to it
Can't wait to see this....I'll try it..
Can't wait to see
Can't wait to see this....I'll try it..
The Council is demmanding the cuts not AHO
Remember AHO, gave a warning these would be tough harsh cuts, and recomended against it...the council wants these cuts and ultimately they have the final say on the budget, as city residents can';t vote for the budget....they they must vote for the least sl;imey politcian....if there is such a thing...................
Don't wait til July 1st to reduce spending
Gleason & Gerry are crazy...they like every other councilor are saying cut $1 million from the budget.....but don't cut anything until July 1st.....keep spring cleanup in place....Reality the spring cleanup is VERY Costly, and if there are ways to save $$ between now & July 1st he should.....save $$ now and bank it, carry the $$ saved forward
Lewiston is actually doing a very good approach on spring cleanup....Brush only.....this stuff can be chipped and later used as mulch/woodchips around the city, making it sothey don't need to spend as much $$ buying mulch from outside vendors.....basically a break even...
At the same time they are opening the gates to the Lewiston transfer station for free for 1 week to get rid of other unwanted jnk....also take advantage of the Community Credit Union recycle day next Saturday to get rid of E-junk...stuff like old computers, monitors, laptops, TV, microwaves, etc....
Work Together
I hear Lewiston saying they are expecting a BIG increase in the cost of picking up trash & recycleables. Their contract expires in 2011 with the current trash collector.
Auburn is complaining about low recycling rates, their contract also expires in 2011.
Work together, make a joint effort to purchase trash & recycling services through one comapny as 1 contract(perhaps single sort or some type of program that encourages high recycling rates), and each city is likely to get the best deal.
I know I'm asking for alot but it has been done before.
Great Article Real Heroes
Great Article, the people that jumped in to help are real heroes...Pitbulls do have a very bad rep. Would I own one?? Absolutely NOT, although I know many that are great dogs, It is all in how a dog is raised, many people raise these dogs to be fighting machines, and abuse the dogs, generally speaking these are the ones that make the entire breed have a bad reputation....the work of a few....
True blessing that these neighbors were home & able to jump in and save this boy from dying...
12 year old, 7 year old &
12 year old, 7 year old & visiting 11 year old...none we re in school....and the second dog attack by the same dog in a month, this case needs to be escalated.
Lewiston plan makes sense
While they aren't offering the true spring clean up of years past, they are still oferring free Brush pickup....that is the majority of what many property owners put out. They are also opening the transfer station free to all Lewiston residents for 7 days(includes 2 Saturdays) to get rid of other junk...tv's, appliances, computers, building materails, scrap metal, etc, etc. This means Lewiston residents can get rid of their junk for free.....but may actually have to work a little....imagine that...
cool article...just checked
cool article...just checked out the website the correct website is www.smflashmobs.com the link in the article didn't have the s
GREAT News
Great,
I'll be happy to see what he can do with this building, there is an enormous amount of potential at this location. Seeing what he has done in the past with the 2 locations for Davinci's.....those have both been remarkable transformations.
People say they want to see
People say they want to see more cop cars patrolling the area....Their is little incentive for the city to do this....why??
Because the state recieves the $$ from traffic violations, yet the department that employs the officer who gave out the ticket must pay the overtime for the officer to go and sit in court, in order to prevent the ticket from being thrown out. This is time when the officer is not out on the street being productive...its paperwork time. For this reason, many cases towns & cities do not encourage the issuing of tickets, and prefer to give warnings.
Auburn manager Glenn AHO actually has eluded to this in the past and saying that the state needs to change its practice, and they could see a statewide increase in tickets and revenues.
If the state were to let the department that issued the ticket, you would see a much broader enforcement.
Most landlords don't
Most landlords don't consider their job is to be a babysitter...especially to adaults who should know & be responsible enough to pay bills.
Tron, what you're
Tron, what you're suggesting is ludicrous. You are suggesting that landlords basically make a weekly visit to all of their buildings and inspect the meters to make sure there are no red tags on any of the meters. 90% of the time they probably would have no issues. If someone owns several units, doing this or having a maintainence person doing this tedious work is very time consuming & costly, especially when you have 1 & 2 family rentals where the lease agreement is the tenant does their own routine maintaince (lawns, plowing, trash, etc) and only calls the landlord for big issues. If a person has a full time job in addition to being a landlord, your idea is even more ludicrous. The simple method would be for the poer company to notify the landlord when power is cut (or say 5 days prior to cutting the power, to give the landlord advance warning).
I suggest you try being a working man and a landlord and try doing this task every week for a year, and you'd see how dumb your idea is.
The problem is actually in
The problem is actually in cost & regulatory issues.. In order for a new cable company to come into town they have to run all new lines and build an entirely new infastructure which is insanely expensive..
It should be more similar to telephone land lines where competing companies can use the same lines and basically pay a fee/royalty to the owner of the line. In order for this to happen though it needs to be done on a national level (like the 1984 breakup of AT&T by congress) which is unlikely to ever happen because cable companies will fight it, to make sure it never happens. They don't want competition...
Bennett has the best seat in
Bennett has the best seat in the house right now, home in front of his TV when the council meetings air....where he can watch the council & Gilbert fight like children, and doesn't have to deal with all the council (& Gilbert) brats...all while still earning a nice paycheck for the next 11 months...
Councilor Reed: I loved how
Councilor Reed: I loved how you show'd fiscal responsibility in your addressing Nelson Peters on appropiating Keenedy park money with your comment of "how this wasn't your money(dircted to Nelson Peters) that we're spending" ...when in reality it is......in addition to being a councilor, he is a taxpayer of Lewiston, and while this may not be property taxc $$....if it comes from the State or Federal Govt, it must be accounted for and if we don't use it, we loose it....
Then to vote to spend 100K to fire Bennnett, and give $3.5 million to CMP, WOW you are a very fiscally responsible Accountant.....I'll make sure I NEVER have you do my taxes....
so the City council agreed
so the City council agreed to spend up to 3.5 million for CMP to improve their transmission system to send power out of state and $100K + to fire Bennett...all in 1 night...I guess they had vey open wallet's last night..........
Rember this council....all 7
Rember this council....all 7 members of the current council....renewed his contract within the past year...apparently they liked him 12 months ago...
Great way to spend $200,000
Great way to spend $200,000 + ....by firing Bennett and because of his contract that the current city council renewed within the past year, have to buy him out for a years salary plus benefits...and then the added cost of searching for a new manager and another $100,000 to a new administrator while still paying Bennetts salry....Great fiscal responsibility on behalf of the Lewiston council... BONEHEADS that they are....Although I do respect the Peters brothers as they seemed to be the only 2 with their heads on straight.
Obviously this firing had been fully pre-planned over somebody's kitchen table as it was the first item of business and a 5-2 vote..
As a sidenote how many of the boneheads are running for re-election.....I know a story in the SJ about a week ago said only wanna-be King Theriault had filed papers at that time...
I would really like to know if councilors Bailey & Dube jknow how to talk or disagree with other council members, as whenever I see a council meeting, neither of them ever say a word and always vote with the majority.