By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer
Neighbors got together at Maple Street Park to acknowledge the demise of the city’s Heritage Initiative.

LEWISTON – Near the corner of Maple and Park streets Tuesday, dozens of revelers celebrated in the shadows of buildings that might have fallen to city bulldozers.

Some of them have lived in the neighborhood their whole lives. Others were new to the city. Each of them was in Maple Street Park Tuesday night to celebrate a decision by the city not to build a boulevard through the dense downtown neighborhood.

“We’ve got to celebrate the people who live here and that’s what we’re doing,” said Tina Bailey, who has lived in the downtown area since the 1970s. “These people have persevered. They’ve seen a lot. Some of them have lived here their whole lives. Where would they have gone?”

The group of about 60 began gathering in the late afternoon and they called it a “No Road Victory Party.” It was a bash to acknowledge the demise of the city’s Heritage Initiative, which would have resulted in the toppling of apartment buildings to make way for an inner-city boulevard.

“Oh yes, this is a great victory,” said Bonnie Gammon, a member of the Visible Community, a group that strongly opposed the destruction of the neighborhood. “You just can’t take away someone’s backyard. We are all neighbors here and we’re a lot closer than the city knew.”

In June, city leaders announced that they would tear down the old St. Dominic’s Regional High School and build a new, three-story office building in its place. That plan marked the end of a long controversy over plans to slash a new road through the downtown.

With the scrapping of the boulevard plan came the end of uncertainty for thousands of people who live in the Maple Street area. For more than a year, they wondered if they would keep their homes or if they needed to find new places to live.

“They wanted to kick us all out,” said Nancy Gallant, who has lived downtown for 35 years.

“I was worried,” said 69-year-old Roger LePage, who has lived on Pierce Street since the 1970s. “But I decided to wait and see what happened before I got too upset.”

Under the current plan, some buildings in the area may still come down. But the majority of the people who live in the area will keep their homes.

“I don’t think buildings should be coming down all over the place,” said 69-year-old Lucy Mosher, who has lived in downtown Lewiston since the 1960s. “I don’t think new roads should be going through, either.”

When the city first unveiled the Heritage Initiative in 2004, the reaction was loud from downtown residents. They mobilized with the help of groups like the Visible Community and the Maine People’s Alliance.

Even two months after the city canceled the plan, several downtown denizens were still convinced they would lose their homes.

“Many have had bad dealings with the city before,” Ben Chin, field director for the Maine People’s Alliance, said earlier this summer. “And they think this is just one more way the city is out to get them,”

By Tuesday night though, rumors had been quelled. The people who ate macaroni salad and lasagna in Maple Street Park knew that their homes were safe.

“It was a lot of work, but it was worth it,” Bailey said. “These people get to stay where they choose to live.”

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