Letters

No development planned

After an engaged process with the community surrounding Summit Terrace, the city of South Portland, and the current landowner, Hardypond Construction, the company has decided it will not be pursuing development of the (so-called) Piggery parcel.

There are many needs to be met in the complex environment of real estate development, and the economics of construction costs and comparable market rents and market sales on this project do not fit the investment parameters of Hardypond Development.

We appreciate the input and effort we received from everyone during this process, and we are willing to assist anyone who wishes to continue due diligence on this property.

Frank Carr,

Director of Business Development at Hardypond

Blaise not among tax-and-spenders

It is possible to be wrong even when you are right. I offer the following example.

In a previous letter to the editor, I stated that the Scarborough Town Council and Board of Education are responsible for the steep rise in Scarborough’s real estate taxes over the past three years. I was right in saying so. I was wrong when I included Councilor Ed Blaise in that statement.

Councilor Blaise has been a proponent of flat budgets. He has proposed amendments to the budgets to reduce those budgets by more than $700,000. His amendments failed. Only Councilor Benedict, who is no longer on the council, supported him. When the council approved goals of flat budgets and 3-percent increases, yet came in with budgets exceeding goals, only Councilors Blaise and Benedict voted nay.

I have been in contact with Councilor Blaise. I apologized. I now do so again in the forum I used to include him earlier. When wrong, admit it, apologize and hope both parties can move forward. That is what I am going to do.

Michael B. Turek

Scarborough

Airport master plan available

The PWM Sustainable Airport Master Plan has been initiated by the City of Portland. PWM is of interest to many within the regional community including residents, businesses, community organizations, governmental officials, airport users/tenants, and aviation organizations.

The planning process will be closely coordinated with an advisory committee that is made of up government representatives, airport users and tenants, and local community representatives including representatives of the city of South Portland and the town of Cape Elizabeth.

A website has been set up to provide you with information about the Master Plan, a schedule of public meetings, and a public comment section. Your involvement and input are welcome and appreciated. Please visit the PWM Master Plan website at www.thejetport.airportstudy.com

Adrian Dowling

South Portland

Stair climbers say thanks

I wanted to take a minute and thank the many people who helped make this year’s South Portland Firefighters Fight For Air stair climb so successful.

The first thank-you has to go to the climbers on our team. You guys were great and thanks to your hard work we placed fourth out of 47 teams. More importantly, we raised over $5,200 (for the American Lung Association). It takes constant dedication to stay in shape and look for donations. Your hard work really paid off and I appreciate it.

Our top five climbers were: Matthew Cox, (who made the climb in) 7:55 minutes; Phil Selberg – 8:46, Blake Davis – 8:58; Stephen Simonson – 9:28; and Ben Guild – 10:37. Well done.

The team would also like to thank Atlantic Sportswear of Portland for donating T-shirts. I have personally known the great people of Atlantic Sportswear for over 20 years and they have always been extremely supportive of the community. Thanks again guys, you are the best.

Another big thank-you goes to Kate Irish Collins and Rich Obrey of the Current (newspaper), Bill Green and his team from WCSH6 in Portland and Kathleen O’Neill from the American Lung Association. The media support and coverage has been excellent.

It also helped contribute to the great success of our fundraising efforts. Our team, (along with) others from Maine, continue to be some of the top fundraising teams (for the stair climb) and the media certainly assists in getting the word out.

And finally, to all of the generous people who donated, we say thank you. Helping the American Lung Association is an honor and raising the funds needed to fight lung cancer, asthma, COPD, emphysema, and other lung diseases makes climbing the 41 “floors of pain” worth it.

Our 2015 team members were Ken Alling, Cheryl Cox, Matt Cox, Blake Davis, Stephanie Cote, Karen Farrington, Tobey Farrington, Ben Guild, Ray Heal, Doreen Martel, Dan Musser, Mike Norton, Alejandro Pagan, Phil Selberg, Jennifer Simonson, Stephen Simonson, Zach Tooker, and Ashley Wax.