A proposal would allow Portland’s community gardeners to sell their produce at stands set up at the city-owned plots.

PORTLAND – A flurry of e-mails late this spring indicates that city officials were worried that a small bait operation on the Portland Fish Pier could derail a multimillion-dollar waterfront law office project and redevelopment of the Cumberland Cold Storage building.

After a Pierce Atwood partner e-mailed the city on May 30 to complain about the refrigerated trailers and bait containers — saying they "totally transform the site from a potential first-class waterfront rehabilitation project to an industrial wasteland" — city officials quickly determined the trailers blocked emergency access to a small portion of the pier and said they would have to be moved.

The e-mails, obtained by The Portland Press Herald under a Freedom of Information request, make it clear that the city wanted the Dropping Springs Bait operation moved to satisfy Pierce Atwood’s concerns about the aesthetics along a central portion of Portland’s working waterfront after the law firm threatened to pull out of the $12 million project to move into the former warehouse.

Yes, there are horses at the Portland Fire Museum, but there also are high-tech simulators.

Consultants find upgrading the arena more cost-effective than replacing it.

As a board member with the Maine College of Art, John Coleman heard often about the problems that made it difficult for the school to sell the former Baxter Library building at 619 Congress St.

So he found it hard to believe the words coming from his mouth last year when the board was told that a potential developer wouldn’t be able to move ahead with the sale without a main tenant.

About 100 canines and twice as many people turn out for Planet Dog’s fifth annual Woofminster.