PORTLAND, Maine — Portland’s progressive politics have come into greater statewide focus in recent weeks as city leaders engage in a public battle with Republican Gov. Paul LePage over what his administration has derided as overly generous distribution of General Assistance benefits.
LePage’s administration has labeled Portland an “outlier” because it spends significantly more on providing emergency aid to people in crisis. The governor has singled out Portland as Exhibit A in his case that liberal politicians waste taxpayers’ money.
But Portland city leaders and legislators — nearly all of whom are Democrats — are fighting back. They say it’s not a coincidence that Maine’s most prosperous place is also its most liberal.
They contend that if Maine’s largest city is an outlier, it’s because the city’s performance as an economic catalyst so dramatically outpaces the rest of Maine that desperate job seekers flock to the city, requiring assistance until they can get settled.
Senate Minority Leader Justin Alfond, D-Portland, said that instead of trying to blast the city for what they believe it’s doing wrong, conservatives in Augusta should be trying to bottle Portland’s approach to government and replicate its success.
And in the center of the ongoing dispute with the governor, Portland maintains the state’s most comprehensive — and expensive — welfare and social services array.
That approach, Mayor Michael Brennan, a Democrat, said, helps establish an environment welcoming to diversity and a high quality of life — factors that may be less tangible than tax breaks in the race to attract businesses and entrepreneurs, but which he and Alfond argue are ultimately more successful, as indicated by a wave of Portland economic figures.
Conservatives counter that it’s natural for a state’s largest city to be its economic center, and that Portland’s not really so prosperous when viewed through a national lens. Right-leaning Mainers argue that Portland’s left tilt holds it back from becoming an even more significant economic catalyst on the regional stage.
As Portland goes
“I think it would be a real benefit if state government and its commissioners would look at Portland and all of its assets — all of its people, all of its political leaders, all of its programs — and say, ‘What could be replicated?’” Alfond said. “What could we do in other places like we’re doing in Portland that will help move the rest of the state out of this recession.”
Economic data helps Alfond make his case.
Michael Dolega, a senior economist with TD Bank, told attendees of the annual Maine Real Estate and Development Association conference in late January that while nearly 47 percent of the state’s job losses during the recession were in Portland, the city has been responsible for almost 80 percent of Maine’s workforce rebound.
Dolega said the city’s 1.6 percent job growth rate for the year is the state’s best, and compared it to the 0.2 percent rate in Maine’s second largest city, Lewiston, over that same time.
Mark Malone of Malone Commercial Properties said during the Maine Real Estate and Development Association conference that Portland’s retail vacancy rates had plummeted to 3.7 percent, less than half the national average of 9.7 percent.
Portland’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.2 percent in December 2014, significantly lower than the statewide rate of 5 percent.
People interested in opening a small business in Maine say finding space, not the political climate, poses the biggest challenge in Portland. Because the thriving Portland market is more consistent than other Maine locations more dependent on seasonal economic factors, it is a draw.
Lucy Dutch, who with her husband opened the Preble Street breakfast-and-lunch counter Dutch’s in November, said competition for space in the booming city was fierce.
“I don’t think we were deterred by [Portland’s liberal reputation],” Dutch said. “I think for us, the biggest challenge was the lack of available space.”
Nearly 45 percent of the city’s adults over the age of 25 have bachelor’s degrees or higher, compared to less than 28 percent statewide. It’s another attraction for companies seeking educated workers, and another quality local leaders chalk up to the city’s left lean.
“Portland is one of the few net importers of college graduates — most of the state exports college graduates … but Portland attracts more college graduates than it loses,” said David Marshall, a Green Independent Party member who serves on the City Council. “Portland always has a ready supply of new 20-somethings and 30-somethings coming into the city. It keeps the city vital, and I think the progressive politics are a major part of that attraction.”
Portland the ‘outlier’
But for all of its positives — Portland is exhaustively lauded by national publications as a trendy destination for everyone from tourists to foodies to retirees to young families — some say it still hasn’t reached its potential.
“I reject wholeheartedly the premise that Portland is prosperous,” said Matt Gagnon, CEO of the right-leaning Maine Heritage Policy Center.
“It may seem prosperous compared to some other parts of Maine, but I’ve seen many cities around the country that are prospering, and by those standards, Portland doesn’t compare,” continued Gagnon, a Maine native who worked previously for the Republican Governors Association in Washington, D.C. “The city’s population has essentially been stagnant for decades.”
While Democrats called the city’s progressive atmosphere an intangible attraction to new residents and businesses, Gagnon said the culture of heavy-handed government is one that deters all but the hardiest developers.
He pointed to the nearly four-year — and ongoing — gauntlet of City Council and planning board meetings faced by The Federated Cos. in the development firm’s pursuit of an $85 million-plus project in the city’s once downtrodden Bayside neighborhood, although he acknowledged that timetable was stretched out by a citizens group lawsuit outside the city’s control.
Gagnon noted that Portland has hovered between 60,000 and 65,000 residents since 1970, only recently inching up above 66,000, despite being an attractive, inexpensive place to live — from a national perspective.
Gagnon said the local city’s building height limitations — in the Portland’s densest areas, buildings cannot be built higher than between six and 12 stories without waivers — shackle developers and stunt the city’s ability to add much-needed housing and population.
Christopher O’Neil, government liaison for the Portland Community Chamber of Commerce, has repeatedly told the City Council that while his organization reflects the socially progressive, compassionate ethos of the larger city, too many new fees and regulations — such as the aforementioned bag fees — could pile up to make Portland a less-attractive outlier on the business landscape.
“It’s safe to say that it seems Portland has been relatively opposed to welfare reforms, whether it’s [criticism over heavy General Assistance spending] or welfare eligibility for noncitizens,” said David Sorensen, spokesman for LePage’s Department of Health and Human Services. “There’s no doubt that Portland is an extreme outlier, and they’ve been coming up with excuses here and there about why their spending is so much higher, but nothing that can come close to explaining why their costs are 11 times higher than in Lewiston-Auburn.”
City leaders say that’s a false comparison because Portland’s economic circumstances are so different from everywhere else in Maine. If the city is an outlier, it’s because it’s light years ahead of other Maine communities in terms of job creation and economic vitality.
“Whether people like the city’s political philosophy or not, I think the numbers do tell the story about the role [Portland] has in the state,” said Marshall, the Green Independent Party member who serves on the City Council. “What happens in Portland has ripple effects across the state. It’s the center of the region that produces more than 40 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, and that’s a disproportionate amount of GDP for a city to have in a state.”
