Strimling for Portland mayor
Ethan Strimling has devoted the last 18 years of his life to saving lives at LearningWorks in Portland — literally.
This nonprofit meets youth where they are, gives them the necessary support they need to stay in school and create their pathways to success, provides after school programs for kids and teaches English as a second language, along with many other programs.
I’m so inspired by the great work he’s done over the last two decades with our youth. I’m so excited that a leader like this has stepped up to run for mayor of Portland. He’s done great things at LearningWorks and as mayor will do great things for our city. Please vote for Ethan Strimling on Nov. 3.
Pious Ali
Portland
Short-term rentals bad for Rockland
I am a resident of Rockland, living in an historic home on Talbot Avenue. The purchase of this home came after an exhaustive search of the Maine coast. We were not searching for just a home but a home where we would spend the rest of our lives.
This is why I am extremely concerned about the rapid growth of available short-term rental properties popping up all over Rockland and the potential of these rentals to destroy our neighborhoods. An Oct. 9 New York Times article, “New Worry for Home Buyers: A Party House Next Door,” documented the negative impact short-term rentals are having upon communities.
“Profit-seeking entrepreneurs,” who have no intention of living in the house, are buying homes for the purpose of renting them on a short-term basis. As one resident put it, it is time to “stop allowing … rogue hotels to operate in residential neighborhoods,” the Times wrote.
Without strict ordinances to protect our neighborhoods, any individual can buy a house next door and begin renting it out on a nightly basis to as many people as they can fit into the space.
If this culture is allowed to thrive in Rockland, our neighborhoods will turn into environments in which none of us want to live, our property values will plummet, and it will reduce the amount of housing available to year-round residents, turning Rockland into yet one more seasonal rental community along the Maine coast.
Gary Sousa
Rockland
Day late, dollar short
Temperatures are dropping in New England while the leaf peepers pass through riding in long, sleek buses with end-to-end tinted windows. It occurs to me that the bus lines should use a green tint on their windows to enhance the appearance of the red and yellow of Autumn leaves.
The tour bus rolls on as I swing into the department store. I’m looking for good leather winter gloves. My old ones have endured 16 Maine winters and are at a stage where the finger seams have been mended so many times the stitch holes leak. Perhaps I can find some with a soft fleece lining.
Not finding the ladies’ leather gloves, I ask the clerk. She replies, “oh, we’re all sold out.” But it is only the first week of October. No wonder so many folks do their Christmas shopping in July. They should have stocked enough gloves to last through the winter season. But then I remember they will soon need to make room for the bathing suits.
If I purchase a bathing suit in January, it probably won’t fit me by June. But if I wait until June, the bathing suits will be all sold out, making room for the winter jackets and leather gloves.
It just seems to me, if I were in sales, I would make sure my customer was not a day late nor a dollar short.
Sue Thibodeau Baumgardner
Prospect