Anna Larrgay, Co-owner of Card Works, Said She is Opposed to an Initiative on the November Ballot to Limit the Number of Passengers Who Can Disembark from Passenger Ships to 1,000 on Any Given Days.

A Large Cruise Ship in Portland Harbor Today.  Shop Were Extremely Busy With Customers From This Ship.

“We put a lof of our resources into getting the cruise ships to come to Portland years ago. And now they want to limit us?” said Anna Larrgay, co-owner of Card Works, 3 Moulton Street in the Old Port of Portland this afternoon.  She was incredulous at the idea.  “Cruise ships encourage visitors to come back to Portland and stay longer,” she elaborated. People return, stay in Portland  hotels, eat in Portland restaurants,  shop in Portland gift shops and drinkk coffee in Portland coffee shops – all over the area.

Anna and her husband also own the Old Port Candy Co.  She was busy with customers, many of them coming from the cruise ship that was in port today.  “I have plenty to say about this initiative,” she said in between customers.

Anna was referring to an initiative amendment to the Portland City Code that seeks to restrict the number of passengers that can disembark from cruise ships on any given day to 1,000 people, “In aggregate.”  Some of the ships carry 3,000 to 4,000 passengers each.  Some days there are 2 or more cruise ships in port, each carrying thousands of passengers.

The initiative is sponsored by a statewide group of socialists – DemocraticSocialistsMaine.  So far no tourist industry organization has emerged to counter this initiative.  Richard Leeman, who works at Ocean Gateway for Visit Maine, told this blogger last month that this non-profit is not an “advocacy group,” although he said he is well aware of the initiative on the upcoming November ballot.

In an informal survey on the Portland waterfront, this blogger talked to three other Commercial Street.  Managers and employees of these businesses who spoke off the record were all against the initiative that would hurt their bottom line.

“I find it hard to believe that the ecomies of having all people here is a bad idea,” said one business employee on Commercial Street, who prefered to talk off the record.  “These cruise ships have a direct affect on the sucess of our local businesses.” A manager of another long-time business on Commercial Street said:  “We are opposed to limiting the number of passengers who can disembark because cruise ship business is good for Portland.  They give the city good exposure,” she said.  A third Commercial Street business said:  “We are not called vacationland for nothing.”

An inquiry to the MaineDemocraticSocialists weeks ago asking why it supports limiting the number of passengers who can disembark from the cruise ships on any given day to 1,000 went unanswered.

For more background information on the disembarking restriction on the November 8th ballot, please visit post herein dated August 24, 2022.