The WENA/WPAA candidate for mayor forum on Thursday, October 17th, at Reiche School Auditorium, (6:30 pm) will provide a great opportunity to learn where the four candidates for mayor stand on cold storage issues according to Jo Coyne, a west end resident.

For example, do the  candidates care that the Maine Port Authority (MPA) intends to spend $30 million of taxpayer’s money to build an oversized cold storage facility, even though nearly half of all frozen and refrigerated freight that Eimskip handles goes to four companies that have told us they already have cold storage capacity and would not use a facility in Portland?

Will the candidates support MPA’s request that it be granted “conditional use” to build 75′ (20 ft. higher than the height currently allowed in the Waterfront Port Development Zone)?

Do the candidates agree that maximizing profits by disallowing roof top vegetation or solar panels is more important than reducing  environmental impact?

What will their plan be for managing truck and other traffic on Commercial Street – something that local lobstermen have been particularly concerned about?

Will City Councilor Spencer Thibodeau, in particular, continue to support the neighborhood he represents on these concerns?  Where does he stand on this latest proposal to build a cold storage facility that is 33% larger than the previous proposal of Americold?

Please attend the October 17th meeting at Reiche School to ask these and other questions on this MPA proposal.

For more background information on both subjects, please visit posts herein dated October 13 and October 10, 2019.