The Portland Foreside Project is a waterfront development project that recently received a green light from the city. The city claims that the project will come with numerous benefits, however, residents seem to disagree.  

A few weeks ago, I opened Instagram to see a flurry of angry posts from my friends, co-workers and fellow students. Confused as to what all the fuss was about, I navigated to the source; a post from the official Portland Old Port account detailing the Foreside Project. The project in question showcases a 660 million dollar proposal with plans to build 400 prime residential units, a luxury hotel, and a 50,000 square foot space dedicated to upscale retail and dining. Immediately, my heart dropped into my stomach. 

Turn any street corner in Portland and I can almost guarantee that you will find someone lying on the street. Perhaps they have a blanket. Perhaps they don’t. Maybe they’ll have a few belongings with them; an old shirt, a tattered shopping bag, a stained pillow. Maybe they have nothing. But they are everywhere. These people are among those who call Portland their ‘home,’ who made the city into what it is, the fishermen, the servers, the people who supported this city’s economy for years. And now they sleep in the streets because the city has decided to turn a blind eye to the horrors they have created with their ceaseless focus on “innovation”. Let’s call it what it really is: gentrification.

The Foreside Project is not designed for Mainers. This is evident in the post created by the Portland Old Port. The words luxury and upscale are not ones that draw the attention of the average resident, who, according to the U.S. Census, on average makes just under 43,000 dollars a year. 220 Out of 400 apartments the project plans to build will be for sale and likely sell sight unseen by out-of-staters who make well over six figures. The other 180 will be available for rent and undoubtedly have sky-high rates. The post further states that the housing development will have a range of options, such as oceanfront condominiums and townhomes that will help  “foster a vibrant and inclusive community-focused waterfront neighborhood”. Inclusive? To whom? If the city of Portland was truly focused on being “inclusive” and “community-focused”, it would be invested in the word affordable and not upscale.

I am by no means against progress. Progress is a wonderful thing- but the Foreside Project is anything but progress. It is designed to appease the incredibly wealthy. The out-of-state. The billionaires and businessmen who leap at the chance to take a space that is full of history and turn it into a money-making machine. Progress for the city of Portland would be investing money into building more shelters. Progress would be not clearing out the numerous homeless encampments across the city, denying those already lacking homes even a place to sleep. Progress would be reading the nearly 2,000 comments on the original post announcing the plan, and seeing that not one local is in support. I am deeply saddened by the city’s lack of respect for its residents. If the city continues to operate motivated by greed, I do not see Maine continuing to be the motto of “the way life should be”. 

Sources:

United States Census Bureau . (n.d.). U.S. Census Bureau quickfacts: Portland City, Maine. United States Census Bureau . https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/portlandcitymaine/RHI125222