Thumbs up to the City of Sanford for agreeing to make a special exception to its approval process and restore two streetlights to the Nathan Court neighborhood. Residents there have not felt as safe since their streetlights went dark after years of a private citizen paying for them, and the police have documented incidents of vandalism there.
The neighborhood did not quite meet the criteria for a streetlight, scoring only 40 points out of 45 on the application process, but councilors made an exception and gave their OK to the lights. Even though the street was not listed as a high crime area, residents there noted that a bottle bomb had been tossed on the lawn, tires have been squealed in the early morning and vandalism has occurred ”“ largely, they believe, because it’s in the dark. With the dark winter months coming up, we’re glad to see the city make an exception for this neighborhood and invest the $315 annual cost to keep the area lit and make it safer.
Thumbs up to the Biddeford City Council for taking initial steps to address median strip panhandling in the city. The council gave its first affirmative vote last week to an ordinance that would ban loitering on the city’s median strips, which means those soliciting money will no longer be allowed to stand in the middle of busy highway stretches such as the area near the turnpike and shopping plazas on Route 111. While the council is going forward with this ordinance mainly due to safety concerns of people stopping to give money or other items to these beggars, the ban on using medians for this purpose will also have the side effect of helping clean up at least some of the city’s streets; loitering on sidewalks will still be allowed.
Thumbs down to the situation at the Saco Police Department, which has been reimbursed only $28,850 by its insurance company for the loss of three police cruisers. That amount is only enough to replace one of those cruisers, leaving the department down by two. The three cruisers were totaled during a ramming incident when police arrested a Massachusetts woman in July after she repeatedly drove her car into the cruisers. The city should consider investing in better insurance for the police department, rather than only the “book value” of its vehicles. With all the mileage police put on their vehicles, they aren’t worth much after a while, but their replacement cost is high. The taxpayers are instead going to end up shouldering this cost next year when the department finds that it needs those vehicles back in its fleet.
Thumbs up to all who supported the Saco Drive-In, helping it win Honda’s Project Drive-In contest, which will fund a new digital projector for the outdoor theater. The theater, which is beloved by many who have childhood memories of seeing films from their vehicles, was in danger of closing if it was not able to purchase a digital projector, since actual film is soon to be phased out for new releases. By local fundraising, spreading the word and getting lots of votes in their bid to win the contest, the drive-in has succeeded and we’re glad to see this local institution will be around for the next generation to enjoy.
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Thumbnails is a Monday feature of the Journal Tribune’s opinion pages. If you would like to respond, please write the Reader’s Forum via email at jtcommunity@journaltribune.com or by dropping your letter off at our Biddeford office.
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