C Thumbs up to the Old Orchard Beach town council’s decision not to pursue diagonal parking on Old Orchard Street, even though it would have added 15 spaces. We are glad to see they took the advice of Police Chief Dana Kelley, who said diagonal parking would create safety concerns. Traffic is heavy on this street during tourist season, as it is the main drag going down to the beach, and having cars backing out into traffic is a bad idea that would add to the congestion and undoubtedly result in some fender-benders. The proposal was being considered as a way to increase revenue for the town with additional metered parking spaces, but the risk is not worth it. The town will be getting more money from parking now anyway, with its plan to add meters on East Grand Avenue.
C Thumbs up to Jo Speidel and Jennifer Davie of Sanford, who recently started up the Maine Street Players, a theater group for children. Finding expression in the arts is an important aspect of childhood growth and encourages youth to have new experiences while gaining personal confidence. It’s no easy task to arrange a full cast of children and guide them to put on a successful production, but Speidel and Davie have done it once, with the help of several other parent volunteers. They plan to do it again, with the continued support of the community to help them pay for theater rental time, props, costumes and the like, and we wish them success.
D Thumbs down to a proposal in Saco to hire a visioning consultant, at a cost of $15,000. While we agree that creating a vision statement, goals and a business plan are important steps for the city to take, those are tasks that should be undertaken by existing staff such as the economic development director, city administrator and council. There is no need for the city to enlist the help of a consultant for this process when so many professionals are already on board who understand the situation and dynamics unique to Saco. Public input on the visioning process could be gathered via hearings, meetings and surveys as usual, without this expenditure. With a recent tax hike of 18 percent and a school budget that is trending upward, Saco does not have the money for specialty expenses like this ”“ but that doesn’t mean the work shouldn’t get done by city staff.
C Thumbs up to those who have volunteered their time to arrange recognition events for Vietnam veterans this coming weekend, to give them the public “welcome home” and appreciation that was not offered when they first returned from their service overseas. Regardless of the conflict in which they participated and what the public thinks about it, military veterans have all answered the call to duty for the United States of America, and their service and sacrifice should never be dismissed or minimized. We encourage all who are able to show their support for these veterans at two events this weekend: The open house sponsored by Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1044, at noon Saturday, March 29 at Nasson Community Center, 457 Main St., Springvale; and in Saco, at the Heroes Day of Honor Rally sponsored by the Saco Bay Center for Civic Engagement, on Sunday, March 30 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Eastman Park, located at the intersection of Elm, Main and North streets. A post-rally social hour will be held from 12:30-2 p.m. at the Hazelton House, 7 Smith Lane. Events are planned this weekend because it is an anniversary: March 30, 1973 is when the United States withdrew combat units and combat support units from the former South Vietnam, ending U.S. involvement in the war.
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