I was back in Portland, Maine recently visiting with friends. One of the items on the agenda was for my friend and I to go out for a day with our film cameras. Portland has a gentrifying waterfront area along Commercial Street. It’s a really a nice area, but with gentrification comes higher prices on just about everything. So, what else is new?
Our late afternoon destination was the East Promenade part of the city overlooking the entrance to the Back Cove. Of particular interest was an abandoned rail line and swing bridge linking each side of the Cove. Although interesting to photograph, it is a blight on the area. As with so many industrial areas around the country, there were never any requirements on businesses to make the land whole when the facilities would become obsolete and, often, abandoned. That cost is typically borne by local, state or federal government. Nowadays, the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum uses a short portion of that track bed running from the Cove to Commercial Street as a tourist attraction.
The rollback of government regulation of business and commerce by the current Administration will only promote this phenomenon.
Stephen Fielding Images 