Posting in case someone is looking for this cutie

I always wanted to try them!

What’s open for lunch/dinner y’all?

I was glancing through Facebook and noticed a guy named Nick Isgro commenting in relation to an WMTW post about the far right German political party AfD that they “aren’t even far right. They are just against replacement immigration.” In other words that’s the dog whistle for the whole white genocide racist BS. I did a little digging and found this wasn’t his first time at the rodeo.
He was formerly the mayor of Waterville and vice chair of the Maine GOP back in 2018 when he got into trouble over his views on immigration, LGBTQ issues, drag queen story hours and other neo- Nazi dog whistles.
Currently he’s a realtor working with Keller Williams of Portland and associated with Realtor.com. At the very least know who to avoid in real estate and on the other hand maybe his company should be reminded? It’s not even hidden. He seems pretty open about being a Nazi.

It's currently just me in a large, bright apartment just off the peninsula here in Portland, in the neighborhood behind Hadlock Field, but I need a new roommate. Sadly for me, my roommate moved back to CA to be nearer to his family. The space I'm looking to rent out is a large bedroom suite, with one large room that has an attached small room that could be used as a walk in closet/dressing area, or a small office/den. There is tons of basement storage, a big, fully stocked kitchen, shared TV room, den, and full bathroom, dedicated washer/dryer in the basement, huge screened in back deck, off street parking, and quiet, fairly private backyard. Rent is $1600 all in (heat, A/C, electric, internet, laundry, compost).

ETA: I have one sweet kitty, and I'm willing to discuss adding one or possibly two additional cats to the household. I'm a single woman in my mid 40s - I'm pretty quiet and chill, I WFH, and I'm happy spending time by myself. I go out with friends occasionally, and will sometimes have a friend or two over, but I'm generally not up super late or early. This is a non-smoking home. I'm the kind of person who will tell you if something is bugging me, and I want to be told if something I do bugs you. We don't need to be best friends, but I'm happy to hang if we hit it off - but it's important to me that the person who rents the space is not a Trump supporter. I'm open to any gender, orientation, race. Also, the landlords are super cool (and I've had some landlords) - the location is a large house with four condos, and the other three condos are individually owner occupied.

Encountered a small gray cat with a collar and tag at Thomas Knight Park. Very friendly and approached me and followed me for a bit. I tried to not chase them so they dissapeared into the night but they seemed to know where they were going. Hoping kitty makes it home safe and no one is looking for them

Saturday night DUI checkpoint on veterans Bridge. I was out on my bike and saw this. This was at the right turn onto the 4 River Parkway, a guy was suggesting people turn there instead of going straight to the police chokepoint.

In just a few minutes I saw at least 20 cars turning to avoid the roadblock . I figured he would get beat up or arrested before too long, so I didn't stick around.

Good Morning. My Wife and I drove through Your beautiful city yesterday on our way home from Harpswell to VT, and I noticed a large presence of Japanese people and culture in Your beautiful city. For instance, by the water, a fisherman bowed as I stopped to let him cross the road, which I found interesting, and from that moment, we experienced this a few more times with other pedestrians, saw many people wearing Hiragana scripted outfits, and noticed a large presence of Japanese restaurants in the area. Does Portland have a large Japanese community, or is it a popular destination for Japanese tourists? If so, what specifically draws them there? Thank You!

Looking for recommendations to get my Honda Accord with over 100,000 miles inspected. It can be anywhere from Portland, Westbrook or Gorham. I used to go to Hamilton’s in Portland years ago which was great as the owner George, was very honest and had reasonable rates. I never worried about being charged for services that weren’t needed. Thank you for you help!

I don't think I've ever seen something so adorable. This was down by Union Station. Coolest scooter I've ever seen in Portland!! Berry nice!

Nothing connects me more to our charming little seaside town than walking around, noticing the fine details, cozy corners, brambled easements, and ornate architecture. I’ve lived here (on and off) a long time, more than 30 years, and Portland still has so much magic and energy to share. Here’s some iPhone snaps from yesterday. No filters, no AI! Just me, my dog, and a beautiful day. Final pic was taken at Harmon’s Floral, a long time Portland staple. 🪻💐🪷

I feel like the closer you get to the rail at Thompsons the stupider it gets. This is probably true at most concert venues. I had it coming to an extent.

Kids starting rushing the rail right before ghost is about to start. A mother comes up to me and says “hey these are my two daughters please watch them and keep them safe I’ll be back here.”

People behind me kept asking me to move left and right so they could see.

Almost an altercation as weed started to be smoked and parents were getting upset there kids had to smell it.

It’s like people have never been in public before. It’s a shared experience folks let’s be better.

Ghost sounded great. I ended up getting too hot and left the spot. Shucks

The city of Portland and Greater Portland Metro could soon tear down and replace the two-decade-old Jewel Box bus shelter on Congress Street after the Public Art Committee recommended removing the structure from its collection.

The Jewel Box — with its bending glass walls, aluminum canopy and cast iron base — was installed in 2004 and has been a visible landmark near Monument Square since. More recently, it’s fallen victim to vandalism and safety concerns stemming from poor ventilation and visibility.

The Public Art Committee voted unanimously Thursday to deaccession the piece after years of pouring money into maintenance. Kat Zagaria Buckley, the committee chair, said the structure is “by far” the most expensive piece to maintain among the city’s collection, averaging about $5,000 a year.

She said members didn’t feel like relocating the structure was appropriate, and that changing its design would not allow the artists’ original concept to stay intact. 

If the City Council ultimately signs off on the decision, the Jewel Box would be replaced with a new transit shelter. What it might look like has not been determined yet, but city staff say they’ve been coordinating with Metro officials.

Kevin Kraft, the city’s planning director, said Congress Street is part of a larger rapid transit study, which could recommend more enhanced bus infrastructure along that corridor. It could also see a temporary shelter stood up.

Kraft said the Jewel Box has been “an ongoing challenge for a number of years” because of graffiti, broken glass and more. He said the public art committee once approved replacing a window pane only for another one to break right after.

Zagaria Buckley estimated the committee has spent $38,000 to maintain it since 2004, and a recent estimate put renovations at another $32,000.

City staff said the design doesn’t allow proper ventilation and its roof line reduces visibility for surveillance.

Several committee members agreed that the piece of public art has stood the test of time for an installation that has also served as one of the most-used bus shelters in the city.

“20 years was a great lifetime for this piece,” committee member Phoebe Cole said.

Others said it’s been clear for some time that the shelter in that location needs to change, and it’s no longer serving its purpose as part of Portland’s public art collection.

Although the council will get the final say, Zagaria Buckley offered a eulogy following the committee’s vote. 

“There comes a time where public need, site and artwork no longer align,” she said. “It’s important to recognize when public art no longer has a civic life. All art has a lifespan. Nothing, not even art, can last forever.”

Last month, METRO published an update on the Gorham–Westbrook–Portland BRT project link and the revised design is incredibly frustrating.

The original plan had dedicated bus lanes along 48% of the route. The revised design has them along just 6%. The estimated Westbrook–Portland trip increases from 34 to 38 minutes, while the Gorham–Portland trip increases from 48 to 53 minutes. METRO’s own paper also projects lower ridership, less reliable service, an additional $560,000 in annual operating costs, and worse prospects for federal funding. It would still cost an estimated $80–125 million.

The original bargain made sense: spend serious money and make difficult changes to the streets in exchange for fast, reliable transit. This version keeps much of the expense while abandoning the defining feature that was supposed to make it work.

It also illustrates a major weakness of BRT compared with light rail. Bus lanes and other priority measures can be negotiated away before they are ever built. Dedicated rail infrastructure is far more durable once the investment is made.

Buses already have an image problem. Spending up to $125 million on a service that still gets stuck in traffic could make that much worse. If it fails, people will blame public transit instead of the decision to remove most of what would have made it rapid. That could set back serious transit investment here for decades.

The best option is to restore meaningful bus priority and build the original BRT concept. If local governments are unwilling to do that, they should reconsider the much more expensive rail alternative, which would at least provide genuinely fast and reliable transit to Westbrook—or stop and begin the alternatives analysis again.

Getting the snow blower ready for winter, and I'd like to run clear gas. Any stations in the area have it at the pump?

Did you lose your bricks? One is pale blue.