Business and Economy

Portland Approves Tax Breaks For Senior Housing

By Ed Morin • Jul 17, 2018

The Portland City Council has voted to approve tax breaks for two senior housing developments. The council had originally approved selling city land for one of the projects with the understanding that it would be open to all ages.

Councilor Kim Cook spoke against the developer's move to restrict the age of residents to 55 plus.

Former Brunswick Navy Base Now Has More Than 1,700 Employees

By AP • Jul 16, 2018

BRUNSWICK, Maine - The agency that's redeveloping the former Brunswick Naval Air Station says about 500 jobs have been added over the past year, bringing the total to about 1,700.

Steve Levesque of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority says there are now 110 entities doing business at Brunswick Landing.

He said there are five new companies this summer and that more will be added by year's end. He said demand for former Navy housing remains strong, and that the Brunswick Executive Airport has seen a boost in operations, as well.

It’s Hard For Spouses Of Recruits To Find Jobs In Maine. A New Program Hopes To Change That.

By Caitlin Rogers - Bangor Daily News • Jul 14, 2018

As many as 44 percent of faculty members at the University of Maine considered leaving the school in order to improve their spouse or partner’s career opportunities, according to a study dating back to 2009.

Hiring and retaining employees is a problem not only for the university but also for other Maine businesses, according to Michelle Hale, senior human relations partner at the University of Maine and project leader with the Dual Career Network.

LePage’s Push Against Wind Permits Gets Day In Court

By AP • Jul 13, 2018

Republican Gov. Paul LePage is asking a judge to toss a lawsuit challenging his executive order to halt wind turbine permits in western and coastal regions of rural Maine.

Advocacy groups challenged the constitutionality of LePage's January order, claiming it's causing uncertainty in the wind industry. A Cumberland County judge heard arguments Friday.

LePage says his order hasn't blocked wind projects. And his lawyer conceded that the executive order isn't being heeded by the governor's own administration.

The First Somali-Owned Farm Stand Opens In Lewiston

By Patty Wight • Jul 13, 2018

The first Somali-owned farm stand opened this week in Lewiston.

Two cooperative farms joined together to open the produce stand, which will also feature a food truck that serves Somali cuisine. The hope is that the new business at 996 Sabattus Street will help the farmers build capital and foster connection with the wider community.

Study Calls Portland’s Crowded Waterfront An ‘Existential Threat’ To Marine Industries

By Fred Bever • Jul 13, 2018

Anxiety is growing in Portland’s lobstering community over the city's increasingly crowded waterfront. A traffic study that is in the works is calling the situation an "existential threat" to the city's marine industries, and lobstermen seem to agree.

Willis Spear fishes 800 traps from a Commercial Street wharf that also houses two restaurants, the Harbor fish market, and a major bait fish dealer. He says city officials are approving new developments too quickly, adding more and more cars to the downtown mix.

Return Of The Cat To Bar Harbor Expected To End Canadian Ferry Service In Portland

By Bill Trotter - Bangor Daily News • Jul 11, 2018

The Cat’s days operating out of Portland are likely numbered, a city official acknowledged Tuesday.

Maine Lobster Industry Deals With New Tariffs From China

By Fred Bever • Jul 10, 2018

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Maine Lobster Industry Deals With New Tariffs From China

Some Maine lobster dealers who have seen sales to China shoot up over the last decade are now suddenly shut out.

Maine Lobster Industry Deals With New Tariffs From China

By Fred Bever • Jul 10, 2018

Some Maine lobster dealers who have seen sales to China shoot up over the last decade are now suddenly shut out.

Illegal Fireworks Displays Leave Truckloads Of Beach Trash

By AP • Jul 9, 2018

SCARBOROUGH, Maine - Public works employees say they found two truckloads worth of fireworks debris at a Maine beach in apparent contempt of current prohibitions on beach fireworks.

Spent fireworks canisters, busted beach chairs, plastic bits and other remnants were found strewn across Pine Point Beach in Scarborough early Thursday. The Portland Press Herald reports town officials say they have a perennial problem around the Fourth of July trying to enforce the fireworks ban.

New Tariffs From China Could Hit Maine's Lobster Industry Hard

By Fred Bever • Jul 6, 2018

Maine businesses are largely unscathed by the new tariffs China is imposing on U.S. products. But there's one big exception – lobster.

Wade Merritt, the president of the Maine International Trade Center, says early salvos in the developing trade war between the U.S. and China didn't seem too bad. But the tariffs China just announced came on like a summer thunderstorm, and they will hit about one-quarter of all of Maine's exports abroad.

Helicopter Tours To Take Off In Maine

By Ed Morin • Jul 5, 2018

A helicopter service based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has started offering interactive scenic tours out of the Portland Jetport.

Seacoast Helicopters Founder and CEO Bruce Cultrera says the company was looking for expansion opportunities, and found Portland's environment to be similar to Portsmouth's.

“Very picturesque, touristy, lots of eye candy: islands lighthouses, waterfront so on and so forth,” says Cultrera.

CAT Operators Eye Daily Trips To Bar Harbor Amid Concern Over Ferry Terminal Plans

By A.J. Higgins • Jul 5, 2018

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CAT Operators Eye Daily Trips To Bar Harbor Amid Concern Over Ferry Terminal Plans

After an eight-year hiatus, the Canadian-owned CAT ferry is weighing the resumption of daily transits between Yamouth, Nova Scotia and Bar Harbor.

Maine's Public Advocate Skeptical Of Expansive Plan To Improve Power Grid

By David Sharp - Associated Press • Jul 5, 2018

PORTLAND, Maine - The agency that represents the interests of Maine utility customers is skeptical of a costly proposal to improve the state's power grid in the face of increasingly intense storms.

Public advocate Barry Hobbins says he wants more details of the plan, and assurances that ratepayers won't be on the hook for the costs.

Fee On Hotels Proposed To Address Lack Of Affordable Housing In Portland

By Nora Flaherty • Jul 2, 2018

Portland's City Council is working on a proposal that would levy a fee on new hotel rooms to support affordable housing in the city.

The proposed ordinance, sent last week from the council's Housing Committee to the Planning Board, would charge developers a fee of $5,000 per new room being built now or in the future.

The proposal is the result of a study that finds new hotels are being built in Portland much faster than the national average, and that the workers needed to staff them can't afford to live in the city.

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