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“Bands on the Run” races to benefit Museum L-A
Museum L-A invites the Twin Cities to a challenging way to have fun with a new event being planned for Sunday, June 24. Combining music with athletic competition, “Bands on the Run Half Marathon & 5K” will encourage participants and spectators to join in on the activities to benefit the museum’s work in the community.
Popular local bands of various genres will be stationed along a running course designed to offer spectacular views and varying terrain.
A military-style Kids’ Obstacle Course, immensely popular at last year’s L-A DU, will spur youngsters to test their fitness. The event will also showcase Museum L-A’s future location at 1 Beech Street, adjacent to Simard-Payne Park, where a festival-like atmosphere will prevail with live music, food and a variety of vendors. Competition gets under way with the Half Marathon starting at 8:30 a.m., followed by the 5K at 9 a.m. and the Kids’ Obstacle Course at 10 a.m.
Maine State Housing Authority payroll jumps 30% since 2005
The Maine Heritage Policy Center has released data showing that the total payroll cost of Maine State Housing Authority has increased 30% in just five years.
MaineOpenGov.org, a MHPC website that shows the pay of state employees, has been updated and expanded to show five years of salary and benefits data for employees of the Maine State Housing Authority.
The data from Maine Housing was provided in response to a Freedom of Access Act request made by The Maine Heritage Policy Center. The data shows that in the past five calendar years (2005 to 2010), total payroll and benefits costs of Maine State Housing Authority employees grew by 30%, from $7.1 million in 2005 to $9.4 million in 2010.
Art Walk Lewiston Auburn honored with Chamber Award
The planning committee of Art Walk Lewiston Auburn will receive the Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce’s Community Service Leadership Award tonight, February 9, at the Chamber’s 2012 Annual Meeting, which starts at 5 p.m. at the Ramada Conference Center in Lewiston.
Each year the Chamber of Commerce hosts an Annual Meeting, where members are invited to attend a social hour, a dinner and awards ceremony. Art Walk Lewiston Auburn will be honored at tonight’s event for their creativity, resourcefulness and ability to engage the community in creating a downtown art event each month during the summer.
During the summer of 2011, Art Walk Lewiston Auburn—a grassroots endeavor run completely by volunteers—transformed Lisbon Street into an impressive arts district, making over local businesses and storefronts into galleries featuring exclusively local artists. By the end of the summer, the Art Walk had attracted over 1,500 people, sold over $6,000 of local art and captured the attention of art organizations around the entire State of Maine.
Portland developer to begin work on Lofts at Bates Mill
The Szanton Company, a Portland-based real estate development company, has completed acquisition of 65,000 square feet—about one-and-a half-acres—of Bates Mill No. 2. The company plans to begin construction immediately on 48 apartments overlooking Fountain Park and Riverfront Island.
“We are thrilled to have reached this point,” said Nathan Szanton, president of the company. “It was a very complicated transaction—both the real estate and the financing. We had a huge amount of help from Tom Platz, our seller, from the City of Lewiston, from MaineHousing and from many others involved in the deal. Now we begin to build.”
The project, called The Lofts at Bates Mill, will be the first of its kind in Lewiston. “There is no rental housing like this in Lewiston,” said Szanton. “The apartments will have 13-foot ceilings, exposed wooden carrying beams and oversized windows, but it will also have modern amenities like an elevator, fitness center, community room, wi-fi and separate storage, all included in the rent.”
Government watchdog group to investigate MaineHousing expenses
By Terrilyn Simpson
www.TheMaineWire.com
OPEGA has initiated a rapid response review of Maine State Housing Authority vendor expenditures following the release of a list of questionable expenses revealed in a MaineWire story. The vendor list was obtained through a Freedom of Access request submitted by the Maine Heritage Policy Center to MaineHousing.
The list of vendors includes: Caesars Palace. The luxury boutique hotel George. Posh hotel accommodations throughout the country. BYOB dance clubs. Funtown/Splashtown USA. Portland Pirates hockey team. The Great Falls Balloon Festival. Sunday River Ski Resort. A magician. A masseuse. High-priced motivational speakers and corporate training companies. Pricey bed and breakfasts. Donations to political groups. Donations to theaters and social justice groups and arts and theater organizations. It goes on and on.
“LA 101” educates citizens on local government
If you’re curious as to how the Cities of Lewiston and Auburn operate, then LA 101 may be for you. If you’re a curious resident with a desire to learn and engage, LA 101 is definitely for you!
Lewiston/Auburn 101 is a 10-week exploration with participants visiting various municipal departments in Lewiston and Auburn and engaging with municipal staff and officials. The 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. weekly sessions commence on February 29 and run through May 2.
The program is sponsored by The League of Young Voters Education Fund in partnership with the Twin Cities. Nicola Wells, executive director of the League, will serve as facilitator. “Over the last year, the Maine League of Young Voters Education Fund has met with countless young people in the Lewiston/Auburn area and asked them what we could do to help achieve their goals for the community,” Wells said. “An overwhelming majority of residents said that they wanted an opportunity to better understand how municipal government works and the mechanisms available to them to get involved.”
LePage: Coalition initiative would increase cost of electricity
By Governor Paul R. LePage
The State House halls are filled with policymakers, the bell is ringing and debates have begun. Once again, Maine’s Legislators are in the State House, working for you.
I stand by my promise to put people before politics and pledge to do what’s best for Maine people. During the next few months, you will hear the word “jobs” from both Democrats and Republicans.
In the first year of my administration Maine’s unemployment rate has gone down from 7.6 percent to 7 percent. However, there is more work to be done. Nearly 50,000 people are still out of work and many are worried about job security.
Democrats and Republicans alike have similar goals this session; but we have different ideas on how to achieve them.
“Education Evolving” would engage students, evaluate teachers
Commissioner unveils education plan
Students will play a more active role in organizing their own learning and have more choice—such as internships, inter-disciplinary classes, independent study, and vocational education—in how they learn and achieve standards, according to a strategic plan for education unveiled by Maine’s education commissioner.
Stephen Bowen unveiled his much-anticipated plan, “Education Evolving: Maine’s Plan for Putting Learners First,” on January 17 at the Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta. He shared the spotlight with five students from four schools who spoke about their own educational experiences in classrooms where they had a say in determining their own educational path.
“Governor LePage made it clear to me from the start that he wants an educational system that put kids first, a system where kids are at the center,” Bowen said. “That is the direction that we are proposing to go in.”
Chamber announces awards to honor community leaders
Each year The Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce honors a number of organizations and individuals for their significant contributions to our communities. This year’s awards will be presented on Thursday, February 9 at the Chamber’s 124th Annual Meeting at the Ramada Conference Center in Lewiston.
The Business Leadership Award for a larger company will be presented to Agren Appliance. In 1969 the Agren family business consisted of a phone and two repair trucks. Routine weekday calls for appliance repair, emergency responses on weekends and over critical holiday periods helped build Agren’s reputation for reliability with many Maine families.
Their first store was established in auburn in 1978, the fourth store opened its doors on Foden Road in South Portland in 1993, and the fifth was established along the Mid-Coast in Damariscotta in 2000 (later moved to a busier Route 1 in Waldoboro in 2006).
Adult student finds success through College Transition Program
Victoria Forbis, Lewiston Adult Education GED and College Transitions Program graduate and full-time CMCC student.
When Victoria Forbis left her job as an assistant seafood manager at a local grocery store in 2009, she didn’t know what to do next. She had plenty of work experience—including nearly 10 years at the grocery store—but it quickly became clear that her lack of a high school diploma would hold her back from the kind of work she wanted.
“I’d left school in seventh grade,” Forbis said. “I realized that the way things are these days, you need the education to get a job. I have the life experience and the work experience, but I needed the secondary education.”
So Forbis went to Lewiston Adult Education to start working on her GED. It took her just five months of taking classes and studying to pass the GED tests. She graduated with the class of 2010. Impressed with her academic abilities and work ethic, GED instructor Mary McNulty encouraged Forbis to start thinking about college, and take Lewiston Adult Education’s College Transition Program (CTP).
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