In the News

GrowSmart Maine News

Standish adopts new code aimed at restoring village  keepMEcurrent.com, John Balentine.  Friday, June 17, 2011. STANDISH - The town of Standish has become the first town in Maine to adopt form-based code, part of an effort to replicate the downtowns of yesteryear where people lived and worked in the same place.

Governor Paul LePage's Regulatory Reform Proposals

Quality of Place Grants Awarded to 14 Nonprofits. December 15, 2010. The Environmental Funders Network (EFN) has awarded $526,400 in grants to 14 organizations through its ongoing Quality of Place initiative.

LEAD Conference. WAGM TV, Kelly O'Mara. December 15, 2010. LEADers Encouraging Aroostook Development is following major challenges identified by GrowSmart Maine Executive Director Nancy Smith who discussed results of a report entitled Reinventing Maine Government.

Brookings report, recommendations good places for LePage to start work George Smith. Kennebec Journal, November 24, 2010. It’s time to revisit the exceptional 2006 Brookings report and recommendations.

Keep Maine the best it can be Nancy Smith. Sun Journal: Oct 24, 2010. Land — they're not makin' any more of it.

Portland alerted to impact of job sprawl. Portland Press Herald: April 6, 2009. A new Brookings Institution analysis of employment data shows that jobs have been moving out of city centers, but recent activity in Maine's downtowns and Main Streets indicates that the trend may be changing.

Is Maine kicking its sprawl habit? Maine Sunday Telegram: December 7, 2008. An analysis of Census data finds that fewer people are moving into far-flung suburbs, while Maine's larger towns and cities are beginning to grow again.

Residents Voice Opinions on Village Area in Standish. The Gazette: Nov. 28, 2008. A report on GrowSmart's work with the town of Standish to promote smart growth in the village of Standish Corner.

Keep Investing in Maine, Expert Urges at Summit. Bangor Daily News: October 11, 2008. Coverage of Bruce Katz's Summit 2008 keynote.

Enthusiasm Electric at GrowSmart Session on Energy . Bangor Daily News: October 11, 2008. Coverage of the "green innovation" and economic development workshops at Summit 2008.

Summit 2008 television report: WCSH6/WLBZ2, October 10, 2008.

Legislature Initatiated Farsighted Measures. Bangor Daily News op-ed column, June 30, 2008. GrowSmart Maine president Alan Caron praises the state Legislature and Governor for implementing several recommendations from the GrowSmart-Brookings report.

Top Stories of 2007. MaineBiz: December 2007. The Brookings report and GrowSmart's subsequent work ranks as one of the biggest Maine business news stories of the year.

Editor's Note: Maine's "Best Kick in the Butt". Down East Magazine: January 2008. Paul Doiron, Editor of DownEast Magazine, honors GrowSmart's advocacy and the "Charting Maine's Future" report in the magazine's first annual "Best of Maine" issue.

Government Streamlining News

GEORGE SMITH: Maine can cure its maladies only if we grasp, commit to fix them
They bear repeating. And repeating. And repeating. The facts of Maine’s poor economy, high taxes and bloated dysfunctional government can’t be repeated enough. That is one of the benefits of the new Reinventing Government Report issued by Envision Maine and commissioned by GrowSmart Maine

Fixing what ails our great state Times Record Editorial board - Friday, October 1, 2010As anyone who’s faced a life-threatening illness knows, Step 1 of getting better is having the right diagnosis. - First of week-long series

Diagnosing what ails Maine Times Record - Tuesday, October 5, 2010. First comes the diagnosis. It’s rather blunt, but that’s helpful, because its meaning is clear, unambiguous and therefore a good starting point for public debate.

‘10 myths that hold us back’ Times Record - Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Alan Caron, co-author of the 83-page “Reinventing Maine Government” analysis commissioned by Grow Smart Maine, is quick to say, “This is not a finger-pointing report.”

Medicine for a better future? Times Record - Thursday, October 7, 2010 2:15 PM EDT In his preface to the 83-page “Reinventing Maine Government” report, Alan Caron makes clear the essential point that there is a higher purpose to Envision Maine’s recommendations to create a “21st century government” — one “that is not just smaller, but smarter.”

Getting a second opinion? Times Record - Friday, October 8, 2010 2:16 PM EDT Harvard Business School professor John Kotter, a world-renowed expert on leadership  whose 1995 book “Leading Change” remains a standard reference in the business world, says the first step in any transformation effort is to establish a sense of urgency.

ME spending $1B too much - By The Mainebiz News Staff, September 30, 2010 - A report from two Maine think tanks says Maine could save more than $1 billion a year if it brought state spending in line with national averages.

Report: Maine spends $1 billion more than it should - 9/29/10 By Jeff Tuttle, BDN Staff - Maine could save more than $1 billion if the state could find a way to bring its costs — including its costs for welfare, health care and corrections — in line with national averages, according to a report released Wednesday.

Think tank report cites $1 billion in potential Maine spending cuts- Susan M. Cover September 30, 2010. PORTLAND - State and local government costs Mainers $14.98 of every $100 they earn, the sixth-highest rate of any state, according to a report released Wednesday.

Add Your Ideas to Overhauling Maine Government. Alan Caron, Bangor Daily News op-ed: October 7, 2008. With rapidly-rising health care costs, Maine's budget outlook is grim unless we make major changes to how government is run. This op-ed invites concerned Mainers to join GrowSmart at the Summit to share their ideas for the future of government in Maine.

Next Stage in Brookings Reform Not Easy. John Porter, Maine Sunday Telegram: May 11, 2008. In his weekly column, the Telegram's editorial page editor surveys the accomplishments of the GrowSmart-Brookings report, and looks ahead to the challenges of reinventing Maine's government.

Prosperity Report on Maine Issued: Plan for Maine's Future Success Garners Bipartisan Support. Victoria Wallack, Brunswick Times-Record: January 4, 2008. A news story that describes the bipartisan collaboration of the Legislature's Prosperity Committee, which endorsed the Brookings Institution's recommendation that Maine create an independent streamlining commission to trim state government.

Quality Places News

Maine's Land Use Commission Under Attack.  George Smith, Down East: May 17, 2011.  You know it’s going to be a long day when a legislative hearing begins with a 36-page amendment to the principle bill being heard - LD 1534, sponsored by Senate President Kevin Raye.

GEORGE SMITH: Notwithstanding lobsters, Maine's No. 1 attraction is the outdoors. George Smith, Morning Sentinel: February 23, 2011. Tourism is still all about lobsters.

Harpswell Wharf retained for commercial fishing. Coastal Journal, December 16, 2010. HARPSWELL -- An important wharf in the Harpswell fishing community is the latest project to be protected under the state's Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program (WWAPP).

State, Roxanne Quimby agree to Millinocket-area land deal. Kevin Miller, Bangor Daily News: December 15, 2010

AUGUSTA, Maine — State officials said Wednesday they have negotiated a final agreement with Roxanne Quimby to purchase thousands of acres in the Millinocket area in a deal that has helped thaw often chilly relations between sportsmen and the controversial conservationist.

EPA’s 2010 smart growth awards go to innovative urban redevelopment and rural revitalization. By Alex Goldschmidt: December 2nd, 2010. The Rural Smart Growth Award went to the Gateway 1 Corridor Action Plan in midcoast Maine, a collaboration of 20 townships in the state to preserve the environment and economy along the corridor.

Study says roads won’t meet all needs.Tux Turkel, Portland Press Herald: October 24, 2010. Road expansion alone won't save Portland's southern and western suburbs from heavy traffic congestion 25 years from now, a yearlong study is concluding.

Group seeks funds to renew Maine's downtowns. Matt Wickenheiser, Portland Press Herald: March 24, 2009.

Legislators Want to Improve Downtown Communities (includes video). Don Carrigan, WCSH6/WLBZ2: March 23, 2009.

A Bill for Maine's Downtowns. Sarah Komuniecki, WABI-5: March 23, 2009.

State bond issue may help boost local downtowns. Matthew Stone, Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel: March 10, 2009.

Room for Common Ground on Historic Congress Street. Op-ed by Maggie Drummond, The Forecaster: February 26, 2009. GrowSmart's advocacy director calls for finding common ground in the debate over whether Congress Street should be designated as a historic district.

Economic Development News

Belfast Gets Rolling: Historic Main Street Award and 28 New Businesses and More, More, More.  Christine Parrish, The Free Press.  6/30/11.  The city of Belfast has seen its share of lean times, but the long slow growth in the city has suddenly taken off with a sprint.

Maine Implements First Statewide Building Code. Tom Porter, MPBN. 12/06/2010. This month a new statewide building code takes effect in Maine.

nnovative Scarborough development grows on people Tux Turkel, Portland Press Herald. November 24, 2010. Despite a stuttering economy and civic opposition to his plans, the developer of Dunstan Crossing in Scarborough persevered with his proposal for an innovative model of 21st-century suburban development.

More bidding for flatiron seems likely. Potential tenants looking for space. By Keith Edwards, Kennebec Journal November 9, 2010. AUGUSTA -- City officials plan yet another effort to find a developer with the desire and ability to find new uses for the former Cony flatiron building.

Despite market, senior housing still seen as viable. By Julia Davis, Lakes Region Weekly: December 11, 2008. A senior housing complex under construction in Standish compliments GrowSmart's work in the model town project.