By Monday, a Munjoy Hill-based group calling itself Save the Soul of Portland needs the signatures of 1,500 city residents to get a vote in November on an ordinance that would impose “Scenic Viewpoint Protection” strictures throughout Portland.

Ostensibly, the ordinance is being advanced to preserve the tonic benefits of broad vistas for all the people of Portland. In fact, it’s focused quite precisely on keeping any redevelopment of the historic Portland Co. property from interfering with harbor views enjoyed by a half-dozen residences on Fore Street between Waterville and Atlantic streets.

What’s galling is that virtually all those structures have been built or expanded in ways that have obliterated the Portland Harbor views of Munjoy Hill residences located directly behind them.

What’s going on here is pretty clear: The pot’s calling the kettle black.

So if you’re approached for your signature on this issue, politely but firmly decline. If you’ve already lent your signature to the cause, retract it. If you know anyone considering signing, encourage them to find a better cause.

Yes, it’s fair to care about views of and from Munjoy Hill and the rest of Portland. Unfortunately, in its efforts to protect the views of a precious few, Save the Soul of Portland is playing loose with the facts.

On its website, the organization offers bulbous, 3-D depictions of how a Portland Co. development might look. They bear no resemblance to the project being discussed.

Soul of Portland surrogates also are preposterously suggesting that the Portland Co. development will deny harbor views to the thousands who daily travel the stretch of Fore in question. Thousands?

Meanwhile, Soul of Portland spokesperson Anne Rand says the group just wants to hold the City Council “a little more” accountable by expecting “a little more” from the developer.

What the developer has said is that the mix of uses the city has long intended for the property is all it needs for a viable project.

Enter the scenic views protection ordinance. Yes, it will lower allowable building heights and, yes, the developer says, it will defeat the project.

It will do more yet. It will establish a task force equipped with standards and a scorecard to thwart developments that might disturb “distinctly scenic” views anywhere in the city.

That should make for some lively debates, particularly if the idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder still stands.

In fact, the debates already have started. Save the Soul calls the current view over the Portland Co. property a “stunning panorama.” Bloggers are countering by noting the ugliness of all the rotting pilings in the foreground and all the oil tanks beyond.

So, whose standards of scenic beauty should apply? Whose views should be protected? And to what extent is there room for compromise?

Because of Soul of Portland’s fixation with views from a couple of blocks on Munjoy Hill, it seems fair for the public to demand that the organization tell who its core members and key funders are and where they live.

It also seems fair for the public to insist that Soul of Portland get beyond the lip service it’s currently giving to economic development for Portland.

CPB2, the team that owns and wants to develop the Portland Co. property, is local, young but proven, and committed to preserving the most distinguished of the site’s historic buildings.

The team also has run the numbers. They foresee providing Portland with a $200 million shot in the arm. That’s serious money, and it’s time for Soul of Portland to quit its campaign, maybe take walks for its views and stop whining that CPB2 hasn’t provided an adequate plan for its property. After all, would you spend the money to detail a plan without knowing for certain the parameters you might be facing?

Soul of Portland also should acknowledge that Portland has a zoning regime that was developed after several high-rises were built with disastrous consequences for views of and from Portland.

The current zoning regime is working well, and I daresay there’s still room within it to resolve the complicated issue of building height limits for the Portland Co. property.

In fact, the height differences being argued by Soul of Portland and CPB2 are small, and perhaps it’s wishful thinking to imagine the Portland Co. development moving ahead without a petition drive and without a referendum or another ordinance.

For my money, though, the real soul of this grand dame of a city-by-the-sea is all about pulling our oars together.

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