Regarding your March 9 article, “Sale of property by city rankles some as ‘missed opportunity.’ “ A massive giveaway of public land is more like it. The City Council sold prime waterfront property, valued at $4 million, for $1.15 million to developers who want to build more office space.
Come on! Snow White could have negotiated a better deal. The city is already awash in big-box aluminum and glass offices, not exactly in keeping with hundreds of years of maritime use of magnificent Casco Bay and Portland Harbor. The justification offered by a city official? The developer’s bid was the only one it received. OK – all the more reason to send it back out for rebidding.
How to rationalize accepting a $1.15 million offer for public land worth triple that? Again the city official: The developer will create benefits not included in the price tag. Such as what? $50,000 cash for public restrooms, five free parking spots for the city for four years (then what?) two public access easements, and city ownership of a portion of Freedom Way to connect two streets.
Sounds to me like a pretty good deal for the developer, not so much for Portland taxpayers. The Portland council should reverse its vote and reopen the request for proposals.
Michael Petit
Portland
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.