The Portland City Council voted late Monday night to amend its contract with the Hearts of Pine soccer club to allow the team to make changes to Fitzpatrick Stadium.
After a failed attempt to delay the vote and a lengthy public comment period – during which students and parents of Portland High School urged councilors to vote against the changes – the measure passed 6-2, with only Mayor Mark Dion and Councilor Kate Sykes voting against.
The amendment will allow the city’s new professional soccer team to install new turf, repaint lines for all of the sports played there and eliminate the painted Portland High School Bulldog mascot that currently decorates the field. The changes are required for the professional team to meet league standards.
But the high school teams that use the field are worried the change will result in less playing time.
Nancy Harkins, an alumna of and teacher at Portland High, noted that Fitzpatrick has been the school’s field for decades. She recalled that the city promised that previous lease agreements with the Expo Center and Hadlock Field would not impact the high school’s use of the venues – but those promises weren’t kept.
“If you vote in favor of this amendment, you will destroy a legacy of athletes who have enjoyed playing on the field,” Harkins said. “It is not about the money you can make off these venues. It is about tradition, legacy and the impact on the students and their families.”
Hearts of Pine President Kevin Schohl said he felt there was a misunderstanding between the school and the team. He urged the council to pass the amendment and let the team work out the details with the school later.
“We’re trying to pay $800,000 for upgrades that the city can’t afford,” Schohl said. “We are not trying to remove any kind of Bulldog pride.”
CONFUSION AND CONCERN
Throughout the evening, it was clear that city councilors, the public and club leadership were not on the same page about the contents of the amended deal. Some councilors seemed to misunderstand what was in it, as did members of the public. Club leaders said they had conducted significant community outreach, but many in the Portland High community said they felt blindsided by the proposed changes.
City Manager Danielle West recommended postponing the vote to allow time for the Portland High boosters club to meet with Hearts of Pine to work out their concerns, which include questions about access to the press box, scheduling usage of the field, and possible logistical issues from having to repaint the field throughout the season. West said she hoped some of those issues could be worked out before the council voted.
But she also said that Hearts of Pine had already delayed this project and indicated the team aimed to put in an order for a new turf field on Thursday.
“They were shooting for a replacement date in September,” West said. “Delaying this could impact that for sure. The alternative would be to then do it in the spring in March.”
When she announced that the agenda item might be postponed until a meeting later in October, many of those wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with the Portland Bulldogs football and high school soccer insignias in the balcony stood up and began to leave.
“This is a joke,” someone called out as the council chambers emptied out – though most returned after learning that they might still have a chance for comment.
“I feel like I’m watching real-time destruction of trust in our democracy tonight,” Portland resident Frank Gallagher said later. “The notion that two weeks could make or break this project – well, perhaps this project has bigger problems than that. We’ve seen an erosion in public trust.”
Gallagher said he was frustrated that so little information about the changes to the contract had been available to the public until just before the vote. Several other people who spoke also said they were frustrated by a lack of transparency.
The motion to postpone failed in a 4-4 vote, with Councilors Anna Bullet, Sykes and Anna Trevorrow, along with Dion, voting in favor of postponing, and Councilors Pious Ali, Victoria Pelletier, Regina Phillips and Roberto Rodriguez voting against.
‘HOW DO YOU HAVE A HOME FIELD WITHOUT A LOGO?’
While the stadium changes are essential for Hearts of Pine, dozens argued Monday night that the renovations would be disruptive to the high school teams, which practice on the field and will share it with the new professional team.
Many speakers pointed to Hadlock Field and the Portland Expo Center, both of which were previously used more often by the high school before professional teams largely took over their use.
John Thurston, a parent of a Portland High student, spoke during a council recess about his frustration over his view that the school has been pushed out of its athletic facilities.
“Hadlock Field was our home baseball field, so we’re second to the (Sea Dogs) baseball team,” he said. “The Expo has been taken by the (Maine) Celtics, to the point where we had a Christmas tournament last year and we had to cut the last game short because the Celtics’ opponent needed to practice. And now Fitzy is going to be controlled by the soccer team. How do you have a home field without a logo?”
Charlotte McDonald, a senior at Portland High, said she’s heard from student-athletes who are “disgusted and disappointed” by the proposed changes. She added that the field holds the only running track in Portland and said she is worried the team may eventually remove the track.
“Any hint of taking that away would leave the entire Portland community without a track to use,” McDonald said.
Later in the meeting, the city’s lawyer, Michael Goldman, clarified that the contract would not allow the team to touch the track.
Gabe Hoffman-Johnson, founder of Hearts of Pine, said the team had tried to include the school in these conversations. He said he tried to contact Portland High’s former athletic director more than 30 times to discuss the lease agreement, but his phone calls went unanswered.
“For four years, we worked on a community dialogue with attempted dialogue with the schools,” he said.
Others spoke in favor of the renovations, saying they would make the field safer and give Portland High students a chance to play on a world-class facility.
“I think the Hearts of Pine is trying to do the right thing by upgrading the field so it’s safer for everybody to be able to utilize,” Portland resident Steve Brown said.
But Portland Athletic Director Spencer Allen said that while he has no qualms about a newer, safer field, he didn’t feel the school’s needs were included in the contract amendment.
“I think everybody here would love to have a new turf field. It’s just that we’re not happy with the current agreement regarding the specs of the field,” he said.
“We haven’t been really included or represented in any of these conversations. When the proposed amendment came out Friday, there was nothing in it that we talked about,” Allen added.
Dion asked Allen whether a field can be safe for high school sports if it’s not up to the standards of a professional team. Allen replied that it could and argued that the current field is safe for his students to use.
COUNCIL VOTES
Despite the complaints, Phillips argued that there had been sufficient public engagement to go ahead with the changes, even if it wasn’t “up to the standard” residents had hoped for.
She added that discussions about additional details, like the running track around the field, could happen between the team and the school after approval of the amendment. Phillips said removing the Bulldog logo was not a major concern for her, saying that “there are other ways of being just as proud of being a Bulldog.”
Rodriguez said that even though the public would likely leave the meeting feeling unheard, he felt satisfied with the night’s discussion.
“This is a city-owned facility that’s supposed to be available to the public,” Rodriguez said.
Ultimately, Dion said he voted against the amendment because he hoped it would allow for postponement, so councilors could later approve the changes once a contract was hashed out that made the Portland High community feel heard.
“I think if everybody got in a room, they could come to an agreement,” Dion said. “There’s good people on each side.”
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