I felt stopped in my tracks reading on the front page about the music venue being proposed by Mile Marker Investments (“Developers propose new 3,300-seat music venue in downtown Portland,” Dec. 20). We moved here from the Boston suburbs in 1987. One of the few concerns I had about the move was: Would Portland have enough music (of a wide variety of types), theater and other cultural activities to foster my own interests and to expose my very young children to the same?

The transformation in downtown Portland and its surroundings, since then, has exceeded my expectations many times over. Between the spectacular Merrill Auditorium, the Cross Insurance Arena (former Civic Center), the State Theatre, Thompson’s Point and the recently renovated space at the Portland Conservatory of Music, (not to mention the easily accessible Westbrook Performing Arts Center), I surely see no need for an additional music venue. I have attended music events at all of these locations and find the range of possibilities more than adequate. (There is, however, still a need for additional affordable parking for such events in the crowded downtown area).

We don’t want/need an MGM Music Hall at Fenway-type of structure. Please stop trying to make Portland into a Boston. We love it, musically and otherwise, the way it is.

Cynthia Cox Wilcox
Cumberland Center