The city is fast-tracking a redesign of Congress Square amid a contested plaza sale, but a legal challenge likely awaits.
Randy Billings
Staff Writer
Randy Billings is a government watchdog and political reporter who has been the State House bureau chief since 2021. He was named the Maine Press Association’s Journalist of the Year in 2020. He joined the Press Herald in 2012 as the Portland City Hall reporter, where his beat touched on a wide range of topics, including municipal government, immigration, homelessness, housing and social services. Prior to that, he worked at various weeklies as well as business and arts publications. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine, Orono. He lives in North Yarmouth with his wife and two children and enjoys the outdoors and playing his upright bass.
Posted inNews
Disputed Portland plaza sale approved by council
Foes threaten to sue after the 6-3 vote to allow an event center and a smaller public space on the downtown site.
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Posted inMaine, News
Woman arrested at Portland meeting on Congress Square
The council is meeting tonight to consider selling two-thirds of the plaza.
Posted inNews
Portland plaza turns into flash point
The debate over Congress Square’s underused park seems to go beyond the fight on open space to issues of rich vs. poor and corporate intrusion.
Posted inMaine, News
Advocates launch drive to make marijuana legal in Portland
Passage of a city ordinance would be the first step toward statewide legalization.
Posted inNews, Politics
Plan to curb protesters outside Portland clinics advances
The city will hold a hearing on a proposal to shield women from protesters who gather outside the Planned Parenthood offices downtown.
Posted inMaine, News
Portland postpones vote to sell Congress Square Plaza
The move comes after more than three hours of emotional and intense public comment.
Posted inNews
Portland residents being polled on plaza sale
A separate automated survey asks about the proposed ‘midtown’ development in Bayside.
Posted inNews
Group files petition to protect Portland plaza, other public spaces
The effort would add Congress Square Plaza and 34 other properties to the city’s land bank and require eight votes and a public referendum to sell them.
Posted inMaine, News
Portland’s Baxter Boulevard to reopen on Monday
A 1.4-mile stretch of the boulevard has been closed for the last eight months while the city installed a new sewer and storm water system.