Portland, Maine
Monday, September 8, 1997
by John Alphonse
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Funds from a federal grant for pedestrian and other alternative transportation improvements secured through the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization paid for the $125,000 project.
The eight-sided design of the pedestrian esplanade is a tribute to the city's premier landmark - the Portland Observatory - built in 1607 as a lookout for ships entering Portland Harbor.
The cobblestoned section - placed between The Whole Grocer and Donatelli's Dry Cleaning and Tailors - is intended to ease pedestrian crossings on Congress Street atop Munjoy Hill.
A section of original trolley track placed in the design as a lane divider brings to the surface the city's illustrious history of rail travel. An advertisement from the late 1800's in a Portland history book boasted, "Rides every three minutes from Munjoy Hill to Monument Square," probably along these very tracks.
The improvements also include two faux brick crosswalks, one at the intersection of Congress and North streets, and one near the intersection of Congress and Atlantic streets.
The "crosswalks," though, are not officially recognized according to city lawyers, who point out that their designation is as a "decorative improvement." This means that parking on these areas is not citable as a parking offense.
It is also notable that the decorative walkways do not allow for handicap accessibility: the curbs are still intact at each side of the walks.
One Munjoy Hill business owner who asked not to be named expressed his amazement at $125,000 being spent on a decorative improvement in light of the fact that the Hill's Marada Adams Branch of the Portland Public Library was nearly closed down over the past year due to lack of funding.
© 1997 reality x publishing co.
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