Tonight! Charter Commission Hearing 6pm City Hall

PORTLAND CHARTER COMMISSION TO HOLD FIRST PUBLIC HEARING

Hearing will be held Thursday, July 16 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall

Public participation is encouraged

Portland, Maine – The first of several public hearings by the Portland Charter Commission will be held on July 16, Portland City Council Chambers, starting at 6 p.m.

“At this first public hearing we want to receive input as to what the public thinks are the problems and issues that should be addressed by the Commission over the next several months,” said Pamela Plumb, Chair of the Commission.

The Portland Charter Commission was established by the voters in 2008, with the members elected in June of 2009. In addition to 9 elected members, with one from each district and 4 at-large members, there are also 3 members appointed by the City Council. State law governs the makeup and procedures for the work of the Commission. By next June, the Commission should have a final report on its recommendations for Charter changes, with the possibility of an extension of that date if needed. Those changes would then go to the voters for approval.

At least two issues spurred the desire to have a Commission review the City Charter; the call for a mayor elected by the voters, and the need to have greater City control over School budgeting. The Commission is not limited to consideration of only those issues, however; the whole Charter is open to review.

“The Commission is very interested hearing from the public. There will be several ways to impact the Commission’s work including participating in public hearings, attending or watching televised business meetings and submitting written comments and suggestions by mail and email. We hope and plan for the widest possible participation”, said Plumb.

Information on the Portland Charter Commission may be found at www.portlandmaine.gov\2009CharterCommission.

Equality Phone Banking with the Portland Greens

Join the Portland Greens on Thursday in a pot luck and phone banking effort to help protect marriage equality in the State of Maine. The pot luck and phone bank will take the place of our usual business meeting. Here are the details and please RSVP by sending an email to portlandgreens@gmail.com and let me know if you will donate cell phone minutes to the effort.

5:30 Meet at Equality Maine Headquarters at 1 Pleasant Street 2nd Floor and bring food, your cell phones, and cell phone chargers
5:30 - 6:15 EQ ME Organizers will train us in the phone script for calling voters
6:15 - 8:30 Call voters
8:30 - 9:00 Debriefing

Please RSVP by sending an email to portlandgreens@gmail.com and let me know if you will donate cell phone minutes to the effort. We need your help marriage equality based on three of the Key Values of the Portland Greens!

1. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY
Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives and not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.

2. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large, barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and homophobia, ageism and disability, which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.

8. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY
We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and to promote the development of respectful relationships across these lines.

We believe that the many diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms than our own and the preservation of biodiversity.

Please RSVP by sending an email to portlandgreens@gmail.com and let me know if you will donate cell phone minutes to the effort.

--
Best Wishes,

Dave Marshall
Portland Green Independent Chair
207.409.6617
portlandgreens@gmail.com
portlandgreens.blogspot.com

Donoghue and Marshall introduce Facebook and Twitter to City

Social media help city reach residents

Using Facebook, Twitter and e-mail, Portland officials hope to connect with younger adults.

By TOM BELL, Staff Writer June 29, 2009

PLUG IN TO CITY NEWS

TO SIGN UP for the newsletter, visit the city's Web site, www.ci.portland.me.us.

THE CITY'S Facebook page can be viewed by searching for Portland Cityline at facebook.com.

FOLLOW CITY NEWS via Twitter; search for PortlandCitylin.

NICOLE CLEGG, the city's communication director, said she's looking for ideas from people about what to put on the sites and how often to update them. She can be reached at nicoleclegg@portlandmaine.gov.

PORTLAND — In the annals of communication breakthroughs, it was not quite up there with, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you," the words uttered by Alexander Graham Bell during the first telephone call 133 years ago.

But let it be recorded that on June 3 at 4:02 p.m., the city of Portland issued its first ever official tweet: "Bayside Trail Groundbreaking Ceremony and Festival this Saturday from 10-2 at Marginal Way and Franklin Arterial. www.tpl.org/bayside."

The city's new Twitter account is part of a larger city effort to use social networking Web sites to communicate with residents.

City residents can now check Facebook or Twitter for news from City Hall, such as traffic alerts and notices of important meetings. Residents can also sign up for an e-mail newsletter.

City officials want to reach out to younger adults who may not read newspapers or watch local television news programs, said Nicole Clegg, the city's communications director.

"The idea is to connect more people to the process and what the city is doing," she said.

As of Friday, the city had 411 Facebook fans, more than 100 Twitter followers and nearly 300 people signed up for the city's e-mail newsletter.

Clegg said she shapes the message based on the format.

On Twitter, she is limited to 140 characters, such as her tweet: "Kiwanis Pool opens in a week. Take a class, swim laps or bring the kids to the splashpark." Twitter can also be used to warn of street closures, parking bans or emergencies.

Followers can also respond. Bob O'Brien of Portland last week tweeted back to the city: "Kudos to Portland Public Works for filling that nasty pothole at Vaughn and Danforth. That was a wheel-eater!"

In an interview, O'Brien said he would never have picked up the telephone to call City Hall, but the Twitter account made it easy to give the city feedback.

"It improves access," he said.

Facebook allows for posting photos as well as plenty of text, such as Police Chief James Craig's 650-word "Letter to the Community."

Portland isn't the first southern Maine city to venture into social media. The Auburn and Westbrook police departments also have Facebook pages, for instance, as does the Gorham Recreation Department.

Clegg said the newsletter, called Cityline, will be e-mailed biweekly to avoid overwhelming people. It contains basic information, such as trash pickup changes and notices of upcoming events.

She explained that she's a novice in the use of the Internet for social networking.

She said she got the idea from Councilor Kevin Donoghue, who had asked her to include a sharing tool on the city's online press releases so he could post them on his Facebook page. (Donoghue has 1,185 friends.) She's also receiving advice from Councilor David Marshall (694 Facebook friends).

Both Donoghue and Marshall use their Facebook pages to inform their constituents about city politics and upcoming meetings and to get feedback on policy proposals.

Donoghue, for example, received 17 responses to his query this week on what people think about Tasers.

"Facebook provides a high-exposure, low-friction platform to share information," Donoghue said. "Anything we can do to open up City Hall is a good thing for the residents of Portland."

Staff Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at:

tbell@pressherald.com