Portland, Maine
Thursday, September 4, 1997
by John Alphonse
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| "Donovan" protests the relocation of public benches
Thursday outside Green Mountain Coffee Roasters on Temple Street in Portland. |
One of Intown's most popular - and sunniest -outdoor seating areas has been moved on to greener pastures at the request of the management of businesses in the Temple Street vicinity.
The benches are now dispersed among the area's only green space, just a few feet to the right of the former location.
Congregations of youth and the homeless are apparently the reason for the move, an attempt at crowd control by dispersing the concentration of seating outside the storefronts. Apparently no thought was given to the effects of the move on health of the grass-covered island area, nor to the multitude of citizens and patrons who enjoyed the sunny seating area.
A middle-aged man approached Thursday who asked not to be identified, remarked, "This is where I met most of the people I know. Now I guess we'll just have to stand around this empty space and talk and drink coffee."
The area vacated by the benches is intended to serve as an enlarged pedestrian right-of-way into the storefronts and adjacent city-run parking garage.
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