Published in the Current
Radios and televisions in Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth were tuned to the same stations Tuesday morning. Even Burger King employees had the news on, rather than the energetic music that gets them through their shifts.
Aside from that, there was an unearthly silence. After-school activities were cancelled, government buildings around the country were closed, and even the Maine Mall in South Portland shut its doors. But perhaps the strangest view in Maine was overhead.
“It’s weird seeing no planes,” said Kim Mathieu of Scarborough.
Before the planes were grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration, two of the alleged terrorists flew on a U.S. Airways flight from Portland International Jetport to Boston, where
they boarded cross-country flights which were later hijacked, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Judy Hill of Maple Street in Scarborough works at the Oak Hill Dry Cleaners. One of her customers Tuesday dropped off his wife’s United Airlines flight attendant uniforms. She was safe
on the ground in Georgia. Everyone, who came in Hill said, was struck by
the tragedy.
“You just see their faces and the hurt,” Hill said.
She was stunned to hear the news just before 9 a.m. Tuesday morning.
“I just had to take a deep breath and say a prayer,” she said. “I don’t know how those people are really going to get over this. It’s horrible.”
She was impressed by the efforts of rescue personnel in New York, and said President Bush faces a big challenge.
“I think President Bush has got a hard evening ahead of him,” she said.
Mathieu, whose brother is in New York, was concerned about what Bush and other leaders might decide.
“I don’t want to see anything crazy happen,” she said.
Her husband Tony echoed her concern, adding that the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. could lead to further terrorism.
“It makes me wonder how many people this is going to set off,” he said.
One person set off by the tragedy was Tim, who wore a Scarborough School Department uniform shirt but would not give his last name.
“We’ve been fighting these son-of-a-guns for years,” he said, insisting that the terrorism was the work of international agents bent on taking away Americans’ privately owned weapons.
“The United Nations is responsible for this whole thing,” he said.
Esther MacDuffie of Berry Road in Scarborough was more reserved.
“It’s very difficult to get an opinion because it’s so horrifying,” she said. Her son lives in New York and she hadn’t heard from him yet, because the phone lines were jammed.
She was concerned about security procedures, especially at airports.
“I feel as if somebody somewhere slipped up,” MacDuffie said.
A woman who asked to be identified only as Pamela was concerned less about what had happened than with what would.
“I’ll be interested to know what they do about it,” she said. “It’s a very very very bad day. Nothing
feels the same.”
The initial reaction was for people to check in with loved ones, even if there was no chance
they had been in danger.
“I’ve gotten like 400 calls from my mom,” Pamela said. She works in Scarborough and her mother lives in Windham.
Beyond news of the events themselves, the television news footage was stunning and disturbing
to people.
“I haven’t seen it yet, and I’m not sure I want to,” Pamela said.
Hill had seen the pictures in the morning before coming to work, but said she was near tears all
day.
“I couldn’t watch it again tonight,” she said.
Tuesday night Cornerstone Baptist Church in Scarborough held a prayer service in the aftermath
of the tragedy. About 100 people attended, according to church officials, who noted the
church will be holding evening services Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, beginning with
a prayer session at 6:30 p.m. and a service starting at 7 p.m.
A blood drive was held Wednesday at the Maine Blood Center on Professional Drive in
Scarborough. At press time, 325 people had turned out to donate blood, according to Diane
Richard at the blood center.
Food had been donated by several local residents and businesses, she said.
Thursday, September 13, 2001
Scarborough invites YMCA to consider building pool
Published in the Current
The town of Scarborough is talking to the YMCA about the possibility of building a pool next to the proposed community center on the old drive-in property near town hall.
Town Manager Ron Owens confirmed that he is meeting this week with the Portland-based Cumberland County YMCA.
Owens said there is demand for a pool, from both members of the community and the schools, but the Town Council decided not to include it in the tax-payer funded proposal for the drive-in property.
That $5.7 million proposal includes a teen center, senior center and gym and is going before voters on the Nov. 6 ballot.
“We felt that was too much to ask of the taxpayer,” to also fund a pool, Owens said. Instead, he is looking for a partnership with another agency to bring a pool to Scarborough.
“That’s where a Y would be instrumental,” Owens said.
The YMCA is not the only possibility, Owens said, mentioning the Boys and Girls Clubs as a possible alternative, but said the Y is the organization being talked about the most.
“That’s the first agency that we’ve approached,” Owens said.
Owens said a pool plan could involve the Town Council offering the Y land adjacent to the
proposed town center building.
There is space remaining that could fit a 50-meter pool, he said.
“For that to occur, we need some other agency to work with,” Owens said.
In return for the land, Owens said, the town would require the partner agency to allow some
level of access to the pool by town residents.
He hesitated to go into further specifics, saying talks are only just beginning between the Y and the town.
Scarborough resident Stephen Ives, executive director of the Northern York County YMCA in
Biddeford, said the town’s current plan for a community center leaves room for improvement.
“It’s a minimal facility. It’s a teen center, senior center and a gym,” Ives said. He said the Y could add a swimming pool and other services Ys traditionally offer, including childcare, afterschool
programs, sports, and recreation and fitness equipment.
The specifics of a Y in Scarborough would depend on the results of a study to determine the
town’s needs.
“A Y is supposed to be a response to the needs of its community,” Ives said.
One of the people working with Ives is fellow Scarborough resident, Gary O’Donnell.
“We’re still very much in the beginning stages,” O’Donnell said.
He is putting together a group of local residents to gauge community demand for services a Y could offer, and to evaluate the fundraising support the effort could garner.
O’Donnell is looking for people with energy and time to devote to the project, who reflect the diversity of town residents.
“Scarborough is a very diverse community of interests and needs,” O’Donnell said.
He has an idea of who might be a good person to join. “Someone who is passionate and retired
would be great,” O’Donnell said.
He also is concerned about how much building maintenance could cost taxpayers. A non-profit
agency, he said, would have to fund ongoing costs from donations, rather than taxes.
“There’s a wonderful opportunity to look for charitable and town partnerships,” O’Donnell said.
Ives said a Y in Scarborough would likely be a branch of the Cumberland County YMCA, which operates a swimming pool as part of its facility in Portland.
Sharing a recreation facility between the YMCA and the town of Scarborough is not without
precedent elsewhere in the country, Ives said, though it isn’t a common relationship for a municipality to enter into.
“Ys partner with everybody,” Ives said. “Ys are very attuned to collaboration.”
The national YMCA organization will get involved, through the local Y, to help O’Donnell and others study how well Scarborough could support a Y, and whether a Y would meet Scarborough’s needs. The study could take six months to a year, Ives said.
Without a solid base of willing participants and interested people, the Y won’t come.
“It really depends on the volunteers and the support from the community,” Ives said.
Scarborough residents will see a referendum for the community center on November’s ballot, but it will not include any reference to the proposed Y, Owens said.
The referendum will discuss the cost of preparing the site, building the community center, parking, a pond, picnic space and ball fields.
Any future referendum for the pool would depend on the level of the town’s involvement in the project, Owens said.
A referendum is not necessary for the Town Council to allow the Y or another organization to build on the drive-in property, Owens said.
In the end, he said, both the Cumberland County YMCA board and the Scarborough Town
Council will have to approve beginning negotiations between the two groups, as well as any
agreements reached.
The town of Scarborough is talking to the YMCA about the possibility of building a pool next to the proposed community center on the old drive-in property near town hall.
Town Manager Ron Owens confirmed that he is meeting this week with the Portland-based Cumberland County YMCA.
Owens said there is demand for a pool, from both members of the community and the schools, but the Town Council decided not to include it in the tax-payer funded proposal for the drive-in property.
That $5.7 million proposal includes a teen center, senior center and gym and is going before voters on the Nov. 6 ballot.
“We felt that was too much to ask of the taxpayer,” to also fund a pool, Owens said. Instead, he is looking for a partnership with another agency to bring a pool to Scarborough.
“That’s where a Y would be instrumental,” Owens said.
The YMCA is not the only possibility, Owens said, mentioning the Boys and Girls Clubs as a possible alternative, but said the Y is the organization being talked about the most.
“That’s the first agency that we’ve approached,” Owens said.
Owens said a pool plan could involve the Town Council offering the Y land adjacent to the
proposed town center building.
There is space remaining that could fit a 50-meter pool, he said.
“For that to occur, we need some other agency to work with,” Owens said.
In return for the land, Owens said, the town would require the partner agency to allow some
level of access to the pool by town residents.
He hesitated to go into further specifics, saying talks are only just beginning between the Y and the town.
Scarborough resident Stephen Ives, executive director of the Northern York County YMCA in
Biddeford, said the town’s current plan for a community center leaves room for improvement.
“It’s a minimal facility. It’s a teen center, senior center and a gym,” Ives said. He said the Y could add a swimming pool and other services Ys traditionally offer, including childcare, afterschool
programs, sports, and recreation and fitness equipment.
The specifics of a Y in Scarborough would depend on the results of a study to determine the
town’s needs.
“A Y is supposed to be a response to the needs of its community,” Ives said.
One of the people working with Ives is fellow Scarborough resident, Gary O’Donnell.
“We’re still very much in the beginning stages,” O’Donnell said.
He is putting together a group of local residents to gauge community demand for services a Y could offer, and to evaluate the fundraising support the effort could garner.
O’Donnell is looking for people with energy and time to devote to the project, who reflect the diversity of town residents.
“Scarborough is a very diverse community of interests and needs,” O’Donnell said.
He has an idea of who might be a good person to join. “Someone who is passionate and retired
would be great,” O’Donnell said.
He also is concerned about how much building maintenance could cost taxpayers. A non-profit
agency, he said, would have to fund ongoing costs from donations, rather than taxes.
“There’s a wonderful opportunity to look for charitable and town partnerships,” O’Donnell said.
Ives said a Y in Scarborough would likely be a branch of the Cumberland County YMCA, which operates a swimming pool as part of its facility in Portland.
Sharing a recreation facility between the YMCA and the town of Scarborough is not without
precedent elsewhere in the country, Ives said, though it isn’t a common relationship for a municipality to enter into.
“Ys partner with everybody,” Ives said. “Ys are very attuned to collaboration.”
The national YMCA organization will get involved, through the local Y, to help O’Donnell and others study how well Scarborough could support a Y, and whether a Y would meet Scarborough’s needs. The study could take six months to a year, Ives said.
Without a solid base of willing participants and interested people, the Y won’t come.
“It really depends on the volunteers and the support from the community,” Ives said.
Scarborough residents will see a referendum for the community center on November’s ballot, but it will not include any reference to the proposed Y, Owens said.
The referendum will discuss the cost of preparing the site, building the community center, parking, a pond, picnic space and ball fields.
Any future referendum for the pool would depend on the level of the town’s involvement in the project, Owens said.
A referendum is not necessary for the Town Council to allow the Y or another organization to build on the drive-in property, Owens said.
In the end, he said, both the Cumberland County YMCA board and the Scarborough Town
Council will have to approve beginning negotiations between the two groups, as well as any
agreements reached.
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