Gossip from September and October 2006
By Chris Busby
October 20, 2006
Nappi’s for sale
Nappi’s Bar and Grill, a popular bar, pizza joint and pool hall on Commercial Street, is for sale. Owner John Nappi confirmed that the family-owned business is on the market. October marks the bar’s 18th year of operation.
Nappi said he’s selling in order to spend more time with his wife and children. He has yet to seal a deal with a new owner, but expects the next proprietor of the place will want to keep it much as it is now.
Nappi has been a critic of the city’s recent tripling of a special fee applied to Old Port bars, known as the “seat tax.” Though this fee hike is not Nappi’s main motivation to sell, one couldn’t say it encouraged him to keep doing business in Portland.
Nappi’s potential sale is the latest in a string of ownership changes and closures among Old Port bars since the seat-tax hike was imposed last spring. The Alehouse closed this past summer. The Big Easy has changed owners, as has Oasis. Rosie’s is in the process of being sold.
Civic Center expansion considered
At the Oct. 18 meeting of the Cumberland County Civic Center’s Board of Trustees, the board heard from a representative of Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, a major East Coast construction firm, who detailed ways the 30-year-old facility could be expanded. Space beneath the Civic Center’s diagonally tiered exterior can be used for restaurants, an expanded concourse, or other amenities, like larger locker rooms and restrooms. Luxury box seats could also be added, though the firm’s representative said she hadn’t analyzed the venue’s seating plan with an eye toward increasing the number of seats.
The preliminary assessment was food for thought for trustees, who are considering whether to renovate and improve the current facility or attempt to build a new civic center elsewhere. The trustees will further discuss this issue at a joint meeting with Portland City Councilors on Oct. 23.
Struever Bros., based in Baltimore, has worked on several sports and entertainment–facility renovations and expansions, including recent improvements to Boston’s Fenway Park and the surrounding neighborhood.
Space Gallery in line for big grant; Cultural center in limbo
The alternative arts venue Space Gallery has gotten preliminary approval from the prestigious Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for a $100,000 grant. Space Executive Director Nat May said the non-profit Congress Street art gallery and music venue is in the final stages of securing the funding, which the organization will be able to use for any activities related to its mission of presenting non-mainstream art and cultural events and exhibits.
Endorsement by the New York-based Warhol Foundation puts Space among the top arts organizations in the nation, and will surely help the struggling non-profit attract other grants. Past recipients of Warhol Foundation money include the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York; The Institute of Contemporary Art, in Boston; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the UCLA Hammer Museum, among many other elite arts institutions.
While Space surges ahead, the Center for Cultural Exchange continues to flounder.
As The Bollard reported last August, local architect Christopher Campbell, owner of the building Space Gallery occupies, and business partner Stephen Benenson, a local artist, bought the Center’s Longfellow Square building and plan to reopen it as an art and performance venue this fall. The Center’s phone and Web site have since disappeared, and it no longer occupies office space above the Longfellow Square performance space – or anywhere else, for that matter.
Jay Young, president of the Center’s board, said this week the organization is still alive, but still determining the best course of action to take in the wake of this transition. Young said money from the building’s sale allowed the board to replenish its endowment fund and even put some cash in the bank. The board is now “in reflective mode,” said Young, a Portland attorney. “It’s not going to be very visible for a bit.”
Young said board members may decide to sponsor, rather than host, performances by artists from other cultures. It may also decide to make the Center exclusively a grant-making organization, or to partner with another local arts group and work on projects collaborately. “One possibility is we just turn over the assets to another non-profit and call it a day,” Young said, but added, “I don’ think that’s what the board is leaning toward.”
Geary’s Porter puts Portland on beer map
While New York’s Warhol Foundation is catapulting a Portland arts venue into the national spotlight, the New York Times has brought a local brew to the world’s attention.
In an Oct. 18 article by Times food-and-drink critic Eric Asimov (nephew of the late sci-fi author Isaac Asimov), titled “A Journey to the Dark Side,” Geary’s London Porter was judged the best porter in a blind taste-test conducted by Asimov and several fellow brew experts. It beat out 24 other notable beers, including Fuller’s London Porter, Samuel Smith Taddy Porter, and Smuttynose Robust Porter, all from England, as well as the famous Anchor Porter, from San Francisco.
The Bollard is still hoping to get a grant for its latest project: drinking beer while looking at alternative artwork. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.
October 13, 2006
Rosie’s, Annie’s may change hands
Two neighborhood bars may be under new ownership in the near future: Rosie’s and Awful Annie’s Irish Saloon.
Steve Harris, who owns Rosie’s with his wife, Rose (the bar’s namesake), said he’s in discussions with an Australian man interested in taking over the Fore Street pub. The new owner would operate Rosie’s much the same way it has been run in the past, said Harris. Last year, the Harrises transferred ownership of their West End restaurant and bar, Ruski’s, in a similar fashion – in that case, selling it to a former employee who’s kept Ruski’s character and menu intact.
The Munjoy Hill bar Awful Annie’s has been on the market since last winter, but a deal may be imminent. Owner Ann Muller said there is an interested party, and a city official told The Bollard today that prospective owner has contacted the city to get reassurance the bar would be allowed to remain a bar following an ownership change. That assurance was given.
Eggbot dodges a pellet
Shortly after 1 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 9, local musician Eggbot (of the eponymous pop-rock duo) was outside Geno’s playing a Casio keyboard when the Congress Street bar’s front window was shattered by a drive-by shooting.
A police car quickly closed on the suspect vehicle, and Eggbot said the cops nabbed the perpetrators, who’d blown out the window with a pellet gun.
Portland police did not respond to a request for further information about this incident.
Though he was playing the keyboard just feet from the window, accompanied by a hippie who’d wandered by with a guitar, Eggbot (an occasional freelance contributor to The Bollard), said he did not think the incident was an assassination attempt. “It wasn’t close enough,” he said. “But that’s been tried.”
October 4, 2006
Last days at The Breakaway, Oasis going “upscale”?
The Breakaway Tavern is about to be broken.
The India Street watering hole is being purchased by developers who intend to demolish the bar to make way for an office building, part of the big Riverwalk complex planned for Portland’s eastern waterfront. [Read our review of The Breakaway here.] A farewell party is planned at the bar this Sunday, Oct. 8.
Meanwhile, another bar is readying to open on the East End, at the corner of Congress Street and Washington Avenue, where the bar/Vietnamese eatery Bottomz Up last did business. The new place will be called The Snug. Its owner, Margaret Lyons, was previously an owner of Acoustic Coffee, the eatery and music venue on Danforth Street.
Lyons made news a couple years ago when she tussled with music licensing giants ASCAP and BMI over fees charged to venues where licensed music is played. Acoustic Coffee got around that charge by instituting a “no-covers” rule for performers. For The Snug, Lyons seems to have taken that protest a bit farther: the bar will have no entertainment license to host live music or allow dancing.
Speaking of dancing, the Wharf Street dance club Oasis – owned by Michael Harris, of Hooters fame (infamy?) – is in the process of changing hands. New owner Susan Chase, a realtor and mom from Falmouth, goes before the City Council tonight for licenses to turn the club into Threeways. (Hey, is that a sexual reference?)
Chase didn’t return a call seeking comment – perhaps she read our review of Oasis – but in documents submitted to the city, she said she plans to run the place pretty much the same way it has been operating, at least for a while. Chase’s “long-term goal,” she wrote, is to expand the establishment’s menu (menu?) and make Threeways an “upscale nightclub” with jazz, blues and reggae (upscale reggae?) and a dress code.
Does this mean Chase will eventually change the name again to reflect an “upscale” vibe? “Driver, bring me and the two Ms.’s to Ménage à Trois!”
And lastly, a new comedy and music venue has emerged on Warren Avenue, inside “The Dome” sporting and sports bar complex that houses Joker’s, Turf’s Sports Grill and Portland Indoor Sports. Called The Gold Room, this new venue is being marketed as a place where people in their 30s, 40s and 50s can shake their booties without bumping into their drunken sons and daughters. Upcoming musical acts consist mostly of classic-rock cover bands, further ensuring the youngsters will avoid the place in favor of Old Port dance clubs like Human Sandwich – er, I mean Threeways.
September 17, 2006
Right-wing “Peace Guy” running State House campaign
Shawn Loura – the Portlander who attained local fame as the Monument Square “Peace Guy,” but whose more recent right-wing political views have caused head-shaking – is managing the State House campaign of Republican Jason LaVoie. LaVoie is a conservative University of Southern Maine student who made some news last year by bringing Michael Heath (of the Christian Civic League of Maine) to campus, and protesting student government’s opposition to a ballot question seeking to repeal the state’s anti-discrimination law for gays and lesbians. (The repeal effort failed.)
LaVoie is running against incumbent Democrat Herb Adams and Green Independent Party challenger Matt Reading in District 119, which includes Portland’s Parkside and Bayside neighborhoods. The combination of LaVoie’s conservative politics and Loura’s radical Constitutionalism could conspire to keep the Republican’s vote tally in this heavily liberal-leaning area in the single digits, but Loura said win or lose, the campaign will provide good opportunities to get alternative views heard. [Read our interview with Loura here.]
In other local political gossip, some interesting connections have been discovered between current Portland City Councilors and two challengers for Council seats this fall.
City Councilor Will Gorham is getting endorsement support for his re-election bid from many of his Council colleagues, but one in particular won’t be putting his name on Gorham’s palm cards: Jim Cloutier. The reason: Cloutier’s wife was formerly married to Kirk Goodhue, a real estate broker challenging Gorham for his Council seat this fall. Rather than choose sides in this contest – or split the difference and endorse the third candidate in this race, Kevin Donoghue – the at-large councilor said he’ll sit this one out.
Turns out there’s also a connection between at-large Council candidate Andy Verzosa and incumbent Nick Mavodones, whom Verzosa is seeking to unseat this fall. Verzosa worked as a deckhand for Casco Bay Lines well over a decade ago, back when Bay Lines general manager Mavodones was a ferry captain in charge of swabs like him.
And speaking of Verzosa, The Bollard would like to take this opportunity to correct a false assertion contained in the Aug. 29 News Brief about Verzosa’s candidacy. Verzosa is not currently living with a partner in the West End; he is single.
September 1, 2006
Geraghty may not run again for City Council
Portland is abuzz today with rumors that longtime City Councilor Karen Geraghty will not seek reelection this fall. Geraghty took out nomination papers for another run earlier this summer, and a source says she has since collected the signatures necessary to get on the ballot this November. But as of noon today, she had not submitted those signatures. Candidates must submit their signatures to the City Clerk’s Office by the end of the day next Tuesday. City Hall is closed for Labor Day on Monday.
The rumors are being fueled by the fact Michael Patterson took out nomination papers on Thursday, Aug. 31. Patterson works for Maine Medical Center, is president of the Parkside Neighborhood Association, and serves on the Portland Planning Board. The district Geraghty represents includes the West End and Parkside neighborhoods.
Patterson is considered one of Geraghty’s political allies, someone who would not challenge the three-term incumbent were she to run for another three-year term. Patterson could not be reached for comment today; Geraghty has not returned calls seeking comment made this morning.
Geraghty was recently hired to head the administrative division of the Maine Public Utilities Commission. A source familiar with her thinking said Geraghty is not sure she can legally hold that state office and serve on the city council, and is also unsure whether her new position, which she begins Sept. 11, will allow her enough time to perform council duties.
PUC employees contacted today were likewise unsure of the legalities, but City Councilor Jill Duson, director of the state Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, said she knows from personal experience that state employees can serve on the council because it is, officially, a non-partisan body. Candidates for council seats do not run as members of a political party.
Duson and other councilors reached today said they had been under the impression Geraghty is running this fall, and have not expected her to change her mind.
Before Patterson took out nomination papers, the only other candidate in this race was Dave Marshall. Marshall believes Patterson’s entrance in the campaign signals that Geraghty is withdrawing from the race.
“I’m excited to have Michael Patterson in the race and excited that Karen has new things to move on to,” said Marshall. “She served well.”
Former Portland Planning Board member Cyrus Hagge took out nomination papers this afternoon, but said he is “not 100-percent” certain he’ll actually run this fall. Hagge, a contractor by trade, made an unsuccessful council run about a decade ago. He is president of the board of the Cumberland County YMCA, and also serves on the boards of Portland’s Downtown District, Maine College of Art and Rippleffect, the non-profit youth development organization.
Both Duson and Councilor Nick Mavodones, who is also up for reelection this year, said they’d be disappointed if Geraghty decided not to run. It’d be “a real loss,” said Duson.
Another term for Mayor Cohen?
Political tongues are also wagging today over the possibility Mayor Jim Cohen will seek a second term in that largely ceremonial post.
The city council has traditionally rotated the mayorship among its members for one-year terms, based on seniority. Following this pattern, Councilor Will Gorham would be in line for the mayorship if he wins reelection this fall.
Gorham, however, has expressed interest in postponing his ascension to that post until 2009. That’s the year the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Portland will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Gorham has been actively involved for many years with the non-profit organization, which provides services to disadvantaged youth.
Cohen could not be reached for comment today, but fellow councilors had mixed reactions to the possibility of him serving two consecutive terms.
“I’m fine with it,” said Councilor Donna Carr, who would be after Gorham in the informal line of mayors-in-waiting based on seniority.
Cohen “has done an absolutely outstanding job, and I would have no problem supporting him again for mayor,” said Councilor Cheryl Leeman, who has served as mayor twice since she was first elected last decade.
Council Jill Duson, however, has reservations. Duson served as mayor prior to Cohen, and said, “I really like the turn-taking. I think it reinforces that the mayor’s role is primarily to be steward of the council’s process.”
The seniority-based process helps ensure “there’s not the jockeying and politicking to see who’s going to be mayor,” said Duson, who added that Gorham “doesn’t get to decide who he hands the mantle to.”
Councilors hold a public caucus shortly after the November elections to decide who among them will be mayor for the following year. Because of this timing, Councilor Nick Mavodones said “it’s really premature to be trying to figure out who the next mayor will be. We don’t know how the elections will turn out.”
Mavodones, Gorham and Councilor Karen Geraghty – a third of the nine-member council – are up for reelection this year. Both Mavodones and Geraghty have previously served a term as mayor.
Mavodones said he’s not necessarily opposed to Cohen serving a second term, but added, “spreading around the leadership is something that works well.” Mavodones also said a couple council colleagues have suggested he consider another term in the post.
Councilor and former mayor Jim Cloutier said the selection process is not a simple matter of seniority. “There is a qualifications and experience cut that gets applied, too,” said Cloutier. Cohen has “been a fine mayor, of course,” Cloutier said, but “there’s a lot fewer people who are willing, able and qualified to be mayor than you might at first guess.”
Other councilors who have previously served in the post may also want to be considered this year, said Cloutier, but he added that he personally has no desire to be mayor again “anytime soon.”
The idea of making the mayorship a two-year position has some appeal among some councilors. Councilor Ed Suslovic called it “an interesting prospect” that could allow the mayor to accomplish more of his or her agenda. Leeman is also inclined to support the idea for that reason.
Duson and others, however, are less interested in that prospect. Duson said that as mayor, she continued to work on initiatives begun by her predecessor, former councilor and mayor Nathan Smith, and has handed some of that work along to Cohen.
Two-year mayoral terms verge on the establishment of an elected mayor – a change many Portlanders support, but which the majority of voters have rejected in past years.
While the idea of two-year mayoral terms “has some appeal,” said Mavodones, “it begins to look like a full-time mayor, and the people of Portland have spoken pretty clearly that they like the set-up like we have it.”
