21 Jan WCME Midcoast News January 21

Parking Perils

A plan to set up an overnight permit parking plan on Page Street in Brunswick, near Bowdoin College, has moved a step forward. The town council has voted to hold a public hearing on the proposal on February 2, and may adopt the plan on an emergency basis that evening. The street has apparently been used as a long-term parking lot by some Bowdoin students, and there is also concern about snow removal and emergency-vehicle access on the street. Last year, the council implemented a similar plan on nearby Longfellow Avenue.

Locking in Lower Prices

At a moment when the Secretary-General of OPEC, the group of oil-producing nations is predicting a rebound in oil prices, Brunswick town manager John Eldridge says the current lower prices have allowed him to lock in lower energy prices for the town for the new fiscal year beginning this summer. The town will pay just $2-13 a gallon for gasoline and $2-28 for diesel.

At Loggerheads

Members of the financially-challenged Maine Board of Corrections are begging the legislature for a two and a half million dollar emergency spending bill they say is needed to prevent inmate furloughs and closures at struggling county jails. But even if the money is received, the board’s outgoing executive director says it can’t be spent because Governor LePage has refused to appoint enough board members to secure a quorum. The governor says he won’t nominate members to a board he views as ineffective and unaccountable.

Still Talking

Fairpoint Communications and its striking unions are now in a third week of negotiations in Washington, supervised by federal mediators, who have imposed a gag order on both sides. So it’s very difficult to know what if any progress is being made. 1700 workers have been on strike since mid-October.