Spring Clean-Up 2016

Stephanie Scherer organized a team of BNA members, Bayside residents, and other local volunteers for a clean-up of Portland street and surrounding blocks.  Portland’s Public Works team provided support, tools, and collection of full trash bags to make a noticeable difference in the cleanliness of a typically litter-prone area of Bayside.

Community Meeting: Portland Needle Exchange

Our recent Community Meeting/Q&A discussion with Portland Needle Exchange hosted by the Bayside Neighborhood Association, was very informative.  Watch the video here:  Member Highlight – Bayside Neighborhood Association – Conversation and email programming@ctn5.org to express an interest in TV broadcast of the piece on Channel 5.

Walking Wilmot:  The Ghosts of Bayside

Ethnic diversity, urban change, and a whole lot of churches have characterized Bayside since its earliest days.  This walking tour on October 18 explored Bayside history, particularly in relationship to Anshe Sfard, the long-demolished Chassidic synagogue at Wilmot Street and Cumberland Avenue. Did you ever wonder what Bayside looked like BEFORE Franklin Arterial and Franklin Towers turned its eastern border into a midcentury modern mess?  Who lived here?  From worship to work, from living to learning, what was life like in Bayside. This tour covered the Jewish community in its context—an area once bustling with shops, rooming houses and private homes, churches, factories, and schools.  Bayside was a neighborhood of people usually on the way to somewhere else—immigrants lived side-by-side with local folks, and very few lived here for very long.  The walking tour and a presentation were the concluding events in a research project conducted by the Maine Historical Society (MHS), Mt. Carmel Cemetery Association, and the Bayside Neighborhood Association.  An online exhibit will open on the MHS website Maine Memory Network.