This year’s Fall Cleanup and Raffle is on a Friday! Come join the BNA on on Friday, October 20 2023 from 3:30 PM – 5 PM to meet new neighbors and see old friends, have some snacks, and help beautify Bayside. As always, all volunteers will be entered for a chance to win a gift certificate to a great Bayside business! Isa Bistro and Leavitt & Sons Deli are two of our great sponsors.
PUBLIC HEARING & POSSIBLE VOTE ON PORT PROPERTY’S BAYSIDE MASTER DEVELOPMENT PLAN
WHEN: Tuesday June 13, 5:30 PM
WHERE: Via Zoom (go here and click on Agenda to find the meeting link and info on giving public comment)
The Planning Board will take public comment and possibly vote whether to approve Port Property’s proposal to re-develop several blocks of the Bayside neighborhood. The plan calls for 804 apartments in seven buildings from five to ten stories. Twenty-five per cent of the units must be affordable to tenants making up to 60% of the area median income.
As proposed, six buildings are reserved for 603 market rate units & a separate building will contain the 201 affordable units. The plan also proposes ground-floor retail, tenant parking in an off-site garage, open space, and a “woonerf” (shared street). For full details on the plan go here. The most recent documents were uploaded on 6/2/2023.
Share your thoughts by sending comments and questions to planningboard@portlandmaine.gov ASAP so the Planning Board has time to review. Reference Port Property’s Bayside Master Development Plan PL-002315-2022 in the subject line.
You can also speak for up to three minutes at the meeting.
Note – The first item on the agenda for this meeting is a public hearing for another Port Property project (under Tom Watson & Co.) that proposes to convert office space at 511 Congress Street into 107 housing units.
This year’s Spring Cleanup and Raffle is on Arbor Day, because in Bayside trees are always on our minds! Come join the BNA on on Friday, April 28 2023 from 4:30 PM – 6 PM to meet new neighbors and see old friends, have some snacks, and help beautify Bayside. As always, all volunteers will be entered for a chance to win a gift certificate to a great Bayside business!
The BNA understands how important safe, accessible public bathrooms are for people experiencing homelessness, and worked with city manager Jon Jennings in 2017 to add new, outdoor bathrooms at the Oxford Street Shelter, and during the pandemic in 2020 advocated for the new portable toilets that have been placed in locations convenient to social service delivery sites.
Now we are hoping our Senators will support additional safe, dignified bathroom facilities to benefit all Portland residents and visitors.
We were asked to support the City’s request for $1 million in funding from the Senate Appropriations Committee. Our letter is below. We also supported a previous request to Representative Pingree for help from the House appropriations committee, which was sadly unsuccessful.
Dear Senators King and Collins,
I am writing today to voice the Bayside Neighborhood Association’s wholehearted support for the City of Portland’s Community Project Funding request of $1,000,000 toward the new construction of safe, accessible public restrooms.
The BNA represents the Bayside neighborhood, greater Portland’s hub of social services and homeless shelters. More than perhaps any other neighborhood, Bayside understands the community harm that comes from a lack of accessible and safe public bathrooms.
For those experiencing homelessness, it’s not just an inconvenience, it’s a profound indignity that compounds their struggles. For the surrounding neighborhood, it’s an ongoing public health crisis, as Senator may recall from his tour of the Bayside neighborhood in 2018. For years, the unsanitary conditions on walking trails, playgrounds, private property, and sidewalks in front of homes and businesses have eroded quality of life and decreased business revenues.
That crisis only escalated with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of service providers and other public institutions, which were no longer able to admit community members for whom public restrooms are their only indoor option. The strain of the pandemic may ease, but the problems that existed prior will not be alleviated without funding to install clean, welcoming, and safe public bathrooms.
Providing humane bathroom access supports community members at all economic levels and grows strong, inclusive, and vibrant neighborhoods where everyone feels valued. The BNA respectfully requests that you support Portland and the Bayside neighborhood by submitting the City of Portland’s Community Project Funding request to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
Sincerely,
Sarah Michniewicz
President, Bayside Neighborhood Association
The BNA Board will vote on three amendments to the bylaws at the annual meeting Oct 22, 2022
Summary:
#1: More flexible board composition
#2: More flexible annual meeting medium and timing
#3: Explicit officer vacancy succession
This survey has closed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to take our Visioning survey and shared their thoughts at our community feedback sessions.
As the BNA considers its strategic direction for the next several years, we are seeking input from community members about your relationship to Bayside and what you would like to see in the neighborhood and specifically from the BNA in the future. This survey takes approximately 5 minutes to complete and your feedback is sincerely appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to let us know your thoughts!
It’s time to do a little spring cleaning! Join your friends and neighbors on Saturday, April 23 2022 10AM – 12PM for snacks, a chance to win a gift certificate, and a big dose of community pride. All volunteers entered for a chance to win a gift certificate to a great Bayside business – Leavitt & Son’s Deli, Wilson County BBQ, Maine Oyster Company, Bayside Bowl, and Bayside American Cafe!
On Tuesday May 17 the BNA, along with four other peninsula neighborhood associations, co-hosted a forum for the at-large candidates for the 2021 Portland Charter Commission. The recording of the forum may be found here.
Saturday May 1 was a great day for the BNA Spring Community Cleanup! Thanks to everyone who showed up to give Bayside some love, and congratulations to our lucky raffle winners. Over two dozen old and new friends, neighbors, and their kids, took to the streets and gathered a whole truck’s worth of trash. Well done!
Special thanks to Ozzy at Coals Bayside for providing coffee and a space to meet; members of his staff who joined in the cleanup; and City of Portland, Maine Midtown Community Policing coordinator Jen Hickey, who helped make sure volunteers had gloves and bags and were signed up for the raffle, and afterward distributed the leftover snacks and water to Bayside neighbors in need.
We so appreciate our ever-generous raffle sponsors for the great gift certificates to:
And BNA board member Scott Morrison, who generously donated a gift certificate to Wilson County Barbecue
If you missed this cleanup, you can pitch in anytime by taking a few minutes to pick up around where you live. And of course in a few months we’ll be doing the BNA fall cleanup! We hope to see you then!
Updated April 27, 2024
The Bayside Community Garden was established at 78 Chestnut Street in 2001 as a project of the Bayside Neighborhood Association. The BCG is unique in being Portland’s only community garden run by a neighborhood association, receiving no material support or funding from the City. For over twenty years the BNA, its gardeners, and its supporters have poured their heart and souls into keeping this rare Bayside green space going despite a challenging urban environment and the mounting pressure of incoming development.
The goal of these policies is to ensure the Bayside Community Garden (BCG) enhances the livability and equality of the Bayside neighborhood and provides a well-managed and inviting green space for all who use and visit it for years to come.
Participation
As a true community garden, all Bayside Community Garden plot holders are required to assist in maintenance, operations and/or management of the garden under direction of the garden steering committee and garden coordinator and in accordance with garden policies. Information on the steering committee structure and roles may be found here.
Community Standards
Treat other gardeners and garden guests with as much kindness and respect as you do the plants you tend. Report any concerns to the garden coordinator or BNA liaison.
Plot Assignment
The mission of the BCG includes increased food security for lower income Bayside residents, especially new Mainers; and providing community access to green space, which the neighborhood severely lacks. This policy acknowledges and seeks to address those systemic inequities.
Anyone in the community and other neighborhoods may apply to hold a garden plot or to volunteer without holding a plot.
Bayside residents are given first refusal of available plots and are put at the top of the waitlist. There are generally enough plots available to accommodate gardeners who wish to work a plot.
Planting Schedule
June 1 – Plots must be cleared and initial planting completed.
June 15 – Planting for first crops must be complete.
July 1 – A plot must show that it has been consistently maintained.
November 1 – All plots must be cleaned out and shut down for winter.
If a plot appears abandoned by July 1, the fee will be forfeited and the plot will be offered to the next person on the waitlist at ⅔ the fee being charged at the time the plot is forfeited. If there are no takers, the plot will be cleared and/or used by the BNA at its discretion.
Plot Maintenance
All plots must be consistently maintained for the entire gardening season and closed down appropriately for the off-season.
Trash in and around an individual plot must be removed by the plot holder as soon as possible and disposed of appropriately along with the trash collected from common areas.
All plantings, structures and signage must be kept within assigned plots. Plot perimeters outside of the physical box must be consistently trimmed and maintained by the plot holder or designated volunteer.
The growing of marijuana and invasive plants is prohibited.
Common Area Maintenance
All common areas outside of individual garden plots must be kept neat, trimmed and maintained and invasive plants must be controlled throughout the growing season according to a schedule developed by the operations manager.
Paths around and between beds must be kept free of plants, structures, overgrowth, etc. for safe and unobstructed passage and be covered with wood chips to control weed growth.
In order to ensure safe and fair use of common areas, intentional plantings outside of garden plots are only allowed with approval by the BNA Board. Unauthorized plantings outside of approved areas may be removed.
The berm between the compost bins and the road (Hall Court) and surrounding vegetation must be consistently maintained to prevent growth of weeds, vines, etc. Plants at the side of the road and the fence line by the sidewalk must be kept trimmed back.
General trash removal should happen on a daily basis as gardeners tend their own plots; a designated volunteer may be appointed to oversee this task.
Regular trash bags should be used and may be deposited in either the dumpster behind the former shelter at 203 Oxford Street or the one next to the ramp in the parking lot across from Hall Court on Cedar Street.
Large or bulky trash items left in the garden such as shopping carts should be brought to the attention of the garden coordinator, who will arrange for their removal.
Trash must also be regularly monitored and removed during the off season between November and May.
Graffiti, vandalism, or dumping of trash should be reported immediately to the Garden Coordinator.
Signage
Multilingual signs may be posted indicating that touching or picking plants without permission is discouraged.
Respectful signage may be displayed by gardeners within their own plots if they wish to discourage picking of their plants.
General garden signage and plantings outside of assigned plots must be approved by the garden coordinator.
“Keep Out” signs may be maintained at either end of the raspberry stand as this area has previously attracted tent encampments.
Community Access
The garden is open to everyone to visit and enjoy between dawn and dusk.
Touching or picking of gardeners’ plants without permission is discouraged – however, as the garden is a publicly accessible space, gardeners may experience loss of plantings, structures or items left in the garden. If excessive loss or vandalism of plants or garden structures or fixtures is noted, please alert the Garden Coordinator.
Dogs must be kept on leash and waste picked up. Signage to this effect, or restricting dogs from the garden, may be considered if this becomes a problem.
Illegal or disruptive activity and drug or alcohol use is not allowed by gardeners, volunteers or garden visitors.
No tenting, camping, or related activities are allowed. If a campsite is discovered, please alert the garden coordinator or call the Police non-emergency dispatch at (207) 874-8575 to request their behavior health team make contact with the campers and connect them with appropriate services.
Please note – the garden is located on private property; not owned by the BNA; and not subject to the City encampment policy. Reasonable attempts will be made to find the people associated with a campsite, but in no case will an encampment or belongings be allowed to remain indefinitely on garden property.
Health and Safety
Any found hypodermic syringes or other hazardous or questionable materials should be reported to the Garden Coordinator, who will address them appropriately.
*Gardeners who choose to deposit syringes in the needle box attached to the garden shed do so at their own risk. Using gloves or using a trash grabber is best practice.
Immediate safety or wellbeing concerns on the property should be addressed by calling Police non-emergency dispatch at (207) 874-8575 or 911 as appropriate. The address to reference is 78 Chestnut Street.
Please know that the Portland Police Department has a robust and experienced civilian behavioral health and alternative response unit which is dispatched when indicated for mental health and substance use concerns. They work closely with social service providers to connect people with needed resources.
End of Season
Garden plots and common areas must be closed down by November 1 unless otherwise permitted. If you have decided not to return please clear your plot so it’s ready for the gardener. that comes after you.
Individual Plots
Garden plots must be closed down by November 1 unless otherwise indicated by the garden coordinator.
Plants that remain for the next season must be trimmed back to 2’ or less and the plot raked clear of plant matter and debris. Remove all loose items and anything that may be taken, blown away, or damaged by winter weather. When possible lay fencing and other structures flat within the bed of the plot.
Make a plan for discarding unwanted plants, fencing, stakes, etc. No items may be left outside the plot or abandoned in the common areas of the garden. Remove all trash and debris from common areas.
A volunteer must be assigned to regularly remove trash from plots and common areas over the winter until the following planting season.
Common Areas
Common areas must be left in an orderly state by the teams assigned to particular tasks, such as the compost piles, tool maintenance, berm maintenance, wood chip pile, hose management, etc.
