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Gnome Making Event Success!
Get ready for the Bayside Gnome Roam! 🧙♂️
What a night! During April’s First Friday, dozens of neighbors and friends packed Maine Clay Collaborative for our Gnome Roam prep event — and the results were magical. Scores of handmade clay gnomes are now drying, ready to be fired up and let loose on the streets of Bayside.
So what happens next? The fine folks at Maine Clay will fire all those little characters in the kiln. Then we’ll fan out across the neighborhood and tuck them into nooks, perch them on stoops, and hide them in plain sight — ready for neighbors to discover during Bayside Week, April 25th through May 2nd. Find one, photograph it, share it. It’s part art project, part hide-and-seek, and totally Bayside.
Bayside Week is shaping up to be something really special. Get a head start on the Gnome Roam by showing up at our kickoff cleanup event from 10am-noon on Saturday April 25th at the Bayside Community Garden. Check out everything that’s happening at www.baysideportland.org/community-calendar/ — and if you have an event to add or want to get involved, reach out to the events team.
Let’s show everyone why Bayside is the Playside!
Thank You Maine Clay Collaborative!
Nominating Committee Announces Slate of Candidates for May BNA Board Elections
Every year at the Annual Meeting, one-half of the board is elected for a two-year term. Last year the board voted to add two seats, so in order to keep balance between odd and even year members, two new seats are added this spring, bringing the total number of individual board members to ten. The nominating committee is charged with recruiting a slate of candidates for election to be announced 30 days ahead of the annual meeting.
Here are the 2026 Candidates:
Susan McCloskey
Susan is a longtime resident of Bayside and charter member of the BNA board, first elected in 1999. She is board liaison to the Community Garden Team and the Trees & Greens Team, contributor to The Baysider which she previously served as editor, and dependable volunteer for the Citizens’ Trash Brigade, Events Team, and Monday Community Lunches. Susan lives on Parris Street in Bayside.
Rayyaan Hakizimana
Rayyaan is Operations Manager at Food For All Services, a family food pantry located on Parris Street in Bayside. He was appointed to the board of the BNA in 2026 to a non-resident seat vacated by Alex Landry last year. Now leading the BNA Welcome Team, Rayyaan has laid out a plan to help with Bayside branding and social media outreach. Rayyaan lives in Gorham, Maine.
Sarah Gauvin
Sarah lives on Hanover Street in Bayside and works as a program manager at Hope Acts, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving asylum seekers throughout Southern Maine. She was appointed to the BNA board in 2026 to fill the seat left by Deb Van Hoewyk’s passing last year. Sarah has been active in the city’s ESOL Collaborative group, and has 10+ years working for non-profits in administrative, program management, outreach, and volunteer roles.
Michael Hayes
Michael lives at the corner of Cumberland and Forest Avenue in Bayside and has been a neighborhood resident for over six years. He has been attending BNA board meetings in recent months and currently serves on the BNA Safe Streets Team, participating in last year’s Pedestrian Safety Focus Group, and the recently organized Portland Safe Streets Coalition. He also regularly attends and assists the Wayside Food Programs community lunches in the apartment complex where he resides.
Patrick Beacham
Patrick lives in Westbrook and works in Bayside as the property manager for Avesta Housing’s Pearl Place Apartments. He brings experience in communication, budgeting, financial analysis, political advocacy, and both journalistic and academic writing. Patrick is committed to serving the community, drawing on years of close ties and a deep investment in Bayside’s wellbeing and future.
Elections Process Summary:
- January 6 – Submissions for consideration by the nominating committee opened
- April 1 – Last day for submissions to the Nominating Committee
- April 2 – Nominating Committee announces the final slate of nominated candidates
- April 25 – Deadline to announce write-in candidacy
- May 2 – Annual Meeting – General Members who sign a membership form vote on board candidates
- May 5 – Regular monthly board meeting – Board selects its 4 officers and organizational seats
Per BNA bylaws, the ratio of individual board members not residing in Bayside shall not exceed 1/3. A full description of the nominating process can be found here: Nominating & Election Procedures and Policies.
Current Board of Directors
- Tom Blackburn – President
- Rob Sylvain – Vice President
- Colette Bouchard – Secretary
- Peter Markoe – Treasurer
- Susan McCloskey
- Jim Hall
- Rayyaan Hakizimana
- Sarah Gauvin
- Betsy Boyd – representing Portland Downtown
City Announces Public Process for Midtown Development
Calling all Baysiders! Now is the time to have our voices heard! In response to demands for public involvement before selling the Midtown Properties in Bayside, The City of Portland announced a comprehensive process for soliciting community input. Click here to access the City of Portland website for more information and to take the community survey
Community members are invited to share their ideas for how these sites should be used at upcoming public meetings and through an online survey. A summary of community feedback will be presented to the Council’s Housing & Economic Development Committee in May. Based on this input and subsequent Council guidance, marketing materials may be developed for further Committee review.
The Bayside Neighborhood Association has been working on this for decades, and was instrumental in producing the landmark New Vision for Bayside in January of 2000 as part of the city’s comprehensive plan. Still relevant today, it’s the centerpiece of the city’s supporting documents on Midtown. At the heart of the plan, as illustrated below, is a sequence of urban-density buildings lining the then-unrealized Bayside Trail, anchored by a central “public open space.” We respectfully request that the city honors that commitment to the public good by reserving a 125′ x 125′ piece of the property (about 1/10th of the total area) for a much needed public recreation area.
Today, we’re asking Baysiders and allies to affirm and amplify the board’s multiple entreaties to the council. Below are copies of the BNA’s official statements. Please feel free to refer to them when filling out the survey and/or writing to your city councillors. We also want to hear your ideas so please reach out to board@baysideportland.org and let us know what you think.
More on Midtown:
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