Thanks to John Van Hoewyk for stepping up to the lead role in the BNA’s Safe Streets Team. John is a longtime Bayside resident and supporter of the Bayside Neighborhood Association.
John will be facilitating an exploratory meeting along with Jennifer Rogers of Midtown Community Policing and other neighborhood leaders to reconvene the team next week. Please contact safestreets@baysideportland.org if you’d like to join us. Details below.
Wednesday, January 14th, 1pm
in the Steve Hirshon Community Room at Unity Village, 24 Stone Street Portland
Everyone is welcome to attend and encouraged to speak their mind. We want to hear your struggles, your ideas, and your hopes for the future of Bayside. For more information reach out to safestreets@baysideportland.org
Here’s a news spot about the formation of the team last year:
Here’s a report put together for the original safe streets team by Deborah Van Hoewyk:
The Bayside Neighborhood Association convened two sessions of the Community Voices for Road Safety Pedestrian Safety Campaign, with 10 participants attending each session. This initiative, part of the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety’s new pedestrian-focused safety effort in Portland, Lewiston, and Auburn, brought Portland residents directly into the creative process of shaping public safety messaging. Rather than using a traditional top-down approach, the campaign asked community members—many of whom walk daily as their primary mode of transportation—to help guide the message drivers and walkers need to hear, determine the creative look of the campaign, and identify where these messages would be most effective.
The sessions, each lasting 90 minutes, were designed to address the rising pedestrian injuries and fatalities in Portland by centering the voices of those most affected. Participants received $50 compensation for their time, and snacks and beverages were provided. Jeff Larason, Highway Safety Communications Program Director for Community Voices campaign moderated the program. The neighborhood-authored campaign that emerges from these focus groups is set to roll out in Spring 2026.
Vacant Storefront Art Initiative–Call for 2D Art Submissions Owners of vacant commercial storefronts in Portland’s Pedestrian Activities District (see map below) are encouraged to allow the City to install 2D art reproduced on window clings. This will be provided and installed by the City at no cost to the property owners.
The theme of this call is “Downtown Resurgam.” (Resurgam is Portland’s motto, and is a Latin word that means “I will rise again,” signifying renewal and the overcoming of adversity.)
To that end, we are accepting art submissions to be reviewed and selected by a jury. Property owners will then be able to choose selected art to display in their windows on a first come, first served basis. A stipend of $300 will be paid to the artist for each piece of artwork that is chosen to be displayed. Submitted artwork can be new or existing art. They can be drawings, photographs, paintings, or any other kind of 2-dimensional art.
Artists may submit up to 5 pieces.
Eligibility Requirements: – Artists must live in Maine, with preference given to artists in the Greater Portland area.
— Priority will be given to underrepresented artists.
– Up to five (5) designs by each artist may be considered.
– Designs will be selected by a juried selection panel.
– Proposals must be received on or before February 1, 2026.
– Artists will be notified by February 28, 2025 if their designs are selected by the juried selection panel.
— Artists will receive a stipend of $300 for each piece of artwork that is chosen by a property owner to be displayed in a vacant storefront window.
— The City will keep the reproduced art to display in other windows as needed.
— The size of the art may be altered to fit the window, but care will be taken to retain its original aspect ratio in order to prevent distortion of the image.
The City of Portland asked us to help share information about a great program run by Age Friendly Portland. They are looking for volunteers who can shovel snow for an elderly neighbor this winter, and they’re also seeking Neighborhood Coordinators—particularly from the Rosemont and Deering Center neighborhoods—to help match Portland homeowners with volunteers.
If you are a Portland homeowner age 65+ in need of snow removal assistance, please call 207-541-6620.
ALSO: CTB Block Walk Dec 19th
The BNA Citizens’ Trash Brigade continues monthly block walks, sun or snow! We pick a block to pick up trash along our sidewalks, and if there’s snow, we shovel! Every Baysider knows that although property owners are responsible for their sidewalks, when it snows there are always some stretches of sidewalk that don’t get shoveled, whether by ignorance, neglect or special needs. We know clear sidewalks are only good if the paths connect, so we’re committed to helping bridge the gaps, and we could use your help too. Meet 3pm Friday December 19th at 28 Portland Street.
If you’d like to hear more about the BNA’s Citizen Trash Brigade, email ctb@baysideportland.org
Pedestrian injuries and fatalities are rising nationwide — especially in urban communities where many people walk out of necessity. We need your input to change that, and you could get $50 for your time.
As part of their “Community Voices” approach, The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety is partnering with The Bayside Neighborhood Association to host a community discussion to learn from residents about the risks they see, the behaviors they witness, and the educational solutions they believe will work. These insights will directly inform the campaign’s content and outreach. Two focus groups are scheduled for Monday December 15th and Tuesday December 16th. Both groups will meet at 6pm in the Steve Hirshon Community Room at Unity Village, 24 Stone Street Portland. Please indicate your availability for either date below.
Participants are compensated with a $50 stipend. Applications to attend the focus group are being accepted by the BNA through December 12th. If interested please click here: https://forms.gle/V5nNSyVMYykP2eHk9
Thanks to Betsy Boyd of Portland Downtown, Lily Phillips Carter of Ladybird Glassery, and Kincaid Pearson of 82Parris Gallery, Bayside Portland is a little more colorful now that the BNA Public Art Team was able to bring a PDD-funded utlility box painting program to our neighborhood. Check it out on the corner of Cumberland Ave and Preble Street.
The “Painting Outside the Box Portland Project” is a public art initiative by Portland Downtown that enlists local artists to paint utility boxes to beautify the city. The project transforms ordinary utility boxes into colorful, original works of art. Selected artists receive a stipend for their work.
The contract for the utility box on Cumberland Ave in Bayside was awarded to Lily Carter, whose design was chosen by BNA Public Art Team Lead Kincaid Pearson over more than a dozen applicants, noting “I thought it was a fitting one because it’s based on a quilt and the Bayside neighborhood feels like the most diverse and similar to a quilted network of residents.”
Now is the time to donate to the BNA in 2025 December 2nd is Giving Tuesday — the season of giving begins in your neighborhood. Big news — we have a matching gift donor this year, which means your donation to the BNA will be matched by an anonymous benefactor up to $2500.00 even after Giving Tuesday. The Bayside Neighborhood Association is doing more programming than ever, and needs your help more than ever. Please help us continue to help each other. Go to https://givebutter.com/BNA25 or contact us for more information
The Harvard Kennedy School of Government is calling all Baysiders to participate in a forum to discuss the impacts of climate change and attendant severe weather events in our community. We want to hear from you, and hope you’ll take time to gather with your neighbors to share our thoughts, concerns, and ideas on how to move forward together.
Please share and post this flyer widely. Here are translated flyers for speakers of other languages:
“Join us for an interactive, in-person community engagement session focused on stormwater, flooding, and climate impacts in Bayside. Over about 90 minutes, residents will work together around a large neighborhood map to identify valued community features, share past experiences with flooding using simple color markers and optional notes, and highlight what kinds of resources or support they have used, or might need, in future events. It’s an opportunity for residents to share their own experiences and contribute to supporting the future of Bayside.”
The City of Portland is updating its Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) to improve how we prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies.
Your insight is invaluable. We would like to hear your experiences and ideas to make sure this plan truly reflects the needs of our diverse communities. Your input will help us build a plan that is inclusive, effective, and ready for anything.
We’re asking residents to share their ideas and concerns through a survey and an idea board on the website, which are open now through November 30, 2025.
The BNA Safe Streets Team is involved with everything concerning pedestrian and bicycle safety, including but not limited to advocating for improved lighting, signage, and streetscape design, collaborating with Midtown Community Policing on crime prevention and enforcement, safe routes to school, and helping first responders in emergency planning efforts like this. We can do more when we raise our voices together. For more information on how you can help contact safestreets@baysideportland.org
Portland’s tree steward Cameron Scharff was surprised by the number of volunteers who showed up on Saturday, Nov. 9 to help tuck trees on the Bayside Trail in for the winter.
“I am incredibly pleased with what was accomplished,” Scharff said. “In less than two hours, we mulched and composted nearly 50 younger trees on the Bayside Trail, with volunteers from Bayside, the West End, the East End, and Libbytown. The addition of this organic material will support tree growth, increase water retention, suppress weeds and improve aesthetics along the trail. This collaborative effort is precisely the kind of community-driven forestry initiative that can make a large difference in the lives of trees, the health of parks and the enjoyment of the community that uses them.”
The 15 volunteers were more than had RSVP’d, and people continued to trickle in as the event was in progress. With a fleet of wheelbarrows, shovels and rakes, and piles of loam and woodchips, the volunteers gathered behind Dunkin’ and started with the recently planted trees and expanded from there. The trees in the section of the trail behind Trader Joe’s had been topdressed and mulched in the spring.
All the activity on this part of the trail discouraged two individuals from setting up a tent. Four used needles were discovered during the tree mulching event.
Scharff instructed volunteers to spread the loam in a thin layer, feathering it into the topsoil, and then cover it with a layer of woodchips. Volunteers were careful to leave the root flare at the base of each tree trunk exposed to avoid creating the dreaded mulch volcanoes that can injure trees.
Scharff’s last day on the job was Nov. 21. He served with the Portland Parks Conservancy and Portland’s Parks and Recreation Department in 2025 as a tree steward courtesy of the Maine Conservation Corps, which is funded through the national AmeriCorps program. One project Scharff worked on this season was cataloguing all of Portland’s street trees. Portland hopes to host another Maine Conservation Corps tree steward next season.
