Malaria in Africa talk highlights different modes of medicine
Written by Timothy Gillis
Epidemics of malaria once afflicted Sebago, a reminder offered by a Portland speaker Monday that the disease of malaria — while long ago eradicated in the United States — remains a global threat.
The Center for Global Humanities hosted a seminar Monday at the University of New England, Portland Campus, when James L. A. Webb, Jr. spoke on "The Trouble with Malaria in Africa."
Beyond the obvious trouble with a deadly disease, Webb argued that one of the greatest challenges to health officials was a medical irony: concerted efforts of combining drugs for the affected population with insecticides aimed at malaria-carrying mosquitoes were extremely successful. But the disease has never been fully eradicated.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation helped fund a malaria eradication program (later renamed a malaria "elimination" program, with "subtle distinctions" in the new word's difference), Webb said.
The program made great strides against malaria, with dramatically improved statistics in each of the first few years. Drugs and insecticides combined to eradicate 50, 80, 90, 95 percent of transmissions. "But you could not fully eradicate it," Webb said.
While he admired their efforts, Webb said the Gates Foundation "embarked on malaria elimination with an enthusiasm not tempered by knowledge of past campaigns," adding that the foundation's announcement of their goal was met with the science community's collective jaw dropping.
"It's not that hard to lower the percent of transmissions, but you can't get to zero," Webb said, the realization of which can be a deterrent to donors.
Webb said those getting into the malaria elimination business would do well to study historical epidemiology, which is not a political history or a social history. "It's a history of infection and interventions ... a study of the patterns of disease," he said.
Malaria was, at one time, the World Health Organization's No. 1 killer, the reason for its formation. By the 1960s, there was little disease but it was never fully eradicated. Rebound malaria decimated West Africa in 1965 until it began to be controlled in the 1980s.
"When you turn your back on it, it springs back," he said, reminding the audience that malaria was wiped out in the United States as recently as the 1840s.
"They used to have epidemics in Sebago," he said.
Speaking at a university known for its strengths in the health sciences, Webb called for historical epidemiology to be added to the curriculum of med schools across the country. "The findings are cautionary ... and the failure (of malaria control specialists) constitutes a significant public health risk," he said.
Webb said the government wants a cure for malaria, to be able to put troops in Africa and not worry about disease, but that's a "white perspective on malaria."
Asked to speak about vaccines for malaria, Webb said there have been some successes, but the challenge was that vaccines had to be "stage-specific" when targeting treatment, at several stages of the life cycle of the virus.
An official at the World Health Organization recently told Webb that "50 years from now, we'll still be five years from a vaccine."
Another questioner wondered about the role of poverty in the disease. Webb said there was no doubt that access to clean water, better housing and electricity all made for a much-improved defense against disease.
"Having electricity, and a fan is far more effective than netting," Webb said.
Someone asked why malaria seemed to be most apparent in Africa. Webb said 70 different mosquitoes transmitted the disease, but not all of them did it effectively.
"Many mosquitoes don't care where they get their blood meal, from a cat, from a cow. But (African mosquitoes) are highly specialized, they have a preference for human blood."
Webb was introduced as a pioneer in the field of historical epidemiology. His work integrates approaches from the biological sciences and the social sciences to produce perspectives that are useful to historians, practitioners, and planners in the field of global public health. He is the founding editor of two book series at the Ohio University Press: "Perspectives on Global Health" and the "Series in Ecology and History." He is currently writing a book on the history of malarial infections and interventions in tropical Africa.
He said one of the ironies of malaria control was the case of chloraquine, a drug that worked better than all the international interventions. It sold very cheaply in local shops — for a penny or two a dose — and was an easy profit for the storeowners, he said.
But like other drugs, the effects were less impressive over time, once humans built up immunity to it.
The best way to understand the history of African pharmacopeia, he said, was to realize that their plant-based treatment reduces toxicity levels leading to general health. That method runs counter to the West's use of drug-based treatment, focused on a specific ill, he said.
A final question dealt with counterfeit drugs, with money being made off the sale of useless treatments for the disease.
Webb's reaction was to say, "As a species, we're pretty unethical." What disturbed him about reports of counterfeit drug sales was that "the packaging is identical," between fake and real drugs, "which suggests the factories have two shifts — one that makes real drugs, the other makes fake ones."
The Center for Global Humanities hosted a seminar Monday at the University of New England, Portland Campus, when James L. A. Webb, Jr. spoke on "The Trouble with Malaria in Africa."
Beyond the obvious trouble with a deadly disease, Webb argued that one of the greatest challenges to health officials was a medical irony: concerted efforts of combining drugs for the affected population with insecticides aimed at malaria-carrying mosquitoes were extremely successful. But the disease has never been fully eradicated.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation helped fund a malaria eradication program (later renamed a malaria "elimination" program, with "subtle distinctions" in the new word's difference), Webb said.
The program made great strides against malaria, with dramatically improved statistics in each of the first few years. Drugs and insecticides combined to eradicate 50, 80, 90, 95 percent of transmissions. "But you could not fully eradicate it," Webb said.
While he admired their efforts, Webb said the Gates Foundation "embarked on malaria elimination with an enthusiasm not tempered by knowledge of past campaigns," adding that the foundation's announcement of their goal was met with the science community's collective jaw dropping.
"It's not that hard to lower the percent of transmissions, but you can't get to zero," Webb said, the realization of which can be a deterrent to donors.
Webb said those getting into the malaria elimination business would do well to study historical epidemiology, which is not a political history or a social history. "It's a history of infection and interventions ... a study of the patterns of disease," he said.
Malaria was, at one time, the World Health Organization's No. 1 killer, the reason for its formation. By the 1960s, there was little disease but it was never fully eradicated. Rebound malaria decimated West Africa in 1965 until it began to be controlled in the 1980s.
"When you turn your back on it, it springs back," he said, reminding the audience that malaria was wiped out in the United States as recently as the 1840s.
"They used to have epidemics in Sebago," he said.
Speaking at a university known for its strengths in the health sciences, Webb called for historical epidemiology to be added to the curriculum of med schools across the country. "The findings are cautionary ... and the failure (of malaria control specialists) constitutes a significant public health risk," he said.
Webb said the government wants a cure for malaria, to be able to put troops in Africa and not worry about disease, but that's a "white perspective on malaria."
Asked to speak about vaccines for malaria, Webb said there have been some successes, but the challenge was that vaccines had to be "stage-specific" when targeting treatment, at several stages of the life cycle of the virus.
An official at the World Health Organization recently told Webb that "50 years from now, we'll still be five years from a vaccine."
Another questioner wondered about the role of poverty in the disease. Webb said there was no doubt that access to clean water, better housing and electricity all made for a much-improved defense against disease.
"Having electricity, and a fan is far more effective than netting," Webb said.
Someone asked why malaria seemed to be most apparent in Africa. Webb said 70 different mosquitoes transmitted the disease, but not all of them did it effectively.
"Many mosquitoes don't care where they get their blood meal, from a cat, from a cow. But (African mosquitoes) are highly specialized, they have a preference for human blood."
Webb was introduced as a pioneer in the field of historical epidemiology. His work integrates approaches from the biological sciences and the social sciences to produce perspectives that are useful to historians, practitioners, and planners in the field of global public health. He is the founding editor of two book series at the Ohio University Press: "Perspectives on Global Health" and the "Series in Ecology and History." He is currently writing a book on the history of malarial infections and interventions in tropical Africa.
He said one of the ironies of malaria control was the case of chloraquine, a drug that worked better than all the international interventions. It sold very cheaply in local shops — for a penny or two a dose — and was an easy profit for the storeowners, he said.
But like other drugs, the effects were less impressive over time, once humans built up immunity to it.
The best way to understand the history of African pharmacopeia, he said, was to realize that their plant-based treatment reduces toxicity levels leading to general health. That method runs counter to the West's use of drug-based treatment, focused on a specific ill, he said.
A final question dealt with counterfeit drugs, with money being made off the sale of useless treatments for the disease.
Webb's reaction was to say, "As a species, we're pretty unethical." What disturbed him about reports of counterfeit drug sales was that "the packaging is identical," between fake and real drugs, "which suggests the factories have two shifts — one that makes real drugs, the other makes fake ones."
Last Updated on Thursday, 31 January 2013 00:29
Hits: 415
PMA featured artist Dodd: 'I don't really fit in any category'
Written by Timothy Gillis
The artist Lois Dodd has been splitting her time between the New York City area and mid-coast Maine for more than half a century, spending winters in the city and summers in Lincolnville, first, and then Cushing. But the pioneer of artist-run studios sees herself, first and foremost, as an American painter.
The Portland Museum of Art is showing the first career museum retrospective for Dodd, and will feature paintings that define the places and subjects that have mattered most in her nearly 60-year career — views of New York City's Lower East Side from her apartment windows; of the woods and gardens of Maine; and wintery scenes near her family home in New Jersey. Dodd was a key member of New York's postwar art scene and part of the wave of modern artists who explored the coast of Maine in the latter half of the 20th century.
Asked which paintings she highlighted for the show, Dodd said, "All of the ones where I am looking out of the window in New York, the place where I live now. It's a very small loft space. There's an old cemetery (nearby). I was painting that for one winter. I've been painting out of the same window over and over again, and watching it change — which it did dramatically, according to weather, time of day, season. The shadows change radically through the year."
Dodd spoke from her New York City apartment last week, about the show, which opened at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Mo., and then moved to Maine. She talked about her life in art, her ability to see new things from the same subject, and the art world's inability to categorize her. For the most part, she emphasized her fondness for the window, what one can see through it, and what is revealed in the seeing.
"Then going back to Maine, I got involved with windows," Dodd said. "Then I was in the outside. I started walking around my own house, just noticing what terrific compositions I could get out of the window."
When she walks, she often carries hand-held tiles that are "not real huge," and in the repainting of them, they gradually grow to be window size.
"Mainly they're bigger things in the Portland show, but generally speaking when I go outside I've got a smaller Masonite," she said.
"'Night Sky Loft" (1972-73) is painted from the same space, in New York at night, where suddenly you get things reflected in the glass. "In the daylight views, I never painted the windows on the building," she said.
"It's the same subject, but I kept seeing more in the same subject. I went on a long time before not seeing something new. I have two windows. So I would rotate between being here in winter and then the summer in Maine," Dodd said.
Although her subject stays quite similar, what she envisions and then recreates in paint changes considerably. The painter, herself, has stayed true to her medium and subject matter, yet she still remains seemingly hard to define.
Wikipedia has Dodd defined as an abstract expressionist, she was told.
"That's a mistake," she said. "I don't really fit in any category."
Although she spent so many summers just a few miles from the shore, Dodd said she was not drawn to it as an artistic subject.
"I know, it's right there," Dodd said of the ocean. "I did a few things of some rocks. I spent a lot of time with friends painting in the quarry. So it's where you spend your time and who you spend your time with. And the rocks have been so well painted by so many people, Homer, Bellows, all the people who went to Monhegan. No way I'm going to improve on that or even do something equally noteworthy, so it's a good thing to stay away from."
Asked to compare herself to Neil Welliver, a friend and artistic influence, especially regarding their painting of the Maine woods, Dodd said, "Neil's was more of an organized way of painting, in terms of technique, not the way I've ever painted. The painting has to be organized, but not the way I put on paint."
Painting nature, especially flowers, was not a popular topic for Dodd and her female contemporaries.
"Ladies were supposed to paint flowers so that's a good thing not to paint," she said, "but I came to paint them. The woods are so convenient. I was always carrying furniture into the woods so the painting would have a focal point." Such graft was not always necessary. "After a point, the woods seemed to have their own composition," she said.
Dodd and her group of artists have used two models. The first model posed for them for almost 20 years, she said, and had a woodpile in the yard. The arrangement led to "Four Nudes and a Woodpile," an earthly combination of classical nudes and orange, splintered logs.
They are working with the second model currently. "We start in July when the blackflies are gone, and usually go into October working out of doors," Dodd said.
Leslie Land, her next-door neighbor and an inspired gardener, lives right across the field. "Other people had painted flowers before I got there. I was walking through it on a daily basis. It took me a long time to get around to painting anything there," she said, focusing on odd and interesting plants. "And not just their beauty. It should be something more than that."
Dodd most enjoys painting in a natural setting, and having a limited time to paint, given the ever-changing conditions.
"Absolutely a great thing. Given endless time I wouldn't be able to move, or get anything done," Dodd said. "The day is going to end, the light is going to shift, the rain is going to come. If I have all day, I wouldn't get anything done. I'd fall asleep if I were painting all day. You don't need to make a decision about every brushstroke."
Dodd uses less paint with initial strokes. "I always think I'm going to go back and more paint on, but then it seems to have had its say," she said.
What is the difference between the light in of the big city and the light in Maine? "The air is so clear in Maine. You get days where the light is black and white. In areas of New Jersey, there are areas of gray, much less value contrast," she said. "It's like taking photographs. Think of a Thomas Eakins' Philly painting. You don't think of them as extremely contrasty. Maybe Hartley, you see extremes of dark light. That's the difference between Maine and this area."
When working at her easel, Dodd watches for subtle shifts in the natural world. Every now and then, she runs into atypical behavior in humans as well.
One time, when traveling with friend and fellow painter Elizabeth O'Reilly in Ireland (Bunbeg, County Donegal), she encountered an odd sight that was mutually amusing, that of a man toting behind him a refrigerator on wheels. Turns out he had lost a bet.
"We were kind of set up in front of this wreck of a building — turns out to be an old bark (ship). We see this guy. We think what the heck is he doing. He looks at us and thinks what the heck are we doing. You never know what's going to happen when you are standing someplace and idly painting all day you — usually in nature, but here was an instance with a human," said Dodd, who at 85 years old, might be thought to have seen it all.
But, with paintbrush in hand, she's still looking.
She concluded the interview with thoughts on the challenge of being an artist, just starting out today.
"They were great old times," she said of her 1950s New York heyday. "They really were good times. It was so cheap to live in New York. You could do all these things with very little money. Contrast with young people coming here now, trying to do the same thing. Just to pay rent, they would have to get a full time job. It was a little happy interlude. Could live on the lowest east side, rent a space for $40 a month. It stayed that way for ten years. People had part-time jobs, but you could still work on your art. Now people come here because everything's going on here. It's the place to be. But if you can't afford to be here, that will get in the way of everything going on here."
She said the art world has decentralized, and now smaller places, like Maine, have more to offer.
Dodd has never been one to paint every day, just when the light moves her.
So what drives her outside to work?
"Madness and guilt," she said. "If I don't get something done, I don't have a reason to be doing what I'm doing."
Regarding her lifetime in art, she said, "It's the most gratifying thing I can do. It's the one thing in my life I can control completely. With everything else in life, you have to think about other people. Art is not the work of a committee. Do whatever you want to do. Nobody can do it for you, so therefore they can't tell you how to do it either."
Portland Museum of Art presents: Lois Dodd: Catching the Light, through April 7.
The first career museum retrospective for American painter Lois Dodd will feature paintings that define the places and subjects that have mattered most in her nearly 60-year career. The exhibition features 51 works ranging in date from 1955's Pasture to 2010's self-portrait Shadow with Easel. Join PMA Curator of Contemporary and Modern Art Jessica May as she provides insights on the special exhibition Lois Dodd: Catching the Light, Fridays, Feb. 1, March 1 and March 29, at noon. Free with PMA admission. For tickets, visit portlandmuseum.org.
The Portland Museum of Art is showing the first career museum retrospective for Dodd, and will feature paintings that define the places and subjects that have mattered most in her nearly 60-year career — views of New York City's Lower East Side from her apartment windows; of the woods and gardens of Maine; and wintery scenes near her family home in New Jersey. Dodd was a key member of New York's postwar art scene and part of the wave of modern artists who explored the coast of Maine in the latter half of the 20th century.
Asked which paintings she highlighted for the show, Dodd said, "All of the ones where I am looking out of the window in New York, the place where I live now. It's a very small loft space. There's an old cemetery (nearby). I was painting that for one winter. I've been painting out of the same window over and over again, and watching it change — which it did dramatically, according to weather, time of day, season. The shadows change radically through the year."
Dodd spoke from her New York City apartment last week, about the show, which opened at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Mo., and then moved to Maine. She talked about her life in art, her ability to see new things from the same subject, and the art world's inability to categorize her. For the most part, she emphasized her fondness for the window, what one can see through it, and what is revealed in the seeing.
"Then going back to Maine, I got involved with windows," Dodd said. "Then I was in the outside. I started walking around my own house, just noticing what terrific compositions I could get out of the window."
When she walks, she often carries hand-held tiles that are "not real huge," and in the repainting of them, they gradually grow to be window size.
"Mainly they're bigger things in the Portland show, but generally speaking when I go outside I've got a smaller Masonite," she said.
"'Night Sky Loft" (1972-73) is painted from the same space, in New York at night, where suddenly you get things reflected in the glass. "In the daylight views, I never painted the windows on the building," she said.
"It's the same subject, but I kept seeing more in the same subject. I went on a long time before not seeing something new. I have two windows. So I would rotate between being here in winter and then the summer in Maine," Dodd said.
Although her subject stays quite similar, what she envisions and then recreates in paint changes considerably. The painter, herself, has stayed true to her medium and subject matter, yet she still remains seemingly hard to define.
Wikipedia has Dodd defined as an abstract expressionist, she was told.
"That's a mistake," she said. "I don't really fit in any category."
Although she spent so many summers just a few miles from the shore, Dodd said she was not drawn to it as an artistic subject.
"I know, it's right there," Dodd said of the ocean. "I did a few things of some rocks. I spent a lot of time with friends painting in the quarry. So it's where you spend your time and who you spend your time with. And the rocks have been so well painted by so many people, Homer, Bellows, all the people who went to Monhegan. No way I'm going to improve on that or even do something equally noteworthy, so it's a good thing to stay away from."
Asked to compare herself to Neil Welliver, a friend and artistic influence, especially regarding their painting of the Maine woods, Dodd said, "Neil's was more of an organized way of painting, in terms of technique, not the way I've ever painted. The painting has to be organized, but not the way I put on paint."
Painting nature, especially flowers, was not a popular topic for Dodd and her female contemporaries.
"Ladies were supposed to paint flowers so that's a good thing not to paint," she said, "but I came to paint them. The woods are so convenient. I was always carrying furniture into the woods so the painting would have a focal point." Such graft was not always necessary. "After a point, the woods seemed to have their own composition," she said.
Dodd and her group of artists have used two models. The first model posed for them for almost 20 years, she said, and had a woodpile in the yard. The arrangement led to "Four Nudes and a Woodpile," an earthly combination of classical nudes and orange, splintered logs.
They are working with the second model currently. "We start in July when the blackflies are gone, and usually go into October working out of doors," Dodd said.
Leslie Land, her next-door neighbor and an inspired gardener, lives right across the field. "Other people had painted flowers before I got there. I was walking through it on a daily basis. It took me a long time to get around to painting anything there," she said, focusing on odd and interesting plants. "And not just their beauty. It should be something more than that."
Dodd most enjoys painting in a natural setting, and having a limited time to paint, given the ever-changing conditions.
"Absolutely a great thing. Given endless time I wouldn't be able to move, or get anything done," Dodd said. "The day is going to end, the light is going to shift, the rain is going to come. If I have all day, I wouldn't get anything done. I'd fall asleep if I were painting all day. You don't need to make a decision about every brushstroke."
Dodd uses less paint with initial strokes. "I always think I'm going to go back and more paint on, but then it seems to have had its say," she said.
What is the difference between the light in of the big city and the light in Maine? "The air is so clear in Maine. You get days where the light is black and white. In areas of New Jersey, there are areas of gray, much less value contrast," she said. "It's like taking photographs. Think of a Thomas Eakins' Philly painting. You don't think of them as extremely contrasty. Maybe Hartley, you see extremes of dark light. That's the difference between Maine and this area."
When working at her easel, Dodd watches for subtle shifts in the natural world. Every now and then, she runs into atypical behavior in humans as well.
One time, when traveling with friend and fellow painter Elizabeth O'Reilly in Ireland (Bunbeg, County Donegal), she encountered an odd sight that was mutually amusing, that of a man toting behind him a refrigerator on wheels. Turns out he had lost a bet.
"We were kind of set up in front of this wreck of a building — turns out to be an old bark (ship). We see this guy. We think what the heck is he doing. He looks at us and thinks what the heck are we doing. You never know what's going to happen when you are standing someplace and idly painting all day you — usually in nature, but here was an instance with a human," said Dodd, who at 85 years old, might be thought to have seen it all.
But, with paintbrush in hand, she's still looking.
She concluded the interview with thoughts on the challenge of being an artist, just starting out today.
"They were great old times," she said of her 1950s New York heyday. "They really were good times. It was so cheap to live in New York. You could do all these things with very little money. Contrast with young people coming here now, trying to do the same thing. Just to pay rent, they would have to get a full time job. It was a little happy interlude. Could live on the lowest east side, rent a space for $40 a month. It stayed that way for ten years. People had part-time jobs, but you could still work on your art. Now people come here because everything's going on here. It's the place to be. But if you can't afford to be here, that will get in the way of everything going on here."
She said the art world has decentralized, and now smaller places, like Maine, have more to offer.
Dodd has never been one to paint every day, just when the light moves her.
So what drives her outside to work?
"Madness and guilt," she said. "If I don't get something done, I don't have a reason to be doing what I'm doing."
Regarding her lifetime in art, she said, "It's the most gratifying thing I can do. It's the one thing in my life I can control completely. With everything else in life, you have to think about other people. Art is not the work of a committee. Do whatever you want to do. Nobody can do it for you, so therefore they can't tell you how to do it either."
Portland Museum of Art presents: Lois Dodd: Catching the Light, through April 7.
The first career museum retrospective for American painter Lois Dodd will feature paintings that define the places and subjects that have mattered most in her nearly 60-year career. The exhibition features 51 works ranging in date from 1955's Pasture to 2010's self-portrait Shadow with Easel. Join PMA Curator of Contemporary and Modern Art Jessica May as she provides insights on the special exhibition Lois Dodd: Catching the Light, Fridays, Feb. 1, March 1 and March 29, at noon. Free with PMA admission. For tickets, visit portlandmuseum.org.
Last Updated on Friday, 01 February 2013 00:02
Hits: 110
Mayor highlights successes, challenges in state of the city address
Written by Craig Lyons
When President Obama visited Portland in March, he queried Michael Brennan about how the city was doing but the newly-elected mayor was at a loss.
Now more than a quarter of the way through his four-year term, Brennan knows what he would tell the president today.
"I'd have to say, 'Portland is doing very well, Mr. President,'" he said, during his first state of the city address on Monday.
Portland has a 5.6 percent unemployment rate; was rated at number one city for second career starts by "Kiplinger's"; the third best city for raising a family by "Parenting" magazine; the seventh greenest city by "Travel and Leisure"; one of the hippest cities by "Forbes"; and the tenth healthiest city for women and the 22nd for men, said Brennan.
More than 8.4 million people traveled through the city, said the mayor, and upward of $250 million worth of development is under way.
"We have a tremendous amount of people coming to Portland and a lot of development that is critical to Portland's future," he said.
Further, Brennan said the city has a low crime rate, a well-managed financial structure and a host of dedicated municipal employees.
Brennan said he wouldn't just point out the highlights of his first year as mayor but also tell the president about Portland's challenges.
The city is facing $170 million worth of mandated storm water system upgrades, shrinking general assistance and general purpose aid budgets and difficulty finding food and housing for all Portland's residents.
"We need help from the state government, we need help from the federal government," he said.
That's where building stronger partnerships between the city and both the state and federal governments stands to be the most beneficial, Brennan said.
In his remarks, Brennan noted some of the highlights of his first year.
In August, more than 16,000 people descended on Portland for the Gentlemen of the Road concert on the Eastern Promenade, said Brennan, and it posed an opportunity for the city to showcase itself to a national audience.
"It showed all the best of Portland," he said.
The event showed that a city of Portland's size has an array of arts and cultural opportunities that have been realized through the growth in the creative economy.
"I think it was a great day for the city," he said.
In October, the vice president of South Sudan visited Portland on a national tour of visiting the diaspora communities in the United States, said Brennan, and it showed that the city has changed. Portland is no longer the same city his grandmother came to in 1909 and it's become more diverse and culturally rich, he said, but there's more that can be done to make the city more inclusive for its new residents.
Brennan said the city needs to create more educational and job opportunities for new residents through language acquisition, job training and supporting people who were doctors, lawyers and tradespeople in their home countries find work.
Even with Portland's successes, Brennan said, there's still work to be done.
Brennan said Portland can do more to help grow its economy, support education opportunities, create job training programs and address the basic issues dealing with trash, traffic and deteriorating sidewalks.
Earlier last year, Brennan went to the Portland Public Library to read to a group of three-, four- and five-year-old kids and one boy asked what the mayor did.
Much like his conversation with the president, Brennan was slightly at a loss and simply told the boy he attended a lot of meetings.
A later meeting with a Japanese exchange student who cited the kindness of Portland's residents and their supportive attitude was the most memorable thing he encountered during his time in the city helped Brennan find an answer to the young boy's query next time he visits the library.
Brennan said he'd go back to the library and tell the kids that one of the most important things a mayor does is create a kinder community that's inclusive, diverse and has a role for every resident to play.
Now more than a quarter of the way through his four-year term, Brennan knows what he would tell the president today.
"I'd have to say, 'Portland is doing very well, Mr. President,'" he said, during his first state of the city address on Monday.
Portland has a 5.6 percent unemployment rate; was rated at number one city for second career starts by "Kiplinger's"; the third best city for raising a family by "Parenting" magazine; the seventh greenest city by "Travel and Leisure"; one of the hippest cities by "Forbes"; and the tenth healthiest city for women and the 22nd for men, said Brennan.
More than 8.4 million people traveled through the city, said the mayor, and upward of $250 million worth of development is under way.
"We have a tremendous amount of people coming to Portland and a lot of development that is critical to Portland's future," he said.
Further, Brennan said the city has a low crime rate, a well-managed financial structure and a host of dedicated municipal employees.
Brennan said he wouldn't just point out the highlights of his first year as mayor but also tell the president about Portland's challenges.
The city is facing $170 million worth of mandated storm water system upgrades, shrinking general assistance and general purpose aid budgets and difficulty finding food and housing for all Portland's residents.
"We need help from the state government, we need help from the federal government," he said.
That's where building stronger partnerships between the city and both the state and federal governments stands to be the most beneficial, Brennan said.
In his remarks, Brennan noted some of the highlights of his first year.
In August, more than 16,000 people descended on Portland for the Gentlemen of the Road concert on the Eastern Promenade, said Brennan, and it posed an opportunity for the city to showcase itself to a national audience.
"It showed all the best of Portland," he said.
The event showed that a city of Portland's size has an array of arts and cultural opportunities that have been realized through the growth in the creative economy.
"I think it was a great day for the city," he said.
In October, the vice president of South Sudan visited Portland on a national tour of visiting the diaspora communities in the United States, said Brennan, and it showed that the city has changed. Portland is no longer the same city his grandmother came to in 1909 and it's become more diverse and culturally rich, he said, but there's more that can be done to make the city more inclusive for its new residents.
Brennan said the city needs to create more educational and job opportunities for new residents through language acquisition, job training and supporting people who were doctors, lawyers and tradespeople in their home countries find work.
Even with Portland's successes, Brennan said, there's still work to be done.
Brennan said Portland can do more to help grow its economy, support education opportunities, create job training programs and address the basic issues dealing with trash, traffic and deteriorating sidewalks.
Earlier last year, Brennan went to the Portland Public Library to read to a group of three-, four- and five-year-old kids and one boy asked what the mayor did.
Much like his conversation with the president, Brennan was slightly at a loss and simply told the boy he attended a lot of meetings.
A later meeting with a Japanese exchange student who cited the kindness of Portland's residents and their supportive attitude was the most memorable thing he encountered during his time in the city helped Brennan find an answer to the young boy's query next time he visits the library.
Brennan said he'd go back to the library and tell the kids that one of the most important things a mayor does is create a kinder community that's inclusive, diverse and has a role for every resident to play.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 00:57
Hits: 187
Group hosts forum for African diaspora, law enforcement officials
Written by Craig Lyons
Portland-based Project Bazia is working to open the lines of communication between the African immigrant community and law enforcement officials to promote a better understanding between the two groups.
Friday night Project Bazia — a group started by Bazia Antoni —hosted a forum at Portland High School that brought together leaders of the African diasporas in Maine and New Hampshire with representatives from the Portland Police Department, Cumberland County Sheriff's Office and Maine State Police. The meeting focused on two discussion points: building a stronger relationship between the African immigrant community and the police and driving laws.
The meeting was a conversation between members of the African communities and Portland and Manchester, N.H., that focused on communications problems between police officers and immigrants, driving safety and how to promote a better understanding of the law enforcement's role in the United States versus in Africa.
Lt. Janine Roberts, who leads the Portland Police Department's community services division, said meetings like the one Friday are an excellent opportunity for officers from across southern Maine to speak face-to-face with members of the new resident community and show them that law enforcement officials follow policies that keep them safe.
Police officers in the United States are very different from those in Africa, said Roberts, and have many rules, policies and procedures designed to protect them and members of the community.
Roberts said the department has made it a priority to meet with any group in the community who wants to learn more about law enforcement. Community meetings are a chance for officers to share their technical expertise with Portland residents, she said, and teach them how to keep themselves safe.
Friday night Project Bazia — a group started by Bazia Antoni —hosted a forum at Portland High School that brought together leaders of the African diasporas in Maine and New Hampshire with representatives from the Portland Police Department, Cumberland County Sheriff's Office and Maine State Police. The meeting focused on two discussion points: building a stronger relationship between the African immigrant community and the police and driving laws.
The meeting was a conversation between members of the African communities and Portland and Manchester, N.H., that focused on communications problems between police officers and immigrants, driving safety and how to promote a better understanding of the law enforcement's role in the United States versus in Africa.
Lt. Janine Roberts, who leads the Portland Police Department's community services division, said meetings like the one Friday are an excellent opportunity for officers from across southern Maine to speak face-to-face with members of the new resident community and show them that law enforcement officials follow policies that keep them safe.
Police officers in the United States are very different from those in Africa, said Roberts, and have many rules, policies and procedures designed to protect them and members of the community.
Roberts said the department has made it a priority to meet with any group in the community who wants to learn more about law enforcement. Community meetings are a chance for officers to share their technical expertise with Portland residents, she said, and teach them how to keep themselves safe.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 00:24
Hits: 251
Pingree calls for full review if tar sands plan for pipeline moves forward
Written by Craig Lyons
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree plans to ask President Obama to order a review and require a new permit for the Portland Pipeline if tar sands are going to be shipped through the line from Montreal to Casco Bay.
Pingree said moving tar sands through the pipeline would pose severe environmental risks to Maine. Pingree's request would require the pipeline to receive a new presidential permit — which allows the line's owners to transport oil across the Canadian border — and a full environmental impact study.
Pingree, Portland Mayor Michael Brennan and a host of other speakers joined more than 1,000 protestors on the Maine State Pier on Saturday to speak out against tar sands oil. Many of the remarks centered on the danger tar sands would pose to the environment in the Northeast should the substance get shipped through the Portland to Montreal Pipeline.
Pingree said if there's a desire to use the Portland pipeline for tar sands, the plans should be required to receive a new presidential permit and environmental review.
"I don't believe the facts will support one," she said.
Dylan Voorhees, of the Natural Resource Council of Maine, said the pipeline currently moves crude oil from Portland Harbor to Montreal. In Alberta, Canada, he said companies are digging tar sands out of the ground and trying to find a way to get it out of Canada and onto the global market.
Voorhees said the executives at the pipelines have denied having "active plans" to pump tar sands from Canada to South Portland.
"That's like saying I don't have active plans for dinner," he said.
The companies behind the pipelines that cross Canada and the Portland to Montreal Pipeline have denied having intentions to ship tar sands through the system.
Emily Figdor, director of Environment Maine, said the oil companies think that they can ignore the people speaking out against tar sands.
"Big oil has another thing coming," she said. We do matter, we do exist."
Brennan said people's voices are needed so their elected officials stand up to the oil companies and block the transmission of tar sands through the pipeline. He said elected officials need to know that people want the country to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.
"The future is not tar sands," he said.
Pingree said moving tar sands through the pipeline would pose severe environmental risks to Maine. Pingree's request would require the pipeline to receive a new presidential permit — which allows the line's owners to transport oil across the Canadian border — and a full environmental impact study.
Pingree, Portland Mayor Michael Brennan and a host of other speakers joined more than 1,000 protestors on the Maine State Pier on Saturday to speak out against tar sands oil. Many of the remarks centered on the danger tar sands would pose to the environment in the Northeast should the substance get shipped through the Portland to Montreal Pipeline.
Pingree said if there's a desire to use the Portland pipeline for tar sands, the plans should be required to receive a new presidential permit and environmental review.
"I don't believe the facts will support one," she said.
Dylan Voorhees, of the Natural Resource Council of Maine, said the pipeline currently moves crude oil from Portland Harbor to Montreal. In Alberta, Canada, he said companies are digging tar sands out of the ground and trying to find a way to get it out of Canada and onto the global market.
Voorhees said the executives at the pipelines have denied having "active plans" to pump tar sands from Canada to South Portland.
"That's like saying I don't have active plans for dinner," he said.
The companies behind the pipelines that cross Canada and the Portland to Montreal Pipeline have denied having intentions to ship tar sands through the system.
Emily Figdor, director of Environment Maine, said the oil companies think that they can ignore the people speaking out against tar sands.
"Big oil has another thing coming," she said. We do matter, we do exist."
Brennan said people's voices are needed so their elected officials stand up to the oil companies and block the transmission of tar sands through the pipeline. He said elected officials need to know that people want the country to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.
"The future is not tar sands," he said.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 00:23
Hits: 214