Maine
Editorial: Vote yes on Question 3 to invest in Maine’s past, and future
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Do you favor a $10 million bond issue to restore historic buildings owned by governmental and nonprofit organizations, with funds being issued contingent on a 25 percent local match requirement from either private or nonprofit sources?
Treasured pieces of Maine’s history are on the ballot this election. And no, we’re not referring to the debate around replacing Maine’s flag.
Question 3 would approve a $10 million bond to help restore historic government and nonprofit buildings across the state. The question requires a 25 percent local match from either private or nonprofit sources.
These are structures and sites like old meeting houses, town halls, public libraries, museums, grange buildings, old forts, homesteads, and other sites that might otherwise fade into memory without restoration efforts.
The government entities or nonprofits responsible for these buildings might not have the resources available to prioritize this needed work. Some funding through the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and other organizations is meant to aid these valuable projects, which help ensure that Maine’s history remains an active part of our future. Though survey results from the people doing this work indicate that consistent state funding that matches the statewide need has been elusive.
Passing Question 3 would help address this, even a one-time infusion of $10 million represents just part of the statewide need. A previous bond of this type was passed back in 1985, when voters approved $2 million.
This newest iteration was proposed by two Republican state lawmakers, Rep. Sawin Millett and Sen. Rick Bennett. Its original amount of $25 million was paired back when the bond question was reviewed and approved by the Legislature.
Though the amount matches neither the original proposal nor the existing preservation needs across the state, it remains a sensible down payment to protect parts of Maine’s history. The Maine Historic Preservation will oversee the award of funding to various projects with this funding, as it has before, in a process that can safeguard Maine’s past while also supporting current community cohesion and economic activity.
“Studies show that investment in historic preservation supports small business and good paying jobs, improves property values, keeps money circulating in local economies, and catalyzes additional investment,” said Tara Kelly, executive director of the nonprofit Maine Preservation, and Sarah Hansen, the executive director of Greater Portland Landmarks, in testimony before the Legislature last year. “The rehabilitation of historic buildings can be labor intensive, creating high-paying jobs. In a soon-to-be-finalized economic impact analysis of historic preservation in Portland, it is estimated that these projects create 218 direct jobs and an additional 217 indirect and induced jobs every year.”
While we would prefer to see increased and consistent support for these preservation efforts built into the state budget rather than be subject to bonding — and the interest that comes with it — the unfortunate fact remains that such a consistent funding source has yet to materialize. In its absence, this bond is a prudent if insufficient public investment. The longer some of these projects wait for support, the more likely that these structures and sites degrade beyond repair.
Julia Gray, the executive director of the Wilson Museum in Castine, offered strong rationale for supporting this bond question in legislative testimony last year.
“Maine’s historic buildings are an irreplaceable part of our civic infrastructure,” Gray said. “They are often part of a community’s identity, a highly visible symbol of local history, places of memory that span generations.”
We agree, and we hope Maine voters will too. Question 3 deserves a yes vote.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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