Talk:Portland, Maine

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Population

Many cities north of Boston have a population larger than that of Portland. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.116.205.150 (talk) 20:19, 1 March 2004 (UTC)[reply]

According (mostly?) to 2000 census data:

Manchester, NH (107,006)
Lowell, MA (105,167)
Cambridge, MA (101,355)
Lynn, MA (89,050)
Nashua, NH (86,605)
Somerville, MA (77,478)
Lawrence, MA (72,043)
Portland, ME (64,249)

I guess we could say it's the eighth largest city north of Boston in New England. (If I've missed any more feel free to add 'em!)

mj — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.30.63.254 (talk) 21:31, 25 March 2004 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the Greater-Portland metropolitan area (population ~250,000) is larger than the greater Manchester metropolitan area (population ~198,000), greater Nasua metropolitan area (~191,000), Cambridge is part of the Boston Metropolitan area... I think on that list only the greater Lowel metro area may be larger that greater Portland...

Many people say Portland has a population of 250,000 because all the cities in the greater Portland metro area are economically and socially interdependant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by [[Special:Contributions/65.99.187.92}|65.99.187.92}]] ([[User talk:65.99.187.92}#top|talk]]) 23:56, 12 April 2005 (UTC)

Somerville, MA is an adjacent suburb of Boston and Cambridge, MA. Lawrence and Lowell, MA are adjacent sister cities.

Portland's population count is not proportional to the city's importance in the region and an inaccurate way to compare the city with other cities when it comes to measuring its cultural significance. The abstract concept is hard to quantify, but Portland is much bigger than a head count of the people living there makes it seem. It might have to do with the medium densitiy of Greater Portland in Southern Maine and the fact that the city is the cultural center of a much larger area. For example, the greater portland commerce and cultural activity is much higher than Greater Portsmouth and Greater Manchester in New Hampshire. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.224.173.73 (talk) 14:14, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Technically Miineapolis/St. Paul and Seattle are north of Boston. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.198.87.220 (talk) 16:12, 9 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

But not in New England. (See above) :-) Ken Gallager (talk) 19:26, 22 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Portland Head Light

I've taken the step of replacing the image of Portland Head Light at the top of the article with one of the waterfront (which is less scenic, definitely). The image is awesome, much superior to the ones I took of the lighthouse, but the problem is that the light is not actually in Portland, but rather in Cape Elizabeth. I realize it's a symbol of the area, but it doesn't seem quite appropriate as the introductory image of the article on Portland itself. -- Decumanus 00:26, 2004 Oct 29 (UTC)

Geography section discussion (general to all city articles)

I recommend renaming the demographics section "Demographics & Geography" and moving geography to the end of demographics in a seperate paragraph but realize that this would be a huge undertaking to maintain compatibility with the other ~300,000 city articles. Can this be automated? Any thoughts? This section is a poorly written stub and being tabular in nature; does not belong above History (which is the foundation of the (non-stub) city articles).

Also, a project needs to be set up to write meaningful and well-written history sections for every US city.

Does anyone have any objections to me re-writting and adding to the geography section and maybe even working it into the demographics section? I realize the consistancy issues. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.112.70.194 (talk) 03:57, 12 April 2005 (UTC)[reply]

County Map Incorrect

The map wikipedia is using for Cumberland County is incorrect. It shows Portland as land-locked when in fact it is a peninsela in the atlantic ocean. The shape isn't even correct. Perhaps the map is intending to show boundaries around waterways and so forth but this is not clear by the drawing. This is probably a pretty major "correctness" issue for an encyclopedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.244.207.140 (talk) 05:37, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In The Bedroom?

Wasn't the 2001 film In The Bedroom filmed or partly filmed in Portland? Shploo 16:37, 15 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Portland Public Schools

Added a link to the Portland Public Schools Website. Shploo 16:42, 15 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation link?

Does there need to be a "disambiguation" link here? Not sure how this might be created, though. There does seem to be a good page on the "Portland" topic, but no "headline link" here. --Quartic 14:17, 12 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Poverty statistics

Are those poverty statistics accurate? They seem rediculously high...172.161.84.248 12:23, 24 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate

the time and effort the recent major additions to this article took. But there are a few things that don't belong here. Anecdotal does not equal encyclopedic. In fact, that's exactly the type of thing I get the sense we are supposed to try to avoid here. The paragraph on the Italian sandwich, while no doubt accurate and informative, does not belong here; it's simply too much space devoted to a relatively minor subject in what is supposed to be a general overview of the city of Portland. If anything, it wouldn't hurt to have its own article, if one doesn't exist already. Respectfully, JamesofMaine 00:00, 15 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In regard to Dr StrangeHat's compromise: I can live with that; it's acceptable. I don't feel so passionately about it-- or anything else here for that matter, that I'm willing to pick a fight about it. I'm just being a nerd, that's all. JamesofMaine 01:24, 15 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Understandable...being a passionate local, I just felt the Italian sandwich was truly a big part of the history of Portland and should have been noted. It's been edited down to take up much less space. As for the anecdotal nature of some of the additions I made, they are still facts and facts to me are encyclopedic. It is a fact that there was once a large skyscraper proposed for that site. It is a fact that there was a recent development proposed there. There are a lot of people like myself that consider a city's buildings to be a prominent and important part of a city. Whenever I'm surfing around Wikipedia looking at various cities across the U.S., I'm always interested in reading things about the city's skyline, historical buildings, etc. The way I see it, what may not seem important and encyclopedic to one person may be to another. That being said, I'll bite the bullet and edit down that section a little. Dr StrangeHat 14:35, 1 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Citation in opening section

For the third paragraph in where someone noted that citation is needed, is there any way to quickly reference down to the "Honors" section of the article? That section right there should be enough to justify the sentence that needs citation. Dr StrangeHat 14:28, 1 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Maine Mall

Under Sites of interest, the Maine Mall should probably not be listed since it is not in the city of Portland. --Andy 03:37, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. The mall is in South Portland, and contrary to the misconception of many folks who aren't from the area, South Portland is not part of Portland. —BMRR (talk) 17:02, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Old Port

Has anyone put any thought into creating an article on the Old Port or maybe adding a section to this article about it? It seems to pop up quite a bit within this article and other articles on Maine, yet there doesn't appear to be any article or major reference to it. It's a pretty major part of City of Portland. I'd do it, but I'm not very knowledgable about the history of the Old Port and how it came to be as it is today. Anyone want to take a stab at it? Dr StrangeHat 18:31, 13 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Geography and Climate table

The temperatures and precipitation amounts in the table were inaccurate, so I corrected them. There was color coding before on the table, but the colors no longer correspond with the temperatures. I don't know if there is a standard set of colors used, but I just made the cells with a white background. If anyone wants to change it later, feel free. Wikieditor06 22:06, 20 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Forest City

I've lived in Portland my entire life and I've never once heard it referred to as the Forest City. I suppose it could be as theres a automobile dealership named that. However, if a city is going to have a nickname it should sometimes be referred to as it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 153.90.116.240 (talk) 18:16, 24 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

I've heard it referred to the Forest City many times. The nickname was much more common back before Dutch Elm Disease killed much of the city's trees. Dr StrangeHat 03:16, 16 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Better pictures?

How about some better pictures of the city (downtown maybe?) as it is now. How many east end and historic pictures does this page need? Jeez. The top photo of Munjoy Hill is not exactly flattering. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.224.210.134 (talk • contribs)

What's wrong with the photo exactly? Does its ass look big in it? - Dudesleeper · Talk 00:23, 7 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I do photography around Portland and upload photos (while I took the East End photos, I did not post them to the main page). If you have something in mind you'd like to see, please request it :) --Auto^{(talk / contribs)} 03:26, 7 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The picture as is makes portland look like a small New England fishing town. Portland feels much bigger when your actually there. This picture at http://www.mereda.org/photo2.htm gives a much more accurate representation of Portland (though I assume it is copyrighted and thus cannot be used here). There defiitely needs to be a better picture. I apologize for not being formatting correctly but I am unsure how to do that.---May 11 12:38 AM —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.160.246.20 (talk • contribs).

I would truly love to put up a photo like that, but I don't have access to a helicopter / small aircraft :( —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Autocracy (talk • contribs) 18:58, 12 May 2007 (UTC).[reply]

I agree that the East End picture from the top of the Observatory isn't exactly a good representation and "first impression" image of the city, and I even live on the East End about a block to the right of that picture. I think a skyline photo taken around sunset from across Back Cove near Payson Park would be a perfect picture to put up top in the info box.Dr StrangeHat 03:14, 16 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately only one is not a severe landscape resolution. Thoughts? I'm also thinking of including 295 snaking through taken from near Exit 8. Autocracy 17:07, 4 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I put one of the images in its own "cityscape" section in wide image format until a better image is found for the infobox.Rigby27 (talk) 14:27, 19 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I just uploaded a pretty good aerial picture of Portland with Mount Washington in the background to the honors section (PWM2.jpg). If anyone thinks it should replace the current picture in the infobox, go for it!V1 Rotate (talk) 02:11, 9 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

islands

I believe that all the islands are no longer a part of Portland and now belong to Casco bay. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 155.246.196.20 (talk) 20:35, 1 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Maps

This article needs maps. It needs a map of Portland proper, and also maps of the metro area, showing us where these 500,000 people are supposed to live. -69.87.203.220 (talk) 11:58, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well volunteered. - Dudesleeper · Talk 12:20, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Government

I don't know what others think, but I think a section on the structure of the city government would be a good expansion for this article. Rigby27 (talk) 20:33, 12 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Added the government section. Comments/Suggestions?Rigby27 (talk) 19:02, 18 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Review needed

The following series of edits were made by an IP with a history of vandalism. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portland%2C_Maine&diff=207132135&oldid=206789550

I would request that someone familiar with the topic and source cited review the edits to verify that the edits are indeed valid and not subtle vandalism. Thanks!TheRedPenOfDoom (talk) 00:19, 22 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Any Portland in a storm

I started International Automobile Construction Company & wanted to tag the talk page for Portland. Isn't there a Project for it? BTW, anybody who's got shares from Scripophily or somewhere, or any info, please add to the page. It's pretty short... Trekphiler (talk) 14:02, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Shining

When Jack talks to the bartender he tells him that he's the best from *I forget where now* to Portland, Maine! —Preceding unsigned comment added by M sher (talk • contribs) 02:22, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Move proposal

Editors here may be interested in the proposal to move Portland, Oregon to Portland. See Talk:Portland#Requested move. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 03:13, 11 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note that the proposal isn't to move Portland, Oregon to Portland, but rather to move Portland, a dab page, to Portland (disambiguation) and then redirect "Portland" to the Portland, Oregon article. Cheers, Rai•me 02:25, 14 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Demographics estimates 2005-2007

What numbers are you saying don't match the source?

Look at the section Race alone or in combination with one or more other races/Total population:

[1]

Race alone or in combination with one or more other races

Total population 62,986 +/-1,637 100% (X)

White 55,593 +/-1,793 88.3% +/-1.5

Black or African American 4,147 +/-542 6.6% +/-0.8

American Indian and Alaska Native 546 +/-219 0.9% +/-0.4

Asian 2,596 +/-520 4.1% +/-0.8

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander N/A

Some other race 1,011 +/-545 1.6% +/-0.9 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.121.10.24 (talk) 16:22, 2 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

My bad. I was looking at the first part of the reference page, the "RACE" section, which has different numbers than the "Race alone or in combination with one or more other races" section, which I guess is the section you're drawing those numbers from. Sorry! —BMRR (talk) 16:39, 2 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Portland metropolitan area - OR/ME?

You may wish to join the conversation at Talk:Portland metropolitan area#Requested move. Buaidh 19:54, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Fire department

This article really doesn't need a long table with the locations of every single fire station in the city. If this information is to be in wikipedia, it should be in a breakout article. I've removed it pending further discussion. R0uge (talk) 15:40, 3 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not even sure we need an article on the Fire Department, but I agree the information doesn't need to be here. 331dot (talk) 21:57, 3 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Timeline of Portland, Maine

What is missing from the recently created city timeline article? Please add relevant content. Contributions welcome. Thank you. -- M2545 (talk) 08:21, 29 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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Sea Cucumbers??????

"...Portland is currently home to about 230 restaurants. Many of these institutions cater to niche markets in the culinary world, perhaps most notably the harvest of local sea cucumbers that are primarily exported to Asian markets.[40]"

That second sentence is just nuts. I don't know if there is a single restaurant in the Portland area that serves sea cucumber. This needs fixing. 72.224.232.142 (talk) 15:32, 10 July 2016 (UTC)anon[reply]

It doesn't say they serve it, it says they export it. 331dot (talk) 15:37, 10 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Lead section

Does anyone think that the lead section should be rewritten to reduce choppy paragraphs and remove stuff about the seal? Moxhay (talk) 15:40, 27 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think that instead of simply removing the information about the seal that the line should be rewritten to focus on the fires which are reflected in the seal, and not the other way around as it is currently. 331dot (talk) 19:54, 27 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah I have a little about the fires in there right now. Moxhay (talk) 20:03, 27 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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Wrong State

The Portland, Maine article is populated with content about Portland, Oregon. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.77.158.113 (talk) 20:05, 30 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It was vandalism that has been addressed. Thanks 331dot (talk) 23:03, 30 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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Newbie edit

I made one of my first Wikipedia edits by updating the presidential election results table on this page. It looks ok to me, but please let me know if I made any mistakes.

Cheers. Machigonne (talk) 15:03, 6 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Looks fine to me. 331dot (talk) 15:13, 6 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sea level rise

A section on Portland's vulnerability to rising sea levels was recently removed as the opinion of one source, but there are many sources which agree. For example, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and the State of Maine itself.--User:Namiba 18:23, 22 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Namiba: I reverted my edit until I do more research. Magnolia677 (talk) 18:36, 22 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Original indigenous name

The earliest attested name is Aucocisco (place of herons)https://www.legendsofamerica.com/tribe-summary-a/ which was conflated to 'Casco', and was noted by the Spanish who mapped the area in the 1500's. The name cited in the article, which has no attestations at all, is a French word supposedly derived from the Mik'Mak for 'great neck,' though some sources cite 'bent knee' - but the mic'mak words for neck or knee are nowhere remotely hinted at by the French word 'machigonne'. Furthermore, 'great neck' or 'bent knee' represent cartographically-derived imagery and the indigenous bands did not produce maps so the idea that a spit of land might be shaped like a bent knee was completely outside their frame of reference. Perhaps there is an Abenaki language scholar who can straighten this out? Machigonne sounds like a name imposed by French explorers or traders who sailed back out the St Lawrence from Michigan, then traversed the Atlantic coast south and thought it would make a nice name for the Portland promontory. Blauschwein (talk) 13:25, 29 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion

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Downtown

I think there should be a downtown Portland, Maine article, just like there's a downtown Portland, OR article GamerKlim9716 (talk) 13:38, 12 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

State name in infobox

The infobox currently says merely "Portland" as its title. However, the common wording in US city infoboxes is "city, state". While the WP:USCITY page does not say, "The name in the infobox should be 'city, state'", it shows exactly that form in its sample box. The subject has come up repeatedly on the USCITY talk page, and "city, state", tends to be preferred. Another editor would like to retain simply "Portland", because they do not wish to disambiguate the title more than once. My own thought is that there is nothing wrong with disambiguating more than once, and is in fact preferable here, because of the existence of the much larger Portland, Oregon. There is certainly plenty of room in the infobox title space. What are other people's thoughts? Ken Gallager (talk) 17:39, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I see no reason to include it there, but I'd be interested to see the discussion on the WP page. A search of the talk didn't yield results for me - could you link the archived section? glman (talk) 18:41, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The archived discussions seem to revisit the topic fairly regularly, with no resolution. I suggest this discussion from 2020 for representative flavor. Some prefer "city, state", some don't. At any rate, it appears that there won't be any changes going forward with this article. Ken Gallager (talk) 19:18, 17 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I still struggle to find any major discussions. Even the one you shared only has four parties discussing, without a real consensus. I am fine with either direction, but generally I feel that state name isn't necessary in the infobox. glman (talk) 20:55, 17 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Don't mischaracterize other people's reasons after they've told you what their reasons are. As I said, the name of the city is "Portland", just as the name of Maine is "Maine", not "Maine, United States". It's that simple. There's no reason to disambiguate here, just as in John Smith (explorer) there's no reason for the infobox to say the subject's name was "John Smith the Explorer" and in John Smith (architect) the infobox shouldn't say the subject's name was "John Smith the Architect". Both John Smiths were named "John Smith". Maine is named "Maine". The Portland in Maine is named "Portland", as is the Portland in Oregon. Largoplazo (talk) 18:54, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]