The Bollard Bulletin for May 6, 2025
Cartoon Tuesday: "Bayside Vision in Full Effect"
Cartoon Tuesday
In March we teed off on the latest mega-project proposed for Portland’s long-blighted Bayside neighborhood: two 12-story apartment towers containing over 500 units on the former E. Perry Iron and Metal property near Whole Foods. As usual, the developer is all ready to go — as soon as the city changes laws written to help low-income renters find shelter.
We republished a Patrick Corrigan comic from the summer of 2008 about the ridiculous charrette process that purports to give the public some say in the design of these projects. In this calendar spread from our Spring 2008 issue (the last quarterly edition we published before going monthly), Pat provides his own rendering of what the massive parking garage once planned for this area could look like. I suppose the needle-strewn dirt lots that have persisted for decades are preferable to this mess.
Highlights
Apparently they made a TV show out of the long-running NPR comedy-quiz program Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and four cast members of that show are on tour as Whose Live Anyway?, an improv comedy performance with audience participation. It’s at Merrill Auditorium (20 Myrtle St., Portland) at 7:30 p.m. Tix: $71.50-$83 (all ages; some “PG-13” language is possible).
Full Speed Ahead is a statewide festival of films and events celebrating trains in Maine and the greater culture of rail travel. It kicks off today at the Colonial Theatre (163 High St., Belfast) with screenings of the 1952 film noir classic The Narrow Margin and The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson’s witty 2007 comedy, and continues through May 11. Full schedule and tix here.