“South Portland is a magical place,” Zoo Cain, the
co-owner of Three Ring Circus Gallery, told me this week. “There’s
really just something about it.”  

    As I’ve covered the South Portland beat for the
Sentry over the last several months, I’ve heard that sentiment
expressed often, and from all kinds of people. The city may get
overshadowed by its bigger neighbor, but it’s a place with a character
all of its own.

    The best way to get acquainted with the character of
such a place is to write thousands of words about it every week and
interview dozens of its residents, which has more or less been my job
description at the Sentry. I’ll be moving on this week, finishing up my
time with the Sentry, and I’m going to miss getting the chance to do
that every week. To supply our weekly interview feature I’ve had the
chance to pick out one noteworthy person in the community every week
and spend an hour or so chatting with them, and I’ve been continually
amazed at the endless supply of interesting people to choose
from.  

    One of the first interviews I did was with Ernest
“Jim” Darling, the former South Portland police chief who was
celebrating his 95th birthday. He was a good person to learn about
South Portland’s history from—he told me what it was like to walk the
Ferry Village beat during WWII when the city was filled with raucous
sailors and a busy shipyard.  As he described it, South Portland
was a pretty rough and tumble place in those days.

    Over the last months I’ve interviewed a number of
people who shared with me their expertise in a variety of fields I
previously knew little about. Mark Eyerman, the president of Planning
Decisions, educated me about land use planning and talked about his
work with the city to update its zoning ordinance.  Rich Jordan, a
wetland scientist also contracted out by the city, told me more than I
could ever absorb about wetland mitigation, which I learned is an
incredibly complex process. I had always been skeptical of wetland
mitigation—it seemed to me like we should just leave wetlands alone
instead of trying to mitigate their destruction, but I was happy to get
the impression that Rich seemed motivated to serve the best interest of
the wetland’s ecological health, and not simply make development
easier.   

    I learned a lot about the ecology of Casco Bay from
interviews with two different employees of Friends of Casco
Bay—Baykeeper Joe Payne, and Mary Cerullo, who also writes childrens
books about marine science. I don’t think many people realize the
important role that FOCB serves as environmental stewards of the bay.
They’re a great resource to have here in the city and very friendly
people.

    It’s been fun getting to know the political players
of the area too, from Cumberland County Manager Peter Crichton, who
can’t emphasize enough how much of a burden the county’s poorly funded
jails are on taxpayers, to South Portland Mayor Claude Morgan, who has
a knack for speaking about any subject with great rhetorical flourish
and eclectic figures of speech.

    After the city council spent many months
deliberating on which candidate for city manager to select, I was
pleased at the opportunity to interview Ted Jankowski once he finally
got the position.  I left the interview thinking that the city
would be in good hands with his leadership and experience.  Morgan
told me that the average tenure of a city manager in New England lasts
around two and a half years. Hopefully Jankowski will stick around a
little longer.

    Some of my favorite interviews were with residents
of South Portland who are quietly working away in their homes at
amazingly creative projects. Topper and Cornelia Carew, who run Urban
Neo Productions out of their home, told me about all the films they are
busy producing and Topper talked about what it was like to direct and
produce movies with stars like Mr. T and Martin Lawrence. Jeff Badger
allowed me to visit his studio and enter the world of his paintings
inhabited by characters like a disembodied brain and a monocle-wearing
robber baron.

    Tom Blake, who I interviewed after he won the
Sentry’s Great Person Award, seems to be the perfect role model of an
active and engaged citizen. His leadership at the land trust has really
revived the group and is a big reason why the Sawyer Marsh deal was
successfully struck and why the land trust’s West End Trails Committee
has had so much success.

    South Portland’s reputation tends to get shaped by
the Maine Mall, the traffic congestion throughout the city and the
tendency to think of the city as just a suburb of Portland. But South
Portland has the potential to become better known for its more
appealing and distinct qualities.  Along with covering the South
Portland beat for the Sentry, for the last several months I’ve also
been reporting on Scarborough for the Scarborough Leader, which is
owned by the same Biddeford-based company. Two things I’ve learned
through getting to know the politics, geography and people of each
community is that I never want to live in Scarborough and that I would
greatly enjoy living in South Portland. So Po, at least in most parts
of the city, has what is most important in a place to live—a strong
sense of community and a unique sense of place.  Like Zoo said,
it’s a magical place.