What message is embedded in the reconfiguration of the Boothbay Common?
At the beginning of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo writes about architecture’s role as society’s medium of communication before the invention of the printing press. It’s still so in the twenty-first century, long since the printing press has been overtaken by digital media.
The Boothbay Commons is a prime example of how the meaning of a community can be changed and manipulated through landscaping and infrastructure architecture. It is subtly hidden to some and blatantly obvious to others that the Boothbay Common is the current cultural battleground of the rural Maine community.
How it came to be that an iconic New England tradition was taken over by the developer’s elite
In 2016 Paul Coulombe laid out his plans for reengineering the Center of Boothbay, including the roundabout and a plan for the Common that included “a market-driven retail and dining project that would be financed by Coulombe and the entrepreneurs”. In their design, Coulombe and friends would single-handedly control the entire development of the Boothbay Center, including the Boothbay Common, which is by definition a property that belongs to the public and is not under the developer’s ownership.
Mr. Coulombe went about purchasing all of the property surrounding the Common, and he also made donations to the public Common so that the Common took on a perceptual similarity to all of its surroundings, owned by Mr. Coulomb. some might say that even includes the Town office.
Mr. Coulombe invests his own money but also takes advantage of public-private financial resources written into the Maine statutes, including those governing the Department of Transportation, which allows for communities with money in hand (private developers) to go to the front of the line that distributes infrastructure funds throughout the State.
According to the Department of Transportation agreement, the design of the road and roundabout was the private developer’s decision.
DOT Cooperative Agreement, pg 3 (can be requested from the State)
1. Proiect Design:The Developer has procured a contract with a qualified engineering firm to design the Project in accordance with specifications approved by MaineDOT (the “Design Contract”). The Design Contract also includes all necessary title research, right of way mapping services and preparation of transactional documents to properly identify existing conditions, property impacts, and all parties having ownership or financial interests in the affected abutting properties, and to effectively transfer the necessary property rights to the Developer and, in turn, to MaineDOT. The Developer shall ensure that the following standards and expectations are met:
It is written in the DOT Cooperative Agreement that PGC5 LLC submitted a design for the Boothbay roundabout for approval by the Maine Department of Transportation. It is witnessed by Dale Doughty, Director of the Maine Department of Transportation on April 17, 2017.
The selling of a functional design as a decorative design
Even so, the developer has to win the approval of the voters. How can a plan to place a mini-roundabout of many merges in the middle of the main throughway with only one road merge, be sold to the public?
It was with blind assertions, that politicians, developers, and their friends strived to influence the perception of reality in the selling of a decorative obstruction in the middle of the main thruway in the Center of Boothbay leading in and out of Boothbay Harbor.
Placing a tiny roundabout in the middle of the main thruway is not an improvement. Why not just say the Route 27 or roundabout landscaping design? Perhaps because that draws attention to the infrastructure design, which is not a functional or safety improvement. It’s an annoyance and an announcement about who matters to Town leaders and who does not.
The tree planted in the middle of the road surrounded by descending levels that end in a slightly raised stone ledge almost the same color of the road, depending on the season, redirects the central flow of traffic as a passageway to the Harbor to an inelegant curve away from the Harbor connecting the Country Club and the road leading to the Botanical Gardens while encompassing the Town Office and the Common so that the Common takes on the appearance of the campus of the headquarters of the Town’s public-private government.
All travelers on the main road connecting Boothbay to Boothbay Harbor had to be inconvenienced to make the redirection happen. The message of the infrastructure and landscaping medium is that to the local power elite travelers going about their daily business do not matter They are mere commoners. The complex that includes the private country club, the public town office, and the non-profit Botanical Gardens is wrapped up as a package with man-made landscaping, and branded “natural”
The new reason why people come to the Boothbay Region is marketed as the Botanical Gardens which is portrayed as natural, and which, as a super-funded non-profit, has a lot of money to spend on advertising. The Garden’s promotes itself as a great economic development asset for the region, but it is an economic development asset that provides “quality jobs” only to its executives and does not pay most of its employees and so it falls into the camp that defines economic development as increasing property values rather than developing income-producing opportunities for all.
Boothbay is not associated with Ocean Point these days nor is Ocean Point highlighted as a natural wonder of the Boothbay Region as it is. Ocean Point is a well-kept secret, known only to the long resident locals. The many locations the land trust has preserved in their natural state gets only an occasional mention as Boothbay is now marketed as the home of the “natural” cultivated man-made Botanical Gardens with its magnificent acquisitions of urban styled architecture. Come to Boothbay to enjoy cultivated nature in an urban setting.
Smack in between the private developer’s headquarters on the hill and the Town Office in the valley is the Town Common, the current cultural battleground between the commoners and the public-private development corporation that has its own plans for the peninsula, including those businesses selected to be retained (Dunkin Doughnuts) and those delegated to the “Do Not Retain” list.
Nathanael Desmeules Unsplash
Is it natural or is it cultural manipulation with a smile?
The roundabout did not improve the experience of driving around the Common but instead made it difficult and dangerous. Post roundabout, traffic backups in all directions are frequent during the busy season. The curves of the tiny roundabout are not pleasant to negotiate, especially not with multiple merges placed in the middle of the main road for no reason, other than Coulombe wanted a grand entrance on Route 27 leading to the Country Club, turning the once one-way street into a two-way street. The former four-way stop off to the side of the main throughway was made out to be incredibly treacherous although it was just a sleepy four-way stop without much traffic. The busy intersection at the other end of the commons, where route 27 meets Country Club Road was never mentioned. A traffic light at that intersection would have made the merge from the four-way intersection onto Route 27 easier. That was all that was needed. A traffic light works at the corner of Route 27 and Ocean Point Road, why not at the Boothbay Center? As in Wiscasset, it could be activated only during busy times.
The selling of the roundabout was a world-class disinformation, campaign.
A Back River Road resident told the Boothbay selectmen he supports constructing the proposed roundabout near the municipal building and he encouraged them to join him. On March 23, *** said he believed the roundabout would improve Route 27 traffic flow, increase traffic and pedestrian safety, and result in greater economic activity. Boothbay selectmen approve Route 27 improvement landscaping design.
And January 6 was legitimate political discourse.
Question of the Day: Why did the disinformation campaign work on the inhabitants of Boothbay?
The depiction (below) of the driving experience is both funny and tragic. One can only appreciate the manicured landscaping while driving when waiting in a traffic jam. How clever of the designers to include entertainment to enjoy while waiting in a traffic jam! If one is actually driving through the new complex of traffic merges one had better have his or her attention on what the other drivers are doing, not the road decor.
Your Guided Tour through the roundabout:
As Route 27 motorists enter Boothbay Center, they will first see a group of ornamental trees which Doe explained would project a rural environment. Then motorists encounter medians planted with deciduous flowers and shrubs and tall ornamental grass. The plan also calls for planting native Maine trees approximately six to eight feet high showing seasonal color. As motorists drive past the town hall, they will see taller plants like hydrangea which will screen the parking lot. A Colorado blue spruce will be planted in the roundabout’s center. As motorists exit the roundabout, there will be beds of plants and flowering trees.
Manicured landscaping does not project a rural environment, it obscures and replaces the rural environment. It is a pretentious display of foolishness for who but fools would intentionally create a traffic jam in the middle of the main road, and do so at a four million dollar price tag? The overdone road decor speaks of wealth dominating and transforming a natural rural environment that does not need such embellishments to “project a rural environment”. It speaks of power politics used in a cultural war between developers and rural culture and sensibilities.
It is a cultural war between those who believe that economic development means increasing property values on the peninsula and those who conceive of economic development as increasing income-generating opportunities.
Is Lester Spear a designated spanner in the works?
For years the ruling classes of this small New England Community have been talking about how to develop year-round business. Lester Spear is an independent grassroots economic developer using his energy, ideas, and financial resources to make things happen but Lester Spear is not a member of the ruling class elite. He is merely talented at what he does. Spear’s approach to economic development is in the doing whereas the JECD’s (Joint Economic Development Council of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor) approach was in the spending of other people’s money on the special interests of their self-determined peer group.
Spear tries to be inclusive of all parts of the community but there are many who do not want to see Spear included and they are expressing it through attacks on the events that he produces rather than recognizing the unique contribution that Spear is making to the community. Inclusivity has to be a two-way street or not at all.
The events leading up to yet another round of new policy developments surrounding Lester Spear’s creative economic development projects have been transpiring since long before Lester Spear created his first ice palace and received a special amusement permit to allow mobile food trucks on the property he owns on Route 27 to great success.
In 2021, the Boothbay Ice Palace was introduced as another Route 27 attraction between Feb 15-28. The ice palace along with five mobile food trucks have drawn large crowds this winter. In fact, business may be too good for the location. At times, customers are parking along both sides of Route 27 when patronizing the two businesses.
In response to the traffic problem Lester Spear instituted online ordering, food delivery and sought out a shuttle service to alleviate the problem, He suggested the use of a traffic light or slowing down the traffic,
When Boothbay selectmen, Steve Lewis, ran for Selecman in 2018 his supporters touted him as good for business but that did not extend to Lester Spear. Lewis commented that a parking ban is one of the few powers selectmen can declare without voter approval. He said, “It’s a dangerous situation, and I’d hate to arrive there wearing my other hat referring to his hat as a Boothbay Region Ambulance Service paramedic.
And so a parking ban was imposed nixing Spear’s successful business, but the next year the Town Selectmen suggested the Boothbay Common as a site for the Trucks-A-Go event, minus the Ice Sculpture but with plenty of extra Christmas lights financed by Spear.
The cost of putting on the event was higher than Spear anticipated and so he initiated a two-dollar entry fee to help cover the costs. This gave fodder to his detractors who went after him virulently on Facebook and so Spear withdrew the entry fee, but it was enough to generate a new movement to instigate policies about money-making events on the Common, which is what most events have been for many years, but it did not become a cause for policy review by the Town Selectmen until Lester Spear was involved. The primary difference between Spear’s event and other events that have a long history on the Common is the time of year. The Town leaders have long spoken about extending the season for the region and Spear is doing that. If Boothbay won’t allow his creativity, then Bethel will
During the discussion, several residents told selectmen they objected to how the common was used this winter. Boothbay Winter Festival ran from Nov. 24 to Jan. 1 in conjunction with Gardens Aglow and Boothbay Lights. The festival hosted food trucks, Christmas lights, and signs inside the common.
Sharon Thibodeau described the common as “iconic” and one of two reasons her family moved to Boothbay. “It’s perfect,” she said. “We moved here because of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and this beautiful historic New England-looking property. I’d hate to see this turn into an outdoor shopping mall.”
This may seem like a trivial point but it isn’t. In the above quote from the Boothbay Register, the common is not capitalized. I submit that the Common should be capitalized as capitalization signifies a specific place and use
A proper noun or adjective is a proper name—it designates a particular person, place, or thing. In sentence 1 above, we capitalize New York City and East River because they are proper nouns. Both are geographical place names.
A common noun or adjective, in contrast, is a generic label—it designates a general type of person, place, or thing. In the following two sentences, we capitalize neither east nor river because these words are being used in their generic senses (in the first, they are used as nouns; in the second, as adjectives Capitalizing Words: Proper vs. Common Nouns
I submit that in this discussion the Common is a very specific location, specifically, it is a public space of a specific historical nature. It is not being used as a generic adjective or even a generic noun, it represents a specific location. To not capitalize it delegitimizes the cultural and historical significance of the Boothbay Town Common.
Back on point, It is not a makers market that departs from the historic and iconic New England Common, it is the roundabout that does so. Historic New England was very sensible about “socializing and assimilating its members” as Lewis Mumford writes in the Culture of the Cities (pg 141) describing the New England Town as an exception to the overcrowding that took place during the Industrial Revolution:
.the New England town during this period ceased to grow beyond the possibility of socializing and assimilating its members: when near crowding, a new congregation would move off under a special pastor, erect a new meeting house, form a new village, layout fresh fields. Hiving off to new centers discouraged congestion in the old ones; and the further act of dividing the land among the members of the community in terms of family need, as well as wealth and rank, gave a rough equality to the members, or at least guaranteed them a basic minimum of existence….A democratic polity-and the most healthy and comely of urban environments: a typical contrast to the despotic order of the dominant baroque city. To describe it is almost to define everything that the absolute order was not.
Andersen Design was one of a small group of craft makers that participated in the Winter Fair.
Sharon Thibodeau uses a gaslighting technique to compare a local maker’s community to “an outdoor shopping mall”, although a mall is usually an indoor shopping venue filled with corporate franchises. Why does she choose that particular language? She insults the maker’s community by comparing them with what they are decidedly not, although Andersen Design has been sold in franchises stores such as Itoya in Japan. one of the few American companies accepted into the Japanese market.
When shown the Andersen Design Sandpiper, the Japanese buyer said “Shibui”.
Is she thoughtless- or just ignorant, excuse me for publicly saying so but she has publicly insulted the lifestyle in which I was raised and love and which was established as a well-recognized family business in the home in the Boothbay Region in 1952. Andersen Design participated in the Winter Fair that the uneducated Ms. Thibodeau negatively compared to an outdoor mall while letting everyone know that she had moved here because of the Common as visual decor and because of the Botanical Gardens. Ms Thibodeau let us all know that it is her preference that the Common be retained as a visual asset and not to be used by the commoners for their functions.
Therin lies the crux of the issue. Lester Spear is a spanner in the developer works. Developers, be it a private developer or the corporate State, control every aspect themselves, everything is designed to their taste and their values. Maine is a centrally managed state, in which the state and its private partners act as a development corporation. The hegemonic culture affects human behavior throughout its domain. Spear might as well be a player from another planet, He isn’t controlled by the Order of Great Wealth Concentration and Distribution. I give Spear credit for trying. I hope he has more success than I did. I have given up there ever being any reciprocity between the hegemony and myself, and in that, I have the freedom to say what I think because there is nothing left to lose.
And that is about the size of politics on the Boothbay Peninsula. This is why we need new Town leadership. That is why the grassroots needs to organize just as the power elite is organized.
Thao Le Hoang Unsplash
Desiree Scorcia is a Boothbay Town Selectperson, married to Lester Spear. Lester Spear is a target. Desiree’s seat will probably be targeted as well by those who believe that economic development in this town is the equivalency of increasing property values. If we want selectmen that represent the collaborative interests of working people and local people over developers and bulldozers, we need to be organized too!
Desiree Scorcia is sponsoring Green Party Caucus on at 4 PM on Wednesday, Feb 23 at the Town Hall. Plus Alan McDonald, Candidate Hopeful, as a national representative will be there.
All are welcome but only registered Greens can vote and only registered Greens and the unenrolled can sign for a Green Party candidate. So if you want to be part of a grassroots movement to develop a more representational community on the Peninsula, consider registering as a Greene and come to the caucus!
What are your thoughts? Join the discussion here!
Question of the Day: Why did the disinformation campaign work on the inhabitants of Boothbay?
Great article Mackenzie, and you provided the time and place. Thanks much and Love, Alan
I wrote a longer note, but while the dog didn't eat my homework, the system devoured my note. Sorry