Bus stop

An intercity shuttlebus through town may cut evening and weekend runs if Scarborough does not step up with funds.   

SCARBOROUGH — There’s a famous political cartoon by Benjamin Franklin, the first one published in America, actually, which shows a snake split into may parts, each one labeled for one of the 13 original colonies. The caption reads simply, “Join or Die.”

Supporters of public transportation may get the point.

Despite increased ridership, rising costs mean the intercity bus that runs from Biddeford to Portland may be forced to reduce service if Scarborough does not come through with an infusion of cash.

Earlier this month, the transit committee that runs bus services for Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach held a public hearing, at which it floated the idea of cutting evening and weekend runs of its intercity service to Portland.

The shuttle averaged nearly 2,500 riders per month last year, and has added hundreds of riders each month in the current fiscal year.  However, according to service director Al Schutz, with other services, such as the interstate Zoom bus, “break even, or are close,” the intercity run is on track to lose more than $130,000.

Schutz said the plan to cut back on some runs, which go up Route 1 through Scarborough, making four separate stops in town, has been “put on the table for now.” As a stopgap, he said, Scarborough has been offered a seat on the committee for $75,000.

“We’ve been trying to get Scarborough to support the service because they are beneficiaries of that run,” Schutz said Tuesday. “It’s a zero-sum game. We’re not trying to make money. We’re just trying to break even.

“The ball’s in Scarborough’s court,” said Schutz. “If it can step up for next year [starting July 1], we might be able to limp through this year.”

There has been no shortage of people urging Scarborough town councilors to do just that.  Three pressed the council for support at its most recent meeting. Although none were Scarborough residents – they hailed from Saco, South Portland and Old Orchard Beach – there are locals who also hope to win support for the bus service.

Louise Capizzo, who works as the children’s librarian in town, has launched a letter-writing campaign to try and save the evening bus runs. She uses the service, she said, but, more importantly, so does her son Mark, who takes the bus daily from the family's Pine Point home to his job at York Manor in Biddeford.

"He has Spina bifida," said Capizzo. "He walks on crutches and does not drive. Without the bus service, he'd have to quit his job, because I cannot take him too and from work with my schedule."

Scarborough Town Manager Tom Hall said he understands why, as Schutz said, “more hands on the pie would make lighter lifting for everyone.”

“To me, bus services in the region seem terribly fragmented,” he said, pointing to Portland’s Metro and South Portland’s municipal service, among others. “It really doesn’t makes sense for us to try and create another new service all our own.”

For that reason, Hall said, Scarborough has been in talks with the Biddeford/Saco/OOB transit group for “about three years.”

“Unfortunately, these conversations happened at some of the toughest times we’ve ever seen and the idea of adding $75,000 to $100,000 has never survived the budge process,” said Hall.

However, as Scarborough began what Hall called “nibbling around the edges” to understand how transit works in the Greater Portland area, it discovered that the problem with the intercity run may not be a simple case of costs vs. revenue.

“One thing he learned,” said Hall, “is that the Biddeford group “severely underbid” when it tried to capture the intercity run three years ago.

Schutz, who took the reins of the Biddeford-based transit group last September, blames the intercity service deficit on the cost of gas, health insurance, maintenance and other operating expenses.

“The fact is, it’s hemorrhaging money, it doesn’t even come close to covering costs,” said Hall. “Although Scarborough is not the cause of that problem, we are seen as part of the solution. If we were to get in the game, our money would go a long way toward plugging that deficit.”

Hall seems dubious that injecting cash from local taxpayers will go a long way toward solving systemic problems tied to the alleged underbid, but not just because it would be spending money to maintain what is, on the Scarborough tax bill at least, a free service.

“I think it comes down to the financial realities,” said Hall. “We need to reach a critical mass of users for transit to be cost effective and necessary. Looking at it from a business point of view, I don’t think were there yet.”

And, the intercity service may never get there. After all, Schutz said, “about 98 percent of all public transit services operate at a deficit.”

Still, although Hall said he doubts demand will ever rise to the level needed to extend bus services beyond the Route 1 corridor, Scarborough is open to continued talks.

One idea, he said, might be for Scarborough to offer use of its underutilized public works garage as a regional transit hub, given that both Biddeford and South Portland have facilities that, according to Hall, are “in dire need of upgrading.”

“Scarborough is the bull’s eye,” said Hall. “In my mind, that would be a good way of cementing our place because, in my mind, regional solutions are the best.”

“We can solve this together,” agreed Schutz. “Until then, I’m going to do my best, every day, to try and maximize efficiency on that run.”

Cape Elizabeth News Briefs

CAPE ELIZABETH — The next public hearing in Cape Elizabeth, scheduled for Nov. 14, promises to be a barn-burner, based on both the number and type of issues discussed at the most recent meeting of the Town Council.

The following items will be on the agenda:

Bus fees

In an attempt to raise revenue for park maintenance and capital improvements, the Fort Williams Advisory Commission has put forth a plan to charge a fee to commercial vehicles entering the historic site. The proposed fees are $40 to each tour buses, per visit, and $1,500 to trolleys for a season pass.

Of the half-dozen residents who spoke to the issue at the most recent council meeting, only Betty Crane was in favor of the idea.

"No way are the citizens of Cape Elizabeth morally wrong in charging the buses," Crane said. "Buses are making money on the tour, it's as simple as that.”

Others, however, found fault with the plan, noting that Cape residents have twice in recent years voted down pay-to-park schemes at the park.

“This thing keeps popping up like an unstaked vampire,” said Paul Brown.

“I feel like I’m involved in a game of whack-a-mole. I keep beating on the thing and it won’t die,” said Harry Hardy, a town employee who stressed he spoke “strictly as a taxpayer.”

Based on their comments at an Oct. 3 workshop, councilors appear split 4-3 in favor of the idea. Chairman David Sherman, who currently sits in the minority, has said that unlike previous fee ideas, this one will not go to a citizen referendum.

“This will be decided by the council,” he said.

Fireworks ban

Following the lead of Portland, South Portland and several other surrounding communities, Cape Elizabeth is on the verge of outlawing consumer fireworks.

A miscellaneous offense ordinance was submitted for a first reading at the most recent council meeting, which will make it illegal to sell, use or “possess with intent to use” the style of low-power consumer fireworks legalized by the state Legislature earlier this year. Although the new law stuck down a statewide ban, it did allow each municipality to install restrictions of its own.

“We took it upon ourselves, without direction from the Town Council, to take this up at our last ordinance committee meeting, because we felt it needed to be addressed,” said Councilor James Walsh. “With the new state law going into affect Jan 1., we felt it important to get something in the books.”

The council voted unanimously, and without comment, to send the proposed ban to public hearing Nov. 14.

Rooster regs

Another ordinance amendment slated for public hearing Nov. 14 is one designed to control noise made by residential roosters – those owned by residents who do not otherwise run a commercial farming operation.

“Residents have no recourse under the current ordinance when roosters make noise and disrupt the peaceful, quiet enjoyment of their homes,” said Councilor James Walsh.

Although the restriction targets roosters, it could be used against owners of “any horse, cow, ox, swine, goat, chicken, rooster or other animal,” that makes “any loud noises.”

“While we don’t believe this is a perfect answer, we believe it’s the right approach to strike a balance,” said Sherman.

The proposal has gone through several iterations since first referral to the ordinance committee last August. After several hearings at the committee level, the ordinance group set on the noise restriction as a compromise to the next most likely result, establishing a minimum lot size for rooster ownership, said Walsh.

Remembering Darien

The parents of a South Portland High School grad have launched a website to raise reward money to catch her killer.

Wayne and Judi Richardson of South Portland unveil the
website, rememberingdarien.org, launched this week in
memory of their daughter, who died Feb. 28, 2010, from
injuries sustained during a home invasion. The site will
raise money for a nonprofit created to aid other local
victims of violent crimes, as well as a reward to help
catch Richardson’s killer, who remains at large.

SOUTH PORTLAND —In the Richardson home in South Portland, a hutch on one wall of the dining room fills to overflowing with family photos. Among them, one face stands out, beaming broadly, instantly capturing attention with a smile that is so bright, so full of life.

Her name is Darien Richardson. A 2002 graduate of South Portland High School, she died almost two years ago from injuries sustained in a shooting that remains unsolved, much to the dismay of her family and the Portland detective investigating the shooting, all of whom are shocked at the lack of movement in the case.

The Richardsons this week launched a website – rememberingdarien.com – which they hope will lead to the capture and conviction of the man who murdered their daughter, or at least help others who are suffering in the same way. 

Sitting at the table, in a chair placed before the hutch, Darien’s mother, Judi Richardson, dabs a tissue to an eye and tries to hold back the tears.

“I don’t want it to be two years,” she said, pausing to choke back a sob. “I don’t want to be two years and still not know.”

Beside her, Darien’s father, retired Verizon technician Wayne Richardson, reaches out a hand for comfort.

“We don’t understand why there’s no outrage in the community,” he said quietly, as if trying to suppress his own mounting frustration. “The thing is, whoever did this is still out there – someone who has it in him to walk into somebody’s bedroom in the middle of the night and shoot them, not even caring. This is someone who clearly could do this again, to anyone, at any time.”

Which is where the website comes in. The site has two goals. One is to raise reward money, in hopes that someone will come forward with new information in the case. The other is to support a nonprofit founded by the Richardsons, to give aid to other victims of violent crime in Maine.

Coincidentally, the Richardsons’ efforts coincide with a new push in the case by Portland police. On Sept. 30, Maryann Bailey and Scott Dunham, detectives with the Portland Police Department, canvassed the Deering neighborhood where Darien Richardson lived with two roommates, posting handwritten “door hangers” to solicit fresh leads.

As of Friday, no one had called, said Bailey.

“This has been a really unique case, because people just aren’t talking about it,” said Bailey. “Usually, people will call and say, I heard this, I heard that, have you done this, have you done that. But in this case, that just never happened.

“It’s disturbing,” said Bailey. “I’m sure there are people who know who did this, and they are not coming forward. I think it comes right down to fear. I think people are afraid of retribution.”

The recent work, Bailey said, is simply to keep the event fresh in people’s minds, in hopes those who know what happened won’t forget.

“Right now, we’re just hoping someone will recall seeing something unusual in the neighborhood, or hearing afterward what happened, as far as the reason for this,” said Bailey. “That information could be crucial to resolving what happened.”

What happened is this:

On Jan. 8, 2009, Darien Richardson, then 25, was asleep in her bedroom on the second floor of the 25 Rackleff St. duplex she shared with two childhood friends. With her was her new boyfriend, Cory Girard, whom she met the previous August while on a rafting trip with friends.

“Everything we heard about him was positive,” said Judi Richardson. “Nobody ever told us anything might be wrong until after the fact.”

At about 3 a.m., two people entered the bedroom, and fired “several” shots at the couple from a single .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Girard was grazed in the arm. Richardson was shot twice. According to her mother, one bullet “blew her thumb off.” The other entered her thigh, traveled up her leg, and lodged in her hip. Richardson was in intensive care for two days, and in the hospital for another 18, recovering from her wounds.  By February, still out of work on disability and having broken up with Girard while in the hospital, Richardson was well enough to visit a friend in Florida.

“She was always such a positive person,” said her mother. “She was like, I’m going to recover from this. I’m going to go on.”

The trip was meant as a way to reboot, emotionally, but while there, Richardson suffered a sudden and fatal pulmonary embolism –essentially a blockage of blood flow to the lungs caused by a blood clot in the legs that had broken loose. Although it happened a month later, medical examiners said Richardson’s death was a direct result of the gunshot wound.

Because there was no apparent forced entry into Richardson’s apartment, because her roommates were not disturbed, and because nothing was stolen, police have speculated that the assailants were familiar with the layout of the duplex.

At a June, 2010 press conference, James Craig, then the chief of Portland police, strongly intimated Girard may have know who fired the fatal bullet, suggesting that drugs may have been involved.

"She [Darien] was not involved in any kind of drug activity,” he said, “but that could be a possibility with the other individual [Girard]. That's part of our investigation.

“We suspect that possibly the gentleman, the other victim, may have additional information, but we haven't gotten it from him," said Craig, at the time.

By last week, Girard still wasn’t talking.

“We’ve never been able to get any useful information out of him,” said Bailey, adding that police have since lost track of him, beyond believing that he is still, “in the general area.”

However, Bailey said, her department does have physical evidence from the crime – she won’t say exactly what it may be, for fear of hampering the investigation – that could be used to tie somebody to the scene, if they can just get the right tip.

“All we’re looking for is that one little thing that will tie the pieces together,” she said.

Police also have tracked the assailant from the other end. Bailey is light on specifics, again for fear of hobbling the case, but she does acknowledge that the murder weapon was purchased new “about a year” before Richardson was shot.  Police have spoken to the original owner, who sold the gun legally and has been cleared of any wrongdoing. Bailey won’t say how many times the weapon changed hands, or exactly when the trail goes cold, if it does.

The weapon is now in police custody, having been used by Daudoit Butsitsi on Feb. 10, 2010, to kill Serge Mulongo in Portland. The connection came out this summer during Butsitsi’s murder trial, at which time he went mum on how he obtained the gun.

Because of his refusal to answer questions from the judge, Butsitsi, who was found guilty, may face a separate contempt of court charge. His attorneys have filed an appeal, Bailey said, based, at least in part, on the inadvertent release of the Richardson connection during his trial. For that reason, Bailey declined to discuss the case further.

“I am still hopeful that I will get a chance to interview him,” she said. “It is very odd to have one weapon used in two shootings so closely together, only about a month apart.”

Whether it is Butsitsi who provides the key to crack the case, or an anonymous tip from someone they will never meet, the Richardsons just want the killer behind bars.

“I don’t think it will bring closure,” said Judi Richardson. “You never have closure when you lose a child, I don’t think. But it’s frustrating knowing someone’s out there, and we don’t know who they are, but we know what they are capable of doing.

“It’s the unknowing that’s so unsettling,” she said.  “In January, it’ll be two years since the shooting, and people don’t remember, especially the young people. They’ll forget the details and they’ll move on, as if nothing every happened.”

But the family refuses to forget. Richardson was working in the insurance industry at the time of her death, hoping to get back into teaching, her field of choice in which she had worked just one brief year after graduating from Bowdoin College, until budget cuts forced her to shift gears.

“She was taking graduate classes at USM and wanted to get back into teaching some day,” said Judi Richardson. “Education was very important to her.”

So important, in fact, that the Richardsons have created a scholarship fund in their daughter’s name at South Portland High School. Four students were granted awards last year. Donations to the memorial fund can be made by calling the high school.

“If nothing else, we hope the memory of our daughter can be used to do some good for others,” said Judi Richardson.

That seems appropriate, given Darien Richardson’s bright, if all too brief, life.

“I know it’s a cliché, but she really did light up a room just by walking into it,” her father said. “People were just immediately drawn to her. That’s how we’ll remember her, always.”

A closer look

To send an anonymous tip to Portland police in the Darien Richardson case, text the keyword GOTCHA plus the tip to 274637 (CRIMES). Tips also may be submitted online at www.portland-police.com, or by calling 874-8584.

To speak directly to Detective Maryann Bailey, call 874-8602.

Town releases cost of Wentworth bond

In advance of a $39.1 million bond vote, town releases impact to taxpayers, if passed

SCARBOROUGH — There seems to be little question that Scarborough needs a new intermediate school. Out of dozens of people interviewed on the topic over the past three weeks, only one person – Town Council candidate James Benedict – has expressed doubt that the school needs to be replaced at all.

Instead, those who oppose the $39.1 million bond question poised to appear on the Nov. 8 ballot tend to echo Ted Tibbals, a local master electrician.

“I definitely agree, a new building is overdue,” he said last week. “But then they go in and come up with this grandiose thing and you’re between a rock and a hard place. We need it, no doubt, but no way can we afford what they’re presenting. They’re putting a real burden on the senior citizens in this town. So, I’m not going to vote for it.”

Now, as the bond vote approaches, Tibbals and others in town are getting a clearer picture of how the Wentworth project might affect property tax bills. According to Town Manager Tom Hall, Wentworth will bump tax bills 46 cents per $1,000 of property valuation, boosting the tax rate from $13.03 to $13.49.

In other words, he said, given that “the average home in Scarborough is valued at $300,000,” if the Wentworth bond is approved, the average tax bill will go up $138.

“That can be further boiled down to $2.65 a week,” he added. “It’s up to each person to decide, is it worth it? Can I absorb that?”

But a word of warning: The fiscal note that appears on the backside of the paper ballot is hardly fixed in stone.

Hall calls his calculation a “worst-case scenario.” If voters give the nod, he said, the town won’t conduct its bond sale until next year. It’s to be determined if the there will be one all-encompassing bond sale, or a series of smaller auctions. Still, Hall assumes an interest rate of 4.5 percent. That means by the time the $39.1 million Wentworth bond is paid off in 2042, the project will have tipped the scales at $66.3 million.

“When voters look at the fiscal note on their ballots, it really is a staggering figure,” Hall said. “I can appreciate that.”

But, the town manager points out, the two most recent bond sales in Scarborough, both for annual capital improvement projects, drew interest rates “under 3 percent.”

Hall claims that when the actual interest figure is known, taxpayers will save $3 million off his $66.3 million projection for each half-percent below the 4.5 assumption. So, if the 3 percent rate holds, the final bill may come in closer to $57.3 million.

“I think – in fact, I know – we are going to do better than 4.5 percent,” Hall said. “But I have a responsibility to be quite conservative in my estimates.

Hall also stresses, as does Paul Koziell, the chairman of the Wentworth building committee, that the $39.1 million voters are being asked to approve is a cap on spending. It’s “very likely,” both say, that Wentworth will dress out at somewhere south of the price on the ballot.

Still, while the interest rate and borrowing total used by Hall indicate a worst-case scenario, he admits his tax rate calculation is made on a best-case assumption.

“It does assume no other borrowing,” he said last week.

The first bond payments on Wentworth, totaling $3,004,650 (at the 4.5 interest rate) would not come due until FY 2014. That same year, Scarborough will retire $968,327 in debt, for a net impact to the budget of $1.7 million.

But this does not include borrowing that may occur in either 2013 or 2014. Given that Scarborough has historically sold bonds every year to fund capital improvements, it seems unlikely that Wentworth would be the only outlay driving the town into the red.

Already on the table for FY 2013, as part of Scarborough’s five-year capital improvement plan, is $1.6 million in equipment requests, including $1 million for the fire department (primarily for new ladders), $400,000 for five new public works vehicles and $100,000 for new police cruisers.

“None of that is done until the council approves it,” said Hall, explaining why those dollars are not factored into his fiscal note for Wentworth. “Clearly, we have laid out a plan and, it’s possible, this new Wentworth bond might cause the council to question that.”

That said, it appears that while Wentworth, by itself, would add 46 cents per $1,000 of valuation to property tax bills, the bottom line of next year’s budget will likely grow by a wider margin.

“Capital projects are something I think we can slide on,” Hall said. “We can push some of that further off into the future. But the equipment – I’ll do everything in my power to stay on track in that respect.”

With $68 million in outstanding town and school bonds even before the Wentworth vote, Scarborough has a debt load six times higher than the next most-in-debt communities in the region – Yarmouth and South Portland, though the latter has recently approved a $41.5 million high school project.

That debt, however, is just 1.87 percent of Scarborough’s total assessed value – $3.57 billion, according to Town Assessor Paul Lesperance. State law says municipalities must keep their borrowing below 15 percent of assessed value.

“So, while some communities, primarily in other states, have run into trouble recently, I don’t think we’ll have any problem selling our bonds,” said Hall.

“We met with a financial adviser recently,” said finance committee member Michael Wood, at a recent Town Council meeting. “He said we’re all set. We’re right where we want to be. He said the ratings agencies actually like to see you have some debt.”

Although that sounds counter-intuitive, Hall explained that too little debt intimates a town is not keeping up on routine maintenance, which could lead to one giant spate of borrowing when things inevitably break.

“This town has, better than most, if not all Maine communities, really committed itself to taking care of its infrastructure,” Hall said. “And that means spending money.”

Credit rating agency Moody’s Corp. gives Scarborough an Aa2 grade, while Standard & Poor rates the town at AA. In both cases, the rating is two steps below the very best grade, but still indicative of bonds that are “high quality, with very low credit risk.”

None of that helps to sway Tibbals, however, who jokes, “I should be buying school bonds instead of CDs (certificates of deposit).”

“I can’t, in good conscience, approve this project,” he said. “It’s just too much.”

A Closer Look

School building comparison

School                         Year   Grades        Students      Cost      Sq. Feet       Cost/Sq. ft.

Falmouth Elem.           2009    pK-5             917       $49.1M    139,600          $351

Ellsworth Elem./Mid.  2009    pK-8             905       $38.7M    146,600          $327

Gorham Elem.            2010     pK-5            550        $26.9M      82,300          $327

Brunswick Elem.        2010      3-5              600        $29.7M      94,800          $313

Durham Elem.            2009     pK-8            505        $25.4M      87,500          $290

Brewer Elem./Mid.     2010     pK-8         1,050        $41.2M    156,400         $264

Lewiston Elem.          2008     pK-6            624        $23.9M      90,700         $263

Wentworth Inter.        2012      3-5              800        $39.1M    163,000         $240

Kennebunk Elem.      2003     K-5               600       $19.2M     104,200        $184