Portland, Maine May Close Some Streets Downtown To Allow Outdoor Dining And Retail

Portland is proposing to temporarily close several downtown streets and to change outdoor permitting so that restaurants, retail establishments and other small businesses can use the extra space to safely reopen as Maine continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The plan, which does not need state approval, would allow restaurants and businesses that sell retail merchandise to expand their dining room seating and retail sales into publicly and privately owned areas that are not typically used for such purposes. Those areas might include sidewalks, parking spaces, plazas, parks, as well as the six targeted streets: Cotton Street, Dana Street, Exchange Street, Milk Street, Middle Street and Wharf Street. The streets are in the Old Port, but the section of Middle Street that would be closed is in the East End. Read more at Portland Press Herald.