Let's get serious: For many Portlanders, 2009 was a crap year. Shuttered restaurants and shops lined streets in the Arts District and the Old Port, gas prices soared (again), and everyone knew someone who was under- or unemployed. Crime both petty and petrifying seemed to be on the rise. The result of the November 3 vote on same-sex marriage was disappointing to 73 percent of the city; tuition rose within the University of Maine system; and swine flu relegated many of us to our couches for weeks at a time, reminding us of how the national health-care debate (debacle?) affects us individually.
But there were bright spots, too. January 20 (Inauguration Day) was inspiring and festive (remember Aretha Franklin's hat?), even for those of us who observed from 540 miles away. Medical-marijuana users and a few municipal candidates achieved victory on Election Day. And our nights out on the town were enhanced by solid new eateries, exciting arts events (Wilco on the Maine State Pier! Shakespeare in Deering Oaks Park! "Distance Don't Matter" at SPACE Gallery!). And let's not forget the Portland Phoenix's 10th anniversary (celebrated by both parties and stories reflecting on a decade of arts, entertainment, and alternative-news reporting).
Before we (somewhat gratefully) bid farewell to 2009, let's revisit some of these memories:
The Economy
It's telling that Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve (which oversees banking in this country) was chosen as Time magazine's 2009 Person of the Year. So many of America's concerns and cover stories over the past 51 weeks have been about money — who's spending it, who's losing it, where it's all gone, and when it'll come back. Certainly this was true locally. In Maine, the unemployment rate hovered around 8 percent in 2009, lower than the national average (which is at 10 percent right now) but up from previous years. Those in Cumberland County fared better than in other parts of the state (with an average unemployment rate of 6.4 percent for the year), but many young people were patching it together with disparate part-time jobs. The state legislature didn't have it any easier, as it faced a massive budget deficit and "solved" its problem by slashing education funding and services to the elderly, poor, and ill.
Related:
Capuano for Senate, An Obama confidant on the surge in Afghanistan, Questioning the Legality of Straight Marriage, More
- Capuano for Senate
After a telescoped campaign, Massachusetts Democrats go to the polls Tuesday to choose a successor to a legend, Ted Kennedy.
- An Obama confidant on the surge in Afghanistan
Twenty-four hours before President Barack Obama announced a 30,000-troop escalation of the Afghan War, one of his key foreign policy advisors provided a view of the president’s thinking at Brown University.
- Questioning the Legality of Straight Marriage
When it comes to supporting gay rights, two straight Boston University grads are putting their marriage where their mouths are.
- A mysterious new inmate death
Despite a scandal earlier this year over a prisoner death, state corrections officials won’t allow the Phoenix to interview a Maine State Prison inmate who has claimed in letters that prison staff abused an ailing prisoner, Victor Valdez, before Valdez died in late November.
- Time to end tolerance
I'd like you to think about something. Ever seen the bumper sticker: "Intolerance will not be tolerated"?
- Most popular articles of 2009
The stories you couldn't not read this year
- A lawyer’s adventures in bad judgment
People who know Keven McKenna know he is not a stupid man. Whether or not the Providence attorney, ex-state representative, and Harold Stassen of Providence mayoral races uses good judgment is another question.
- Split atop the RI Tea Party
The Rhode Island Tea Party, a right-wing assemblage best known for its tax day rally against government spending on the State House steps, was until recently run by three women — Colleen Conley, Marina Peterson and, to a lesser degree, Nan Hayden. But no more.
- Gifts of the magi
OK, so math isn't Poliquin's strong point. And he's a little shaky on consistency. But are those minor flaws enough to convince Santa to leave coal in his stocking?
- Dropping the ball
At last, the golden moment has arrived.
- Ready to rumble
Last summer, the upcoming race that got most Bay State politicos salivating was the run for governor.
- Less
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This Just In
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