Decking the Halls with Christmas Balls

While walking toward the corner of Elm and Congress yesterday, I looked up after a woman behind me screeched, “holy s*, its f*ing huge!” Knowing she couldn’t mean me, I decided to scan my surroundings to see the object of her enthusiastic yelp, and there it was. Majestic and almost too girthy to fit between the light posts adorned with banners suggesting we ‘love Portland more’ in front of city hall, was the city’s official Holiday Tree.

The Portland Police cruisers came first, officers inside of which were all excited to perform the quick left and quick swing around to the right that definitely looks the coolest when performed in a Crown Vic. The cruiser maneuvers served to close Congress, forcing oncoming cars down Elm. The semi with the tree, freshly cut from South Portland, barreled past, ushering both the tree and the holiday season to our city.

Standing in Monument Square watching the crane erect its sturdy arm to lift the tree into place, I heard the sounds of excitement come from the crowd that turned out to be, courtesy of the seasonably mild weather we’re having, pretty large. Santa Claus made an appearance. The ‘Tax The Rich’ placard-holding-guy even showed up. Television cameras were properly aimed and the newspaper photographers were in place. Seeing the tree go up, I started to get all excited about the holiday season. I thought about how nice the tree would look all lit up and thought about the other decorations the city puts up around town. Then I remembered the best part about Christmastime decorating in Portland.

The return of the Christmas Balls.

With a slight turn to the left, I saw one dangling there. I quickly looked all around. Every light post had a ball. The time and temperature building had its special cornucopia-style lights. There were big ones, little ones, round ones and oval. The Christmas balls were firmly in place. The tree’s arrival suggested the season was nearing. The balls confirmed that suggestion as fact.

Art can be a controversial thing in this city. From forty-five thousand dollar benches to waves of steel, it is sometimes whispered by others and on my mind that Portland shouldn’t waste its money on frivolous pieces. But when it comes to the lighted balls, the display of which in my opinion makes Portland one of the prettiest cities in the country during the holidays, I could care less about the cost. They are truly the most beautiful pieces of public art I have seen anywhere.

So next Friday, after our mad rush to buy foreign made plastic consumer goods we don’t need, stop by the tree lighting and at the same time, see the Christmas Balls lit up in all their glory - serving their purpose as the holiday season’s official beacons of Portland.

There’s a lot at ‘stake’ with question 2.

I had a lovely conversation yesterday with one of our most loyal and complimentary readers who, when the stars are properly aligned, I meet up with at the last delivery of the morning in Payson Park. I asked her what is now in Portland the question of the hour, “How are you ranking the mayor race?”

She told me she wasn’t sure, and asked my opinion. I went over my feelings of my personal ‘top five.’ We both agreed the Civic Center was a colossal waste of money, and that what little the state legislature could accomplish this year in the form of a voter registration over-haul should be left to stand. Then came question 2.

Harness Racing action at Scarborough Downs

Like most Portlanders I’ve spoken to, she was against voting to allow a replacement for the old, decrepit Scarborough Downs to be built in Biddeford, which along with it would come the preservation of the generations-old harness horse racing industry in the state and, oh yeah, slot machines. And when it came to gambling, I could see her point. We all feel Maine is better than having to allow cheap Atlantic City-like amusements to raise a few bucks, and that was her concern as well.

But there are so many things at stake that are all loaded into this referendum. The issue of whether or not there should be gambling isn’t one of them. We’ve been there and done that when we voted to allow a casino to be built up in the boonies last year.

I’ve grown to hate the word “jobs.” It’s the catch-phrase for everything politics that will come to define “empty promises” by the time the politicians that abuse the word get into office to find they’re powerless and incapable of creating them. So for question 2, I’ll use the term “employment,” which is what a yes vote to question 2 will provide not just to the 300ish people working at the new Biddeford Downs or the hundreds of construction people it will take to build it, but the thousands of people that are supported by the harness racing industry the ‘evil’ slots that come with question 2 are designed to prop-up.

A trip to the horse barns on the back lot of Scarborough Downs helps tell the story. There you will find hard working Maine families, their children in tow, tending to their horses. Horsemen, representing farms and thousands of acres of open farmland across our state, are there working at the site daily, not knowing whether they will have a job next year. Farmers that mow hay, employees at feed stores, blacksmiths and horse trainers are also at the edge of their saddles.

It’s been argued that the owners of Scarborough Downs could build a new racetrack in Biddeford anyway. “They’re already operating a race track without slot machines now, so if they want a new facility, build it!” That’s a fair take for people who haven’t been to Scarborough Downs lately. With both off-track betting and just an overall dying interest in the sport, a Sunday race might attract one hundred people maximum. The grandstand at the Downs, once filled with people on a race day, stands deserted now as horses race by. To preserve the industry, the farms and the farmers in this state, they need another way to draw people in. The median 55 year old female slot demographic, skipping a trip to Cumby’s for their Maine State Lottery scratch tickets and hauling their husbands to the track, is just the ticket, pun intended.

Without that influx of people, a new facility would be almost as senseless as trying to keep the current one open and once the Scarborough property, up for sale, eventually is sold; sold-out and out-of-business will be the tradition that is harness racing in Southern Maine. Not only will the jobs created by establishing a new resort facility be lost, but ones that have existed for generations. All this, because some of us Portlanders would never dream of pulling the lever of a slot machine and think that no one else should either.

Let’s help people in Biddeford gain employment and preserve the harness racing industry across our state with a ‘yes’ vote on question 2. Let’s get those scratchers to skip buying a ticket, take the Grand Marquis down to Biddeford, pull a lever and maybe watch a race or two.

Cumby’s will do just fine.