PORTLAND, Maine — The reflections were tantalizing to my photographic eye.
That’s why I was on my knees in Monument Square a few years ago, trying to capture a moody portrait of Our Lady of Victories, mirrored in the water of a post-rainstorm puddle.
Focused on the picture at hand, I didn’t register the first beep. But I heard the second, angrier toot, because by then a behemoth delivery truck was looming behind me.
I sprang up and out of the way. Then, I got angry. Why was I getting honked at by a truck in a pedestrian-only zone?
Since then, I’ve rarely walked through Monument Square without noting an increasing number of commercial cars and trucks sprawled across the space dedicated to soldiers and sailors who died during the Civil War.
But no longer. Last week, the city announced a new set of measures aimed at keeping vehicles out of the square while also beautifying the space.
Portland’s Parks, Recreation and Facilities staff has installed new street furniture and giant planters filled with flowers throughout the core of the square. The additions are lovely and will make it much harder for cars to negotiate the space.
Also, the city has promised to start actually ticketing vehicles that park in the brick-lined square.
“Although Monument Square is listed as a park in the city code, it was increasingly used as vehicle parking for business owners’ commercial loading and delivery needs, as well as general public parking,” states a press release from Portland spokesperson Jessica Grondin. “Vehicles will no longer be allowed a 30-minute grace period to park on the square.”
As an alternative for the businesses in the square that still need to get deliveries, the city has identified four on-street parking locations which will be converted to — or already are — commercial loading zones.
I never did get that puddle photo, thanks to the honking delivery truck. Maybe now I’ll get the chance.
