Working in Portland, living in Scarborough
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5/5/2006
Portland is a wonderful little city. There is a lot of art and culture there. I live in Scarborough, about 15 minutes south, and I am moving away. So, here is my assessment:
Good: good schools, beautiful summers, wonderful architecture, art and culture in Portland, great restaurants, good symphony, fantastic minor league baseball (Red Sox farm team), Acadia National Park is worth weeks of time.
Bad: Living in Scarborough, there are monster mosquitos. Count on winter from November through April. That is 6 months. In January, there is very little light because the days are so short, and I find that hard to live with. I don't mind the cold, but it is the dark that is difficult. We have the highest taxes and the lowest discretionary income in the nation. Housing costs have been very high, and my wife and I have had to buy a house on a busy road just to afford something decent. Property taxes in Portland are a lot higher than they are in Scarborough. There has been a massive influx of Bostonians over the past 10 years that I have lived here. I teach at a private school, and the high-powered population spurs a frenetic pace that is uncharacteristic of the more northern parts of Maine. Portland is no longer Maine, but northern Massachusetts.
This is a great place to live for 5 months out of the year if you are wealthy.
Drew | Santa Fe, NM