City of Portland

Does anyone else feel that the official City of Portland website needs a fresh look? It appears to have been created in the late 90's.

There are dozens of web design companies in the city that should be calling the city and urging them to start the bidding for a new design. What better way to promote our fine city than with a fine website? It would also be good if it were more friendly for the current residents.

I urge you to suggest a new design via the "eContact System" on the city website. I have!

And this article has some interesting rankings of the best "E-Government websites," including states, cities, and counties. Maybe we can get some ideas?

Until December

Haven't taken any shots around here in a while. Here are some shots of Deering Oaks Park from this weekend. Looks like the pond will be ready to skate on soon.







And also, I miss the summer when I could take pictures almost any time. Now the only time I am able to take day pictures is on the weekend, assuming it's not ten below zero or raining ice. So that should explain all of the night shots I've posted recently and will continue to post in the near future.

Grass on Ice

From the recent 'ice storm,' which is now mostly melted.

Ice

Taken on my phone this morning. I think it's sideways. Anyways, you can see some ice on some sort of tree.

Festival of lights

Taken from the front lawn of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House.

Street View

Portland is apparently now included in google street view!

Stand By

I will be taking a little break due to a hard drive/windows issue. I might be able to upload a few items on a different computer soon though.

Please check out all of the other great local blogs listed in the column to the right!

Sleigh Ride

Sleigh ride on wheels?

This is a call

I am now accepting suggestions for a new blog name.

The current name isn't too bad since this is a blog about "Portland, Maine" and there are photos but I would like to get away from the 'daily' part. There are times when I post every day and times when I take a little break so I feel like 'daily photo' is a bit misleading to the audience.

Also, I don't want to mimic several other fine local blogs which cover some news and opinion, but...I would like to do a little more than just post photos too. I still like taking photos and will definitely remain the Daily Photo community.

Guidelines for a new name:

• It would be good to have Portland somewhere in the title
• Should be easy to spell
• Be memorable

Godaddy.com was (still is?) having a good sale on domains (not that they are more than $9 a year to begin with) and I recently registered portlandopolis.com but don't know if I want to do something else with that or use it for this blog. I think I would most like that to be something else.

So, any ideas? Maybe I should have bought some prizes.

Before and After #5

Neither of today's before and after photos were taken by me. But I like them.

From 1940 (via mainemeory.net)

...And from 2008 (via microsoft live search maps)

things look pretty similar except for the addition of I-295 on the left and the expansion of Hadlock Field. The addition of I-295 clearly interrupted this neighborhood, as well as every other one which it passes through. For a detailed and interesting proposal on how to replace this freeway, visit C Neals' Rights of Way blog.

Congress Square

Congress Square needs some attention too. This is taken from a bench in front of the Museum of Art. The State Theater Building is on the left and the Eastland Park Hotel is on the right. Congress Square is at the intersection of Congress and State Streets and is considered to be in the "Arts District." 

Solve a Crime

Today was my first time coming across the solve-a-crime page on the police department's website. The most recent entry is from September but it's still pretty neat. Maybe they could do a daily photo blog and each day post a picture of someone they are looking for or a missing person or something. Just an idea if anyone from the department is reading this.