A former Biddeford resident says constructive criticism can be helpful, but the Maine Wire columnist missed the mark in his biased and scathing analysis of York County’s largest community
By SCOTT JALBERT | Special to the Gazette
A few days ago, a former Portland Press Herald reporter penned a scathing analysis of Biddeford in the Maine Wire while also criticizing two former Biddeford mayors, Alan Casavant and Marty Grohman.
Instead of focusing on what was written, some decided to focus on the Maine Wire. They immediately bristled at the fact that Randy Seaver of the Biddeford Gazette would share an article from that source (hint: that source leans heavily right).
Unlike many, I choose not to reside in an echo chamber. I read what Cohen wrote.
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I read the Maine Wire, but I also read Occupy Democrats, Breitbart, the Lincoln Project and other partisan sources.
I dive into each article or post, knowing that each source is highly partisan. I feel that to be able to have a proper discussion with others, you need to expose yourself to these partisan sources.
Burying your head in the sand doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. I’ve always believed that knowledge is power.
It helps to know how each side thinks. Sure, you must cut through multiple layers of partisan bull to get to any semblance of a fact, but I still read those sources anyway.
Ted Cohen obviously has an ax to grind and a strong political bias. The tenth word in his column was “leftist.” That immediately led me to know how the rest of the article would go.
Cohen is a Vermont native, and he currently lives in Owls Head, which is quite the distance from Biddeford.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why he has such an interest in Biddeford (hint: there’s been a bastion of liberalism in the mayor’s office).
Cohen describes Biddeford as “impoverished and “riddled with crime.” He insinuates that Biddeford has political infighting.
When was the last time Cohen stepped foot in Biddeford?
Does Cohen actually know Biddeford’s history or does he conveniently forget it? He had the temerity to quote Steve O’Leary, the town malcontent. Asking Mr. O’Leary to comment about Biddeford government is like asking the Grinch what he feels about Christmas.
As a youth, I lived at 40 Water Street in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. There were triple-deckers on the Saco River side, with a laundromat and convenience store on the corner of White Wharf.
“Asking Mr. O’Leary to comment about Biddeford government
is like asking the Grinch what he feels about Christmas.”
The foul-smelling tannery was within eyesight and the scent was overpowering. The sewer treatment plant on Water St. was a shell of what it is today, and that smelled horribly as well. Dump trucks filled with sewage would drive by our building often. It most definitely wasn’t paradise.
Crime? I vividly remember sitting out front while watching a woman chase a man out of a three-story building with a butcher’s knife.
I remember someone being found dead on the rocks at White Wharf.
I remember walking to St. Andre’s to school and seeing crime tape on Bacon Street from a murder.
Daily, I remember drunks fighting and stumbling out of a bar called the Green Wave on Water Street. The police were there pretty much all the time.
I remember the Thacher in the ‘80s and the plethora of crime there.
I delivered pizza in the early ‘90s to many drug houses. They weren’t isolated to one neighborhood. My point is that crime isn’t novel to Biddeford, or any community for that matter.
As far as fractious politics, the tenor today couldn’t hold a candle to the [James] Grattelo – [Joanne] Twomey years (1995 – 2011).
Council meetings then were standing-room-only events because you didn’t know who would get into a shouting match or even arrested.
My father served on some of the councils, so I had a front row seat. I heard the calls. I saw the machinations of Biddeford politics up close. Fractious doesn’t come close to describing what happened back then. It would make for a great Netflix documentary.
The award for drama goes to Cohen for describing Biddeford as impoverished.
Household budgets are tight, and there are people going through tough times, but to describe Biddeford and its citizens as impoverished is absurd.
Maine’s poverty rate is roughly 11 percent. Biddeford is around 12.5 percent, which ranks 83 in a listing that I found. There are more than 80 communities in Maine with a higher poverty level than Biddeford.
Some will point to the unhoused crisis as evidence that Biddeford is impoverished.
How many of the unhoused have come from elsewhere? What Biddeford isn’t doing is ignoring the situation. The city of Biddeford has stepped up to help and organizations like Seeds of Hope — doing what they can to make a difference.
Lastly, I find it interesting that there was no mention of the former city manager [James Bennett] nor the city councils that continued extending his contract before it needed to be.
Under Bennett’s “leadership,” the city finances became a disaster. That, more than anything else, is the root cause of the financial mess that Biddeford is in today.
The new mayor, city manager, and council have quite a mess to clean up.
The mayor and council have been in office for a mere four months.
Submitting a report card now is just more partisan nonsense, but that seems to be how Ted Cohen operates these days.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Scott Jalbert is a former Biddeford resident who now resides in Dunnellon, Florida.
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