Changing landscapes
Walkabout: PI
Happenings in the Star City
Things are changing around here — in case you haven’t noticed, take a walk around. From buildings getting facelifts to the ravages of weather, the landscape has been seeing some additions — and subtractions.
Nature’s hand
We have seen some wild weather. A harsh storm on July 28, 2016 dumped ankle-high water (a fact to which I can personally attest) and quarter-inch hail in parts of the Star City. Just Saturday afternoon, another sudden shower soaked the ground, leaving water gushing in places and tossing a few branches around.
Perhaps most striking, also on July 28, thunderstorm-borne winds changed the lay of the land at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, downing two trees including a sizeable maple. Another tree fell at a residence on Yale Street that same evening.
Maureen Hastings, hydrology program manager and a forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Caribou, said Friday that the highest wind gust recorded at the Northern Maine Regional Airport July 28 was 30 mph; she speculated that the strongest storm winds were localized enough that they didn’t show up on the airport’s automated recording equipment.
At UMPI that night, a parade of people pulled in to view the toppled tree. It was an impressive sight, with a circle of earth that looked to be about 7 feet in diameter and a tangle of roots suspended above a gaping hole in the ground. The power of nature can be fierce.
Manmade changes
Among the other happenings in town are changes to some long-standing city landmarks. Over at the former Page’s Variety store on Harris Street, vacant for some time, work crews have been removing old material and adding insulation, new windows and fresh siding.
And at the corner of Dyer and State streets, where the new Machias Savings Bank branch now stands, the bank’s former building is being demolished.
One afternoon last week, equipment was reaching in and taking bites out of the old structure, hauling out debris which fell into large piles. By Tuesday morning, the pile had grown, with a growing mountain of metal remnants alongside.
Crews and trucks from McGillan in Fort Fairfield have been working at the site.
The former home of Keenan Auction Company, the site began as a bank in 1989 when the local First Citizens Bank was incorporated. In 2007, Gardiner Savings bought First Citizens. Most recently, the building served as The Bank of Maine’s local branch, which Machias Savings acquired in 2013.
According to the bank’s site plan, the tentative goal is to turn the area into a green space.
A new habit
Meanwhile, there is another change taking place. Though structures certainly change a landscape, people are living, breathing elements that play a part in that, too. Foot traffic tells a tale of its own as new routines cause one to look twice. This is particularly prominent right now around the Post Office.
Thanks to a smartphone app that has taken the world by storm, people are walking around individually and collectively, congregating in communities to capture little virtual characters and aim Pokeballs at them. Among the sites of interest the game highlights, apparently, are post offices.
The Star City has its own followers of Pokemon GO. On any given night, even approaching midnight, you might find a handful — or a sidewalk full — of folks milling around, some perched on the steps, others clustered around vehicles, still others meandering along the sidewalks. They have their phones at the ready, but they are also chatting and laughing.
I haven’t played the game, but I have to smile at the sheer genius of using technology to inspire people to get out and about in the real world.
Score one for human interaction. The landscape needs that.
