This Week: Troy Moon, Portland's Sustainability Future
Troy Moon is the Sustainability Director for the City of Portland where he has worked for 25 years. During his career he has helped launch a number of environmental programs including Portland's curbside recycling and "pay as you throw" trash collection program, and expansion of the community garden program. Most recently, he led the development of the City's climate action plan, One Climate Future, and now focuses on implementing its recommendations in order to lead Portland into a zero carbon and zero waste future.
This is the first Conference since September 2020, hence the theme:
"Celebrate Our Rebirth". We want everyone to celebrate Rotary's successes, by sharing ideas for club services and fundraisers, while listening to some very inspiring speakers who have benefited from Service of Rotarians.
Roseanne Dempey, an injured survivor of the 2013 Boston Marathon
Ruby Ahaiwe from Nigeria, recipient of a Global Grant Scholarship
Speakers from Mid-Coast Hunger Prevention, Pinetree Institute's Adverse Childhood Experiences, and much more!
Mark your calendars and get your tickets for our June 11th social event and fundraiser! It's going to be a fantastic Pig Roast at the Italian Heritage Club in Portland, with a live band and a 50/50 Raffle. Under the direction of Mike Fortunato, it is sure to be a great time. Family, friends, $25 PP, June 11, 3p-7p.
Get your tickets now on EventBrite, by clicking here! All proceeds will be going to the Rotary International/Ukraine Relief Fund.
Meeting of April 29th: Jonathan Culley, CEO of Redfern Properties | by Erik Jorgensen
Anyone driving by on Route 295 or navigating downtown will have noticed the 260-foot-tall crane on Federal Street, a behemoth that looms above the Downtown Post Office and a structure that has become, at least temporarily, the defining feature of Portland’s skyline. On Friday, Portland Rotary welcomed the person behind the crane, Jonathan Culley, the founder and CEO of Redfern Properties, a development company that is building what will eventually be Maine’s tallest residential structure.
Culley grew up in Falmouth and left Maine to attend Duke University. He cut his real estate teeth in Seattle by buying and restoring a house during the start of that city’s real estate boom. Returning to Maine, he started Redfern in 2006, building condos, just in time for the financial crisis.
Despite the timing the company had some early successes, including building the First LEED Platinum private home in Portland. He went on to do several small residential projects, but in 2015 started moving into larger multifamily developments – one of the most visible of these was West End Place, the Longfellow Square property on the site of the old Joe’s Smoke Shop.
201 Federal Street –site of the giant crane— is Redfern’s most ambitious project yet. The building will provide 263 market-rate apartments in Portland’s most walkable neighborhood. The crane, which garners both questions and comments, is 270 feet tall. The operator lives in Sebago and has worked around the country. According to Culley, this is the first time he’s been able to commute daily from home to a job. He has an Instagram page where he posts frequent views from the rooftop of Portland. (Later in the program District Governor Dick Hall asked whether it might be possible to auction a trip to the top of the crane as a Rotary fundraiser – Culley smiled but was noncommittal, citing safety concerns).
The project will be more than corridors and apartments. It includes a pocket park that will be open to the public between the new building and the post office, and on 18th floor there will be a “sky lounge”, a shared space with spectacular views for the residents to use. The rents are anticipated to be around $2,000 per month for a 1-bedroom apartment.
Redfern is also working on other projects in the city – they are among the developers involved in the re-conception of Mercy Hospital. There, the company will deliver 165 Apartments plus retail, in a venture they are doing with affordable housing provider Community Housing of Maine. The company is also tackling the fortress-like former phone company building at 45 Forest Avenue (on the corner of Forest and Cumberland. That building will become 81 apartments, twenty-five percent of which will be deed restricted workforce housing aimed at households up to 85% of the area median income. The area median income for Portland is about 70,000, and apartments are deemed affordable if tenants spend 30% or less of monthly income on rent. This means a household at 80% of median income can afford about $1400 per month in rent.
Concluding his talk, Culley noted that building in Portland is very hard. People are “coming here in droves.” Some are here because of the portability of work; other have fled western widlfires and unpleasant climates. There are many asylum seekers, and an increasing number of high end professional jobs. All of these factors suggest that there will be a lot of ongoing demand for quality housing. At the same time, there is a strong sense of “NIMBYism” and the city referenda around rent control and construction regulations (the “green new deal”) have “not been helpful in creating new housing”.
Bits and Pieces|by Laura Young
Past President John Marr, AKA Maddog, presented the meeting today in his delightfully loquacious way. We started with a bit of technical issues but eventually were able to hear PP Cyrus Hagge’s invocation about Simon & Garfunkel’s song Old Friends. Given that Cyrus turned 70 this year, he has been reflecting on the following lines at the end of the song which were difficult to imagine when he bought this record at the age of 17:
Can you imagine us years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be 70
PP Laura Young showed the two Rotary tee shirts being sold by the District and collected orders from club members.
100th Birthday of our beloved Bob Traill
Unfortunately, Bob had a fall last week and wasn’t feeling up to attending our meeting. But,we still celebrated his impressive milestone in the hopes that Bob and his family are able to watch the Zoom taping of the meeting later. Portland Mayor Kate Snyder (photo) shared the following proclamation from the City of Portland:
"In recognition of Robert Traill, who turned 100 years old on April 24th. Bob was born April 24th, 1922 in Providence RI to Robert Sr. and Lillian Traill. He grew up in Providence graduating from Providence Classical HS and then Brown University, class of 1943. Immediately following graduation from Brown, Bob enlisted in the United Sates Marine Corps. He was a 1st Lieutenant serving in the Pacific theater. Bob participated in the landings on the Japanese held islands of Saipan and Tinian. After the bombing of Nagasaki, Bob was part of the occupation serving as an intelligence officer. Following the war, Bob returned home, married his High School sweetheart, Helen Shanley, and had 4 children together: Linda, Joan, Elizabeth, and Bob. Bob started working for Socony Oil Company after the war. Rising to the executive levels of what became Exxon/ Mobil. After a distinguished career Bob relocated to Maine and opened The Olsten Temporary Services office in Portland. Bob has served on the Boards of the Salvation Army, Saint Joseph’s College, and Maine Medical Center. Bob has been a Portland Rotarian since 1980, serving as President during the 1990-91 year. He is a Paul Harris fellow, a Rotarian honor, and exemplifies the Rotary motto of “Service above Self”."
Portland Rotarians sang “Happy Birthday” to Bob and ate cake. We love you Bob! Thanks to Mike Fortunato for organizing this special presentation. PP Bowen Depke demonstrates his professional cake serving skills. (Photo)
Rotary Foundation
2nd Vice President Patty Byers announced that on May 20th she will draw the lottery for the next Paul Harris Fellows from the 8 giving circles. She said our club is special with so many giving circles with 5 members giving $200 each a year. The foundation committee members are contacting club members now about their gifts to the Rotary Foundation. John Marr reminded us that the Rotary Foundation was founded in 1917 after Rotarian Arch Klumph introduced the concept with these words: “Carrying on, as we are, a miscellaneous community service, it seems eminently proper that we should accept endowments for the purpose of doing good in the world, in charitable, educational or other avenues of community progress, or such funds could be well used for extension work.” The Rotary Foundation is now over $1 billion dollars thanks to the contributions from Rotarians like us.
New Members Social – Thursday, May 12th
Stay tuned. The Italian Heritage Center is not able to accommodate us next Thursday, so Mike Fortunate and Bruce Jones are looking for another facility. Updates will be forthcoming via email.
Volunteer Drivers needed
Bruce Moore is looking for volunteers to help with a Portland Rotary Community Service project to drive workers from Maine Works to their job sites. Early risers are needed as they need to be at their job by 7 am. FMI contact Bruce.
Youth Services Award
PP Ellen Niewoehner, on behalf of the Youth Services Committee, presented a Youth Services award to another impressive student. Libby Dakers from Waynflete was introduced by her science teacher and advisor Katrina St. John. Libby was joined by her proud parents Dana Dakers and Barbara Belik. Libby chose Preble Street’s Florence House as her charity recipient from this award. Coincidentally, our speaker for the day, Jonathan Culley, said his daughter is a student of Katrina’s also at Waynflete and said she’s her favorite teacher! (Photo -Libby, Katrina, and Ellen)
Speaker Schedule May 20 | Kevin Hancock, Hancock Lumber
President-Elect Bruce Jones will turn over the bell to these Past Presidents to guest host the following meetings: May 20th: Bowen Depke • May 27th: Ellen Niewoehner • June 17th: Roxane Cole • June 29th: Ben Lowry
Club Executives President-Elect Bruce Jones 1st VP Dick Hall 2nd VP Patty Byers Treasurer Howie Herodes Secretary Michelle DiSotto Board of Directors Ellen Niewoehner, Mark Foster, Bob Clark, Roger Fagan, John Thompson Sergeant-At-Arms Dave Putnam Club Administrator Alice Alexander
The Windjammer is published online by
The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine.
Contributing Editors Bill Blount, Jake Bourdeau, Dick Hall,
Erik Jorgensen, Julie L’Heureux, Ben Lowry,
Tom Nickerson, Tom Talbott, Laura Young
4th Q Program Chair: Roxane Cole Managing Editor Tom Talbott Co-Production Alice Alexander
District 7780 Governor Dick Hall has announced that Registration for the 
has become, at least temporarily, the defining feature of Portland’s skyline. On Friday, Portland Rotary welcomed the person behind the crane, Jonathan Culley, the founder and CEO of Redfern Properties, a development company that is building what will eventually be Maine’s tallest residential structure.
presented the meeting today in his delightfully loquacious way. We started with a bit of technical issues but eventually were able to hear PP Cyrus Hagge’s invocation about Simon & Garfunkel’s song Old Friends. Given that Cyrus turned 70 this year, he has been reflecting on the following lines at the end of the song which were difficult to imagine when he bought this record at the age of 17:
Bob was born April 24th, 1922 in Providence RI to Robert Sr. and Lillian Traill. He grew up in Providence graduating from Providence Classical HS and then Brown University, class of 1943. Immediately following graduation from Brown, Bob enlisted in the United Sates Marine Corps. He was a 1st Lieutenant serving in the Pacific theater. Bob participated in the landings on the Japanese held islands of Saipan and Tinian. After the bombing of Nagasaki, Bob was part of the occupation serving as an intelligence officer. Following the war, Bob returned home, married his High School sweetheart, Helen Shanley, and had 4 children together: Linda, Joan, Elizabeth, and Bob. Bob started working for Socony Oil Company after the war. Rising to the executive levels of what became Exxon/ Mobil. After a distinguished career Bob relocated to Maine and opened The Olsten Temporary Services office in Portland. Bob has served on the Boards of the Salvation Army, Saint Joseph’s College, and Maine Medical Center. Bob has been a Portland Rotarian since 1980, serving as President during the 1990-91 year. He is a Paul Harris fellow, a Rotarian honor, and exemplifies the Rotary motto of “Service above Self”."
She said our club is special with so many giving circles with 5 members giving $200 each a year. The foundation committee members are contacting club members now about their gifts to the Rotary Foundation. John Marr reminded us that the Rotary Foundation was founded in 1917 after Rotarian Arch Klumph introduced the concept with these words: “Carrying on, as we are, a miscellaneous community service, it seems eminently proper that we should accept 
Dakers from Waynflete was introduced by her science teacher and advisor Katrina St. John. Libby was joined by her proud parents Dana Dakers and Barbara Belik. Libby chose Preble Street’s Florence House as her charity recipient from this award. Coincidentally, our speaker for the day, Jonathan Culley, said his daughter is a student of Katrina’s also at Waynflete and said she’s her favorite teacher! (Photo -Libby, Katrina, and Ellen)
