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Full-Text Articles in Public Policy
Visualizing Road Network Congestion To Inform Regional Planning In Southern Maine, G Andrew Smith-Petersen
Visualizing Road Network Congestion To Inform Regional Planning In Southern Maine, G Andrew Smith-Petersen
Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations
In this analysis, road traffic volumes and capacity estimates are used in conjunction with population data and population change forecasts to visualize the potential for congestion at present, and to project the potential for congestion in 2030. The areas most and least at risk of congestion are identified, so as to inform thought and effort around planning on a regional scale in southern Maine. The area of study includes large portions of York and Cumberland Counties, as well as a small portion of Androscoggin County, in the Greater Portland region.
Are Libraries Necessary? Are Libraries Obsolete?, Linda Silka, Joyce Rumery
Are Libraries Necessary? Are Libraries Obsolete?, Linda Silka, Joyce Rumery
Maine Policy Review
Libraries are under siege. They face competing demands not only from different people but also from the same people at different times. Some assert that libraries must continue to strengthen their role as physical centers at the heart of their communities. Others argue that the future of libraries is at the leading edge of the revolution in digital information technologies. The authors introduce this special issue of Maine Policy Review on libraries and information. They provide an overview of the importance and complexity of the issues underlying these varying visions for how Maine libraries should serve their communities in the …
Maine Libraries: A History Of Sharing And Collaboration, James Jackson Sanborn, David Nutty
Maine Libraries: A History Of Sharing And Collaboration, James Jackson Sanborn, David Nutty
Maine Policy Review
The high degree of collaboration among all types of Maine libraries is a unique and defining characteristic of the Maine library community. This article explores the history of sharing and cooperation among Maine’s libraries, identifies several ongoing collaborations and current projects, and explores some of the underlying factors that support this culture of collaboration. An argument is made for policies that would further collaboration through better coordination and funding of cooperative library activities.
Maine’S Food System: An Overview And Assessment, D. Robin Beck, Nikkilee Carleton, Hedda Steinhoff, Daniel Wallace, Mark Lapping
Maine’S Food System: An Overview And Assessment, D. Robin Beck, Nikkilee Carleton, Hedda Steinhoff, Daniel Wallace, Mark Lapping
Maine Policy Review
From an agrarian and seafaring past, Maine’s food system has seen profound changes over the past two centuries. Grain, milk, livestock, fish, potatoes, vegetables and fruits used to come from small, family farms. Today, most people in Maine don’t know where their food comes from. Many are dependent on federal, state and local “emergency food systems” such as food stamps, food pantries, and childhood nutrition programs. Food-processing facilities, distribution systems, and value-added products are in short supply. Nevertheless, Maine has a diversity and abundance of food products. In this article, the authors provide a historical overview and current analysis of …
Ten Years Of Affordable Housing Policy: Is Maine Making Progress-- A Symposium, Elizabeth H. Mitchell, Dennis P. King, James B. Hatch, Jay Hardy
Ten Years Of Affordable Housing Policy: Is Maine Making Progress-- A Symposium, Elizabeth H. Mitchell, Dennis P. King, James B. Hatch, Jay Hardy
Maine Policy Review
In December 1987 Governor McKernan appointed a 30-member, statewide task force to address the issue of affordable housing in Maine. The task force was charged with investigating the quality and cost of affordable housing for lower- and middle-income families, and recommending a set of actions to improve the quality of existing housing as well as to increase the supply of housing. In September 1998 the Task Force issued a report that prescribed a number of local and regional—as well as private and public—solutions to the problem of affordable housing. More than ten years later Maine housing advocates note that the …
A Challenge For The Next Decade: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing, Laura Burns
A Challenge For The Next Decade: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing, Laura Burns
Maine Policy Review
Many of Maine’s low-income families and elderly residents have been able to secure affordable housing with help from a Section 8 certificate, which allows residents to pay no more than 30 percent of their income toward rent and ensures the federal government will make up the difference. Over the years, much of the development of Section 8 housing projects has been assisted by financial incentives and agreements between private and non-profit owners and the federal government. Yet recent changes in federal legislation remove many of these incentives and the agreements that go with them. As a result, some of Maine’s …
The Private Sector’S Comparative Advantage, Tom Sawyer
The Private Sector’S Comparative Advantage, Tom Sawyer
Maine Policy Review
At the "Rethinking State Government" conference held at the University of Maine in January 1993, a panel explored the issue of privatization, of using private enterprise to provide public sector services. Tom Sawyer provides his perspective as a private environmental services contractor.
Examining Alternative Forms Of Utility Regulation: The Incentives And Disincentives Of The Regulatory Structure, Ralph Gelder, Edward Dinan, David Flanagan, Joseph Donahue
Examining Alternative Forms Of Utility Regulation: The Incentives And Disincentives Of The Regulatory Structure, Ralph Gelder, Edward Dinan, David Flanagan, Joseph Donahue
Maine Policy Review
The traditional form of regulating public utilities—command-and-control—has been found inadequate by some to cope with marketplace changes that have introduced competition into previously monopolistic markets. Alternative forms of regulation, particularly incentive regulation, have been developed in various areas of the nation in response to the new competitive utility environment. In these four short articles, former Maine Public Utilities Commission chair Ralph Gelder, New England Telephone Vice President for Maine, Edward Dinan, and Central Maine Power Company Vice President David Flanagan discuss these emergent utility issues. A fourth and quite different view of the present regulatory system and its alternatives is …