Portland Green Streets

Thanks so much to all of you who signed in with your participation in Green Streets Day, Friday, September 26th (Photos and Notes from September, click here - and from the 1st Year Celebration, click here)!

Despite the forecast for rain and the ensuing storm, we still had a good number of documented participants. And with people now able to report others going green at their locations, we have an estimated number of 465 total participants! So! There were 75 of you great folks signing in:

• 15 walking, 29 biking, 12 taking the bus, train or ferry, 12 carpooling or vanpooling, 1 telecommuting, and 7 using multiple modes (i.e., some combination of the above)!
• collectively saving 1313 single-occupancy vehicle miles! (many of you saving those kinds of miles every day)
• keeping approximately $180.21 in gas money in your wallets!
• improving our air quality & individual health, & reducing our CO₂ emissions by approximately 1,003 pounds!
• enjoying the opportunity to get outdoors a bit more and/or share transportation with others
• starting (& continuing) a fun and important conversation with the people of our community about how we get around!

Note: please continue to sign in every month – and please talk to other Green Streets participants about doing so as well. It helps us with participation data, like number of miles saved, commuting methods used, etc! Now! The winners for this month’s raffle items are:

• EVERYONE WHO SIGNED IN! – $5 off your take-out order of $35 or more from any of 2 Dine In’s restaurant partners! Coupon good through September 26th, 2008 – just place your order online and give this Green Streets coupon code: C207089
• DAVID TRAVERS – Four Polar Express tickets for the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad (two children & two adults) for Friday, December 5, on the 6:30 train!
• LIZ MCMAHON – A $50 gift certificate to the Maine Running Company!
• REGINA BOOTH – One gear pack (water bottle, insulated lunch bag and ball cap) from Healthy Portland!
• MICHELLE SMITH – One free pint of Others! famous gelato!
• EMILY GRAHAM - Two free tickets for the Greater Portland METRO Bus!
• FRED ROBIE - A 6 month subscription from Port City Life Magazine!
• MICHAEL TAYLOR – Free admission tickets to the Children’s Museum of Maine!
• CARRIE BURGIN – One free pair of Bridgedale or SmartWool socks from Nomads!
• AMY RAIN – A lovely water bottle – from WMPG – Greater Portland Community Radio!
• MICHAEL BOYSON – A $10 gift card to O’Naturals!
• MELANIE BRUCE – Two tickets to The Saturday Show – Antonio Rocha, storyteller and mime – on October 11th  from the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center!
• VANESSA LEVESQUE – A $25 gift certificate for deliveries from 2 Dine In!

Winners will be notified how to claim their prizes.

And this month’s winner of the Downtown Gelato Challenge was reigning champion Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) – again with just 7 documented participants – so get on out there at your downtown workplace next month to challenge them!

Runners-up in the Portland Downtown District were: the Camp Chewonki Winter Office, City of Portland Fire Dept., Flatbread Company, Goodwill Industries, Health Dialog, Maine Merchant Bank, MediaPower Inc., Portland Trails, Preti Flaherty, Smith Barney, The Corporate Library, The Nature Conservancy, Ticor Title Insurance, United Way of Greater Portland, University of Southern Maine (downtown location).

Outside the District perimeter we had folks reporting in from: Cape Elizabeth Middle School, Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, Colby College, Deering High School, ENVIRON International Corp, Friends School of Portland, Gorham Bike & Ski, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Maine Medical Center, Mid Coast Mental Health Center, Muskie School, NorDx, PACTS, PATHS, Portland Coffee Roasters, Quiznos, St. Lawrence Arts Center, Sappi Fine Paper, Southern Maine Community College, Spectrum Printing and Graphics (with 7 participants!), Thornton Academy, USM, Wayneflete School, WMPG, Woodard & Curran, Wright-Ryan Construction – and also several folks who are self-employed &/or telecommute.  Share the name of your workplace next month to celebrate your participation!

Thanks again to Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum, Others!, Maine Running Company, O’Naturals, the Children’s Museum, Nomads, Port City Life, the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center, METRO, WMPG, 2 Dine In, and Healthy Portland, for your gifts to the Portland Green Streets initiative!

Have a great month out there going green and please take note:

• Oct. 20th is the last Intro to Bike Commuting seminar of the season, offered by the Portland Bike Commuter Meetup (for more details see here).
• Oct 15 & 22 – Make your voice heard: MaineDOT will hold two public meetings in the Portland area to discuss road projects. A meeting about the replacement of the Veranda St. bridge over the Canadian Railroad will take place on October 15 at 6 p.m. at the Columbia Social and Athletic Club, 17 Wordsworth St., Portland.  A meeting to discuss changes to exits 3 and 4 of I-295 will be held on October 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Memorial Middle School cafeteria, 120 Wescott Rd., South Portland.
• November 12 – Save the Date! for “The Winterization of the Green Streets Experience – how to go green through the winter” event – co-sponsored with the Portland Bike Commuter Meetup.
• And definitely check out our updated list of upcoming events and opportunities, too!

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