Keeping Portland Harbor Moving

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You are listening to w MPG Gorham, Portland. Welcome to
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Let's Connect Greater Portland, a show about the changes, challenges
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and opportunities in our region and the people leading the way.
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I'm Belinda Ray. Today we're talking about one of our
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region's major assets, the working Waterfront in Portland Harbor. Most
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of us tend to observe it from afar, just kind
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of marveling at the beauty, feeling really proud of the
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work that's going on down there and the opportunities for
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public access that remain. But there's a lot happening to
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keep the waterfront working smoothly, and we're going to find
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out more about that today. I have three guests here
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in the studio with me who all have special insight
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into the workings of the working waterfront in Portland Harbor.
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They have Captain Calvin Klopp, the President of the Portland Pilots,
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Chelsea Pettengill, Executive director of main Port Authority, and Heather Muretti,
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Waterfront Coordinator for the City of Portland. Welcome to all
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of you, Thanks l Thank you listeners. If you have
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questions for our guests, please call us at seven eight
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oh four nine oh nine. That's seven eight zero four
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nine zero nine, Or go to WMPG dot org and
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click on chat with the dj Okay, So let's get
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started here. The three of you are all working on
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the water, around the water, in the water for the water.
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So let's just talk about your origin stories. How did
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each of you kind of get to where you are now?
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What drew you there? Yeah? What was the path?
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Yeah? Thanks blind. So Calvin Klop from the Portland Pilots,
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I was. I was born in Maine, originally from Peaks Island.
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We kind of bounced around as kids. My parents were
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always on the water. They always had us on the water,
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you know, we were. My father was merchant maritime as
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well and a pilot as well, so kind of grew
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up around it, you know. I lobster fished and I
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tuna fished as a kid through high school and I
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just I was kind of drawn to it. I ended
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up going to Main Maritime and from there I ended
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up shipping out for about seven eight years or so,
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and and sort of in between shipping, started training as
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a pilot and ended up back here in Portland.
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So, yeah, that's amazing. You said lobster fished. Is that
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the correct way to say.
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That I fished or no, I lobstered.
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Okay, can I say I lobstered? I mean, but I
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can say it that absolutely, Okay, all right. I'm just
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always curious about the terms because there are specific terms
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up in casting main Maritime. That is a beautiful.
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Areas, very unique.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, And now are you in Cape Elizabeth again or
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where are you there? Nope?
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So I ended up in Gray And you know, I
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shipped out for about seven eight years and kind of
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bounced around then, but finally ended up in Gray. And
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it's nice to be home. It's nice to sleep in
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your own bed at night and not be shipping out
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for months at a time.
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Definitely, And I want to I want to talk to
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you about the the pilot training at some point, but
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we'll get back to that because I'd love to hear
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from Chelsea and Heather about how they came to do
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what they were doing.
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Yeah, certainly this is Chelsea, Pett and Gill with the
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main Port Authority. So I also grew up in Maine.
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I'm from South Portland. My parents are big sailors, so
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grew up on the water. They pretty much tried to
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live on the boat as much as they could every summer,
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so it was really fortunate to really get to explore
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Main's coast that way, and through a roundabout way, kind
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of found myself at Main Maritime similar to Calvin, and
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from there I shipped out. I sailed for eleven years.
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The last place I was was up in Alaska, so
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I was working on tugboats up there, working month on,
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month off, and was getting pretty tired of sleeping on
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airport floors, crew changing and was feeling a little too
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old for this. So I was looking and the main
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Port Authority was hiring, and was really excited for an
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opportunity to come back to Mete and still still remain
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in the maritime space.
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That's fantastic. So when you were shipping out for eleven years,
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what kinds of places were you?
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So I did some tall ship sailing on the Great
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Lakes so which was saale training, which was really fun.
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I was down in the Gulf of Mexico on offshore
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supply vessels, so running out to the oil rigs, and
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then was up in Alaska and Prince William Sound doing
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tanker escort and response services to kind of keep that
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area safe.
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So it was good.
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I kind of got to travel over the US.
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Yeah, that is really great. Okay, Heather, How did you
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get to be?
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Is where we break the pattern of maners. I am
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from away. I'm originally from Florida, but I also did
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grow up on the water. I grew up boating, fishing, snorkeling,
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maybe a little bit different than here. And I went
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to college thing not quite sure what I want to do,
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but it became clear that I selfishly wanted to be
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an old lady and still be able to go snorkeling
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and see the sea life in the ocean. So I
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went to grad school to study marine science. I worked
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internationally with fisheries management. I worked with seafood. I was
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living in Miami when I got a job in Maine
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working with the Chilean salmon producer at the time, and
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I moved here to work with the aquaculture industry. We've
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got a lot of incredible oyster, mussel, seaweed farming going
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on here, So that was really my first intro to
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Main's coast. I had actually never been to Maine before
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I took an interview here and then moved here, and
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so I since then, I've kind of been with various nonprofits.
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I worked for a local seafood company and I landed
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with the city in December, so I've been here for
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seven ish months and it's great. I've been able to
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lean into the community that I built when I first
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landed in Maine, the waterfront, coastal community at large, and
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then of course I've been spending almost every week since
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trying to meet new people, the folks I don't know
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along the waterfront.
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Yeah, and you're definitely getting that time on the water
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that you wanted. Absolutely, that's great. So Calvin, back to you.
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You are the president of Portland Pilots. Can you explain
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a little bit about what the pilots do in Portland Harbor?
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So well, we don't fly airplanes like most people think.
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It's you know, you ask ten people about a harbor
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pilot and maybe one of them has heard of it before.
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You know, it's kind of a unique thing. But basically
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we're tasked with guiding the ships and now the harbor.
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Every major shipping port, well even small shipping ports, commercial
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shipping port in the world has, you know, a group
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of harbor pilots, and basically we're local experts that are
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responsible for ensuring that cargo has moved safely and efficiently
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in and out. So we do a variety of vessels,
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anything from these Megga yachts you see coming into the
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harbor to the cruise ships that are twelve hundred feet
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long and everything in between. We have two small pilot boats.
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So we leave the dock and one of our pilot
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boats it takes us offshore. We meet one of these
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vessels at a designated location and we actually, as archaic
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as it sounds, we climb up a rope ladder on
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the side of the ship, onto the ship and then
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we guide it into the harbor.
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That's amazing to stop there for a second, because that's
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kind of amazing because some of these ships are quite elevated.
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You'd have to go that's a pretty long ladder.
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Yeah, so some of the climbs are you know, they're
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they're forty forty plus.
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Feet, you know, it's yeah, how is what's kind of
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safety equipment do you have while you're climbing this ladder?
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A life jacket, a life jack so if you fall,
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you fall into the water hopefully and not onto the boat.
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And that's it. Yeah, there's safety lines, there's there's a
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few places in the US where they board ships with helicopters, Okay,
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you know, just due to the length of the transit
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out to where they have to meet them.
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And but yeah, okay, so you climb the rope ladder
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and you get on there.
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Yeah, and I go up there. And basically, you know,
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we're we're independent to the shipping companies, you know, we don't.
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We make decisions based on safety for the state of Maine.
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That's what we're there for. We were not concerned as
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much with the ship's schedule as we are making the
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best decision you know that benefits the people and the
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waters of Maine, you know, protect the people of the waterways,
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the environment, and the property.
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Yeah. And I, for some reason, I googled pilotage today
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just I wanted to know when it kind of started
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and it's just always been a.
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Thing thousands of years, yes.
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Yeah, And then I read that the federal pilotage Law
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came into effect in seventeen eighty nine because the Constitution
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when it was approved, gave the ability to regulate commerce
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to the federal government, and they wanted to make sure
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that pilotage could be regulated locally because it is so specific. Yeah,
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I'm one port to the next.
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Exactly it was, You're exactly right blind. It was the
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Lighthouse Act of and no. Portland Pilots has been incorporated
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for just over one hundred years, and before that it
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was just kind of a group of fishermen and local
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mariners that would race out to the ships and whoever
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got their first got the job.
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Yeah, that is amazing, come a long way, that's amazing.
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The pilot vessels have been around for a while.
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Yeah, we've got two of them now. One is twenty
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two years old. That's our new boat, I'll say. The
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other one is fifty seven years old. That boat actually replaced.
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You've probably seen the schooner Timberwind cruising around Portland Harbor,
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one of the tall ships that takes people out on
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day sales. That was the pilot boat from like nineteen
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thirty two until nineteen sixty nine, when the boat we
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have now replaced it modern technology.
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Yeah, and I know from work that we've done together
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that these boats need replacement.
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Well, one of them is far beyond its usable lifespan,
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the other ones approaching it. It's their cost prohibitive for
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a small port like us, you know, we're looking at
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replacement costs of over ten million dollars with two boats.
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And it's you know, we're not in New York City
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where we do ten thousand ships a year. You know,
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we do three hundred.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, it's it's still cheaper for us to maintain them
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as expensive as that gets.
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Yeah, So Calvin and I and some other folks have
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all been trying to do some fundraising, some grant writing
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to try to get funding for these for these vessels.
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So if anyone out there has some leads, feel free
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to call in and let us know. Chelsea, let's move
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over to you. Can you tell me what role the
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main port authority plays on the waterfront?
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Yes, certainly.
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So.
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Back in the nineteen seventies, Mean came out with this
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three port strategy, and the idea of that was to
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focus on the three deep water ports that kind of
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naturally exist in the state. So that's Portland, Series Port,
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and Eastport. And with those three ports, we really look
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to plan, develop, maintain, and really just kind of promote
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the ports themselves, really trying to set them up so
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we can have more statewide commerce and set them up
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to be globally competitive and kind of how we do that.
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The first thing is so we're only a quasi state agency,
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so we don't have any appropriated funds. So to be
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really effective we have to work with an agency that
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has some money. So we partner very closely with the
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Main Department of Transportation for assessment and to help, you know,
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look at projects, see them through, and just just very
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involved with them on that close partnership to try and
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develop the coastline here.
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Yeah, and I know I think you've had a role
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in helping to develop the International Marine Terminal, y. Yeah,
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Can you tell us a little bit about what happens
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there and then how it came to be.
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Certainly, so I've been with the Port Authority since twenty
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twenty three, so I'll be giving you some historical data
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that predates me. But the IMT or the International Marine Terminal,
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is the only container terminal in the state of Main
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so it's pretty exciting for us, and we have a
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weekly vessel call there. We have a line, our AIMSKIP.
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They're based out of Iceland and they provide transatlantic service
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to Europe, which is really exciting. And back in two
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thousand and nine, the state kind of was interested in
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developing the IMT, so they entered a lease with the
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City of Portland. For those of you that are from
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the area, it was the old Scotia Princes Terminal. It
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was it was derelict. The city was using it as
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like a snow dump in the winter, so you can
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imagine it needed a lot of work.
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Scotia Prints was like everybody's project graduation.
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Yeah for a while, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so with that,
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the way to develop something like that effectively is you
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need to use state in federal funding. So since two
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thousand and nine, over one hundred and twenty million dollars
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has gone into that facility, and that's really been done
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by utilizing the main DOT work Plan. So what happens
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is Portathoria will come to DOT and say, hey, we
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have this project, we want to do it. What do
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you think about this, and it gets into the work
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plan to go for a federal ramp will help us
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providing the twenty percent match typically, and then we've been
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fortunate to get eighty percent of funding from the federal
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government and the US Department of Transportation in the Maritime
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Administration grant programs or where we've been the most successful.
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Yeah, that's great. So the only container what did you say,
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the only container port get terminal, Yeah, terminal in Maine,
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And so what kinds of things I see those containers,
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they're all stacked up, they're really they're kind of beautiful.
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But what is in them? What is coming in and
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going out out?
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A little bit of everything. So for imports, probably the
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three biggest things that we have our water, fresh and frozen, seafood,
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and bait. And then for exports, like I said, is
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going to Iceland so kind of island to nation and
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it's kind of stuff that you maybe wouldn't think about
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it first, but it's a lot of groceries, it's cereal,
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it's bagels, it's pharmaceuticals, it's workout equipment. So you can
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kind of think of like we're kind of that send
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off point to get that over there to them.
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And where are those goods coming from to get to
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the marine terminal to go to Iceland.
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So all throughout the state, in the region, and then
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equally so AMSKIP kind of operates like a hub and
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spoke for an airport. So we're on their green line,
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so they call here, then they go to Canada. But
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they have services all different colored lines that connect all
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through Europe, so you're kind of able to move cargo
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that way by transloading and RecA that get their hub.
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Okay, and can you just tell me how the pilots
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interact with the International Marine Terminal.
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Absolutely, without the pilots, we have no ships at the terminal,
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so a very important rule.
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Yeah, so there's nothing nothing, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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For the harbor regulations, they're they're required for the safe
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navigation to get the vessels in, so they're they're a
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huge part of of getting the ships in and out
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of the terminal safely and effectively.
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Right, So if we don't have the pilots, we just
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don't have commerce. Yeah.
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I would say without the pilots, your whole commercial waterfront
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pretty much shuts down on the cargo side for sure,
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and you know cruise as well.
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So it is amazing. Thank you, Heather. Let's hear a
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little bit about your role as the waterfront coordinator for
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the City of Portland. What's that look like from day
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to day?
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Sure it is varied, to say the least. As the
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waterfront coordinator, I kind of am the only avenue to
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City Hall for everything on the waterfront, which is everything
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from the port to seafood shops to cruise ships, and
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so you know, there are a variety of departments at
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City Hall and they kind of have their fingers in
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different projects. The Parks Recreation Department does play a large
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role in the cruise ship management. But as far as
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like voicing commentary and opinions and concerns and needs of
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the waterfront, that's all through me. There's you know, there's
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no not every department has a waterfront coordinator. I am
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housed in the Department of Economic Development, and so my
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goal is to really hear what the needs are and
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where we want to go with our waterfront that can
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look very different. You know, this week I was on
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a construction site that's happening down at the Portland Fish Pier.
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You know, I've also been meeting with a lot of
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the wharf owners. I'm going out to ride with Calvin
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and another month or so. Chelsea and I meet frequently,
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and I'm on a radio show today. So take a
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lot of different different turns.
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Yeah, when you are talking with people, you're talking with everybody.
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You're talking with people who are fishing and people who
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have lobstered or lobster fished, and the businesses and what
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are the things that you hear from them that they
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want to make sure the city's aware of.
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That is such a good question, and that is kind
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of what I've been asking since I started. I want
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to hear what people think about our waterfront and where
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we want to go with it. So my perspective, I
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just started in December. I'm, you know, half a year
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or so.
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In.
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My predecessor, Bill Needleman, did an excellent job of maintaining
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the zoning so that the waterfront really prioritized water dependent users.
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My perspective coming into this is, Okay, what does the
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next ten, twenty, even thirty years look like and how
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do we start planning for that? Because, as you've heard,
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we know Chelsea the port requires Portland pilots. The pilots,
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if there is no cargo coming in, they don't have
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enough business to keep them afloat. So we really have
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this and that's just one example, aside from the mixed
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use of fishing, lobstering, aquaculture, tourism, cruise ships that we
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have on our waterfront. All of these things are what
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make Portland so unique and wonderful, but it is very
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much a balancing act. And I think it will in
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the coming years. It's going to be really important that
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we collectively as a community define what we want from
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our waterfront. We know we want tourism, we know we
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value the working waterfront, but what does that actually look
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like and how do we put it down on paper
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and kind of get everybody's buy in to maintain what
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makes Portland so special.
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Yeah, that's great. If you're just tuning in. I'm Belinda
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Ray and this is Let's Connect Greater Portland on WMPG today.
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I'm talking about the work waterfront in Portland Harbor and
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some of the things happening in the background that keep
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it running smoothly. My guests are Calvin Klop of Portland Pilots,
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Chelsea Pettengill from Maine Port Authority, and Heather Already with
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a waterfront coordinator with the City of Portland. If you
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have a question for our guests or want to share
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your own experience with the working waterfront, give us a
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call at seven eight zero four nine zero nine, that's
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seven eight oho four nine oh nine, or head to
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WMPG dot org and click chat with the DJ so Heather, Chelsea, Calvin,
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I'll put this out to all of you just looking
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at the waterfront. Have you seen economic changes or local
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industry changes, either in your time in this role or
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just historically what you have learned since you've been in
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your role. Big changes down there.
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Yeah, I'll start, Belinda, I guess so the the ship
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traffic in Portland over the last one years has been
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cut by about fifty percent. We used to do around
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six hundred ships a year. Now we do about three hundred.
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Global market changes partly responsible for that. You probably recall
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the Portland Pipeline Pier in South Portland. Yes, that used
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to be the busiest crude oil dock on the East
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Coast until about two thousand and ten or so. That
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business for us has more or less been replaced by
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the cruise ship industry. So, you know, like Heather was saying,
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we're highly reliant. We're one hundred percent reliant on what arrives.
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If no ships arrived, then there's there can be no service.
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So you know that's what we've.
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Seen, Okay, Yeah, Chelsea, Yeah, certainly, I mean echoing what
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Calvin said. Growing up in the area, you know, used
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to see a lot more you know, vessel traffic coming
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through here and kind of that drop off I think,
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especially to as you know there's some shifts to kind
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of some more renewable energies, you kind of see even
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more of a drop off.
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There, you know.
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Obviously having a container terminal and getting that traffic here
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was huge. Ameskip started calling in twenty thirteen and is
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really built up. Twenty eighteen they started doing a weekly call,
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which was huge. So just to kind of have that.
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They've been here for thirteen years now, so to have
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that reliable, steady service I think has done a lot
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for the economy here. Chelsea.
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Ye, can you tell me what a weekly call is,
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because before when you said it, I thought you guys
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were meeting down there on a weekly basis very fair,
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and now I have just realized that is not what
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you're talking about.
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So it's a weekly vessel call. So that means that
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once a week Ameskip has a vessel that comes in Calvin,
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will you know, or one of his co workers will.
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We'll bring it in and get it secured alongside our pier.
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The ship will be offloaded and then loaded and then
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it will head out on to its next stop. Usually
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about thirty six to forty eight hours. We have a
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vessel at the pier.
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Okay, and all that time it is unloading or loading
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pretty much.
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So the we've a crew that works there. They usually
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when the vessels and will work about a twelve hour day,
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so we don't have twenty four to seven operations, but
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usually about seven am to seven pm is they'll work
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and then come back the next day to finish up
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whatever needs to be done.
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Yeah, okay, And so were there other changes that you
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were going to mention? You mentioned aimskip coming in and
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the cargo and then I kind of interrupted you with
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me and that's okaying.
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Yeah, I was just going to say. The one other
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thing is I think that western end of Commercial Street,
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just seeing how that's developed over the years. You have
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Portland Yacht Services that shifted down there to kind of
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have a small ship building, you got Sprague, and then
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just kind of that eastern waterfront developing as well, just
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to kind of a little bit more on the smaller
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recreational side, but still keeping that kind of mean and
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culture of being on the water active.
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So yeah, all right, Heather.
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Okay, I've got a multi pronged answer. I suppose I've
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only been in the role of since Christmas. Right. So
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even in that short amount of time, the changes that
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I've seen really have to do with property and the
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fact that I you know, I talk a lot about
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this with business owners on the waterfront, warf owners on
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the waterfront, and it seems like people people feel like
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there's a sense of shrinking waterfront, shrinking property along the waterfront,
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shrinking working waterfront along property, and so it feels like
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that is a concern and that is a limiting factor
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when it comes to having businesses like the Portland pilots
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having a functional port that can accommodate you know, large
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vessels in their cargo. So that's something that's kind of
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been you know, mentioned on the waterfront, is just the
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change and the use of property, I suppose. And then
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outside of my role just kind of like living in
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Portland for the past six years, one of the changes
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that I've seen and that I hear frequently is similar.
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But these kind of gaps along the waterfront as as
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businesses change, as our heritage industries change. You know, we
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want we want to keep our fishing, our lobstering, our
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boat building, our timber. We want to keep those heritage
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industry in Maine. But they are changing and across the board,
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you know, they're they're shrinking compared to the past thirty years,
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let's say. And so one of the changes is who
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comes in to help fill those gaps on the waterfront.
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And that's again part of my perspective in this role
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is how can we think about the broader ocean economy,
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so not just the heritage industries, but things like, you know,
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new novel ways of processing seafood, new ocean technologies, whether
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it's renewable energies or carbon capture, Like what is the
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next kind of wave in the marine economy, and how
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can they start filling the gaps on the waterfront. And
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we're not quite there, but I am seeing, you know,
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there's like this ground swell of blue economy makers and
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doers that are kind of percolating here in Portland and
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in Maine. And so that's one of the changes, the
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positive changes that I think we're starting to see. And
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maybe if you know, they're pushing through, we can pull.
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But I think that's a really nice compliment to our
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working waterfront that is slowly starting to happen.
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Yeah, yeah, there is definitely that perception. I served on
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the council here for six years and whenever you talked
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about the working waterfront, people are very protective of it,
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and they have certain ideas of what it looks like,
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and they do want to retain that because it is
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I think it's a really honorable thing we associate. It's
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like hard work, it's local, it's very main It's.
485
00:24:24.759 --> 00:24:27.680
How Portland was built, and I think people feel really
486
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:30.480
strongly about that because Portland would not be here today
487
00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:31.960
without that heritage.
488
00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:33.200
Portland.
489
00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:36.240
Yah, keep port in Portland, keep the.
490
00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:39.680
Port in Portland. And Chelsea have another one for you.
491
00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:42.799
I wanted to ask. You had mentioned that you are
492
00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:47.200
going out on a pilotage ride with Calvin in the
493
00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:49.799
next month or so, and you do interact with Chelsea regularly.
494
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:53.400
But how do these two the pilots and the port
495
00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:57.079
authority and the marine terminal, how do they interact with
496
00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:02.400
the city in general? Is this city really aware of
497
00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:04.480
how important both of these pieces are.
498
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.519
I'd say Portland pilots fly a little bit more under
499
00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:10.599
the radar than the port does. I think you know,
500
00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:13.680
if you talk about the pilots, I want to say,
501
00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:15.519
most people would know what you do, but maybe not.
502
00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:19.119
I don't think it goes both ways.
503
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:21.839
Yeah. Yeah, so but as soon as they know, they're like,
504
00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:24.400
oh yeah, that's that's crucial. I have seen that, you know,
505
00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:26.319
I've seen that coming when a big ship is coming,
506
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:29.359
and I've always wondered what that boat is doing. And
507
00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.079
then with Chelsea, we have a really nice partnership between
508
00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:35.119
the city and the port. You know, the city wants
509
00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:37.759
the port to be here. We supported you know, I
510
00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:40.000
wasn't here at the time, but we supported that development
511
00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:43.240
of the terminal, and I think looking ahead that is
512
00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:46.519
very much I think we're we're aligned on look, you know,
513
00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:50.000
what's the future hold for Portland Harbor, which very much
514
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:53.400
includes the pilots and the port terminal itself. Yeah.
515
00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:57.079
Thanks, Okay, So I want to just kind of go
516
00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:01.279
into some some general fun questions for you guys. Anything
517
00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:04.920
that was like a positive or a negative surprise in
518
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:08.160
your work, any big surprises when you started in your
519
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:10.920
role or in the recent history of your role.
520
00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:15.960
Yeah, I mean, I guess from a positive note would
521
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:19.000
be we talked earlier about the timber windschooner, you know
522
00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:22.160
that was gone for many years and came back to Portland,
523
00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:25.319
I don't know, five six, seven years ago. It was
524
00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:27.200
kind of neat to see that part of history come
525
00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:31.079
back and you know she's she's home again. But you know,
526
00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.839
in the negative or negative surprises, I guess would be,
527
00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:36.759
you know, ships or machines like a plane, a train,
528
00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:40.880
a truck. You know they have failures. So you know
529
00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:44.359
you're dealing with the largest man made objects on Earth,
530
00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:47.519
and when they have a failure, like the engine dies
531
00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:50.440
or the steering fails, you know you can't just stop it.
532
00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:54.279
Like like a vehicle there's no brakes. So experienced some
533
00:26:54.359 --> 00:26:57.240
of those over the years and it that's where that's
534
00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.559
where the training is important. Yeah, you know, what do
535
00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:02.839
you do in emergency to mitigate the consequences of any
536
00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:04.279
sort of catastrophe?
537
00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:05.720
Absolutely, knock on wood.
538
00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:08.519
We've been very lucky, good.
539
00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:12.200
Chelsea, Yeah, certainly. So I'll speak on a positive. I,
540
00:27:12.759 --> 00:27:15.160
like I mentioned before, was shipping out in came shore side,
541
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:17.480
so I pretty much walked off a tugboat and into
542
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.000
state government and have been drinking out of the fire
543
00:27:20.039 --> 00:27:20.960
hose ever since.
544
00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:21.839
Uh.
545
00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:23.839
But I would say that the biggest positive that I
546
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:26.880
found is just how on the state side, how supportive
547
00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:30.839
everyone is, how how much they want the state to succeed,
548
00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:34.480
and just how that transfers across agencies, and how willing
549
00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:36.279
people are, Hey I've got five minutes, or I'll help
550
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.680
you with that, or absolutely let me connect you with someone.
551
00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:40.759
So I think that just support. Like we're a very
552
00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:43.880
small organization. Our team is three people, so you can
553
00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:47.559
kind of feel isolated. So just how much that greater state,
554
00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:50.839
you know, culture comes together and it's really just you know,
555
00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:52.720
wants to succeed. It has been really really great.
556
00:27:53.079 --> 00:27:53.680
That's great.
557
00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:57.000
Other mine is a bit of a funny one. I
558
00:27:57.039 --> 00:27:59.480
give a lot of walking tours and it was part
559
00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:01.400
of my job is description, but I did not know.
560
00:28:01.480 --> 00:28:03.799
I'm a little bit surprised. It's just how many walking
561
00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:06.559
tours I have to give. I'm always available, feel free
562
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:08.279
to reach out. I love I do love talking.
563
00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:11.680
That's great, that's great, Okay, and then we're getting close
564
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:14.000
to time. But just favorite part of your job. If
565
00:28:14.039 --> 00:28:16.279
you can each give me that, that would be wonderful.
566
00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:19.359
Oh. I love the autonomy of just you know, the
567
00:28:19.400 --> 00:28:22.960
real time decision making. And then the people. I mean,
568
00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:25.559
I meet people from all over the world with ninety
569
00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:27.319
nine percent of these ships are for and it's just
570
00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:29.160
cool to hear everyone's story.
571
00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:30.720
That's great. Chelsea.
572
00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:33.680
Yeah, I would say every day is different, so that's
573
00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:35.799
been great. And just to be back home in main
574
00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:39.440
and really affecting some positive change on the waterfront is
575
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:40.160
really special.
576
00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:43.759
I really enjoy connecting the dots and this job is
577
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:47.279
at the center of a lot of different departments and organizations,
578
00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:49.519
and of course I get to kind of be on
579
00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:52.599
the Portland waterfront almost every day, which I really enjoy.
580
00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:55.240
That is wonderful. That is quite a perk for all
581
00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:59.359
of you. Captain Calvin Klopp of Portland Pilots, Chelsea Pett
582
00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:02.119
and Gill of main Port Authority, and Heather Moreatti of
583
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:04.440
the City of Portland. Thank you all so much for
584
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:07.799
being on the show today, and thanks to Annella, our
585
00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:12.440
sound engineer today and to WMPG, our partner in producing
586
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:16.279
this show with the Greater Portland Council of Governments. You
587
00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:20.160
can find us on Instagram at Let's Connect Radio and
588
00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:23.319
you can listen to this show as a podcast along
589
00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:27.240
with past episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Join us
590
00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:30.400
next week for another conversation about the changes and challenges
591
00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:34.759
shaping our communities. Until then, be kind to yourself and
592
00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:38.319
to each other. I'm Belinda Ray, thank you for listening
593
00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:53.039
to Let's Connect Greater Portland.