Donoghue Blasts “Corporate Welfare”
His Head is Spinning

East End City Councilor Kevin Donoghue has severely criticized municipal policies that he says provides “corporate welfare” for several local enterprises and proposals.

In an article written for several community newspapers, Donoghue cited tax breaks for Shipyard Brewing, new operating subsidies for the Portland Seadogs, and what he called the “virtual fire-auction bids for the Maine State Pier.”

But Donoghue praised Portland Public Library Director Steve Podgajny’s “civic leadership” for promoting a plan to move the main branch of the library to the former Portland Public Market site. He said that the monumentalist “international style” of the current building works counter to design goals of pedestrian accessibility and human scale in the Downtown Vision, and that the current library serves well as a book warehouse, but lends little life to the former Market Square.Voters will decide on June 12th whether or not to finance that move.

Donoghue said that his head “has not yet ceased to spin” amid what he called “incomprehensible demands for more corporate welfare.”