Downtowns and village centers are the beating hearts of our communities.
You only need to stroll down Main Street in Saco to feel the pulse. There is something special about bumping into your neighbor at the post office, or seeing students walking home from school, or grabbing an impromptu cup of coffee at CIA Cafe or a bite to eat at Quiero with a close friend that makes you feel connected to something larger than yourself.
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For the fifth year in a row, I’ve had the honor of participating in the Saco Museum’s Festival of Trees. The month-long event has quickly become one of my favorite Christmas traditions. People from all over our communities come together to decorate trees and other decorations to benefit the museum and the Dyer Library. The result is a beautiful holiday display that brings out the child in all of us. The Festival of Trees makes the Christmas spirit unavoidable, even for the Grinches among us. As I decorated my tree, in honor of the brave men and women of the Saco Fire Department, I thought about what that Christmas spirit means to me. To me, Christmas is about the generous spirit that ought to guide us all year. The holiday brings out charity and kindness, not just toward our loved ones but to all our fellow man. That’s why charitable giving spikes during the holiday season. I believe the spirit of Christmas should animate our behavior all year — not just in our individual acts but in our public policies as well. A decent society is one that displays the same kindness and goodwill to its citizens that we show toward one another during the Christmas season. The arts have a special place in my heart. As a former trumpet player, I have fond memories of marching band, holiday concerts and the need to clean out my spit valve. When I was a graduating senior at Thornton Academy, I even received the Arts Department Award recognizing my efforts within the arts, specifically with the television station, TATV Channel 3. The role arts played in my life early on has led me to champion the importance of the arts not just in the Legislature but right here at home. STEM refers to the importance of prioritizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics in public schools. There is a growing movement to make it STEAM, by adding arts into the mix. Studies have proven direct links between students exploring their creativity in the arts with doing better in academic classes and learning important skills such as team building, communication and self-expression. Last year, I started the Arts Action Fund, a grant designed to help local arts classrooms with innovative new projects and to help cover supply costs. It’s my way of giving back to a school system that has given so much to me. I am who I am today because of the dedicated teachers and mentors I grew up with. Our 2016-2017 recipients were Burns School in Saco, Loranger Memorial in Old Orchard Beach, and Saint James in Biddeford. Burns School used the grant money to fund a variety of ethnic instruments. Loranger Memorial started a ukulele program and Saint James purchased a variety of band instruments for students most in need. This year, our 2017-2018 recipients are: Saco Middle School, Old Orchard Beach High School and Burns School. Saco Middle School is using the grant to reinvigorate and make improvements to its performance arts space: a new stage curtain, performance lights, audio system, etc. At Old Orchard Beach High School, arts teachers are putting their students through a cultural immersion experience by drawing and painting a community mural map of the world. For Burns School, we doubled its strings budget. In total, we have invested more than $2,500 into classrooms throughout our area with your help and the help of local businesses through my nonprofit organization. Our work is far from over, but hopefully this will continue to spark renewed interest in a subject matter that yields lifelong results. Justin Chenette is serving his first term as the youngest senator in the Maine Senate representing Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Hollis, Limington and Buxton. He previously served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives. Outside the Legislature, he is the owner of Chenette Media LLC, a marketing & public relations firm, works as the marketing coordinator of Saco Sport & Fitness, and is the president/ CEO of the Saco Bay Center of Civic Engagement, a 501c3 nonprofit service organization. Sign up for legislative updates at www.justinchenette.com or www.Facebook.com/ JustinChenette. The holidays are a natural time for our community to come together. Each year scores of volunteers band together to organize some of the best family centered events for all ages. The annual Festival of Trees at Saco Museum has a been a staple of the holiday season for 13 years running. It’s a tradition that I hope is around for many years to come. This year’s “Winter Celebrations” themed event is a fundraiser to benefit the important programs at Dyer Library and Saco Museum. Both of which are great community assets and enhance our cultural and informational awareness. They connect us to the wider world. Each year I decorate a tree for the festival as a way of giving back. The last few years I’ve had a reoccurring theme, to highlight the importance of others who step up to serve their community, state and country. It started with a red, white and blue tree, adorned with photos of my own family members who serve in the Armed Forces. Last year, I recognized the Saco Police Department for the important and often very dangerous work it does each day to serve and protect. I incorporated photos of the officers and specialty police and blue ornaments. This year I wanted to continue the theme. My entry this year into the Saco Museum’s annual Festival of Trees is entitled “Unsung Heroes.” My tree honors the brave men and women running toward danger to protect us and our families each and every day at the Saco Fire Department. The tree features firefighter ornaments and photos of the Saco Fire Department in action. It may seem like their heroic efforts go unnoticed, but our community cares deeply about our devoted public safety officials like our local firefighters and EMTs. They are rock stars in my book. Shout out to Chief John Duross for his help getting photos together to feature on the tree. Surprisingly, it’s hard to find firefighter related ornaments, but after some digging, I found the perfect ones to showcase the importance of their job. There are many other wonderful trees this year from various community and student groups. Admission to the festival is free and is open noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It is also open noon to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The festival runs until Dec. 30. Other events that will be sure to delight the entire family include Saco’s annual Holiday Festival put on by our Saco Main Street organization. On Saturday, Dec. 2 there will be a number of events throughout the day, culminating in the awe-inspiring Parade of Lights. Santa arrives at the Saco Amtrak Station at 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. for children’s crafts, S’mores, Christmas music and photos with the big guy. Hot chocolate, a pixie treasure hunt, live nativity scene and horse and wagon rides await you at Saco City Hall from 1 to 4 p.m. The city tree lighting will be from 3:30 to 4:30, p.m. Bring your singing voice as we all join in a circle of caroling our favorite Christmas classics. Grab some grub at the Toys for Tots Bean Supper at Most Holy Trinity Church from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Dozens of lighted floats and groups will march down historic Main Street starting at 6:30 p.m. Be on the lookout, I’ll be in the parade. Over in Old Orchard Beach, the annual Celebration by the Sea by the chamber of commerce will be held 2 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9 at The Pier. The event includes refreshments, a visit and pictures with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, face painting, and a marvelous tree lighting. This is just to name a few. There are many more fun seasonal activities and events to be on the look out for. Hope to see you there. Justin Chenette is serving his first term as the youngest senator in the Maine Senate representing Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Hollis, Limington and Buxton. He previously served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives. Outside the Legislature, he is the owner of Chenette Media LLC, a marketing & public relations firm, works as the marketing coordinator of Saco Sport & Fitness, and is the president/ CEO of the Saco Bay Center of Civic Engagement, a 501c3 nonprofit service organization. Sign up for legislative updates at www.justinchenette.com or www.Facebook.com/ JustinChenette. Like most people, the holidays are personal. It’s my favorite time of the year.
With Thanksgiving upon us, I’d like to take a second and reflect on what this particular holiday means to me. It would be easy to be distracted by the food. What’s not to love about sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows or that gravy boat of deliciousness poured over Stovetop stuffing? I like a good Thanksgiving meal like the next person, but ultimately, it’s who you share it with that represents the true meaning of this day. We’ve seen stories of late of Congress people on both sides of the aisle afraid to hold town hall style forums back home in their districts with their constituents. Here in Maine it’s rare to see open access to our congressional delegation. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen one of our congressional members in the House or Senate, actually holding an open, free, public meeting. I’m a firm believer in the idea of having an accountable government. Having a direct line of communication between constituents and the elected officials they are supposed to represent. I’m not talking about going through a staff member, but being able to go straight to the office holder. For me, it allows me to gauge what is important to the community and what I need to be fighting for at the Statehouse. It was a sad week in Augusta. A minority of the House of Representatives may have killed ranked-choice voting in Maine. The vote was on a bill I co-sponsored to propose a constitutional amendment that would have addressed concerns raised about ranked-choice voting by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The amendment won majority support in a 78-68 vote, but that wasn’t enough to meet the two-thirds threshold necessary to send a constitutional amendment out to voters for approval. The amendment was never about ranked-choice voting. It was about whether to put the final decision on a voter-approved law back in the hands of the voters, where it belongs. Unfortunately, without a major shift in votes, the amendment is dead, and the path forward for ranked-choice voting is difficult at best. The protection of personal privacy is an issue that transcends party affiliation, where you come from and is something that overall Mainers value. I’d like to give you a scenario. What if your personal internet search history was shared with everyone in your neighborhood? What if it was shared with all of your co-workers? What about any information you enter on a website like vital health information and your location to the highest bidder? We aren’t talking in the abstract. This would be real life if we don’t act now. Questions around the implementation of the new recreational marijuana law have sucked a lot of air out of a lot of rooms in Augusta, and in the news, for good reason. Bringing something out of the shadowy black market and into the light of day is a tricky thing. There was a lot of fanfare in late January when the Legislature unanimously approved a bill to address major loopholes in the citizen-approved law to legalize recreational marijuana. This past week marked the seventh anniversary of Citizens United, the catastrophic decision by the United States Supreme Court that declared “money is speech” and in so doing exposed our politics to a deluge of special interest and lobbyist cash. Citizens United told the wealthiest people and the biggest corporations that politics could be their plaything; that Democracy could be bought, for the right price. By removing any limits on the amount of money that could be spent on elections, the decision put our politics on sale to the highest bidder. |
Beyond the HeadlinesWeekly Column featured in The Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier Newspaper by Rep. Justin Chenette of Saco Archives
September 2021
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