Biddeford Revealed (In pictures!) (Portland, Saco: real estate, condo, low crime)

[elston]

Wow Irfox......what a great post! I agree with all you said....and would add that I believe there is an element of anti-French Canadian and anti blue collar elitism lurking in the remarks putting Biddeford down.

[lrfox]

^Thanks, I agree about the anti- French Canadian sentiment and I also think there is a bit of elitism in Maine against any urban area that isn't gentrified to the fullest extent.

[retiredtinbender]

There's elitism and anti-fill in the blank- sentiment everywhere. We all have our "Red-headed step children" and it is more the area than the nationality being ridiculed. I'm French-Can. and up here we don't get picked at (much). A general ribbing like everyone. I've be4en places where it's the Irish and others where its Mexicans, or Scots, ad infinitum. In Biddeford there are just a lot of French and in Saco it's Scot/Irish. Or Biddeford had workers and Saco the owners.

[mainegirl]

Lookinforahome, thanks for posting those lovely pictures ! I love old mill towns like that. These pictures remind me of when I lived up in Corinna as a child.

[Connecticut Pam]

My Grandmother was raised in Biddeford then moved to Massachusetts. Anyone out there from Biddeford with last name Quigley?

[elston]

I was talking to a lady at church this past Sunday who told me she was born and brought up in Biddeford.....when she got married she and her husband bought a house in Saco.....she recalled she felt as if she had moved to the ends of the earth.....the bridge between the two towns....seemed such a distance.....so far from everything familiar and everyone that she had known.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by elston

Wow Irfox......what a great post! I agree with all you said....and would add that I believe there is an element of anti-French Canadian and anti blue collar elitism lurking in the remarks putting Biddeford down.

If this was directed towards (or includes) me, I should add that I am about as working class as a person can get. My opinions about Biddeford have nothing to do with being snotty. If I was, than I would herald the new condos and other revitalization projects (gentrification) attempts going on. Secondly, I was unaware that Biddeford had such a French-Canadian heritage, nor do I care.

[elston]

There is a really good article in the Portland paper this morning about the wild life that lives in the area right around Saco Island......someone who bought a condo started video taping the birds and animals he saw and identifying them from a pair of perrigrine falcons to a variety of hawks to racoons and otter. The article says the videos are availble on Utube....I havent yet gone to check them out....but the article has some really nice photographs. City dweller finds wildlife 'tucked away' | Portland Press Herald

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by lrfox

No, I don't. Again, I'd like you to elaborate on this, please.

Okay, first of all, you are reading far too many things into my simple post. I do not hate Biddeford, but I do have some strong opinions of the place. But keep in mind that they are just that, my opinion. Everybody has their ideas of what makes a place great, or a dump. And even though those ideas may offend some, no one is right or wrong. We all view the world through different eyes, and form our varying opinions based on what we see and experience.

Originally Posted by lrfox

This isn't the first time I've seen you knock Saco or Biddeford in these forums yet you tend do do so without any explanation. So again, what's so bad about Biddeford?

I do not recall ever knocking Saco, and if I ever did, I cannot recall a reason as to why.

I have explained why I dislike Biddeford before (I believe before you came on board) and those posts got deleted and/or I get put on probation. So, with that, I will PM you later with my reason.

Originally Posted by lrfox

In all honesty, you're far from the first person I've heard bashing Biddeford, but most of them tend to do so with no actual legs to stand on in their argument, OR they base their opinion on what they have heard from a friend who heard it from his friends father who knew the cousin of the guy, "it" happened to.

Maybe some people just have beef for one reason or another, I dunno. That is not me, though.

Originally Posted by lrfox

I hate the idea that everything has to be uniform or fit a certain stereotype to be interesting. I happen to like the grittyness of certain places and Biddeford and Lewiston are just about the only two places in Maine with any sort of grit about them anymore. "Grit" is character in many ways. It's also misunderstood by most. A lady by the name of Jane Jacobs remarked in the '60s, that a "slum" in Boston was actually a fun, vibrant neighborhood with a lot going on. That neighborhood, of course was the North End which today, is a major destination for visitors of Boston known for it's firm Italian roots. Jacobs noted that the different culture and residents enjoying their neighborhood made it a fun place to be. This description reminds me of Lewiston today. I love walking around downtown Lewiston. I tried Somali food for the first time there and I enjoy observing another culture in my home country. Biddeford has grit too. The shops and restuarants that line Main Street and take up residence in the old mills may not be dressed up the same way that the shops are in the Old Port (which, structurally, is a much lesser neighborhood than downtown Biddeford), but that doesn't mean they lack substance. Biddeford has a lot going for it and i tend to find that people who disagree with that or think it's an "arm pit" are either oblivious or adverse to anything inherently different. Sometimes you need to look outside the box in order to see the light.

Biddeford definitely has grit , but the grit that I am thinking of does not give it, nor should it give any town, character. And I am not talking about the grit of the architecture downtown.

[lrfox]

K-Luv,

I think I just lumped Saco/Biddeford together. I dont recall you ever mentioning Saco negatively either. My mistake.

Also, I understand that you have opinions and you're entitled to them. You don't HAVE to like a place just as I or anyone else doesn't have to like a place. It's just that I have yet to see a reason "why" you don't like it (you did mention that maybe you posted it and it was deleted before I was a member here). I think that a reason why, ESPECIALLY, when saying something negative about a town is necessary because you and I both know that on internet communities like this there are plenty of trolls (you, clearly, are not a troll) who like to speak negatively of places with very little justification.

I appreciate the PM thought. I look forward to it. There is good grit and bad grit, I'm looking forward to seeing the grit you dislike. Thanks.