Update: A proposal to buy and convert Portland's Congress Square into an events center will have to face a citywide referendum after voters approved new protections for parks on Tuesday, Mainebiz reported.
The Portland Press Herald reported that Portland voters approved the city's only ballot question by 51.5 percent - a move that will essentially make it more difficult for the city to convey or sell 60 of its public parks.
Portland's approval of the ballot measure now requires the City Council to reach a 8-1 vote in order to sell the 60 city-owned properties.
Original Story: Portland city residents are set to poll on the issue of settling a squabble over a half-acre park that evolved into a much larger debate over the future of the city's public parks, less than a year after legalizing marijuana, the Associated Press reported.
Debating the addition of 35 open spaces to the city's list of protected lands, the ballot issue will make it more difficult to sell them.
Among the spaces is Congress Square Plaza, a small patch of trees, red bricks and concrete in a busy commercial section of downtown Portland, most of which the city wants to sell to an Ohio-based hotel owner.
"It's one of several closely watched local elections Tuesday. Also on the ballot are hotly contested primaries in the race for an open seat in Maine's 2nd Congressional District, which Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud is vacating to run for governor," according to the AP. "Supporters say the parks vote is a referendum on Portland's commitment to public spaces, with some backers saying failure could imperil other open spaces in an increasingly congested city."
"What we're fighting over now is not that half-acre of public park," said Bree LaCasse, a campaigner for the referendum's passage. "It's naive to think there won't be pressures on any other parks."
Investment would be discouraged in the city if sale of property to the owner of the Westin Portland Harborview Hotel is reneged, opponents of the measure, including business leaders, said.
"This referendum is about one thing - Congress Square Plaza," said Chris Hall, chief of the Portland. "We've got a failed urban space at the heart of the city."
Varying perspectives have been expressed by both supporters and opponents on the referendum, by dotting Portland with signs.
Portland, a city of 66,000 residents, has been a hotbed for activism in recent years on issues such as marijuana legalization, gay rights and same-sex marriage and the rights of homeless people.
If passed, the referendum would require at least eight of nine City Council members to approve selling any property on the city's land bank list, the AP reported.
"This is one of the more rigorous referendums I've seen in Portland in a long time," supporter John Eder said.
Rejection of the referendum, he said, could "bring an end to the enlightened era of parks."
