Talk:Peaks Island

The Wreck of the Hesperus

Removing this section:

Portland native Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was inspired to write one of his most famous poems The Wreck of the Hesperus after seeing the wreck of the schooner Helen Eliza, which sank off the island's southeast side in 1869 where "the cruel rocks...gored" her.

Many, many sites/events have been attributed as Longfellow's inspiration. Such as Folklore: When/what was the wreck of the Hesperus' Econrad 14:10, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Island Secession Debate

I've added a reference to the debate about Peaks breaking off from Portland. I'm not entirely sure where that's going, but I figured that I would add it. If somebody else has any more recent information about the succession debate, please post.

Thanks... --Alphachimp 05:58, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

The secession isn't going to happen. I remeber they were discussing a secession back when Long Island seceeded in 1993, but then Portland stepped up and gave Peaks more services. Mostly because Portland can't afford to lose the tax dollars the residents of Peaks provides. If the debate gets to a point where a movement just might happen, I'm sure Portland will launch a counter-defensive. Almost Famous 07:21, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

I think it might happen. I guess the island residents voted to secede. It's now in the hands of the legislature. I noted it in the article, btw. Alphachimp ^talk 05:47, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

I added an update to the secession discussion, current as of Oct. 14, 2007.TomBohan 19:12, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I discovered that my Oct 2007 text regarding the secession movement had been substantially distorted, with an element of emotionalism introduced, in Nov 2007. I have now brought the text back to what it was and have also updated the subject through Jan. 2009.TomBohan (talk) 23:25, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Tom, I revised the politics section to be much shorter and found citations for nearly every revised sentence that I wrote. Given the Peaks Island page is after all an encyclopedia entry, I thought it would be better to keep things tight and excise discussion about the secession pro/anti points of view, and of PIC member composition. The cited references can shed enough background on both of those items, I think.

Side note: In my opinion, the section should be revised to add text about the 1991-1995 secession movement, about which there is zero online; I'll have to find something in the PPH archives. A research project... there may also be earlier instances of Peaks/Portland political wrangling that I haven't heard of yet.Jubal Kessler (talk) 23:38, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

History Request

The article could use a formal, cited walkthrough of Peaks history, starting from settlement in the late 1600s to present day, which can also help set the context for a more complete "Demographics" section. The collection of trivia about John Ford and the Gem Theater is not really a complete picture of the island, which is why I put that under "Notable Items" instead of a section called "History".Jubal Kessler (talk) 23:38, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. It has been four years since the suggestion, and nobody has stepped up to do it. So somebody in Portland with access to the Portland historical society should spend an afternoon putting together this history, with citations to appropriate books and articles.ElijahBosley ^{(talk ☞)} 16:09, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Taxi

Welcome to a new editor. An interesting quirky island sort of thing, this taxi incident. I reformatted the footnotes for the first two paragraphs, as per Wikipedia style. The text of the third paragraph though, appeared not to be supported by the cited sources. "Many said" and "others thought" was not in the articles cited. Also to be candid, three paragraphs is more space than this incident may deserve. Still, I will tread carefully with this new editor and limit myself to a reversion just to get attention directed to this talk page. My congratulations on an interesting addition to Wikipedia.ElijahBosley ^{(talk ☞)} 20:04, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Golf Cart Taxi Incident

This is trivial content. The entire section should be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.136.132 (talk) 01:01, 8 June 2014 (UTC)

While it is noted in newspapers which is what Wikipedia defines as notable, I agree it is not a major historical incident worthy of this much space. When it first appeared here I cut a new editor some slack (see above). However, the editor may be related to the subject of the text (his mom, perhaps? nothing against the pride of mothers in their sons you understand). Anyway, for whatever reason, this incident gets way more prominence than it deserves. So I will now endeavor to cut it down to size. ElijahBosley ^{(talk ☞)} 20:47, 8 June 2014 (UTC)

Okay I reduced it to a few sentences. Might condense it further, but not delete it altogether--at least not now. The incident did get national attention. What else has gotten Peaks national attention of late? So by Wikipedia's strained standards, it is notable. I will wait a while and if there is no objection remove the "unbalanced article" tag.ElijahBosley ^{(talk ☞)} 14:42, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

As an island resident I can report the taxi service is not "tips only" so I don't think the statement about adopting that as a business model is accurate. The footnote doesn't not support it. I'm not going to remove it, but I think somebody ought to. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Roricka (talk • contribs) 17:31, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

You're right: the footnote does not support that text. If there is a newspaper article stating the aftermath of the Portland City Council decision, that should be cited. Meantime I will go ahead and delete the sentence, awaiting a cite to confirm the taxi service changed its way of doing business to tips only.ElijahBosley ^{(talk ☞)} 18:23, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

Okay, it's been a while and this incident has had no measurable repercussions: no lawsuits filed (one was threatened but not filed), no evidence the young man had to leave college for lack of money; no change in how Peaks Island Taxi does business--overall it recedes in historical significance. The Portland City Council intrusively regulated an efficient and cheap summer golf cart taxi out of business, notable because of the repeated secession effort. But it made national news mostly because it was a quirky little island thing, not because it was nationally significant. This section needed condensing to avoid Wp:undue and I have done so. With deference to the young man and presumably his mother. One looks forward to seeing his name in Wikipedia for other, and better reasons.ElijahBosley ^{(talk ☞)} 15:12, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

PS--to make up for the reduction, if Mr. Rand or his Mom can persuade the Portland Press Herald to contribute one of their photos of him to Wikipedia Commons, so it is available for use here--that would make a good illustration and improve the article. Plus he gets his name back in. 15:19, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

Places to eat

No citation, and borderline boosterism, since "places to eat' reads like a tourist brochure. But it seems to give them all equal weight (unless some place has been omitted) so it is not likely to be controversial. On balance I'll leave it alone. Would be useful to have a cite to a newspaper article describing these places.ElijahBosley ^{(talk ☞)} 18:22, 11 July 2016 (UTC)