Mayor of Portland
As the Portland's top elected official, Brennan has implemented several initiatives designed to encourage economic development and job creation as well as support and strengthen the city’s diverse neighborhoods. Brennan represents the City of Portland's interests at both the State House in Augusta, Maine and in U.S. Congress where he advocates for the city, its residents and businesses.
On December 8, 2011, Brennan led his first city council meeting as mayor. The meeting featured a 4+ hour discussion on whether to allow OccupyMaine, which was part of the Occupy movement, to obtain a 6 month permit to use two-thirds of nearby Lincoln Park. Brennan and 7 other councilors voted against the permit, while West End City Councilor David Marshall was the lone supporter of the permit.
Upon the passage of Maine's same-sex marriage law, Mayor Brennan stated that he would look into the possibility of opening Portland City Hall at 12:01 AM on December 29th, 2012, the day the law takes effect, to issue marriage licenses in order to have the first legal same-sex wedding in Maine occur in Portland. He also stated that he wanted to attend the first same-sex wedding in the City, whenever that might be.
Read more about this topic: Michael F. Brennan
Famous quotes containing the words mayor and/or portland:
“when Mrs Kindhead comes to collect for the Community Chest
grab her and tell her There are unfavorable omens in the sky!
And when the mayor comes to get my vote tell him
When are you going to stop people killing whales!”
—Gregory Corso (b. 1930)
“It is said that a carpenter building a summer hotel here ... declared that one very clear day he picked out a ship coming into Portland Harbor and could distinctly see that its cargo was West Indian rum. A county historian avers that it was probably an optical delusion, the result of looking so often through a glass in common use in those days.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)