We organized as an official Friends group in September 2019 in order to fight against the City of Portland’s imposition of a leash law in Mayor Baxter Woods (MBW). Initially a small cabal of City Parks Department officials sought to ban off-leash dogs in MBW 24/7/365, which we vehemently argued against. Ultimately a few wiser minds prevailed and the City compromised (with itself) and banned off-leash dog walking for 4 months of the year from April through July, a period it said coincided with the migratory bird nesting season.
Eventually the new leash law was passed by an 8-1 vote of the Council on 10/5/2020 after a 6 month delay due to the Pandemic. The Current City of Portland Leash Rules in Mayor Baxter Woods are as follows:.
1. Daily Off-leash Hours: 6am-9am, 3pm-10pm
2. Dogs must be leashed: 9am-3pm.
3. Dogs supposed to be on leash at all times in the Bird Habitat Restoration Area (on the Motherhouse side of the Woods)
FULL-TIME ON LEASH HOURS
IN ALL OF BAXTER WOODS ANNUALLY
FROM APRIL 1ST - JULY 31ST!!!
Friend’s Group President Marc Lesperance’s personal legal actions:
The FoMBW Group President, Marc Lesperance has two cases pending in Court at this time regarding the MBW leash law. One is an appeal of a MBW leash law violation summons he received in June of 2023, with a Court hearing in February 2024 where District Court Judge Jennifer Nofsinger decided against Marc and imposed a $500 fine on him, five times the $100 fine the City was seeking. Marc appealed the decision in March, filed briefs in June and August, and the case is now before the Maine State Supreme Court (sitting as the Law Court). The Court advised Marc in October that it will make its final decision “on the briefs” without a formal hearing. So a decision on this case may be issued at anytime.
The second case is a civil complaint, filed in Superior Court on April 29, 2024, where Marc is the Plaintiff and the City of Portland the Defendant. This case has an essentially a refiling of his original contract plaint back in 2021 that was dismissed in October 2023. With over four years now of knowledge on the legal process and a better understanding of the law and Court processes, Marc is confident there are no technical flaws in this case filing and believes he has sound arguments for why the MBW leash law is not compliant with Maine Law. There is a clear supporting precedent for his contentions on Gov. Baxter’s intent about off-leash dogs, and the blatantly incorrect if not illegal manner in which the City passed the MBW is leash law in 2020 and has enforced supposed “at large” dog violations ever since.
The precedent is based on a Maine State Supreme Court case that was decided in 1978, Fitzgerald vs. the Baxter State Park Authority (BSPA), involved how the BSPA conducted a massive tree clearing operation in BSP, that a concerned citizen like Marc took exception to, as a violation of Gov. Baxter’s intent for how the BSP should be managed. The MBW case is very similar, and to date the City Attorneys have made no legal arguments refuting the case! In July ‘24 the Superior Court Judge stayed further action in this case pending the Law Courts decision on the leash violation case as discussed in the previous section.
What can you do? What else have we done?
As a group we believed in 2021 that there was a chance the current leash rules could be amended by City Council to allow for daily off-leash hours. But in the 3+ years since no action has been taken to remove the bans on off-leash rules in Baxter Woods and short of the Court issuing an injunction - no indication the current Council will do anything to stop the City’s punitive and arguably unauthorized enforcement of the egregious leash law imposed in 2020. We have no current plans to work with City Council or City Staff on amending the obnoxious MBW leash law rules, but if the opportunity arises - we are willing to meet and discuss how the City is willing to decriminalize the daily walks we take with our controlled dogs in Baxter Woods.
At this time, with Marc’s 2 Court cases pending, If you are interested in sharing your thoughts with any members of City Council or Leadership, below are names and addresses where you can forward e-mails.
For talking points and other ideas or info about the leash law - please go to the "new leash law" and "unintended consequences” sections of the website.
District 1 - Sarah Michniewicz - elected ‘24
smichniewicz@portlandmaine.gov
District 2 - Wes Pelletier - elected ‘24
w[email protected] -
District 3 - Regina Phillips - elected ‘22
[email protected]
District 4 - Anna Bullett - elected ‘23
abullet@portlandmaine.gov
District 5 - Kate Sykes - elected ‘23
[email protected]
At Large - April Fournier - elected ‘23
[email protected]
At Large - Pious Ali - elected ‘22
[email protected]
At Large - Ben Grant - elected ‘24
bgrant@portlandmaine.gov
Mayor - Mark Dion - elected ‘23
mdion@portlandmaine.gov - term ends ‘27
Mayors Dion met with us after the initial leash law vote, when he was running for the D5 Council Seat in October 2020. At the time he supported our call for daily off-leash hours. While he may have initially agreed that daily off leash hours every day of the year was a reasonable request, as Mayor he has been a vocal opponent of Marc and our ask for daily off-leash hours every day of the year.
City Manager - Danielle West
[email protected]
As Corp. Counsel in 2020 - West supported the leash law changes and allowed these inappropriate rules to take effect!
Please ‘cc any correspondence you send to City Council/Leaders to our e-mail address at: [email protected]
Eventually the new leash law was passed by an 8-1 vote of the Council on 10/5/2020 after a 6 month delay due to the Pandemic. The Current City of Portland Leash Rules in Mayor Baxter Woods are as follows:.
1. Daily Off-leash Hours: 6am-9am, 3pm-10pm
2. Dogs must be leashed: 9am-3pm.
3. Dogs supposed to be on leash at all times in the Bird Habitat Restoration Area (on the Motherhouse side of the Woods)
FULL-TIME ON LEASH HOURS
IN ALL OF BAXTER WOODS ANNUALLY
FROM APRIL 1ST - JULY 31ST!!!
Friend’s Group President Marc Lesperance’s personal legal actions:
The FoMBW Group President, Marc Lesperance has two cases pending in Court at this time regarding the MBW leash law. One is an appeal of a MBW leash law violation summons he received in June of 2023, with a Court hearing in February 2024 where District Court Judge Jennifer Nofsinger decided against Marc and imposed a $500 fine on him, five times the $100 fine the City was seeking. Marc appealed the decision in March, filed briefs in June and August, and the case is now before the Maine State Supreme Court (sitting as the Law Court). The Court advised Marc in October that it will make its final decision “on the briefs” without a formal hearing. So a decision on this case may be issued at anytime.
The second case is a civil complaint, filed in Superior Court on April 29, 2024, where Marc is the Plaintiff and the City of Portland the Defendant. This case has an essentially a refiling of his original contract plaint back in 2021 that was dismissed in October 2023. With over four years now of knowledge on the legal process and a better understanding of the law and Court processes, Marc is confident there are no technical flaws in this case filing and believes he has sound arguments for why the MBW leash law is not compliant with Maine Law. There is a clear supporting precedent for his contentions on Gov. Baxter’s intent about off-leash dogs, and the blatantly incorrect if not illegal manner in which the City passed the MBW is leash law in 2020 and has enforced supposed “at large” dog violations ever since.
The precedent is based on a Maine State Supreme Court case that was decided in 1978, Fitzgerald vs. the Baxter State Park Authority (BSPA), involved how the BSPA conducted a massive tree clearing operation in BSP, that a concerned citizen like Marc took exception to, as a violation of Gov. Baxter’s intent for how the BSP should be managed. The MBW case is very similar, and to date the City Attorneys have made no legal arguments refuting the case! In July ‘24 the Superior Court Judge stayed further action in this case pending the Law Courts decision on the leash violation case as discussed in the previous section.
What can you do? What else have we done?
As a group we believed in 2021 that there was a chance the current leash rules could be amended by City Council to allow for daily off-leash hours. But in the 3+ years since no action has been taken to remove the bans on off-leash rules in Baxter Woods and short of the Court issuing an injunction - no indication the current Council will do anything to stop the City’s punitive and arguably unauthorized enforcement of the egregious leash law imposed in 2020. We have no current plans to work with City Council or City Staff on amending the obnoxious MBW leash law rules, but if the opportunity arises - we are willing to meet and discuss how the City is willing to decriminalize the daily walks we take with our controlled dogs in Baxter Woods.
At this time, with Marc’s 2 Court cases pending, If you are interested in sharing your thoughts with any members of City Council or Leadership, below are names and addresses where you can forward e-mails.
For talking points and other ideas or info about the leash law - please go to the "new leash law" and "unintended consequences” sections of the website.
District 1 - Sarah Michniewicz - elected ‘24
smichniewicz@portlandmaine.gov
District 2 - Wes Pelletier - elected ‘24
w[email protected] -
District 3 - Regina Phillips - elected ‘22
[email protected]
District 4 - Anna Bullett - elected ‘23
abullet@portlandmaine.gov
District 5 - Kate Sykes - elected ‘23
[email protected]
At Large - April Fournier - elected ‘23
[email protected]
At Large - Pious Ali - elected ‘22
[email protected]
At Large - Ben Grant - elected ‘24
bgrant@portlandmaine.gov
Mayor - Mark Dion - elected ‘23
mdion@portlandmaine.gov - term ends ‘27
Mayors Dion met with us after the initial leash law vote, when he was running for the D5 Council Seat in October 2020. At the time he supported our call for daily off-leash hours. While he may have initially agreed that daily off leash hours every day of the year was a reasonable request, as Mayor he has been a vocal opponent of Marc and our ask for daily off-leash hours every day of the year.
City Manager - Danielle West
[email protected]
As Corp. Counsel in 2020 - West supported the leash law changes and allowed these inappropriate rules to take effect!
Please ‘cc any correspondence you send to City Council/Leaders to our e-mail address at: [email protected]
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Our Mission & Values
The Friends of Mayor Baxter Woods (FoMBW) group was created to advocate for the preservation and protection of Mayor Baxter Wood’s natural beauty and its historic and cultural significance in the Portland's Deering Center neighborhood. We formed specifically to organize as a group to defend ourselves against a small but powerful band of political activists bent on seeing a restrictive leash law enforced in Mayor Baxter Woods.
Please join us in protecting this invaluable community resource. To become a member of our Friends group, just send a message to [email protected]. We will add your name to our list.
FoMBW advocates for volunteer stewardship of our precious woods and community resource. Regular visitors to these woods rely on this rare inner-city forest for exercise, connection with nature, and both canine and human socialization.
In early 2019, the Parks Department initially proposed that dogs should be on leash 24/7/365, igniting a large negative response from our then unorganized group of avid off-leash dog walkers. In April the Parks Commission asked the Parks Department to revise its full time leash law - which resulted in the current complex ordinance of set hours, locations and seasonal leash law rules (see details in July 18th Parks Commission Meeting notes, Section II. b, ii here).
We believe that the wisdom and legacy of Governor Baxter's wishes should be honored and advocate that City Officials should adhere to the stipulations in the 1946 Deed gifting MBW to the people of Portland (see original deed here).* Beyond the Deed, as a matter of the law - Mayor Baxter Woods should be managed by the City as Gov. Baxter intended, in the way former City Leaders understood for decades, as a place where off-leash dogs were allowed. Gov. Baxter even wrote a book about his dogs and how he loved being with them off-leash.
We also believe that requiring dogs to be leashed will create a host of unanticipated, negative consequences for both dogs and humans (see both "New Leash Law?" and "Unintended Consequences" for elaboration).
In both public meetings as well as public and private correspondence, Parks Department Staff has unfoundedly complained of dogs harming bird populations (see here), noted examples of dog waste on the grounds, and cited incidents of dog aggression as reasons to enact the leash law. We offered counter-arguments to each contention posed by the City - and at every step in the process were ignored by City Staff, Parks Commissioners, and City Councilors. Denied the opportunity to present our facts in an equal block of time - we were only allowed 3 minutes of public comment time to refute the City’s list of misinformation and outright disinformation about what was happening in MBW.
The Parks Department has further stated that "education" has not led to compliance with the rules.
But City Staff was never interested in educating the public or even enforcing existing rules. Although they have posted signs regarding rules governing off-leash dogs, they have never attempted to enforce posted fines. In their arguments for the leash law, the Parks Director even suggested that current usage (off-leash allowances) are a violation of the deed, which is a ridiculous proposition and we dispute.
FoMBW was formed in order to provide both on-going education and resources to address the Park Department's concerns related to off-leash dogs. Given that the population of dogs and their owners evolves over time, and that MBW is experiencing increased use as a result of the City's social media PR along with Portland's population growth, we ask for an opportunity to provide education targeted to current and future dog owners. The dog-walking community does realize that the park has various user groups, yet we are its volunteer stewards who both walk in and care for these woods on a day-to-day basis, rain, shine, or blizzard. We are asking for an opportunity to organize and improve the day-to-day experiences of all MBW users.
Please join us in protecting this invaluable community resource. To become a member of our Friends group, just send a message to [email protected]. We will add your name to our list.
FoMBW advocates for volunteer stewardship of our precious woods and community resource. Regular visitors to these woods rely on this rare inner-city forest for exercise, connection with nature, and both canine and human socialization.
In early 2019, the Parks Department initially proposed that dogs should be on leash 24/7/365, igniting a large negative response from our then unorganized group of avid off-leash dog walkers. In April the Parks Commission asked the Parks Department to revise its full time leash law - which resulted in the current complex ordinance of set hours, locations and seasonal leash law rules (see details in July 18th Parks Commission Meeting notes, Section II. b, ii here).
We believe that the wisdom and legacy of Governor Baxter's wishes should be honored and advocate that City Officials should adhere to the stipulations in the 1946 Deed gifting MBW to the people of Portland (see original deed here).* Beyond the Deed, as a matter of the law - Mayor Baxter Woods should be managed by the City as Gov. Baxter intended, in the way former City Leaders understood for decades, as a place where off-leash dogs were allowed. Gov. Baxter even wrote a book about his dogs and how he loved being with them off-leash.
We also believe that requiring dogs to be leashed will create a host of unanticipated, negative consequences for both dogs and humans (see both "New Leash Law?" and "Unintended Consequences" for elaboration).
In both public meetings as well as public and private correspondence, Parks Department Staff has unfoundedly complained of dogs harming bird populations (see here), noted examples of dog waste on the grounds, and cited incidents of dog aggression as reasons to enact the leash law. We offered counter-arguments to each contention posed by the City - and at every step in the process were ignored by City Staff, Parks Commissioners, and City Councilors. Denied the opportunity to present our facts in an equal block of time - we were only allowed 3 minutes of public comment time to refute the City’s list of misinformation and outright disinformation about what was happening in MBW.
The Parks Department has further stated that "education" has not led to compliance with the rules.
But City Staff was never interested in educating the public or even enforcing existing rules. Although they have posted signs regarding rules governing off-leash dogs, they have never attempted to enforce posted fines. In their arguments for the leash law, the Parks Director even suggested that current usage (off-leash allowances) are a violation of the deed, which is a ridiculous proposition and we dispute.
FoMBW was formed in order to provide both on-going education and resources to address the Park Department's concerns related to off-leash dogs. Given that the population of dogs and their owners evolves over time, and that MBW is experiencing increased use as a result of the City's social media PR along with Portland's population growth, we ask for an opportunity to provide education targeted to current and future dog owners. The dog-walking community does realize that the park has various user groups, yet we are its volunteer stewards who both walk in and care for these woods on a day-to-day basis, rain, shine, or blizzard. We are asking for an opportunity to organize and improve the day-to-day experiences of all MBW users.