What Kind of Maine Are We Building? Radio Maine Live at the Portland Art Gallery

Lisa Belisle: Welcome everybody. It's so good to see you. And I love that we have just enough people to have some breathing room and space in the gallery. And it's especially wonderful tonight because we are taping this and this will be made available online for all the empty seats that those are the ghost people that are going to be watching and they're going to be joining us in a different dimension. So it's very intentional that we are here and the ghost people will join at their leisure. I'm Dr. Lisa Belisle. I am the host of Radio Maine and all of these wonderful people have joined me on Radio Maine previously. And tonight is the latest iteration of Radio Maine Live where the live....Eventually we may get to live stream, but for right now, these are live people who are lively in front of you tonight. And we've been doing Radio Maine for about five years. Before that, I was doing podcasting and other work for about 10 years. So this is the latest iteration of work that began a long time ago for me. But also as a family doctor, and it's hard for me to believe this, but I've been practicing medicine for three decades, which means that I've had this interesting kind of parallel path. And people say, "Well, how is it that you're a doctor, but you do podcasting and your family has an art gallery?" And I'm like, "But isn't this Maine? Don't we all do at least three or four different things? Isn't that kind of the way that that works?" I wouldn't have known it any other way. So I'm going to introduce you to four people tonight that I have really a lot of respect for, for on a lot of different levels. But before I do that, I'm wondering if people who have been on Radio Maine with me before or planning to be on Radio Maine would just mind raising your hands to show what the quorum is here. So look at how many people have already been part of our community. And I'll point out that Liam Sullivan sitting in the back row, he's actually got his own event coming up and that's October. You want to tell us the dates?

Liam Sullivan: 19th to the 22nd, Maine Tech Week.

Lisa Belisle: Maine Tech Week. Go Maine Tech. So there are a lot of different people in this audience are thinking about what kind of Maine are we building? And four people that are here with me tonight, this is, I think, forefront in each of their minds for very different reasons. Three of them actually personally left, came back and have built a Maine that they want to see, I think not only for themselves, but also for their children. And I think that's a big part of what many of us are thinking about is what are we building into the future? So I'll start all the way at the end. You're actually such an, you're like, I think my favorite example of somebody who's like a multi-hyphenate from me.

Tobias Parkhurst: Oh, stop. Go on though.

Lisa Belisle: So this is Tobias. And Tobias, he is formerly a pro skateboarder. So I know that those of you who have signed up, you Tobias Parkhurst, former pro skateboarder, but also now Cushnoc Brewing. I think you also have a bagel company, Oakes and Parkhurst, also on the MaineGeneral board. So there's so many things that you have done in your life that took you around the world, but have brought you back again. And you still are doing skateboarding is my understanding.

Tobias Parkhurst: That's my primary thing in some ways. Yeah.

Lisa Belisle: Exactly. So you have a very specific idea as to what it means to be building Maine. And your focus has been Augusta and the Augusta region. So I think that that is an interesting, because those of us who have lived in the Portland area most of our lives, we've been accused of thinking there's only one part of Maine and it's Portland, but you have different ideas. So thank you.

Tobias Parkhurst: Sure. Gravity certainly is a little bit stronger in Portland than in other places.

Lisa Belisle: Yes, that is true. I guess we're just that much closer to the equator.

Tobias Parkhurst: Harder to get out of.

Lisa Belisle: Well, thank you for coming down and joining us. I appreciate that. And this is Quincy Hentzel. Quincy, actually, I first met her on another iteration of my podcast back with Love Maine Radio. So she and I have had an acquaintance for many years. She is the CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce and has so many reasons why building Maine is important, but not just for Portland, for all the outlying communities. And I think you've had to lead through some really interesting times with COVID and. Well, we'll get into that, but we'll just start with COVID. So thank you. We're very happy that you're here.

Quincy Hentzel: Thank you for having me.

Lisa Belisle: Yes. Then we have Ginny Hussey. And she is. Some people call her the GM, but that's a boring title. It is. There's a different title. It's the chief enthusiast for the Portland Waterfront Canopy Hotels. And it's a title that I really think we all should embrace. Each of us should have a title that makes us happy to sort of walk toward it. And I think that that is actually a big part of what you need to be doing on a regular basis to continue building Maine.

Ginny Hussey: Absolutely.

Lisa Belisle: Is to bring enthusiasm to your job. So I appreciate your doing that and being here. Thank you. And then we have an unrelated Hussey. This is Philip Hussey. They just happen to sit next to each other. We stick together. Yeah. Yes. That's very nice of you to lock those names together. Exactly. And Philip is now the CEO of Thos. Moser, which has an increasing presence here in Portland. He happens to be sitting on a Thos. Moser chair, which we didn't exactly do that for you, but - Legacy.

Philip Hussey: Legacy.

Lisa Belisle: Exactly. I don't know that you could actually get these chairs now, but we have actually more Thos. Moser. I think Jennifer's sitting on a Thos. Moser couch in the back. I think we also have some Thos. Moser furniture on the other side and David Moser, who happens to be one of our artists. This is his sculpture that Sean is walking next to way in the back. So Thos. Moser, very well respected. But you also have Hussey Seating Company in your background. And what did we say? Seven generations?

Philip Hussey: Seven generations.

Lisa Belisle: Seven generations. So any of you have heard of Hussey Seating. This an organization and an individual who are thinking very much about what kind of Maine are we building? And I also want to take a minute to recognize all of the people who work with the Portland Art Gallery, who really make all of these evenings possible, who make Radio Maine possible, which is really important. But first, let me start with the artists because they make the art gallery possible. And I think that Page, you're the representative tonight of all the artists. So this is Page Eastburn O'Rourke, and she creates beautiful pieces. We have one in our front hallway. And one of the things that I love about doing this work is that you can pretty much. It doesn't take very much to be able to end up touching somebody who does creative things. So you happen to be, your creativity is in the visual and painterly world. But really, if I asked those of you in the audience what you do, you're all doing creative things. So your artistry may be not necessarily painting things, but you're all creative in your own way. But Page, thank you for being here tonight. And I also want to point out that John, he and I have been doing the Artful Escapes, which is our ongoing travel series. So if you want to come back next month to talk about travel and art and creativity, John is a fantastic presenter. He's going to make you want. When you come back to Maine to build Maine, then you leave again and you get inspired in other places and John's going to provide that inspiration. So come back in a month and that will be John who's going to be doing that work with us. And if you want to do something virtual, my friend Karen Longfellow, who's one in and I guess one from the side, this is Karen. She and I do a virtual book club. So if you don't even want to. If the day that you were thinking I would like to stay in and just talk about books, just log on. We'll be talking about them. It doesn't even have to be a book that we assign. You could bring whatever book you want in. So these are all the things that the Portland Art Gallery makes possible. So thank you to the people of Portland Art Gallery. We have in the back, and you guys have to raise your hands, but Sean, we have Jill, we have Kevin, one Kevin, and then we have another Kevin over in the corner. So those of you who would like to thank the Portland Art Gallery for hosting such an event or would like to buy some art, these are the people that you talk to. So go towards the people that can bring the lovely art into your homes. And I do want to point out also, this art gallery has been a significant contributor to the Portland economy. And correct me if I'm wrong, Kevin, but before 2021, your sales were at a certain point. After 2021, your sales, what, tripled? Is that right? And we're talking, they have sold tens of millions of dollars worth of art, which supports the artists, which supports the creative economy so that people who are building the Canopy Hotel or putting furniture into the Canopy Hotel or are bringing people up to the Augusta region or are bringing people into the Portland region. They're all. Oh, and we also have Jim Brady, another person. We all notice you come in, but they're very happy. Also responsible for Portland Hotels. So as you can tell, it's all connected. We're all connected. Let's start with what kind of Maine are we building? So I'm going to ask, this is a question that I really would like each of you to answer because you all agreed to come to a panel where this was the title. And it's kind of an optimistic thing to start with, I think. So let's see. I'm going to see which. Tobias, you're kind of looking away, but I'm guessing that you're pretty good at talking on your feet.

Tobias Parkhurst: I guess we'll find out.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah. Let's See. Let's see what you got.

Tobias Parkhurst: Gosh, I get a lot of these labels put on me, developer and things like that. I never think of any of those things as a real job title, but I think most of the things I've done and probably the reason that I'm here right now is all been very selfishly motivated. Having a community that I feel like I'm kind of like have roots in and this is where I'm going to be. And I want to have the type of a community that maybe I have two sons and I would love if they didn't feel like they had to uproot and move to California the day after graduation like I did. So for me, what kind of Maine am I trying to build? For me, it has everything to do with quality of life. It has everything to do with having a place that's cool. I think my parents' generation went places for jobs and decided if they liked it later. I think that the generation that we're living in right now, my generation, and I think certainly my kids' generation are going to figure out where they want to live and go there and figure out what they're going to do for work later. So to me, it's all about doing whatever I can to create the most badass place that I want to live and that hopefully my kids want to live in. So it's all selfishly motivated, but I guess you get to buy our bagels and drink our beer and whatever else. You know what I mean? But to me, it's all been. I love to travel. And as I go places and see things, I'm like, "Damn, I wish we had this where we live." And then looking around and going, "Well, whose job is it to do that?" Turns out I'm an adult now, so it's got to be me. So that's my answer. Sticking to it.

Lisa Belisle: Absolutely. Thank you. Good job. Thanks. First responder, so.

Quincy Hentzel: Thank you.

Tobias Parkhurst: Good job.

Lisa Belisle: That's a high bar. That's a high bar. I don't know. Quincy, do you feel like you can go next on this one? I can go next.

Quincy Hentzel: This is what I'm trying to build, not what we're trying to build. There's different answers. Is that right? I mean,

Lisa Belisle: You can really take it - We'll tell you.

Quincy Hentzel: I mean, not like we, but the royal we. The collective we. I

Lisa Belisle: Mean, you could take it whichever direction you like once you want. I'll follow you

Quincy Hentzel: There. I'll

Lisa Belisle: Take it

Quincy Hentzel: Personally, like what I'm trying to build. So I run the chamber of commerce in Portland and I spend my days thinking about what is the future of Portland going to be, which I think drives the future of Maine. They're so intricately connected. Portland is the economic engine of the state. And I think I'm trying to work to build a Maine that anyone can live in who wants to live here. And we're not there right now. I'll just be honest. We're in a pretty challenging place, and I'm sure we're going to talk about it a little bit on this panel, but things have shifted a lot in Maine. We have a huge affordability challenge right now. And we're working, I would say, probably my top priority is workforce. We need a workforce to be able to survive and to have a future for our economy. And that's really challenging right now to build. We have to figure out housing. We have to figure out any kind of barrier to employment, whether it's childcare or transportation. And all of those are really challenging issues. Housing is really challenging. We talk about this a lot. I mean, Jim and I, it's like Beetlejuice. I think we mentioned your name like three times earlier and then you walked in the door, but we were kind of talking about conversations that Jim and I have had just about how do we build the housing that we need? How do we attract the people here that we need here to go into the workforce? So I'm looking to build a Maine that everyone and anyone can live here if they choose to do so. That is my goal. And we have a lot of work to do, but there's a lot of great things that we have on our side that I think are going to help us get there. And we'll talk about that later in the conversation, but that's I think my goal.

Lisa Belisle: Okay. Thank you. I guess we'll go with you. I mean, it is hard. Yeah. But I think you'll do it. You're the chief enthusiast.

Ginny Hussey: Thank you, Lisa. Yeah, I think I can't help but think back to my own experience kind of boomeranging back to Maine. And when I left and went to college, went to hospitality school. I knew at the time I was like, Maine doesn't have what I need in my career to succeed long term. Fortunately, it was only like five years later and I timed it right to come back to Maine and to Portland when there was finally opportunities in my field in particular. And it's been really fun to see just this industry that I'm in just soar over the past 10 years. So I think about how to make sure, I guess, we continue to go in that direction and afford great opportunities in the workforce, in different careers that are actually here in Maine. So people feel like they can have that great work-life balance. I think many people see Maine as a place to raise their children and have their families. But if you are career driven, where are those opportunities and how do we make those more available? I think that's what I constantly think about. I think about that even within my team now. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I have all these great team members." But they're at the ceiling and what's next? Luckily we have a next coming up with Fathom. So at least I know the wheels are still going and the opportunities are still coming. But I think that's like a bigger picture in at least Portland and probably throughout Maine, just to give the right opportunities for people hungry to grow in their own careers and make it happen in a great place that everyone wants to live.

Lisa Belisle: And are you teasing this for later in the conversation as to what's happening next? I know. Or

Ginny Hussey: Would you like to share

Lisa Belisle: That right now?

Ginny Hussey: I know. Well, new hotels coming. So we have an exciting project just across from Monument Square at the old M&T Bank building. So under development for a new hotel that's opening next spring, summer. And that to me just says so much about. I was thinking about it today that Portland is like this bubble that just doesn't burst. It just keeps getting bigger and keeps just offering more and more. And I think having been a part of it over the last 12, 13 years for myself, it's just so exciting to see that the opportunities, they are still coming, which makes me very optimistic about the future here.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah, that's it. Again, living up to your name. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. All right. It's

Philip Hussey: Tough going last because - I know. It's very, very perception that I've thought about it. So I didn't, Tobias, thanks for going first. So I was able to distill it down. I didn't even

Tobias Parkhurst: Know.

Philip Hussey: Two words come to mind. And I think they're both from a sort of personal perspective for the state, but also sort of what we're up to in Auburn at Thos. Moser. And that's authentic and connected. And so the authenticity piece is the Maine that we want to build here from my perspective is one that's true to who we are. And so not trying to be something we're not, not trying to do things that we don't need to do because there's a lot of things we're really good at. There's a lot of incredible strengths and economic strengths and cultural strengths. And I hope we lean into that. That's something we talk a lot about in the craft we're in and we're really good at building beautiful furniture and functional art and we should continue to do that. And so I think that relates a lot to Maine as well. On the connected piece, there's a couple ways I think about that. Connected from a. I think a lot of times we get stuck in our own ways up here and it's the world stops at the bridge in New Hampshire and it actually doesn't. And so continue - No, we

Lisa Belisle: Have at least one person from New Hampshire, right?

Philip Hussey: Welcome.

Lisa Belisle: Thank you. Thank you for crossing the bridge, Richard. We appreciate it.

Philip Hussey: We send thousands of pieces of furniture out into the world. Most of them don't go to Maine. And so as we think about connecting with the world around us, it's being intentional to bring sort of our ideas out to the world, but also ideas from the world back to Maine. And that's what we're trying to do in the Auburn front as well.

Lisa Belisle: Well, it's interesting working with the gallery. So what I love about being a doctor in the age of. Well, I also have a business degree. I have a doctorate in leadership. I have a public health degree. So I've done a lot of deep dives in a lot of areas. And I keep doing it because honestly, it's just really fun. I just love learning things. And one of the things that I've learned about working with the gallery in particular is sort of who are we actually talking to? So today I was learning that actually most of the people that buy our art are from within Maine. And then the other half roughly are from two other geographic locations. So it's really interesting that we're both marketing. It's a both/and. We're marketing here, but we're also marketing away. And I think that what you're describing is really important because I think sometimes the message is slightly different. What is the group we're trying to reach? What is the individual we're trying to reach? Why are we reaching them that way? So I think trying to be aware of all the different reasons why people do things is very important. So You already sort of teed this up. So I guess this is the question I have to ask you, Quincy then, is you talked about the optimism and the going towards this, but also the challenge. And growth is challenging. I mean, there's no doubt about it. There are growing pains. And I know I was talking to somebody in the audience who was saying, "I live here. I love Portland. And also we have a terrible issue with people that are not currently housed," for example. And that's been a huge problem because we want to provide them with services. We want to support them. We want to help them with their wellness. And also it's hard to coexist and have everybody get what they need out of a situation. So I think that this is the issue. We want Maine to grow, but as Maine grows, there's going to be growing pains. And you were sort of alluding to this, I think. So what growing pains are you currently seeing right now?

Quincy Hentzel: Gosh, how much time do we have about growing pains? This is the space that I live in. I think just change is hard in general. I think humans just don't gravitate towards change. They're nervous of change, they're scared of change. And so I think Maine is trying to grow right now. We're trying to build more. We're trying to attract more people here. And that makes people nervous. They don't know how that's going to change their life or how it's going to impact them. And you all see it. You all see housing developments trying to go up. I mean, I won't even mention data centers, but I'm going to mention data. Anything development wise, there are people who just. And data centers are probably a bad example because there's other pieces. I told you we were going to go controversial, didn't I? We're going to go controversial right out of the doctor. But people are just scared of change. And I think we've talked at the chamber for years around trying to help people understand what it means to grow as a community and how that doesn't always equate bad things. There's a lot of good that comes from growth. Even if you're not the one who's going to work at WEX, when WEX got built, there was a lot of people that were really upset that this big international corporation was going to build their headquarters here. And trying to explain to people how that benefits them. It brings more people here. It grows the economy. It grows the tax base, which is one of the biggest challenges in Maine. We don't have a big tax base. We lack people and we lack business. And those are the things that pay taxes. And we'll talk more about the people challenge later, I'm sure. But I think just the biggest, I mean, I could talk about the challenges around growth for a long time, but I think it's just that fear of change and trying to calm people's fears and have them understand how this growth is going to be good for them. They care about themselves. Ultimately, people care about how things are going to impact them. And you have to explain this to them and get them to a place where they feel comfortable inviting new people into the community, inviting new businesses into the community and what that looks like. So I'll stop at that and let my colleagues on the stage add more.

Lisa Belisle: Well, I'm kind of trying to gauge which one of you has the most urgency around this. I don't know. I'm guessing we talk. I'm kind of looking at you, Tobias. I have a sense that this is something that you think about quite a bit.

Tobias Parkhurst: There's more than one main, right? And I think where Portland struggles, the rest of the state sometimes wins. I always joke when people, I don't know how I'm this guy, but people will come to me and say, "Hey, I want to do this or I want to do that. I want to open this business." I don't think anyone opens a restaurant in Portland to make money. I think you open a restaurant in the Bon Appetit Magazine restaurant city of the world to prove you can do it. You can open the same restaurant 30 or 40 miles north and probably make some money. So Portland in some respects has become a little bit of a proving ground. And I look at it almost like interesting to think of economic development as the challenge being, how do we find affordable housing for our workforce? How do we attract the people who are going to wash the dishes and serve the tables and things like that? That is such a, not to minimize that challenge, that's a real thing and really cool that a city that's winning cares about things like that rather than just being like, "Yeah, F you guys, we're on top." But that's not the same thing that's happening in Brunswick or Augusta or Bangor, right? We're trying to grow our economic base. And I think what we have going for us in other parts of the state is that for me personally, moving back to Maine and buying my first commercial building for $50,000, you can't do that most places in this world. So I always think of Maine as come for Portland, but stay for the opportunity that's north of there, which I'm sure just rubs you a little bit. That's our slogan. How did you guess? I love Portland. I'm here a couple of times a week. And I joke all the time with my friends. I'm like, yeah, I said it earlier, the gravity here is a little bit stronger. Once you're here, you think this is the whole world and it's hard to get out. But man, going a couple of exits north, it opens up a whole new world. And not that there's not challenges, right? There's challenges anywhere you go. You've got the population density here, you have all of the opportunity. You're also in the high rent district. You're also fighting for staff and things like that. So I think what I think of as Portland, when I'm traveling, Portland is our advertising. Everyone knows Portland and Portland's one of the. I would put Portland on par with the best cities in the world. I'd put it up there with Rome and Paris and Amsterdam and all of the best cities in the whole world. Portland is a truly, truly remarkable place. Also, what comes along with that is the affordability challenges. And what we have that I think is unique in Maine is not many of those other world-class cities are within spitting distance of the ocean and the mountains and affordable housing and great hiking trails and all the other things that Maine has to offer. So I, in some ways, revel a little bit in the challenges that Portland has because I think that's good for the rest of the state. At the same time, I feel very, very happy to live 45 minutes away from one of the best places to have dinner in the whole world.

Lisa Belisle: So I'm going to actually twist this a little bit because you've both alluded a little bit to workforce issues. And I think if I'm guessing, both Jenny and Phil, I know you both have dealt with workforce issues, but Jenny and Phil, I think, have very specific ideas about workforce given that you have a lot of craftspeople that you are trying to stay employed in your region. Certainly, Jenny, you've got workforce issues because you've got a burgeoning hotel business here in the city. And a lot of people who work for your hotels, I'm guessing, probably can't afford to actually live here. So which one of you would like to take on the workforce question?

Philip Hussey: I'll give a go first, then Jenny can tell me if I'm right. So we employ about a hundred people. Over half of those are makers. So people build in incredible furniture. And I think our average tenure is around 15 years. A third of the workforce has been there 25 years or more. So we're incredibly fortunate to have a team that is wildly talented. Our challenge is as we look out 10 years, the team's going to look different. A lot of folks have been building furniture for a long time. And so how do we think about building a new generation and training the next generation of makers is one of our biggest long-term challenges. I mean, this is the way back machine, so before I was alive. But when Tom started the business, in 1972, there were bankers..It was the heart of the back to the land movement. And so bankers and lawyers were leaving New York and Philadelphia and Boston to come move to New Gloucester and work with their hands because it was a different way of life. We still have people who want to come live that different way of life. The challenge is if you're 25 years old today and you're married and you want to have a family, it's really hard to do that in central Maine based on sort of today's economics. The makers who've been doing that for 25 years, their homes are paid off, they have camps, their children are graduated, they have grandchildren. The sort of situations are different. And so we have makers that commute an hour or two from their parents' house where they're living with their kids. And so we need to change those sort of dynamics meaningfully. And it's not too dissimilar from what Quincy's talking about on the housing front and on the childcare front. How do we build systems that support businesses that. The Auburn Industrial Park is full of folks like us. So that is a challenge. I don't have a great answer besides our drive is building an incredible culture. And I think work is always more fun with friends. And so when people bring their friends to work, we get to keep building that culture, but that is our challenge going forward.

Ginny Hussey: Yeah. I can't help but to think back to more challenging times post - COVID, specifically when we were opening the canopy and just trying to get the hospitality workforce back in person and kind of gear back up for like, okay, hospitality forward, let's go. I think now you mentioned culture, which is huge for me. And I think in the landscape, at least in Portland, there are so many hotels. There are so many different opportunities for a server, a bartender, a front desk agent. If you're interested in the industry, there are a lot of opportunities. So I'm very competitively passionate about making sure the environment in our property is the best that it can be so that people don't look elsewhere or they don't look for that one extra dollar in a different opportunity because we can afford them great opportunities in their day to day in our property. And then more broadly within Fathom, we can help to develop them for their next goals in this career. So I'm like mama bear on like, no, you're here with me now. You must stay with me forever. I got to make sure that you're taken care of, you're developing, you're learning, and you're growing. But in hospitality, it's interesting because I just picture it as like a ceiling. You get to a place where you're like, I want more, I deserve more, I'm ready for more. And it's often hard to find that opportunity within a singular hotel. Fortunately, we have a couple, so we like to get creative. But I think that's my challenge is just wanting to afford the great people I work with, the right opportunities and see them grow. But I think I've felt more encouraged recently about the workforce in general. And we used to post positions and you'd be like, okay, when are people going to apply? And now we're like, okay, people are applying, people are returning to work, people are interested in this field and time to find the right people and keep them happy and keep them growing. So I'm forever optimistic, but it is workforce housing challenges because yes, in many of the positions that we have at Canopy, they're in that $20 to $25 range. Yes, some great tip to opportunities too, but it's tough to make a living off of those wages, especially if you want to live in downtown Portland. Yeah, it's tough. And we see a lot of team members who have multiple jobs so they can make it work and they're good to make it work, but you always wonder how long can you do that before you want that work-life balance, that family, et cetera. So yeah, I think that's what always makes me nervous with, I think, our workforce now.

Philip Hussey: One thing I'd add, and Quincy was nice enough to invite me to a conversation the other day with one of our members of Congress, and there's a lot of things being done or attempted to be done to try and solve one-off issues. To me, a lot of these issues are structural. So you can go after it. We're going to open a childcare center or we're going to fund a development. We're not going to get there is my perspective with sort of one-off solutions. And so as we think about transformation, to me, it's on the structural side is what is it? New Mexico or Arizona that did free childcare for every child in the state? That's transformational, right? As an employer, that unlocks opportunity for your employees. So as we think about sort of what's next in the next decade, I hope it's transformational pieces, not initiatives that nibble at the edges that they're great for a community, but they're not going to solve the problem.

Lisa Belisle: I know you're looking at me like, I want to talk about workforce too. I know,

Quincy Hentzel: But you just ask me whatever you want to ask me.

Lisa Belisle: Okay. I mean, just answer whatever you'd like to say. Jump in on the

Quincy Hentzel: Workforce

Lisa Belisle: Question.

Quincy Hentzel: The workforce question?

Lisa Belisle: Yeah.

Quincy Hentzel: I mean, these two covered it pretty well, but we definitely have a huge workforce challenge in Maine. We just can't attract the people that we need for the workforce today, let alone for the workforce. We have the pie in the sky workforce we need for the future. And it's coupled in the unaffordability that we have in Maine, whether it's housing or childcare, lack of transportation, just all those obstacles that stand in the way of somebody who wants to work to be able to actually work. But I do think there's huge opportunity for Maine. I mean, first of all, I'll just say what Phil said about we need something hugely transformational in Maine. And we have a gubernatorial election. I'm not going to go political, but I will just say that I hope whoever is the next governor of Maine does something big. It's going to be a lot of money and they're going to have to just put a ton of money to fix one problem. We can't just dole out money, like little bits to all these issues or causes or efforts. We have to go big, whether it's like universal childcare or whether it's some huge housing initiative. We are so behind the eight ball. You're like the chief enthusiast. I'm like chief like black cloud over here. Things are so bad. But I say all this loving Maine. I am not from Maine. I'm from Illinois, but I moved here 20 years ago and I have made it my home and I will live here until the day I die. And I'm so passionate about what happens in Maine. And I dedicate every day of my life to try to make it better and try to find solutions to these problems. And I do think we have huge opportunity in Maine. I think getting people to move here is going to be really, really hard. Getting workers to move here. I think we can find a lot of people to move here who have the means to do so. To get workers to move here in the foreseeable future is going to be tough because they can't afford to buy a place. I think the stat I read last week was like 64% of Maine households cannot afford a median home, which is about like $438,000. So right there you've got 64% of the population who now can't buy that asset that leads to like building wealth. So we've got challenges in terms of attracting people to Maine. We're working on it every single day. Everyone up here, probably everyone in this room. But I do think we have an opportunity to figure out how to like increase productivity. We still have to try to attract more people here. That can't stop. But I think we have to be smart and think about how we can be more productive with the people that we have here, if that makes sense. Figure out how we can make Phil as productive as like 1.5 employees as opposed to just one employee. And we can do that. We've got the technology. Let me

Philip Hussey: Know if we figure that out. No,

Quincy Hentzel: I know. It's called cloning. No, I'm kidding. But we have the technology now to do that. We have AI. We can utilize these tools to help make businesses more productive and people more productive. And so I think Maine needs to look at it through two different solutions. We still have to try to figure out how to attract people here. And again, there's huge barriers to do that. But then how do we make people more productive? And that's going to take investment, businesses to invest in technology. The challenge we have with that is there's some huge, like 98% of the businesses in Maine are small business. And when I say small business, the SBA's definition is 500 or less employees. But really what I mean is like 20 or less employees. Businesses in Maine are really small. So I think somebody was here for Maine Tech Week, which is awesome. And I'm glad that you guys do that. And how do we help educate and inform businesses? What are the tools they can adopt to help? If they can't attract more workers, how can they make their workers more productive? And I do think Maine has, we can be smart about this and we can figure it out. So the workforce challenge is huge. It's real. We have more people dying than being born. I'm sure you've all heard that statistic. And I think by 2034, our working population, like those people who are in the working years, which is like 16 to 64, is going to decrease by 5%. So we have to keep the people that are here and then make up for that loss. So attracting people here is going to be hard, but we just have to be creative and think outside the box and figure out how we utilize all these new technology tools that are at our fingertips. How do we put it to use to help businesses grow, which is ultimately how the economy grows.

Lisa Belisle: So I do want to point out that we actually have a member of the state legislature here in the room. So Art Bell has been a long time, well, both within and outside of Yarmouth really. You've done a lot of great work with state government. So those of you who, since we don't have a Q&A technical at the end of this, the Q&A is to ask each other questions. So if you have specific transformational ideas that you'd like to actually have brought to the state house - The

Tobias Parkhurst: Guy right there.

Lisa Belisle: Art and the ideas. Art is your man. And I've watched his career over the years. So if there's anybody who can make it happen or at least listen to you about your ideas - No pressure. But no pressure at all. So Tobias, you've sort of touched upon the workforce. Do you have anything else that you'd like to add in this area?

Ginny Hussey: No.

Lisa Belisle: All right. I respect that. So one of the things that I personally think a lot about, so I know we have at least three current or former healthcare people within the room. At least three. How many people have a healthcare relationship here? Okay. All right. All right. So we've got, and I know that Tobias, you're on the board of MaineGeneral and it happens. I think actually all the people that just raised their hands, we all have a former connection to MaineGeneral. So we've all had the connection there. I've also connected to many other health systems around the state. And so for me, healthcare is always front of mind. I'm always thinking about not only how do we keep people alive, because I think that's a very basic issue. I think that's where we are set up right now is let's just keep people alive. But that's not really what we want. We want people to flourish. We actually want to be a well care system. We don't want to be a sick care system. And yet we are an aging population. We are an aging population. You've already said we're aging out, but we're not bringing as many babies in. Although I'm pretty sure you guys have at least what, two or three grand babies that you've brought in? Two ones. Two. Okay. So there you go. So you guys are doing a great job. Thank you for that. One year and three months for the new one. Okay. All right. So they're doing their job. I'm sure other people here are doing that. Kevin and I, we have one grand baby and we've brought multiple children back to the state, including Sean. So you're welcome for that also. But how do we enable people to flourish as they age and live happy lives, age in place? But how do we do that throughout the spectrum of health? Because right now that's not what we're doing. And since you're all really smart people and you're all thinking about how do we build Maine, how do you build a healthy Maine? What's your thinking about having healthy people to attract into or even just keep within the state that we currently have? I mean, you're looking for transformational. So I want to ask you. I mean, this is one of the things that I think Tobias, you and I were talking about is within healthcare, it tends to get very siloed. And we spend a lot of time in our own little sort of back and forth with ourselves within healthcare. But I don't know that we've done such a great job. I've been there 30 years, so I'm one of the people who has not done such a great job within healthcare. So how do we reach outside of the silo and talk to all the other smart people and figure some things out that's beyond just saying, "Oh, we tell the insurance companies it's their fault." Or the people, it's the opioid crisis, the pharmaceutical people. How do we go beyond blaming? Like what are some ideas that I'm hearing that. I mean, this, I know not an easy question. Gosh,

Tobias Parkhurst: If any of us have answered

Quincy Hentzel: That. This is off topic. I know. I'm like, wait, I wasn't prepared with

Tobias Parkhurst: This. I'll say this. I think when you have an industry that's truly broken and broken on a national level, that's nothing but opportunity. And I think that the mistake that we make is comparing ourselves to other broken organizations. And I think that allowing us to be just better than someone who also sucks is not just a cop out. It's a disservice to our customers, our employees and ourselves. I think that we should not allow the fact that we have a national system that doesn't work to be our excuse to do a shitty job. And I think that in healthcare specifically, we do that a lot. I think we compare ourselves to the metrics that the insurance companies give us and we reduce people to numbers on spreadsheets. And I think that when bad things happen to actual real people, we do ourselves a disservice of calling them numbers and not human beings. And I think that we have the ability to do better. And I think we have the staff that would like to do better. I don't know of a single organization that gets bigger and also better. And we're in a chapter of healthcare in the country, world, Maine, whatever, where big healthcare is the thing. And I think we need to humanize healthcare. I think we need to allow people to do the right job and incentivize people doing a good job and not just touching the metrics that make our billable hours better or whatever. I think it's a back to basics scenario with healthcare specifically. I think that the benefit that we have in Maine is that this is a small state. In general, has 4,000 employees. That's a tiny organization compared to what other organizations in this country are dealing with. We can affect change more easily than most organizations in this country, which means we should not be using other people's sucking as an excuse to not do a good job. We should be taking the fact that we are small and manageable and nimble and capable to do a better job and make those people look like the idiots that they actually are.

Quincy Hentzel: And I'll just add to what Tobias said. I totally agree with that. And I think one of Maine's best attributes is we are small. We are so connected. Anybody in this room is like one call away from like our senator, from the governor. So Maine could be a great test pilot in how to totally revamp our healthcare system. I don't know what it looks like. I don't have the answer. But if anybody can do it, I really feel like it's Maine and it could be an incredible opportunity.

Ginny Hussey: I don't have anything to add there.

Philip Hussey: I think from the employer side, I mean, the costs are just unbearable for everybody. I think last year our premiums went up 40%. Right? 40%. So you think about that on how do you deliver good care that's getting more and more expensive? It's an impossible solution. So I know there's a proposal floating around somewhere out there in the ethers of ideas on a regional collective. I think Maine is small, which is incredible, but also from a risk pool, hard. So how do we think to create a greater pool is interesting to me. The other piece, things I know to be true that it weighs a lot on our team and any team is everybody. People shouldn't have to worry about their health and getting care. And so when you have small businesses, and we are a larger small business. So I imagine the smaller you get, the higher the concern and worry go. And then the other piece is what can we do at the edges? ADUs are an incredible example. I think I read something the other day that we just took away regulations that allowed ADUs to be built. Is that right Quincy? I'm looking at you.

Quincy Hentzel: Did we?

Philip Hussey: In the last couple of years.

Tobias Parkhurst: What did we do?

Philip Hussey: How could you Art? In the last couple years, we've been building more ADUs, which allow

Quincy Hentzel: Did you say take away

Philip Hussey: The building? No, we took away some regulation that -

Quincy Hentzel: Oh yeah. We can now build ADUs. I thought take away. Yes, correct.

Philip Hussey: There was policies that were - So for

Lisa Belisle: People who don't know what an ADU is -

Philip Hussey: I should let one of the developers in the room.

Quincy Hentzel: Well, it's an Accessory Dwelling Unit. So you can now build on your property another unit that you can then rent out and bring in the revenue of rent. So it's actually, it is a great, easy way to bring a little bit more housing online.

Philip Hussey: Or have an elderly parent live there, right? So what else like that can we do that takes burden off of our stress off of the system that brings care down? I don't know, but I'm sure those ideas are out there and that's just one example.

Lisa Belisle: So this is going to be the last question. It's going to be the last question I ask, but I absolutely invite you to not only talk to the people that have been talking tonight, but also talk amongst yourselves because I happen to know, again, having interviewed many of you or spoken with many of you or just having just generally been around for a very long time in the state, that there's a lot of brilliance in this room. And whether you'd like to start a podcast, because Kaylee, she is a podcast producer. So if you'd like to do another version of Radio Maine with your own name involved, don't use my name. I don't like Radio Maine. You can be something other than Radio Maine with Kaylee. Kaylee can help you with that. Or if you're looking for somebody who can do some business advising, I know we have Shannon over here. Shannon actually does some business advising. And then we've got Alex and he's doing healthcare and transformational consultation. And this is just skimming the surface of the brilliance that is in this room. So what I would invite you to do is after I ask this last question, and then you all wander over and have some delicious snacks and maybe have a drink, maybe buy some pieces of art, which we'd really like and bring it back to your house, particularly Page. Page would like you to buy her art. So please feel free to buy some of Page's beautiful art. And by the way, thank you to the Fathom Group for hosting a lot of the art from our art gallery because you are keeping artists employed. So we really appreciate that. But talk to each other. And I'm not going to make you talk to each other if you don't want to talk. Although I know that Dustin, Dustin, you're a serial networker. Is that what you said? Yeah. Okay. So if you want to talk to somebody who really wants to talk to you, that's this guy right here and he has worn the coat to prove it. So I would just invite you to connect because I don't think any of us. I'm not suggesting any of you could solve the workforce crisis, the aging crisis, the healthcare crisis, but I do agree with you that transformation is really going to be the name of the game. And I think this is kind of what, this is where we are now. We're at a turning point and we can either race to the bottom as you've suggested that we definitely should not do Tobias, or we could transform and think about. I mean, we are a great state that has attracted a lot of people from all over the world for literally hundreds of years. I mean, I was talking to Deb Ivy. Where's Deb? There's Deb in the back. And what'd you say? How many generations back does your family go? Five generations, Deb's family goes back. And I think my family probably has met some of your family members because my family's worked in the Biddeford Mills. We moved to Bath. We came over from France. We were the Daughters of the King back in the, I don't remember, but like hundreds of years ago to populate most of the Eastern seaboard in New England area. So my family has been hanging out with Deb's family. I'm guessing there are other people in this room who have been hanging out, doing Maine things for a long time. We're still here. All right. I brought my Irish booty over, my little Irish-French booty over, and I've been working at it for longer than I've been alive. The genetics. So last question. I know I got a little off track there. I just got excited. I got excited. John and I are both, we're kind of the performers. If you ask John, he's an architect. He's almost as good as the skateboarder CEO. So John is an architect, high level architect and firm rainmaker for many years who's turned into an improv guy. Talk about, you can't make this stuff up. It's Maine. We love it. They're so creative. So final question for you is, we started with what kind of Maine are we building? The question I ask each of you is, what kind of Maine would our children want us to be building? And this is whether you have children or just a theoretical child. What kind of Maine do you think projecting forward? Because I just referred to Deb and I and our families go back, many other people in the. And they probably came over from other places possibly, unless you were born, you were a member of the indigenous community and you've been here for thousands and thousands of years, but a lot of people came from somewhere else. They came here because they wanted opportunity. They wanted to work. They wanted to farm. They wanted to work in the mills. They wanted a better opportunity than what they came from. And now we are those people for the next generation. So what is it that those generations are asking of us right now? It's a small question.

Tobias Parkhurst: I feel like the fact that that's the question is meaningful. I have a memory of when I first moved back to Maine, I was at a rotary club meeting. My mom was in the rotary club in Waterville, Maine, which was a very active rotary club at the time. And I can remember being in a meeting and a guy standing up and saying, "Hey, we did this great thing. We have these trails. It's fantastic. How do we get the kids to use the trails?" And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, "We're always asking the wrong question. You should be asking, you want the kids to be active. Yeah, screen time is the worst thing. We all can agree about that. But you're asking the kids to be you 40 years ago. You should be asking who the kids are and what they want and let's do that." So I think the important thing to ask, the world is not a mirror that you get to look back to your childhood. The world is a rapidly changing place. And the people that are in it right now, we have an economic development model in this state and the country that revolves around people looking for a job and moving to the job. People don't do that anymore. It's completely done. We need to create a place where people want to live. And your question is exactly the question we should be asking. What do the kids want to do? And the crazy thing is the kids don't want weird shit. The kids want quality of life, good stuff that we would also all appreciate. They want skate parks, they want ball fields, they want breweries, they want cool places to eat and fun places to recreate and good schools and all of the things that make a good community. The path is laid out in front of us. It's just a question of whether or not we want to do that or we want to go back in time and pretend that it has to do with attracting the next IBM to open a warehouse in the corner. I think for us that the future of Maine, if we're going to try to do that, and I'm here because everything I've done has been selfish. Everything I've done has been about making Augusta not exactly the most sought after place to live, more sought after. And not because of some economic plan or because I have a job to do that, but because I'm going to live there and I want my kids to want to live there too. So I don't think it's rocket science. I don't think we need to break it down into some really. I don't think it's like a super complicated thing. I think Maine is uniquely situated in being a very livable, beautiful, wonderful place to be. Let's just make that a little more accessible for other people and connect those dots, whether it's public transportation or improving school systems or whatever. More people solves all the problems that we have. Every single problem we can think of is solved by increased population. So creating a place where people can and want to live is the only thing that we need to do. And as a sparsely populated place, like we have towns in Maine, you can drive six hours north from here and you can have your own town and you can name it whatever you want because it's Township 452 or whatever. Don't worry about too many people. It's not a thing here. And if it's too many people in your neighborhood, send them north to Augusta. We've got plenty of room. I just feel like it's not rocket science. We have a problem in Portland that too many people want to be there and it's too badass of a place to be and it's too awesome and there's too much great stuff. But we have a ton of Maine north of here that can help ease that burden. And the more we can make Maine livable and the kind of place that you want to be and I want to be, it's not a complicated thing that involves consultants and high end mathematics. We just need to make this place as livable as possible. And I think the rest will kind of sort itself out.

Quincy Hentzel: But no weird stuff.

Tobias Parkhurst: But no weird

Quincy Hentzel: Stuff. Which is disappointing because I've been trying to build weird shit.

Tobias Parkhurst: We've been doing weird stuff the whole time.

Quincy Hentzel: Sorry. No

Tobias Parkhurst: Weird shit. Or we might need weird stuff. I don't know. At this point. Kidding.

Lisa Belisle: All right. Well, maybe we do, maybe we don't. It could be a difference. Would you like weird stuff or is there some other -

Tobias Parkhurst: Next forum. Okay.

Quincy Hentzel: Next month's forum. Okay.

Lisa Belisle: That

Quincy Hentzel: Weird stuff. Come on

Lisa Belisle: Back.

Quincy Hentzel: I mean, I agree with what Tobias said. It's not complicated. We need to create opportunity for everyone who wants to live here. And our best asset is our quality of life and the natural resources. And that's something that you can't recreate. You could throw the smartest people around a table in Gary, Indiana, and they are not going to be able to come up with a plan to give them the best quality of life and to give them the natural resources we have in Maine. And I think that's our leverage point. That's a good point. This goes back to the people who are scared of growth. We can have preservation of our natural resources and economic development. Those two things are not mutually exclusive, but we have to be smart about it and we have to protect the thing that we love, which is quality of life and natural resources. So I think the future is probably where's the opportunity and where can I live my best life? And that is undoubtedly here in Maine, but we have to be smart from going from here to there and make sure we don't mess things up and build weird shit.

Lisa Belisle: Unless you want the weird stuff. If you like to build weird stuff, please build weird stuff. We invite you to do that. Just maybe don't show it to Tobias because he doesn't want that.

Tobias Parkhurst: Run it by me first. Okay.

Lisa Belisle: All right. Smoking like a true CEO. I really love that. Okay.

Ginny Hussey: Well, when you mentioned children, I can't help to think of my own children who I often have conversations with my nine and 11 year old. And I'm like, "Okay, where are you going to college? What do you want to do?" And my daughter recently, she's like, "I'm going to go to NYU. I'm going to be an actress. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that." And then I immediately am like, "Well, Yarmouth has a great theater camp in the summer. And have you looked at this here?" All these things here in Maine. So I do think that our kids give us a lot of answers as to what they see, what they want. And is it in Maine? Maybe. Is it not there yet? I think we could get there. And I think just through my experience over the last dozen years boomeranging back to Maine, I think that we are on the trajectory of making Maine that place that isn't just Maine, but is also, I think you mentioned, bringing some of the world outside of Maine in the appropriate way so that it keeps attracting people from outside of the state, not just visitors, but I think of plenty of guests that I've known throughout the years who they fall in love with Maine and they fall in love with just the pace of life here, the natural beauty, the genuine hospitality that just is not just in hotels, but is amongst the people in this community that's super special and unique. So yeah, we already have so many boxes checked on how great and cool Maine is, and I think we just have to continue to dive into the future. And I think the rest of the things that we all know needs to be figured out in time, it will happen maybe after a little transformation, which is like, that's going to be my new word because I think that's a lot of what needs to happen next. But yeah, I think we'll get there. And I do think our kids can tell us a lot about what they want and maybe we can make it happen.

Philip Hussey: So I have a two and a half year old and nine month old. So I'm thinking I asked my two and a half year old what he wants. The answers lately are trains and ice cream. And so I think ultimately though, it's like what we want in Tobias sort of hit it on the head. We want our kids to be happy. So we want everyone in Maine to be happy. And so what is happiness? How do you measure that happiness? I have no idea. I think a lot of smart people have tried or do have measurements, but I left Maine for a while, came back. And I think as I think about, I hope my kids live in Maine, I also hope they leave and I hope they come back. I've had a number of college friends who weren't from. I went to school at Colby and Waterville and I had a number of friends who weren't from Maine, who left after school and since settled, not in Portland, but in Raymond, in Arundel, in Poland, one started a bagel business. And they're happy. They're really happy. And so I think continuing to tell that story of Maine is actually affordable and you can chart your own course, not just in Portland, but in places like Raymond and Poland and Augusta and Rome and all these other places is interesting. One thing I always, when down in New York for work, I tell people they should come visit us in Auburn. And you can actually get from JFK to Auburn faster than you can get from downtown Manhattan to JFK, which is not at rush hour. That is just true. And so I think we should remember that. So

Tobias Parkhurst: Good info right there.

Philip Hussey: Bangor is an hour and a half from New York City. You could commute every day from Bangor to a job in Manhattan. So we're not that far. And so as we stay going back to the beginning, as we stay connected, let's remember that we're not that far.

Tobias Parkhurst: That's cool, man.

Lisa Belisle: Tobias, do you have anything else you want to add or just that's cool, man?

Tobias Parkhurst: No, I'm good.

Philip Hussey: You should keep going. I can listen to you all night. You should keep going.

Lisa Belisle: I mean, I'm actually thinking podcasts, so we should talk. Skateboarder, brewing, all the things, but no pressure. It would have to be Radio Maine with Tobias Parkhurst as opposed to

Tobias Parkhurst: - Happy to participate.

Lisa Belisle: So we started with the question, and I want to thank the owner of the art gallery who happens to be my husband, Kevin Thomas, for the idea behind this, which is what kind of Maine are we building? Because I think that is a question. I mean, in the present, what are we currently doing? We also, we came into this from where have we been? What kind of Maine have each of you been building? And what kind of Maine have each of you been building? And I really think the biggest question is what are we building toward? And whether you're Jim Brady and you're literally building a hotel, which is the next thing you're building toward, or maybe you're Richard who's doing some development work in New Hampshire, but keeps sliding across the border into Maine. I mean, you can literally be building that or you can be Brit. She's one of our newer two Maine artists who keeps showing up at the Portland Art Gallery events. So now she gets to be on Radio Maine as well. You could be Jackie who likes to do acrylic landscapes and is very proud of it. So she's not a Portland Art Gallery artist, but I mean, really just whatever it is that you feel passionate about and that's what you should be focusing on because you can be tech, you can be healthcare, you can be consulting, you can be building, but just do what it is that you feel like you are best able to contribute. And that is what is going to be building Maine. And that's what we need to be building towards. And I think that the people who come in and they create within our state, they come and they stay, or they are born here and they leave and come back. Everybody's doing what really makes Maine possible. So I appreciate people who are coming here tonight because it is a beautiful summer evening. I'm sure you had many other ways that you could spend your time, but when we asked each of the people to be on our panel tonight, they all readily agreed. They are just as passionate about talking about building Maine as you have been about coming and contributing in your own way. So let's keep the conversation going. We invite you to come back to one of our first Thursday art gallery openings. Please talk to Page about her art and she can represent the art gallery well. Talk to any of the people who work at the Portland Art Gallery about the Portland Art Gallery. But also, please show up for Artful Escapes coming up in September. If you want to talk about John's adventure outside of the state, please go to Maine Tech Week if you'd like to hear more about what's going on in tech with Liam. Please join Karen and I online to do a virtual book group. There are so many opportunities. Just find what you are drawn to and just go there because that's really what it takes. Transformation starts one person at a time. And if you tap into the energy that you feel around something, no doubt you are going to be building the kind of Maine that your children will want to live in someday, theoretical or real. So thank you for coming tonight.