From Kenneth Smith, Chairman of the Portsmouth Planning Board

How do we make Portsmouth the best place to live and work for everyone? Faced as we are throughout this state with a myriad of increasingly complex challenges - ranging from disappearing open space, increasing traffic congestion, and a shortage of affordable housing - answering this question is no small task.

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July 18, 2003
Sharing information is key in building community
PORTSMOUTH - It doesn’t matter whether or not the door is open, if you don’t know it’s there.

July 17, 2003
Electronic kiosk could promote city’s arts, history
PORTSMOUTH - When it comes to historical, artistic and cultural attractions, Portsmouth enjoys an embarrassment of riches.

July 16, 2003
Mixed-use redevelopment proposed for key city areas
PORTSMOUTH - A citizen’s group wants the community to take control of development in order to make the rest of Portsmouth as special as downtown.

July 15, 2003
Central issue: City hub
PORTSMOUTH - This is a tourist-based city, and with that in mind, volunteers involved in the Portsmouth Listens project want to keep downtown vital, accessible and beautiful for visitors and residents to enjoy.

July 14, 2003
Citizens group reports land preservation is top priority
PORTSMOUTH - A citizens group wants to see one out of every four acres of land in the city protected as open space.

July 13, 2003
Leave keys at home: Walk, bike around city
PORTSMOUTH - What a wonderful place it could be ... if more people opted for foot power instead of the automobile.

July 12, 2003
Push is on to address affordable housing crisis
PORTSMOUTH - Middle-class residents are being squeezed out of living in Portsmouth. That’s the conclusion of an ad hoc study-circle group of residents brought together to analyze the city’s housing issue as part of the second phase of the Portsmouth Listens project.

July 11, 2003
Volunteers unveil vision for city’s future
PORTSMOUTH - Pedestrian and bicycle paths looping through the city, resource directories listing Portsmouth’s cultural and human resources, citizen committees bringing affordable housing and new vitality to city neighborhoods - all of these suggestions and more were made to the Planning Board on Thursday night by people who live here.

July 9, 2003
Listens group to present findings
PORTSMOUTH - How do we make Portsmouth the best place to live and work for everyone? City officials are urging residents to attend a special Planning Board meeting on Thursday in order to hear many answers to that question. The session will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, and will be televised on Channel 22, the city’s public-access station.

April 30, 2003
Portsmouth Listens hears about project
PORTSMOUTH - Nearly 300 citizens spent four weeks this winter answering the question, "How can we make Portsmouth the best place to live and work for everyone?"

April 17, 2003
Group prepares to activate vision
PORTSMOUTH - Portsmouth Listens will now be trying to put words into action. After listening to more than 300 residents in various study circles since last December, and hearing their feelings on a variety of different challenges and priorities for the city, the volunteer group is now set to distill those thoughts into an action plan.

March 30, 2003
Portsmouth Listens, air vision for the future of the city
PORTSMOUTH - Nearly 300 citizens spent four weeks this winter answering the question, "How can we make Portsmouth the best place to live and work for everyone?"

February 16, 2003
Evolution of Portsmouth
PORTSMOUTH - If all goes according to initial plans, the Thomas J. McIntyre Federal Building will be razed around its 40th birthday, making it one of the youngest city buildings to get the wrecking ball.

February 9, 2003
Study circles focus on city’s downtown
PORTSMOUTH - Take a look inside the Portsmouth Listens study circles helping to shape the community vision for the coming master plan update in the city.

January 27, 2003
Panel: Let history be a guide
PORTSMOUTH - Even though it may be out of reach, Tom Watson, chairman of the board at Strawbery Banke, encouraged civic-minded residents to reach for "utopia" as they plot the city’s direction for the next 10 years.

January 17, 2003
Volunteers set to hash out city’s master plan
PORTSMOUTH - City officials Wednesday night assured 250 residents who plan to participate in master plan study circles that they’re not wasting their time.

January 11, 2003
People, not consultants, make a city
PORTSMOUTH - Work to update the city’s master plan is under way and a premium is being placed on public participation and input.

November 16, 2002
Portsmouth Listens hand delivers 5,259 invitations to participate in city’s master plan
Thirty-six volunteers delivered 5,259 Portsmouth Listens brochures Saturday in a citywide canvas to stimulate citizen input into Portsmouth’s next master plan. Portsmouth Listens recruited volunteers through the citywide Neighborhoods Committee, word of mouth and donated newspaper ads.