Age-Friendly New Gloucester &
Building Livability in New Gloucester

Contact: Connie Justice (cjustice.newgloucester@gmail.com) or Julie Fralich (j.fralich@gmail.com)

New Gloucester joined the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities:  2024-04-14

Governance:  Appointed Municipal Committee supported by BLING, an all-volunteer group 

BLING (Building Livability in New Gloucester) has been working on age-friendly projects since 2022.  

BLING Highlight of 2023 - PACE CAR DRIVER PLEDGE

Our community survey underscored that people need help to get around safely and easily when walking or biking.  One of our first priorities was to implement traffic calming techniques.  

We rolled out the first PACE CAR DRIVER program in Maine.  Residents sign a pledge to drive the posted speed limit; share the road with pedestrians and walkers; stop to let pedestrians cross the street; and not to use the phone or text while driving.   We signed up people at our Community Fair in August 2023, and have continued to collect signatures online.  We designed and printed a PACE CAR (I Drive the Limit) decal for anyone who wants one for their car.  

There is a lot of buzz and positive support for this approach.  As a rural town, we have limited local resources; little control over speed on state roads; no town police department, no sidewalks, one traffic light, and few crosswalks.  Many commuters and others drive through our town at high speeds and make the roads unsafe for all.  We want to create a community culture that supports and actively works to make the road safer with slower traffic.

BLING's Initiatives and Accomplishments:

Planning

• Community Survey and Report

• Community Listening Session

• Work plan

Housing

• Sound the Alarm – free 10-year smoke detectors installed, collaboration among Red Cross, New Gloucester Fire Rescue and BLING

• Sand Buckets for Neighbors.  Volunteers fill and deliver sand buckets for icy walkways.

Transportation

• Pace Car Pledge. Over 70  people have signed the PACE Car pledge.  Be a safe driver and agree to

follow the speed limit and not text when driving. 

• Traffic Calming.  Successful advocacy for new speed limit signs, especially by schools.

• Speed data collection around town.

• Vision Zero. Partnering with Gray for a regional approach to developing safer streets. 

• Online maps and links for trails and road walks in the area

Communication and Information

• Email newsletter

• Website and Facebook page

• New Gloucester Xchange -- a local online volunteer media/news source https://ngxchange.org/