PORTLAND, Maine - Apparently it is not so easy to find a permanent home for a resident that weighs tens of thousands of tons and is more than 1,000 feet long.
The John F. Kennedy, an aircraft carrier christened by a 9-year-old Caroline Kennedy in 1967 and decommissioned three years ago, needs a place to retire. The Navy wants to donate it. If no viable host can be found, the carrier that aided U.S. military operations in Beirut and Operation Desert Storm will be turned into scrap.
The Navy accepted proposals from Portland and Rhode Island, but not everyone here wants the battle-tested carrier parked in the harbor.
"It's not a good fit," said David Marshall, a City Council member. "It would block a good portion of our view corridors, and it ends up being a potential liability for the city."
But Richard Fitzgerald, who is leading a nonprofit group's effort to bring the John F. Kennedy to Portland, said the carrier would set this harbor filled with barges, ferries and fishing boats apart from others in New England.
"It would be the best thing that ever happened to the state of Maine," Fizgerald said.
Last year the City Council gave the group permission to apply for the ship. The last of three selection rounds begins in February.
Last week, after the Portland group presented plans at a workshop on the project, some said an aircraft carrier just would not blend in amid a backdrop of lobster boats and repurposed warehouses and could block views of harbor islands. Half of the counselors present at the workshop expressed concern about the project. The group would have to agree to the ship's location.
A hearing and vote on the carrier has not been scheduled.