Biddeford overnight center expands hours, undergoes renovations [Video]

Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center says things have been going well in the three months since the city of Biddeford cleared the homeless encampment at Mechanics Park.The City Council voted in June to approve a plan to use Seeds of Hope as a temporary overnight center. The city is enforcing a no-camping rule. “We just don’t think it’s a dignified existence for anybody living outside,” said Mayor Martin Grohman. “And it’s not safe, especially going into the winter.” Vassie Fowler, the executive director of Seeds of Hope, commented, “I think we have to understand that, even though the conditions at Mechanics Park were inhumane and no one should have to live like that, that was their home. We collectively took it away from them.”Maine’s Total Coverage spoke to several people moving out of the camp on July 8. Some were upset about leaving a place they called home; others were …