Apartment Choice

LEWISTON — The city is seeking a large federal grant that would address housing and other issues in the poorest areas of downtown Lewiston , and neighborhood advocates say the funds could go a long way toward implementing goals they've had for years.  If successful in its bid, Lewiston could receive $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and what's known as a  Choice Neighborhood Planning and Action Grant. The city council approved the application last week, and will commit $237,500 in local Community Development Block Grant funds during implementation if the grant is successful.  The city hopes the funding can lead to long-term changes in the downtown neighborhood , where nearly half of residents live below the federal poverty level . According to 2015 census figures, the median family incomes in downtown census tracts 201 and 203, are $12,417 and $16,047, respectively.  The main purpose of the funds is to plan and execute major housing...

The long retail spine of Sydney Road, Brunswick, just north of Melbourne's CBD, was once a prosperous trading outpost on the way to the goldfields. These days it's a bohemian mix of variety stores, op shops, halal butchers and Lebanese bakeries. Take a side street to the west, however, and a different picture emerges. Sandwiched between Sydney Road and the Upfield train line is an area undergoing rapid and widespread transformation. Light industry is fast being replaced by mid- rise apartment buildings , their inhabitants attracted by the short commute into town and cheaper prices than in the city's south-east. The quality of these units is, on the whole, depressingly bad; think poor ventilation and bedrooms that "borrow" natural light (a weasel word for being dark and windowless). The occasional jazzy façade tries feebly to make up for otherwise cheap construction amid a chorus of greys. At ground level, carpark roller doors alternate with mean pocket garden...

OPENING All Saints (PG) John Corbett stars in this Christian drama as a real-life pastor who saves his church after taking in refugees from Southeast Asia. Also with Cara Buono, Barry Corbin, David Keith, Patrick Johnson, and Gregory Alan Williams . (Opens Friday) Birth of the Dragon (PG-13) This martial-arts film set in San Francisco in the 1960s is about the showdown between a young Bruce Lee (Philip Ng) and a Chinese kung fu master (Xia Yu). Also with Terry Chen, Billy Magnussen, Darren E. Scott, Yee Jee Tso, Ron Yuan, Qu Jingjing, and Simon Chin. (Opens Friday) Bushwick (NR) This thriller is about Texan secessionists seizing New York City by force, with Dave Bautista and Brittany Snow as two New Yorkers trying to survive. Also with Christian Navarro, Arturo Castro, Jeremie Harris, Angelic Zambrana, and Leo Minaya. (Opens Friday in Dallas) A Gentleman (NR) Sidharth Malhotra stars in this Indian comedy as a boring American -based realtor and a dashing Mumbai undercover agent...