By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
In 1976, after reading Jack Kerouac’s novel, “On the Road,” Richard Rottkov, set off on a 14-week, hitchhiking trek across North America, seeing the continent’s beauty firsthand, from Mexico to British Columbia.
But now, the newly elected South Portland Land Trust (SPLT) President said as a father to two young boys, he’s reluctant to promote hitchhiking as a safe means of travel.
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I grew up,” Rottkov says from the living room of his home. “It was kind of like a coming of age trip.”

Rottkov says he camped out nearly every night and snuck into college dorms to shower, all the while scoping out a potential graduate school.
He grew up in New York’s Catskill region, he was a teenage reveler at Woodstock and he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont.
Then Rottkov moved to New York City? And stayed for 18 years?
“Living in the city was fun,” Rottkov says. “Everyone should try living in New York for six months.”
Rottkov says he and his wife didn’t expect to move so early in their careers, but were happy to leave the city behind for South Portland in 2002. That’s not to say Rottkov doesn’t miss some of city life.
“I still haven’t found good Chinese food in Maine,” he says with a smile.
An adjunct English professor at Southern Maine Community College and an education technician at South Portland High School, Rottkov is SPLT’s second most senior member – with a five-year tenure – behind former president and newly elected city councilor Tom Blake.
SPLT is a private, non-profit organization with a goal of preserving open space and expanding trail networks.
“A lot of our vision has come from Tom Blake,” he says.  
Rottkov says his goals as president and SPLT’s goals are to take more proactive measures to save open spaces and create greater pedestrian access throughout the city, but particularly in the West End so people will have the option of walking or biking through the expanse west of Evans Street, including the Maine Mall and Clark’s Pond areas.
SPLT envisions a footbridge connecting Long Creek to the Portland International Jetport and connecting with Portland’s Stroudwater Trail. Rottkov says he understands the jetport may have some security concerns about such a trail, but he hopes the city of Portland will be receptive to the trail connection. He says the trail could be a means of promoting stewardship and could encourage the jetport to become a partner in environmental concerns.
Preservation and conservation don’t have to be at the expense of business or economic growth, Rottkov says.  
“We do come across as an all or nothing thing,” he says. “My greatest challenge as president of SPLT is to work with the city of South Portland to try and strike what I think will be a more proper balance.”
Rottkov says a crucial component of finding balance is continuing to update the city’s zoning ordinances. Through the work done by a zoning improvement committee and planning official, the city council updated ordinances regarding nonconforming lots – a set of regulations that had not undergone any substantial changes in more than 20 years before this fall.  The committee is currently at work to update and strengthen the city’s environmental regulations.
The outdated ordinances make the planning board’s difficult job even harder, Rottkov says.     
“In most cases, they’re giving the developers the go ahead,” he says.
Rottkov says Cape Elizabeth’s recently updated Comprehensive Plan could serve as a model – particularly its emphasis on clustered development – for striking a balance.
While some Cape Elizabeth residents say multiplex housing goes against the town’s rural character, town officials say compact development is a method of preserving large natural areas rather than small strips here and there. Another provision of the updated plan requires developers to increase open space from 40 percent to 45 percent of the subdivision.
“I’m optimistic that [South Portland] can do better,” Rottkov says. “I’d like to figure out what the community wants. We know taxes are high in South Portland, but we think the public would support a bond to preserve open space.”
Natural areas may have been harder to come by in Rottkov’s previous place of residence, but his work certainly allowed him to cover a lot of square miles.
Rottkov’s original goal was to be a general manager for a major sports team. Instead, he entered the journalism field, covering sports for New York City newspapers and the Associated Press and United Press International. Covering soccer games during Brazilian soccer star “Pele’s” stint with the New York Cosmos was a highlight, he says.  
From 1979 to 1984, Rottkov was the public relations director for the U.S. Soccer Federation. In the position, he traveled with the Olympic and World Cup teams to China, Mexico, Europe and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
“I love the fact that it’s an international game,” he says. “People can communicate so much better on the field.”
In 1985, Rottkov went into healthcare public relations, where he stayed for five years, before realizing he had always wanted to teach.
While completing a teaching fellowship at New York University, Rottkov got a job driving a taxicab.
Rottkov says he learned how to teach at a Harlem middle school, where he instructed students in English and history. Two weeks after his oldest son, Liam, was born, he and his wife moved to Long Island and he began teaching at a high school in Queens.
Moving to Maine, he says, offered an opportunity to get involved in local activities. He says joining the Small Elementary School PTA was instrumental in helping him become involved in the community. He was president of the South Portland Democratic Committee until last winter. The group led the local push to impeach President George Bush, which Rottkov says he is disappointed to see hasn’t made any recent progress. Rottkov also helps head the South Portland High School debate team and environmental club. He coaches soccer and little league.
While balancing work and family has left less time to get involved, Rottkov says promoting SPLT’s mission is a top priority.
“The land trust is very dear to my heart,” he says.