Great idea on lunch mob!

One way though to increase traffic to downtown is to clean the side walks from snow and trash, and improve visibility for walking traffic from cars and lighting at night with better lighting and how about a cop walking the beat 24x7 too.

The museum regular tells folks not to go into pickerring square from harassment of sorry folks with nothing to do and not enough supervision, put up a cam?

Geaghan has tried some things with music in the square, october fest, etc. and more needs to be done by the city.

How about a shuttle that drives just around the downtown area from parking garage.

Hey, I've got an idea. Let's build a huge casino near downtown Bangor because we know that the patrons will surely take regular breaks from the excitement of gambling to stroll the city, have dinner, and spend money. This is the best way to revitalize our city! We can also invite cruise ships to stop here in the summer. If that doesn't solve our problem, I don't know what will. But I have to stop writing now because I need to go to the mall area and grab a bit to eat.....

For those interested in the Bangor Lunch Mob, log in or signup on Facebook.com (it's free and not stalkerishly evil) and search for "Bangor Lunch Mob." Make sure you "join the group" to receive the announcements. On weekends I'll announce which day of that week the mob will rally. Then that morning I'll announce the randomly chosen downtown eatery. Bring your wallets & your appetites.

I'M GOING TO FRIDAYS!... wait they don't have those here

Applebees?

maybe the food just sux downtown or something like that...

I think Renee's final comment says it best. The public is just too lazy to park in the garage and walk to a restaurant. They would rather drive out to the mall area and park in front of some generic, out-of-the-box, out-of-state restaurant.

As far as snow removal - the city doesn't shovel snow from the sidewalks in front of businesses in downtown - the building owners do. I might add that the area's that the city does clear downtown, well they suck at it. It is downright dangerous to walk from the parking garage to West Market Square. Get some guys in orange jump suits from the jail to shovel the sidewalks downtown.

Parking is the real issue. We need a two hour limit with a $20 fine - no grace periods. After two hours you must move your car off the block. That should eliminate employees from the parking shuffle every few hours. We can learn from the mall. Employees cannot park inside the blue line at the mall. That space is for customers.

Parking in crosswalks, handicap spaces, fire lanes and other unauthorized spaces should incur a $100 fine. We need to make downtown user friendly for the customers.

Finally, the rash of restaurant closures is a national affliction. It is happening throughout the U.S.. Those local restaurants like Tesoro's, Geagan's and the Whig will survive because of customer loyalty, local branding and inventive marketing. Those that have closed have issues of their own. I sympathize with their employees, but castigate their owners for not paying attention to the market and their own wallets. Those closures will only make our local favorites stronger.

Every year the Lion's Club comes out with a restaurant coupon book ($20). Buy-one-get-one-free at Geagan's, the Whig, Governor's, the Racino Buffet are just a few of the offerings. Using it twice more than pays for it. That is inventive marketing and a financially sound investment.

None of the restaurants mentioned in Renee's article are in the Lion's Club book. Coincidence? I think not..........

I hate the idea that Ichiban might not be here anymore. I'd trade every chain restaurant near the mall to keep that one. Please come back!!!!!!

Sorry about Ichiban. For those who like Japanese food / sushi, you should try Green Tea Restaurant which is located near the Mall, next to where the UPS Store used to be. They do a good job.

Yes - but Ichiban was classy. Not that mall crap that everyone seems to be stuck on. What a shame. Now Bangor has even less going for it.

Bangorian, have you tried Green Tea? If you haven't, aren't you being a little prejudicial?

I'm w/ David889327 on this one. Also, I believe Green Tea is an Ellsworth based business.

Jeff - G.T. opened a location in Bangor last Fall. Their parent is in fact in Ellsworth.

Rod McKay, Economic Development Director for Bangor, says "I'd tell them that if they came down here and ate they'd probably still be in business." This loser has been employed by Bangor for far too long. Inherent problems for doing business in Bangor are people like McKay with no progressive vision on what a 2009, 2nd largest city in Maine, should look like. Add to that a (mostly) fuddy duddy City Council that is more concerned about people who live in downtown not being disturbed by nighttime city noises than it is about supporting a vibrant music and night life and restaurant scene for various ages, and you have your story of stalled Bangor, Maine. Instead of making idiotic spending decisions such as the no left turn on Howard Street that was then appropriately overturned by citizen referendum (we call this hick town government where a council cowtows to a two or three or four certain persons on a street such as Howard Street therein wasting precious taxpayer dollars on a boondoggle), the City of Bangor should be using funds to seek out new businesses.. I don't live in Bangor (nearby) but it always amazes me how all of you people who do live in Bangor fail to rally the cause and vote to toss out some of the fuddy duddy's such as Susan Hawes or Rod McKay, the list can go on. Only a substantial turnaround in Bangor City Government, I fear, will help downtown Bangor. Bangor needs a City Council along the lines of Portland where businesses are courted by the city, where many of the needless rules and regulations that are imposed by Bangor are relaxed/rescinded therein inviting with open arms businesses to come here. And they all wonder why young people move from here. I am so sick of hearing "Bangor sucks" from people who come here from other places. It is sad that the 2nd largest city in Maine has yet to do better.

I am a downtown business owner and have been for many years. I have had the great opportunity to see many store fronts fill with unique eateries as well as other businesses. Sadly I now drive around and see many shops closing up and although many may not have had the best food or service none the less it's depressing to see. One thing I will say as a restaurant owner is that I strive on the quality of our foods and service and I realize the value of each and every person who enters my door and we greatly appreciate all who frequent our business but I can say as an established compny we too feel the strain from the economy. Our dedicated clientel continues to come but with less frequency, our product which are delivered have increased many times to ridiculous amounts and we eat that cost as long as we can so not to increase the cost frequently to our customers. We get sur charges by the item, by the truck load and the minimum orders have increased which means even if your business is slowing down some the distributors don't care and expect a minimum delivery. What does this mean? You either meet thier minimum and risk tossing unused foods out which is a loss of profit or you shop at the local super market for smaller quantiies and end up paying the higher cost. I continue to keep our faith in our employees who are the strength of our company and that they as well as we strive to make each meal the highest quality with the best flavor and we are very grateful for all who come but even with this confidence in our staff and product we do not hesitate to acknowledge that we too can become a victim of the current times.

Downtown is not closed, it offers so much and although you may find it somewhat hard to get close parking then consider this. If it werent for the small business who no matter what weather, no matter the cost they continue to arrive each day to work feeling great about their company and ever so happy to be making a contribution to our great community. Please make the same commitment to your community by visiting those of us who conitnue to operate, continue to employ your neighbors and continue to strive to stay out of the unemployment lines.

On another note: I passed Ichiban on my way home this evening and I gladly saw the lights on and the parking lot full. Be very careful of the wording you hear as I was told by 2 of our dedicated customers that they heard we closed our doors. Not True. Don't rely on what you hear. Go park downtown some day and stroll the streets and get to know what you have to enjoy and who you could greatly support.

Thank you seriouslynow, when i heard Ichiban closed my heart started beating faster... Thank for letting us know it was still open. Sushi yum!!

From conversations with other restuarant owners i understand the downtown low-budget lunch crowd of restaurants are still doing well.

Bagel Central better not close!!

is low budget always the best? The longer a business is in business the higher it costs to run it especially if you have no turnover in employees which on one hand is a great sign of a place to work but on the other hand becomes more costly to run each year. Lets look at low budget eateries. Lets say you get a chicken salad sandwich for example: low budget is pre cooked, frozen dark and white meat and who knows what else may be in it such as grisel etc. You get what you pay for as an eatery which may be considered reasonable but not low budget may have a chicken salad made of fresh cooked chicken breast. This is just a minor example. Other ingredients you may be consuming would be canned and frozen pre made high sodium and chemical induced products. Not always fresh which in the long run will actually save you on healthcare if you really looked at what you're eating. Now lets look at non edible products such as paper ware. Who cares what you carry your take out in? Right? Maybe not. As consumers want to recycle more and prefer biodegradable products for the enviroment how many times do you go to a low budget eatery and get styrofoam? How about the cost of that compared to biodegradable high quality paper? These are just somethings you should really consider when going out. If you prefer fresh healthy foods which taste great and the companies are taking steps toward a greener enviroment then there is a cost to it. This is in no way to discourage low buget food establishments it's mearly to point out that you get what you pay for.

As I had mentioned before becareful how you read things. I was confronted for the 3rd time this week from a customer stating they were told we closed our doors. Please continue to visit downtown as there are many of us and not all low budget but also high quality that love being here and want to stay. Come on BDN report on those who are opened and not just focus on the closures.

How sad it is that we have business that are part of the community and we as members of the community are not doing our part and patronizing them. In less that a 5 minute drive you can dine at Perrihouse, Thistle's, The Whig, The Bagel Shop, Paddy Murphy's, Ichiban - and they all are family owned businesses that put out a great product. The folks that own them are there working hard to survive. There has been too many rumors going around about each of them closing. I just heard last night that Thistle's was closing yet if you ask the Rave family, they are staying. I have called each of these establishments and have been told that they were staying. Instead of following the rumor mill and repeating the stories being told, maybe we as members of this great city of Bangor need to stop in and dine with them. I think the Lunch Mob is a start, but it needs to go further. We need to spend our dollars with the folks who are part of our community.