In its Friday, Jan. 20 editorial, “Renewal Done Right,” the BDN condemns the urban renewal of the 1950s and 1960s — which bulldozed large sections of the historic center of Bangor — calling the cure “worse than the disease.” The editorial goes on to recommend single-use zoning. This, too, was one of the mantras of mid-20th century urban renewal which also contributed to the death of our inner cities.
If Bangor is to succeed in revitalizing its downtown it must create a lively center, a place people choose to spend their time as residents, workers, customers and visitors. The center must be a place that is vital and inviting for most if not all of the 24-hour day.
The days when people walked from their homes to buy groceries, a hammer and nails, newspapers or a cup of coffee may be long gone in Bangor, as the editorial asserted, but it is those activities that continue to make many of our cities and towns great places to live, work, shop and visit.
The Old Port area of Portland is just one of many examples. Many people would welcome the experience of working, shopping, living and relaxing in a vibrant city center where all day-to-day needs are convenient and within walking distance of work and home. The goal for downtown Bangor should be to re-create the broad mix of uses and activities that urban renewal destroyed 50 years ago.
Fortunately, downtown Bangor retains a remnant of its past. Main Street north of Union Street, Central Street, Hammond Street and a few of the side streets still offer the urban experience that has made many of our American towns and cities successful today. Buildings along this Main Street corridor often have several uses. The street level is typically commercial, with shop windows facing the sidewalk, creating a lively pedestrian environment and streetscape. Tradesmen, offices and originally residential uses fill the upper floors of these buildings.
Many of these buildings are fine examples of 19th and early 20th century architecture and urban design that could be used to develop design guidelines for the redevelopment of central Bangor. These buildings come right up to the sidewalks, creating a well-defined streetscape. Many of the building facades were designed with a base (the commercial street level), a middle and a top which maintain a human scale to this urban environment. The buildings are roughly of similar height, protecting the street level from severe winds and downdrafts.
Unfortunately, the fine urbanism of the Main Street corridor is too limited. Walk one block and downtown Bangor quickly loses its appeal. Close to 50 percent of the area east and west of Main Street is dedicated to surface parking. The few newer buildings typically have a single use, are set back and separated from the sidewalk by parking and/or planting and do nothing to create a streetscape or an urban environment that is attractive or appealing.
The revitalization of Bangor’s center can succeed if the city encourages new development based on the positive attributes of its Main Street corridor. Bangor would be far wiser to encourage a wide mix of uses, instead of single-use zoning, with new high-density urban housing and hotels being a prime component of any initial development.
New downtown residents and guests would create a demand for new commercial activity and would create an active downtown area that does not shut down at the end of the working day. New commercial activity would in turn create an urban environment that is more attractive to office workers and visitors.
All new development should be encouraged to build up to the sidewalk and to include a mix of uses including street-level commercial space. Downtown buildings have a responsibility to create a positive urban environment and should not primarily be monuments to their owners or designers.
Surface parking lots should be discouraged as they do nothing to create a positive urban environment. Instead, parking should be incorporated into new buildings and should avoid dominating any street frontage.
Bangor has many great attributes on which to build a revitalized center. We need to recognize that successful urban centers require a mixture of many uses gathered in an urban environment and streetscape that is inviting and attractive.
Clifton Page has practiced urban design and architecture in Maine, Boston and London. He lives in Blue Hill.
The citizens told you not to tear down the beautiful example of Richardson Romanesque Railroad station. We said it gave architectural interest to the town, You tore it down anyway and built some courregated iron shacks some of which are empty; others are falling into the river. The citizens told you not to tear down the opera house: it had a marvelous old stage. You tore it down and left an empty lot that is still there. The citizens told you not to tear down the old city hall with its striking clock tower. You went ahead and tore it down and put in an ugly little parking lot. And now you want to revitalize the down town? We told you what to do 35 years ago. You didn’t listen then. You won’t listen now. You’re not interested in a vital downtown . You just want the down town to make money for you. It won’t . Downtown is bleak and crumby. You took all the good stuff away and now it’s just a bunch if strange smelling gifty shoppees selling the standard “Made in China” crap, dirty, empty store fronts and streets full of trash which apparently Bangor isn’t interested in enough or is too cheap to clean up.
If you can’t even keep the streets clean you don’t have what it takes to “revitalize” something you destroyed.
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“Surface parking lots should be discouraged as they do nothing to create a positive urban environment. Instead, parking should be incorporated into new buildings and should avoid dominating any street frontage.”
Who wouldn’t take a flier on doing this? After all, the astronomical additional costs of incorporating parking into new buildings wouldn’t require astronomical rents be charged, right?
Reminder to the ‘big heads’ in city hall: Less than a year ago you had 2.5+ million dollars a year available for just the purpose outlined in this article. A large sum of money not available to any other city in the state. And where did that money go? It was wasted on the 20 year financing of a new high school basketball arena. Too bad your ‘big heads’ were not large enough to carry a vision that might have led to a real renaissance for the Queen City. A renaissance that might have revitalized our dying city and made it a great place to live, work, shop and visit.