BANGOR, Maine — Foul language, shouted curses, public intoxication, panhandling, and fistfights — even in broad daylight.
These are examples of behavior regularly witnessed in the Pickering Square area downtown the last few months that have local merchants, patrons and city officials looking at ways to make a prime downtown destination much more hospitable.
“It’s almost a gantlet of vice you have to go through down there sometimes,” said Niles Parker, executive director of the Maine Discovery Museum on Main Street. “Is this really what you want to have in the heart of the city, especially near a children’s museum? It’s pretty dreadful and it sends a bad message to and for the people of Bangor.”
Parker, who says he has seen fights involving young people and transients, people passed out on lawns and in the park, and regularly hears people screaming four-letter words outside, said the lack of civility and unacceptable social behavior has increased noticeably in the last few months.
“What I find objectionable — despite being from New York — is they yell a lot and use foul language,” said Kathy Tenga-Gonzalez, founder of Bangor’s River City Cinema, which has put on a free outdoor classic movie series at Pickering Square each summer since 2004.
Bangor City Councilor Nelson Durgin talked about an older woman who has to use a cane to get around and regularly uses the bus. She called him to tell him about an incident that scared her.
“She got off the bus, looked around and saw some guy staring at her, and when she moved, he did, too. He never did anything, but it made her very nervous,” Durgin said.
Last week, Durgin personally experienced Pickering’s increasingly seamy side.
“My wife and I were at Paddy Murphy’s having lunch and parked behind Freese’s,” he recalled. “We had a guy come up and ask us for a couple dollars so he could go help a friend.”
Councilor Ben Sprague, who lives in a Broad Street apartment overlooking Main Street, said it’s not just homeless people, the mentally ill and transients causing trouble.
“I think we have some people down there who have nothing better to do,” he said. “There’s a younger crowd of juvenile delinquents occasionally harassing people, too.
“It can be a little dark and intimidating down there, and a lot of people working downtown are used to it, but I think the real worry is people coming in to visit downtown from outlying areas who may be turned off either by a bad experience or a bad perception.”
While the Bangor Police Department has increased its presence in the area recently, people like Parker would like to see more fundamental, long-term remedies.
“I have noticed an increased police presence there, especially lately, but I don’t think it’s a police problem so much as a design and policy issue with all the traffic and idling buses there,” he said. “Nobody’s using the park to sit and read if it’s noisy and they’re breathing diesel fumes. I think they’ve got to come up with a new design.”
Durgin and Sprague said they hope to be able to provide enough budget leeway for police to add foot and bicycle patrols downtown. Other ideas include better lighting for the garage and the square, closing Broad Street to all traffic and relocating the bus station area in front of the parking garage.
“The council is aware that there are citizens’ concerns about safety and security in the downtown area,” Durgin said. “We’re not at the point of making any kind of public announcement as to what will be determined, but we are working with police to clean it up, so to speak, to keep people from being offended or frightened by inappropriate behavior.”
Why aren’t there some beat cops on duty there to break up the rowdy crowds and drive off the miscreants? Nothing is better than a cop on foot patrol to keep the riff raff in line.
They had more patrol about 5 years ago which seemed to work…temporarily. The cops either think they have a lasting effect or just not enough on the payroll.
Bangor PD is down many officers right now and they’re having trouble finding suitable applicants. In the course of the day the officers they do have often times need to prioritize the calls they respond too which obviously hurts response times and perception.
I witnessed a drug sale a year ago in mid afternoon. Yes I told the police.
The police are down 7 officers and need a lot more.
To be honest I would not want to be a cop today especially here. Maybe if they paid better and had more officers it might work but right now there are so many issues going on and not enough of them out on the streets this city needs to look hard at that and what these cops have to put up with on a daily basis with all the garbage out there!! Keep coming to Maine people and the city keeps raising our taxes to pay for these freeloaders while we work hard to make a living they do drugs, commit crimes and get away with it due to having a mental illness go figure, keep providing them with benefits GA on our tax dollar.
It’s been that long?? I had someone come into my office last week saying a complete stranger pulled up in a car asking if they wanted any white!?!
Pickering square doesn’t have to be the hub for the city bus route. Why not stick it out by the airport and have Pickering Square just be a stop.?
Portland does that and it was a lot better and accessible. Cleaner too.
Portland has a downtown bus terminal where people can wait inside in comfortable, secure surroundings. There is also a stop at the bus/train station, but that is not the hub of the system. But you can take a Concord bus to Portland and easily transfer to the city bus. Coming back to Bangor, the Concord bus gets in less than half an hour after the last BAT bus goes by, leaving passengers trying to get downtown stranded out on Union Street.
Why would you need to get downtown after returning on a Concord bus? If you have a car you can park it at the Concord station; if you don’t have a car you don’t have a car—doesn’t matter if you’re on Union Street or Main Street.
Unless you live near downtown. Centralizing encourages less car use, which saves people money, which allows them to spend some of the saved money at local businesses, which stimulates the economy. Moving the bus hub out of town encourages more car use, which costs people money… connect the dots.
In response to Bangorian, most city bus systems operate on a “spoke” design that brings the major routes together periodically, cutting down on wait times. As the system grows, outlying routes like the Mall Hopper and the new Odlin Road bus can be added. What you don’t want to do is strand people for long periods of time in outlying areas.
Downtown Bangor is more residential than it used to be, and the bus system is not only, or even primarily, for low-income people. As the costs of the car culture become more apparent, more people will choose to use the bus system — unless it is marginalized by making it less convenient. I have no idea what you mean by the 9-11 homeland security comment.
…and the bus system is not only, or even primarily, for low-income people.
In any city other than Bangor, i would agree wholeheartedly. But up here it seems to be the “day program” of the shelters.
Good idea.
Lousy idea. The bus needs to have a downtown hub. Most of the people causing the problems in Pickering Square aren’t there to use the bus anyway. They’re just hanging out and being obnoxious. I have heard my fellow bus passengers complaining about it. What Bangor needs is a centralized bus station for the BAT, Concord Coach and Greyhound, as well as new services (summer bus to Bar Harbor, eg), and the logical place to do this is downtown. Improve security and more people will feel secure about using the bus system. Please don’t stigmatize public transportation, one of the best investments a community can make, because of the behavior of miscreants nearby. The bus is not the problem.
It’s not that the miscreants are riding the bus, it’s that the diesel fumes make the area unusable for other people. If they moved the bus area to the other side of the garage, that might help while keeping the buses downtown.
its not the diesel fumes, buses these days idle much cleaner. its the poorly maintained taxis that spew blue smoke wherever they go.
I disagree with you. The bus needs to have a downtown access point, but it doesn’t need to have a downtown hub. Most of the people riding the bus come from outlying areas. Last time I checked, there was not a huge population of lower income, bus riding people living in downtown housing. The only reason you think that there needs to be a major hub there, is because there is a major hub there. You security, 9-11, Homeland Security types lost credibility with the majority of the US population about 5 years ago.
See my reply to HiramMaxim.
I’m not interested enough in your opinion to do any research.
No research is required to scroll down three comments; I just didn’t want to type it twice.
Your attitude can be summed up as follows: “My mind’s made up, don’t bother me with any information.”
Welcome to the Internet!
They might not use the bus but they might like the ambiance of the plaza with the ATMs, the pubs and the toilets.
It is a good idea. Bangor has way too much to offer other than diesel fumes and noisy busses along with the riff raff.
they got thaat its called The Pines!!!!
What comes first? Being a leading provider of General Assistance or the freeloaders? Tighten up the GA and they are too lazy to stay around. They’ll go somewhere else. Bangor is known as an easy mark.
You should take a trip down there and see how many of the punks hanging out down there are on any type of assistance other than maybe food stamps they get through the shelters and maybe Mainecare. The area has been this way for nearly five years now and the police have done very little to change a thing down there. I dont know how many times when searching for my own delinquent son, i have found him down is this exact area, drunk or on something, fighting with friends and other punks and tons of people between 14 and 25 basically just hanging there causing trouble. You would have to be mentally ill to think about walking down through there unless you want to be harassed.
Please stop using ever article about bad people to blame those people on GA or welfare. They are not all lazy, not all bad people and not all hanging out down at Pickering square…Geesh, you Republicans just never give it up do ya.
You should have stopped before you wrote the last sentence. It eroded your credibility. You essentially asked blackbearfalcon to stop making assumptions based on faulty logic, and then did the same.
Bravo, kudo to you for speaking up. I used to live In Frankfort and often would be in Bangor. I have to say that of all the states I have ever lived in or visited Maine was the best and I adored the people of Maine. Yes there were some pretty bad people in Maine but there are bad people in every single state and there is no way around them. Maine is no exception. I now live in Pa. and it has it’s own share of bad but If I ever get the chance to move back to Maine….. Bangor is where I want to be. I love maine and miss it very much.
Actually its all you Democrats with your, here’s your handout, vote for me programs that need to get a grip.
Actually its all you republicans with your, here’s your handout, vote for me programs that need to get a grip.—you know, ALEC
Why should they get any food stamps or Mainecare? People headed to work dread interactions with these folks. And the fact is the people that are being harassed are often footing the bill so these kids can just hang out! I was living on boxes of mac and cheese and the thought of applying for an ebt card never crossed my mind! Amazing how the responsibiltiy of any job can often take care of so many problems!
This is one of the reasons why I use the Columbia Street parking lot instead of the one next to Pickering Square. Sorry, I am a compassionate person but I don’t need to run a gauntlet of drunks and druggies to get to a business on Main Street.
glad you spelled gauntlet right :) maybe the writer of this article will see his typo :)
“Gantlet” is right: a gauntlet is a glove, a gantlet is two lines of men with clubs and a victim between ’em.
That isn’t exactly correct either…
good time to get on it… group murder on first, group fight then stabbing on center. not good.
(better not even mention the hope house if we want these comments to stay open.)
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Its a cesspool sometimes…especially on warmer days! Walking from my office on Central St to the parking garage is typically met with at least 1 request for spare change at least 3 times a week. Its not unusual to see people picking the trash for cans with no concern about picking up the other trash they drop. I can’t count the number of times I see people pulling used cigarette butts off the sidewalk or out of the mass receptacles outside a the bars. Its not unusual to smell dope being smoked by those hanging out on the benches or the daily groups with their beer and boones concealed in paper bags. Even sadder is to see those young mothers hanging out in the park using language I would never use in front of my mother while their kids are sitting in there in their strollers. Its also not uncommon to have to walk on the grass because they have no common courtesy to step aside when they see you coming…..they just stand there and continue talking as if they own the sidewalk.
This is what I have experienced as well. Kind of sad because it just
seems like there are so many small children there with them. I am not
sure what the solution is. The social service side of me thinks that
some kind of help and intervention down there would be best but , the to
scared to walk threw there side of me says do a sweep every hour till
they get sick of it and disperse or maybe even an age curfew. I just
don’t know.
The solution is easy; stop free trade, bring jobs back to America, today otherwise it’s obviously going to get worse.
You a “big picture” guy?
Yes, good wisdom, true, and also, people should only buy cars that are built here in the US, not cars that are dumped over here tarriff free from overseas. Let people once again construct their own homes, even if they are not palaces at first, we need to have a pathway out of the social rut people are in. Have we become stupid as a nation?? The jobs out there do not pay enough to feed, house, clothe, and also have a car, not without help. The inspection laws of cars, are basically a harassment to working people, there are more accidents of people texting than a spot of rust on a car. More and more people are going to become homeless and carless, Federal, State and Local regulations along with low low low pay, is railroading a whole generation to a dead end, and now these communities are trying to attract rich retirees to their hamlets, there is not going to be many to attract if someone in government does not take a stand for the people of this lost generation,
curfew would help, that and the orchestra music piping through. In Presque Isle, growing up quite a few years ago the fog horn from the fire department went off at 9:30 and if you were under 18 and on the street up to no good, not in a car, on foot, and you got a ticket and your parents got a call. We didn’t care. Unlike these non-ambitious hoodied hoodlums, we were like “holy crap, gotta go home.” Go back to that.
So considering that drinking in public is illegal, smoking dope in public is illegal, causing a public nuisance is illegal, who’s fault is it that they continue to hang out down there? Oh yeah, its gotta be the people that give them ALL THAT ASSISTANCE for being LAZY, cause they obviously are doing so well that they are picking food and cigarettes out of garbage cans…Please Wake up and think before you post.
“Wake up and think before you post”????
I said nothing about picking food out of the trash although hunger is the general reason they use when they ask for money. I have reached into my lunch box and offered breakfast bars, fruit etc to some of those who said they haven’t eaten for days and its followed up by, you got any smokes? Nope, I don’t smoke and since when did “ASSISTANCE” mean supporting their smoking habit??? I could give a rats behind if they are picking up used butts to feed their habit! I’ve got no problem with helping those in need but cigarettes is not on the list of necessities in my book. It sounds like I might have offended you and your baby momma there JeffCol….maybe its time to pull up your pants and find something better to do than hang out in the park all day.
You sir, obviously arent paying attention and neither are the 14 that liked your comment. My baby momma and i have been done raising our children for nearly four years now, and i have already mentioned that one of my children, who has been plastered all over the newspapers for his poor choices spent a ton of time down there under the influence of god knows what.
Its not unusual to see people picking the trash for cans with no concern about picking up the other trash they drop. I can’t count the number of times I see people pulling used cigarette butts off the sidewalk or out of the mass receptacles outside a the bars. Its not unusual to smell dope being smoked by those hanging out on the benches or the daily groups with their beer and boones concealed in paper bags.
That is what you posted, if I am correct. What i was pointing out to you is that these people are not going to get any better if you take away the little assistance that they do have. What they do is disgusting, obviously uncleanly but i dont see what can be done considering the situation they are in without law enforcement clamping down on them. It is no doubt that you view yourself above these people and i would agree with you on that but you are expecting these people to notice you are of a better class of person and just step aside and let you by. Obviously you are not looking at the reality of the situation down there. Maybe you should plan on another route until the BPD does take care of things.
Ive got an idea, lets slap a deposit fee on cigarettes. If you return the filter you get a nickel. The way I see it, there is about 40 grand to be made at pickering square alone.
“Its also not uncommon to have to walk on the grass because they have no common courtesy to step aside when they see you coming…..they just stand there and continue talking as if they own the sidewalk. “That would be the entitlement that comes with drug and alcohol abuse, this is one of the things that really irks the living crap out of me. This is root of so many of our problems.You owe ME food stamps, a place to live, a free ride, some free methadone, free healthcare, and when I get out of my free cab ride I will have the driver pull up and stop in the middle of the road and take my ever loving sweet time getting out of the cab all the while other cars wait for me to find my voucher and get clear of the roadway. You got six productive working people stalled on their way to work for some entitled uselessness to get out of the way because they didn’t want to walk 20 feet and get dropped off in the area made specific for drop offs. “Maybe one should have thought that through before allowing 3 methadone clinics in town and enough general assistance and homeless shelters to choke a horse. I mean Really? lets not forget the Casino…Ayuh .. looking at the picture I see 6 probable methadoners and the rest probable drug and alcoholic homeless shelter patrons. Some things everyone should know about these “homeless” people.. Many of them get disability checks sent to them at the homeless shelter, the amounts vary but a couple thousand a month is average. Oh heres the best part, many get disability because they are alcoholics and unable to work. They take this check and their monthly food stamps and take a cab to the Hollywood slots get a room and live large for a few days spending or selling food stamps off for cigaretts or alcohol. Then after a few days when the food stamps and money is gone they take the bus back to the homeless shelter and stop at General Assistance and get whatever they can. Then live the rest of the month at the homeless shelter complaining about the scrappy food serving size and what is served, cause they just did the epic buffet 6 nights in a row. So the homeless shelter needs to clean the place up after these people so they kick them out during the day so back to GA to get a bus voucher and ride down to pickering square to meet other like minded individuals to brainstorm the latest techniques for getting free anything and playing the usual game of I can act more entitled than you. Thats right we have hundreds of these people in the Bangor area and thousands in Maine feeding off the hard working peoples tax dollars. It sickens me when I look at my check and see how much is taken out each pay period for fed and state taxes, then at the end of the year our two income household gets a little back from the fed and turns around takes that money to pay in MORE to the state taxes. There are people with no thought for anyone else pulling in money from multiple streams of agencies not networked together and just using it all up as fast as they can before someone else might get some who actually may really have lost their job and be trying to get back on their feet. Can you imagine someone living at a homeless shelter for 15 years that got a disability check each and every month that could have easily paid for an apartment? Instead they spent every penny each month on drugs, alcohol, smokes, and sold their food stamps for more of the same all the while getting free food and shelter.
You must have spectacular upper-body strength to be able to tar with a brush that wide. Amazing.
from what i gather, as a former user of the bus, he is spot on.
I have personally watched people get on the hammond street bus across from BAHS, able bodied mind you, and ride to pickering square. Ive seen the same people get on the center street bus at center and garland and ride the one block to center and s. park, sometimes putting a bicycle on.Seriously, whats the point of taking a bicycle if youre taking the bus less than the length of a football field?
I have also stood in line at the Gulf at state and broadway watching a girl showing off her new tattoo that she proudly paid for with GA money, now begging the cashier to give her a hot dog or one of those grilled things because she hasnt eaten in three days.
I say Bangor should start up a one-way bus route, downtown bangor to the new greyhound depot, with stops at BAHS, GA, and the methadone clinics. The bus had better come back empty.
GA does not give money, they give vouchers and not for tattoos.
unless you sell the voucher for cash.
You meanie! Telling the truth like that! Don’t you know the compassionate way is to equate these “citizens” with oppressed starving beaten down victims in third world dumps? Which by the way this despicable Pickerel smelling square is beginning to resemble….
Dude, paragraph breaks. I’m not going to bother reading what you have to say if you can’t organize your thoughts.
I agree about the young mothers – why aren’t they being looked into by Child Protective Services?? Those poor babies deserve better!!!!
babys haveing babys!
True, but more to the point women who use drugs and alcohol, and women who feel the need to hang out with thuggies, having babies is even worse!!!
I can remember walking down bangor st. in houlton with my dad and haveing four or five young men blocking our way, they acted like we should walk around , but the old man was not haveing it he told me to stay behind him and walked through them while telling them if they had a problem he would gladly take care of it. But that was in the sixties when men were allowed to stand up to these thugs.Today the law would put you in jail for being a man.
kick them all off of mainecare, and public assistance…let them earn a living to support themselves. If they are well enough to play games, get in fights, etc, then they are well enough to work. This will free up public assistance for the people that need it and reduce the mainecare deficit dramatically….
Want me to relay a message that your taking applications??
If you are doing hiring I’m thinking you will look over their applications and put them in the round can
I agree that anyone that uses their “valuable” time to hang out at “The Square” wouldn’t get a second look from me. In the mean-time, let them hang out elsewhere. It’s ruining downtown.
No I don’t have friends there. But when people yell about telling these people to get a job I like to make the point that the “complainer” should hire them.
By the way who does have the right to go and hang around downtown???
Ever been to grand central station?? Any Station anywhere gathers crowds. You really don’t want it near parks or schools do you?
I’m not sure if you noticed but as soon as I posted that comment, I edited it as I misread what you posted. I agree no one wants to hire them but at the same time, I feel that there are very good reasons for that stand-point.By the way, I agree with most of your posts. :) Have a good night.
(-;
Just wondering….did you beat Goliath? =D
Goliath has alot of heads and I don’t know which one to aim for… Yet Kelly an attempt at being instrumental in making people aware of whats going on is all I can ask for. Our Country will lose much more before people wake up to the fact that all this was a creation of the selfserving..
I know…I try to be an honest and kind person to the best of my ability but it seems most others don’t care or aim for that these days. If everyone did, all the differences that exist wouldn’t matter a bit. Kind of cheesy sounding but true. :(
Just head to downtown Boston and Pickering square will look like a religious gathering…LOL…your so right David, Everyone wants to see this cleaned up, but they sure dont want to do anything to help in cleaning it up. They just want it to magically go away…Well good luck with that one.
Well, of course it’s not like downtown Boston. Boston is much bigger and more heavily populated. Not a realistic comparison. By the way, just because it’s not as bad as Boston doesn’t mean we should feel grateful for it. It’s still a problem that needs fixing.
I agree, it needs fixing. If we wait too long, the situation will mostly worsen as offenders grow bolder and the idea of public decency is no longer considered desirable. Let’s bite the bullet while we still can to improve our neighborhoods and people’s lives.
I agree! It will worsen…..When I was younger Pickering square was the place to gather….business owners didn’t like it then either…..but I never pan handled….or displayed public intoxication…….This situation will only get worse as the kids that go downtown get even more bold!
clean them up and take them to Boston and leave them.
The Boston Common, the Public Garden, the Charles River Esplanade and Copley Square are all great places to hang out. You must’ve seen one in JP, Southie, Slummervile; one of the outliers. Heck, just going to a KFC in Roxbury from dusk on is scary. Not Boston proper. I’ve lived here for 30 years.
Boston compared to Bangor? That’s really kind of laughable, isn’t it? Sure, there are homeless, but it’s also a Beta World City with, you know, actual jobs. And culture.
I think the Library lawn is available these days… Gotta’ bring their own fire pit and porta potti I think… All Free Speech is encouraged over there.
wtsawyer, the lawn needs to be kept available for those “better” people who couldn’t walk in the park, lay on the lawn, and look at the stars with their kids. Only you and your friends decide who speaks in this town. PS Leave the Library alone, it’s one of the last true assets we have here!
The vast majority of people complaining that these low-lifes should get jobs are the EMPLOYED, no the employers. Hard-working, low- and middle-class citizens who must pay much more in taxes to fund welfare cheats are absolutely entitled to complain. As for the employers, they are being so heavily taxed by Maine that most can’t afford to hire more employees. Of course, their taxes are also being diverted to lazy people who can, but don’t want to, have jobs.
Ah, “low lifes.” More godly words from the Jesus-loving right wing. What disgusting hyprocrisy. Your words and actions would make Jesus Christ throw up his guts. But don’t worry because Satan will love you dearly. You have a friend in him.
I’m not a “right-winger”, nor am I religious. You, however, clearly are – too much so.
Even with the ironic nickname Howdy Neighbor, you are not one I’d desire to have living next door to me. But in civil society we have to learn to at least get along with people we don’t necessarily want to hang out with.
It’s odd that you are defending people who are on welfare who are clearly physically capable of working. Perhaps you are one of those.
Perhaps I am not and you are making assumptions. I don’t blame victims of a bad system for the results. Many don’t even know how badly they are being played. Even you.
You didn’t deny it. Interesting…
That interested you? We should talk.
Man! You are so full of hate!
I share your frustration. But there is no need for anyone to hang out elsewhere if they just use good public manners. Is that too much to ask for and expect from everyone? People should be encouraged to report misbehavior to the police. Signs posted here and there with information to contact police need to be erected if there aren’t any or too few of them already. This would be especially effective, now that a lot of people carry cells phones.
I agree. I want to tell them to go home. (I just hope it’s not in Maine.) ;P
Maybe installing a call box for the police…..like they have on college campuses
Help! Someone’s hanging out and not working!
I’ve heard there are signs like this at the Walmart.
Not to sound like I have a big head but I would swallow my shoe if just ONE of those people even understood the definition of good manners.
giving them money freely takes away the incentive for them to shape themselves up. Its like this…do you give a kid an allowance even if they did not do their chores? Then take this money away from them. This should force them, after they get desperate enough to make changes in their lives, and get a job. If they dont figure this out, then they are either complete failures or in need of medical help. My solution does not fix 100 percent of this issue, but I am sure that it would make a big dent in it over time….At least make them do something in return for public assistance. Why cant they do labor like prisoners do, like roadside trash cleanup? Or submit proof that they are trying to better themselves like taking a certificate program in a trade to make them more self sufficient. Thats two examples.
Or why can’t we invest in HeadStart, education, vocational training, and various interventions for at-risk kids so they can have sustainable employment. Also, many disadvantaged youth come from broken homes, have learning disabilities, have mental illness, etc. What should we do about that? Or maybe we should keep doing what LeBUFFOON wants to do and give endless tax cuts to millionaires to further kill jobs and kill our economy. The GOP makes Jesus Christ sick to his stomach, but Satan loves them dearly. Make no mistake about that.
and yet the rights of corporate America to move their business overseas and take aways jobs from people are celebrated with the purchases of their products.
Sure Mainemom, and i assume that you will be the first in line to HIRE many of them when they are no longer able to get assistance right? When i managed the Union Street Movie Gallery, i can tell you that many of them applied, NONE of them were hired…so please, be realistic, most of these people have records as long as your arm and are NOT hireable.
Law-abiding taxpayers should not have to pay the living expenses of convicted criminals. They made their beds…
Neighbor, in a perfect world you would be correct, and i have to admit that I liked your comment as well. Unfortunately a perfect world is far from what this is.
I bet more 2/3 of them should be in a mental health program.
We spend the money either way.
For sure. Can I spend the money to have them in a program and enjoy the Square myself?
Honestly, if you were a business owner, would you hire any of those people? I read the constant refrain that these folks should “get a job” but the sad truth is that they are society’s rejects and are failed people—and there are no jobs that anybody would hire them for. Even the most menial of jobs require you to show up sober, straight and ready and willing to work—does that apply to the Pickering Square loafers?
Actually you are wrong. There are in fact a great many jobs they are qualified for. The problem is they can make more money by collecting welfare. They don’t have to work for it and they don’t have to pay taxes on it. The really sad part is that we have now raised two generations to believe thats how life works and that they are entitled to it.
Most places require background checks. If they don’t pass those (and drug tests) then they will not even qualify for a minimum wage shelf-stocking job. In one of my former retail jobs, I was tasked with reviewing those results and calling the potential applicants to inform them that they didn’t have the job because they didn’t pass one or the other.
I agree that everyone should be working at least part-time to earn benefits (be it volunteering or in school learning a trade) but the reality is that no one is going to hire them.
That said, they shouldn’t be allowed to hang around downtown and harrass people either.
what job lets you show up late, drunk and high? besides being a rock star I mean
Do me a favor. Head on down there and sit back and just notice who is there, what they are wearing and how they act. Do the same thing every day for about a week, then report back here and let us know what you have seen. You will find the following:
1. Most are wearing the same clothes, day in and day out, or at the very least the clothes that they are wearing is nothing clean or that you would want someone to wear to a JOB.
2. Most look as if they have not had the chance to take a bath or shower in at least a week. If you get close enough to any of them, you will notice this right off the bat.
3. Many of them have either never been to school or dont have the ability to fill out an application in any regard. Talk to them, see how their diction is, See how many sentences you can get out of them without a curse word? Not many, didnt think so.
4. WELFARE is not providing them RICHES, a nice place to live, decent hot food that is healthy for them, and certainly not providing them with an Education. I honestly wonder if any of you complaining about those on welfare have ONE clue about what exactly someone on welfare gets. To be honest, its bare bones stuff that just basically gives you the ability to survive.
Finally Mountain Man, who are you fooling? You wouldnt hire any of them, I wouldnt hire any of them and there is no way you can say with a str8 face that there are many jobs available to them. As for taxes, you are paying taxes one way or the other. If you jail all of them, your paying taxes to take care of them there, if you dont, and let them be, then you are paying for the assistance programs, but you need to come up with a better solution then just throwing out there..”Make them all go and get a job” because that isnt a viable option for 99% of them, and we both know it.
Why should we be paying?
THEY chose to abuse drugs and alcohol
THEY chose not to go to school (public school)
THEY chose to hang out at the bus station
THEY chose make _____ decision that is now affecting them negatively
Those with LEGITIMATE mental illness that prevents them from working, by all means should be cared for by the state. If people don’t want to work, why should we pay their way? If i decide to call my boss and quit tomorrow, will you make my car payment? pay my rent? give me a ride to the grocery store? etc. etc. Because with welfare, you (and I) already are!
I’ll bet that older woman on the cane if being kicked off MaineCare because she doesn’t have young children.
You are mis-informed my friend.
Perfected way of putting it. But the Feds kick in on the mainecare for the state of maine. So we pay our state taxes and federal taxes to keep the system going.
This has been a growing problem over the years for this spot, but it is not the first, and certainly will not be the last time the city will deal with something like this. Long ago people use to hang out in the large parking lot that is now Shaw’s. Most of them were kids, some were adults.. Just a lot of people hanging out, but when that happens you get some bad elements that begin to ruin it for all… Happened then, and the same has happened now.
Back then to get rid of the problem, they kept shooing people out, and then finally built a building. This time that will not work. This area has been used for part of the Folk Festival, is used for the Cool Sounds events, and also for the outdoor movies. In the winter they even have a ice rink. Police presence is always good, but will not solve it all. Cameras are good, but really only do good for “after the fact” stuff. With that said I have no real good suggestion for that area except for a “public park profanity law”. The buses are pretty much in the best place when it comes to getting the most people downtown, and allowing for the most connections to other routes. As far as “breathing diesel fumes”, why not have the buses shut down if they are more than five minutes early during the the warmer months… Say from mid or late April, to September.
Suggestion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito
what about children and teens with legitimate business downtown?
I agree with VeazieDavid, but also add what about the people that are waiting for the buses?
Stop blaming every public assistance program. I have been there and most of them are not bright enough to apply for assistance.
Maybe it’s time to start up a military draft again. Make them serve 2 years in the National Guard. Many of these problems did not exist until the draft was ended.
Where in this article did it indicate that anyone was receiving assistance? Isn’t that a opinionated generalization on your part? Your prejudice is showing!!!
First, you don’t know that any or all of them are on public assistance. How do you know that many are not working? Many may work swing shifts or night shifts. Not all may be hanging out there all day. Often there is a coming and going. You are being very stereotypical. Next, are you willing to invest in HeadStart, education, interventions, etc. which WORK and help disadvantaged young people get the skills needed for the jobs you want them to get, or is your plan the typical cement-minded right wing thing about “If you’re poor you deserve it, no bootstraps for you, NOW LET’S GIVE AWAY MORE INSANE TAX BREAKS TO BILLIONAIRES AND MORE OF OUR TAXES TO THE OIL COMPANIES!! YAY!! THEN THE DEVIL WILL REALLY LOVE US AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE JESUS CHRIST VOMIT!! HURRAY FOR US HATEFUL HURTFUL CORPORATE TOADIE RIGHT WINGERS !!” Finally, if people are breaking the law, fine, yes, do something about it. But many are just hanging and talking. I see it all the time. They are fine. And that is called their rights. So once again,we have pathetic right wingers who say they love the Constitution, but hate the bill of rights. Right wingers. Pathetic cement-headed corporate pawns and toadies anti-Christian liars and hypocrites.
The majority of the people I am speaking of that do hang around there all day, are not what I would call “workplace material”.I work in downtown Bangor, and I have to walk through pickering square several times throughout a 6 hour day. I see the SAME young people there throughout the majority of the day. They are laughing, smoking, getting in fights, swearing, and listening to music while playing games. I am not being stereotypical. I am basing this on my own observations 5 days a week. Let me ask you this, if this is not being perceived a problem, than why is there an article for you to read about it in the Bangor Daily? I am guessing I am not the only one who has made the same observations. I ask you another question…when was the last time you spent any amount of time at pickering square? Do your research first before you start labeling me as stereotyping a group of people. And yes, I am willing to help with headstart, education, etc to help people overcome adversity….but only if people are willing to help themselves, and NOT treat receiving public assistance as a full time career
BDN deleted my comment about how bangor welcomes the homeless because it increases State and Government aid for housing and benefits. They don’t want it to be known.
It’s pretty pathetic how you can take a story as unrelated as this one and try to take a dig at the guy.
Really?
The Bangor PD is one of, if not, the best in the State.
Put a few cops on bikes, really? HELLO, the BANGOR PD has their hands full with murder (this week), pharmacy robberies (this week), airplane trouble (this week), stabbings (today), suicides (last week), dead babies (last month), armed robberies (today), house burglaries (today), methadone idiots(today), fatal car chrashes (TODAY), domestic assaults (today), white collar crime, drug busts and sooooooooo much more. But we want to send a few downtown on bicycles to let the punks know to keep it down, stop looking at people and stop using profanity? REALLY? I mean REALLY?
Maybe one should have thought that through before allowing 3 methadone clinics in town and enough general assistance and homeless shelters to choke a horse. I mean Really?
All I can say is Wow! I think there are some people that need a big dose of what police work in Bangor Maine actually consists of. If I was a police officer just getting off working my 9th day in a row of 14 hours per day I would be sideways about the stupidity of this story and the lack of vision and understanding. By the way, in case nobody has noticed, we need police officers big time. If we can’t recruit them, we need to make the package more attractive. THAT MEANS SALARY to those that do not understand what resources are. Priorities people.
I have come to the conclusion that either you are a retired cop, or an active one. I dont envy the job they do. I realize they are understaffed, which i consider a poor city council management thing, but honestly, are you saying that the average citizen needs to lighten up and not expect protection from the police? because they are ….Too Busy? I know you cant really be assuming that are ya?
I don’t think that is what he is saying at all.
The police department is way understaffed with seven open positions currently and they can’t find good candidates to fill them. The police have to prioritize these things with the resources they have.
If you want good police protection we need to pay them in order to find the right kind of candidates. You are right about one thing. We have children on the city council making decisions about the police budget more concerned about making a name for themselves in the paper than the safety of the citizenry.
You are right they are understaffed and will continue to be, no one wants to work under Gastia. I happen to talk to one cop who retired recently because he was tired of the drama going on there and gastia didnt do anything about it.
Chief Gastia has the confidence of his staff and many of the local citizenry. The plain fact is that there are few qualified applicants. I talk to cops too.
Apparently not the cops that work for him. I think Gastia has done some good things but I know there is quite a bit of unrest from the deputy chief on down.
This really isn’t so much a BPD problem as it is a abuse of the welfare system problem.
Well as a citizen of Bangor, i for one would have gladly forgone the ARENA, in order to pay the police and fire workers a better pay. I am in complete agreement that they are grossly underpaid, but you would have to take that up with the City Council, who are grossly OVERPAID, and figure out why necessities are not being taken care of before we spend money to move a piece of art 1/2 mile?
I’d like to pay for more police….maybe we can cut the free methadone budget?
Bangor PD has above average staffing levels per 1000 of population, read the performance review the city councilors requested and we paid for. Reccomendations were made to make more officers available for patrol whether they were implemented or not I do not know
The point is fair how ever there are a lot of concerns with that review. One is that Bangor is the socio-economic center for everything in MAine north of Waterville. There are roughly 33k people in this city, maybe half of which work. ALmost 100k people commute in each day.
Need surgery in Caribou? Go Bangor. Need a Job in Island Falls? Go to Bangor. Need VA office in Aurora? Go to Bangor. Need to land a 747 with a Bomb on it over the Atlantic Ocean? Go to Bangor. Need drug treatment in Dexter? Go to Bangor. You get the point. These “evaluators” were from larger metropolitan areas all over the country. THey met with a few people in the PD for an hour at most. THey handed out uniform forms trying to learn about how they do their job. I ready the report myself. I found that much of the recomendations were already being done. Several recommendations were not reasonable for this region.
The 100k people number commuting to Bangor is not accurate either, the BPD review also addressed this numbeer and could find no substantiation, the group doing the review on the Fire dept found data to support a number of 56K, a lot less than a 100k. So if you read the report yourself you would agree that BPD had a staffing rate above the state and national average? Just looking for opinions to be based in fact rather than assumptions.
Yes. Which is why i didn’t argue otherwise. The number of commuters is debatable, I think the city council would agree.
This information came from a study the city council requested, an objective study, whether the city council agrees does not matter. Any statement is open to debate, The firm conducting the study mentions that they were continually given the 100k number without any documentation from city officials. They obtained data on their own that did not support the 100k, The city had nothing to support the 100k claim so using city councilors agreement with you as support of a claim is unreasonable, in my opinion.
Thanks
Are we talking of the study of Bangor’s Fire and Police or another?
They may have positions comparable to average staffing levels. But those positions are unfilled.
Not so, page 25 Table 8. Read it yourself. BPD performance review performed by mcgrath consulting at the request of the city council after what they felt were excessive OT expenses.
I have my info from the city council reports on the public access channel.
Pretty vague response, no time/date of when this “report” was given. I provided the study, page number and table number. The reports you speak of are just the online video recordings of meetings where anybody can say anything. Facts are stubborn things. . An objective study arrived at a different conclusion, not one many were ready to accept for some reason. Have a nice day
You clearly are not familiar with the General Assistance Program. Take time to know the Program (not just what you hear) and then come back and write something factual!!!
No what Bangor needs is for the cops to go down there and clean house and not allow people just to hang out there and cause trouble. Time this city took a stand on this and did something about it!! We have menally ill, homeless people, homeless teens, and kids that are skipping school and druggies hanging out down there, take our city and boot these idiots out there!! I am so sick of all these rights given to these people because they have a mental illness it is bs…… The police chief that was in Portland many years ago cleaned that city up don’t know how it is doing now but we need someone like him in Bangor!!
The police have gotten very good at babysitting people over the years (making sure people don’t smoke or eat plants). They should station a cop down there to babysit that crown too if it is such a nuisance.
they should buy a horse, Bangor PD, strap it to a pole and just wait. Yeah, a horse isn’t cheap….doesn’t have to be a stallion…….a presence needs to be made. My college kid goes down there. I’m freaked out now….didn’t know it was that bad. My god, I wish I had a day to sit around doing nothing. They’re ruining downtown. Run them out of there. Downtown Bangor used to be so beautiful and safe.
Why do people like you insist on a cheap shot at LePage for every story or comment out there? Grow up already.
Great. Hope there aren’t any problems with the Thursday night activities and the Tuesday night Bangor Band shows.
Relocate the bus to the front of the parking garage… ? It’s already there. Where do you want it to go?
I just noticed that the guy standing next to the babyin the photo has a cigarette just a couple feet from it’s face…sigh.
yup :(
On another note, I too am tired of all the garbage that goes on at Pickering Square. Vandalism, drug use and sales, profanity, violence… it’s all getting to be a little too much. I was going to work one morning and someone who was high on drugs and paranoid decided to harass me because he accused me of staring at him when I was looking the opposite direction and minding my own business. Bath salts… I tell ya. Speaking of that, weeks later in the restroom at the garage, I found an empty packet of bath salts laying on the floor. It’s bad enough you have bums hanging out and drinking beer on the toilet. I generally try to avoid the Pickering Square area because it’s getting so bad. I’m trying to make a living and use the bus for transporation. Something HAS to be done down there. I remember when Pickering Square used to be so nice… until the bums screwed it up.
Pickering Square used to have vendors selling such things as baked beans and yeast rolls on Saturday for your Saturday night meal. This was back in the day. The bad streets were Hancock St. and lower Exchange St. These were easily avoidable. Pickering Square right in the middle of downtown is not avoidable for everyone it seems. It’s a damn shame that Bangor has become what it has become.
Clean up Bangor! put up security cameras like other places do in parks to make a bigger presence
Ah what a nice diverse crowd
After reading the article and viewing the photo, I feel sorry for the little one in the stroller.
You can feel sorry, but it’s too late. The kid’s doomed and in 14 or 15 years will be part of the problem.
I do not go by that area seems to always have some shady people there.
You may be confusing it with the Blaine House.
i have witnessed some bad behavior by people who hang out in pickering square every time i have waited for the bus there especially when i was going to and from orono to Emcc
I couldn’t agree more – thank you Andrew Neff!! These people scare the residents downtown and need to get lost or locked up…who cares which??
NO JOBS what do you expect. It is going to get a lot worse too. Get use to it. Criminal Gang Bangers will be next. Crips, Bloods. MS 13 are on the way with drug deals and bullets flying.
Scuzzy area. Right between the bus stop and childrens museum. Nice.
Play loud classical music nonstop…..that might do the trick.
That’s actually a really good, sound, easily-applied, inexpensive idea, and I guarantee it would work.
the garage has been doing that since 2004, with speakers in the waiting room and right outside, has done nothing.
http://theoatmeal.com/quizzes/sound/
All I see here is that the council has already decided to close Broad Street and don’t want opposition.. That is a stupid idea… Move the Station back to the State Street bridge where it was before so our Mayor can keep track of the Bangor Stakeholders from his office window.
I remember that, it had a bench and a big shelter…good idea.
great. now even MORE people can disregard traffic and waltz right across state street. its a minefield as it is.
As a person who regularly uses the BAT bus, I also am concerned about the crowd that hangs out at pickering square. Although I have never seen anything serious happen there, I have seen people fighting as well as just being overall rowdy. Fowl language is used, drugs and alcohol are regular parts of conversation. I don’t often feel unsafe at the bus “hub”, but I do feel uncomfortable. The BAT is used by many types of people, and we should all feel comfortable in doing so. I don’t know what the answer is, but maybe some sort of security should be put into place. Pickering square should be cleaned up and made a nice place to go. Bangor is already known as “Bath Salt City” to many of my peers…I say we change that!
I wish the bus for BAT would move to the old Greyhound location. This may help with people hanging around waiting for their bus or may decongest the area. People may use the park more if the constant foot traffic and bus traffic were elsewhere.
Hmmm … maybe something that should be considered!
do you remember what a cluster that lot was? Consider around the holidays when they have more buses on, fit two greyhounds, a cyr to the county and the acadian to Fredericton NB, plus the bar harbor shuttle. Thats only five buses, BAT runs 6 or 7 to pickering square every 30 minutes.
Good idea, but not feasible unless you want to tear down another historic building.
The Greyhound bus terminal has moved to Dysarts. You do know that right? There are now no buses there and it might be a good location.
Im aware of that. What my point is is that when greyhound was there, there could be up to five buses there at once, and it was very crowded. If BAT took over the location, they would bring in up to eight at a time. If it was crowded with five, it will be nearly impossible with eight.
This ain’t Mayberry anymore.
If this WAS Mayberry, I’m sure Ol’ Otis would love hanging around Pickering Square after a tough night at the New Waverly.
it was NEVER Mayberry, read a little history of Bangor
Bangor invites convicted sex offenders to town by giving them free food and housing. The homeless shelter, which houses those sex offenders, is located close to that area.
First of all, I’m not in the least bit scared to walk around Pickering Square. “Those people,” as they have been refered to, are mostly decent folks who happen to be ill with various maladies. I’m not personally friends with anybody who hangs out there, but I used to frequent another city’s version of Pickering Square. I can tell you first hand that your chances of being, (insert crime here,) are slim and mostly based on needless fear.
And second, where do we want the mentally ill and addicts to congegrate? Are we, as a society, willing to fund more day programs like the groups that have been cut time-after-time from CHCS’s budget? Will we pay, again as a society, for more indoor day programs, like PCHC’s Outback? Because, like it or not, it costs money to care for those who are at a point in their lives where they don’t have the ability to fully care for themselves.
I certtainly agree with your post. In most cases you can fix stupid. It’s attatude that blinds us. If they had some program Like AA”s twelve step, or a group therpy targeted specificly to attitude ajustment, then the cops bust them so they have to take a six week course in civil behavior and learn the advatages of turning themselfs around–something like drunk driving school. Maybe they will start policeing their own–or maybe I’m dreaming.
Great idea!
There’s always a jobless,weirdo, wearing dirty clothes asking me for money or if I can give them smokes. It’s pathetic, I’d rather hand my change to the shelter or salvation army.
All those goons that hang out at the bus station need to get jobs and stop using drugs.
It’s messed up when full grown adults have no shame asking you for money or Cigerettes, wearing a $35.00 dollar flat brim Yankees hat. GET A LIFE! Go back to school. Get a job! Do something productive!
I swear to god !
After bumming cigarettes ,some wanna-be gangster showed me his gun tucked in his pants down there, tO show me how cool he is or something. That’s the last time I’ve used public transportation. It’s outright dangerous!
I feel bad for the disabled folks & workers & students who have to deal with those risks!
The US economy is leaving a lot of people behind, then, the people left behind are labeled lazy, and looking for handouts. I must remind all, that people, even if they are not pillars of society, they still get hungry, cold, miserable, lonely. That Pickering Square in some ways is their neighborhood, and in some instances where their peers are, or maybe for some it may come close to a feeling of family. My Grandfather said that Bangor was always a tough town, even in the thirtys, but he also said generally the Bangor leadership had less vision, understanding of the City, then the people on the streets, the great leadership was allowed to bulldozed half the historic buildings in Bangor as a renewal, Hancock Street included. I will not be surprised if the Bangor leaders bulldoze Pickering Square, and fence if off with a ten foot high fence with one tree planted inside.Lighten up, this is America, this is Maine, this is Bangor, the people are a product of allowing the policy makers to do away with every job these people and a lot of other people could do. The US is becoming too expensive to live in, and it is so funny to see citys trying to pushout their poor to the next city, lol,
Got a solution rather than an observation? Those observations are a dime a dozen. Here’s my suggestion: House them and feed them and put them on public works projects for $2.00/ hour. Like CCC back in the depression. I bet there would be way less energy expendable for the wanna be gangsta stuff and time to just “hang out”
BUT I do agree with your observations AND I think you are right on with cities trying to push out their poor ..the NIMBY thing. I think this crap is everywhere by the way look at Lewiston and Portland. It’s all disenfranchised and demotivated youth/young adults.
Work Camps
Gordon Cunningham 1 twitter.com/pattenpond
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on Pickering Square behavior concerns residents, councilors, merchants 25 minutes agoThe US economy is leaving a lot of people behind, then, the people left behind are labeled lazy, and looking for handouts. I must remind all, that people, even if they are not pillars of society, they still get hungry, cold, miserable, lonely. That Pickering Square in some ways is their neighborhood, and in some instances where their peers are, or maybe for some it may come close to a feeling of family. My Grandfather said that Bangor was always a tough town, even in the thirtys, but he also said generally the Bangor leadership had less vision, understanding of the City, then the people on the streets, the great leadership was allowed to bulldozed half the historic buildings in Bangor as a renewal, Hancock Street included. I will not be surprised if the Bangor leaders bulldoze Pickering Square, and fence if off with a ten foot high fence with one tree planted inside.Lighten up, this is America, this is Maine, this is Bangor, the people are a product of allowing the policy makers to do away with every job these people and a lot of other people could do. The US is becoming too expensive to live in, and it is so funny to see citys trying to pushout their poor to the next city, lol, This person’s activity is still being updated. Load MoreLink to this: http://disqus.com/twitter-42596566/
Mainecares finest right there.
Bad language, shouting profanities, drunk in public, begging & violence in the square. We reap what we sow. We elected a socialist president & this is the result.
Pickering Square has been a problem for years…stop trying to make everything about politics
Everything IS about politics! Problem is, most on the Left are too stupid to realize it!
They only see what they believe, instead of believing what they see!
ridiculous post
Looks like that IS the extent of your vocabulary!!!
c’mon laddie, with those posts of yours, everyone can see how stupid a poster boy for the right is
Truth hurts when it slaps you upside the head, doesn’t it!
it might, if it was the truth
Keep yapping, Jon. Eventually your words will come back to bite you.
As much as you’d like that to be the case, I seriously doubt it.
And I might point out that you yap on here much more than I ever do! In fact, there are a lot of yappy liberals on here!
Give me a break!!!
ridiculous post
Is that the extent of your vocabulary?
thats a typical stupid comment–
Sure is. As Forest Gump said, though, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
That’s ridiculous.
Translation please !!!!!!
I felt my decoder ring in my other suit.
Yeah, your a real tough guy yourself commenting anonymously on a comment board. What state did you govern?
I have news for all you moonbats who are seething with blind hatred for this guy – he’s going to get elected to a second term because the taxpayers see him draining the swamp.
If he can’t take the heat he should get out of the kitchen. By the looks of his body and that of his families they spend a lot of time there.
is it still april 1st and i didn’t notice? keep dreaming, this lying excuse for a governor is a 1 termer
Just one more reason to stay out of Bangor.
There is a device called a ” mosquito”. British inventor?
It produces an annoying sound to younger folks ears.
Us old timers cant hear it.
I think a $ collection from a few shopkeepers for this machine
might be a good use of resources.
Less riff-raff , more paying customers.
I believe seriously that if the National Guard is not deployed than the city should seek their assistance in helping to Police our bad area’s. It wouldn’t take very long for thugs, etc to move on and away.
Thats the first constructive comment I have read on this article. WTG!
Sounds like Liberalism is working!
“a younger crowd of juvenile delinquents… homeless people, the mentally ill and transient..”
Aren’t they free to do whatever they want? Is this not obama’s ‘NEW’ America?
Why are you trying to disenfranchise them?
ridiculous post
Coming from someone that calls himself Jeezum I’ll take that as a compliment!
I think the usage of Jeezum’s ironic and old-school. No harm there.
what is the transmission, Kenneth
start blasting some guy lombardo and polka music down there … that ought to clear the place out fast
Ridiculous post.
It is so sad what has been allowed to happened to Bangor!!! Concerned citizens need to form a group and go to the city council and demand something be done about this situation and not just in Pickering Square!!! Some people comment on stories like this and say we should go to Boston or New York City and see what it is like there … I say we need to stop this before it gets that bad!!!
So thats not a picture of the town council at work?
Longo lost some weight!
A lot of great ideas for making the area more safe in the column, I hope they all get approved! Police presence as well as a better layout and brighter lighting are 3 great ones.. as a mom who brings her girls to the Discovery Museum regularly, I know how scary it can be to just park down there, let alone bring my children with me. I sure hope things can be fixed, or at least greatly improved, so that citizens and visitors of Bangor feel/are safer!
Make the problem go away, just don’t use my tax dollars to do it! Rah rah LePage!
Simple. Area business in the area pipe in easy listening music or something from the “Big Band” era. Change the atmosphere and you’ll change the people hanging around. Think Slim Whitman’s “Indian Love Call” in Mars Attacks. Except they’ll leave before their heads’ explode.
That picture was taken yesterday? Why is the father of the year or baby daddy standing there with his hoodie up smoking a cigarette when it was in the 70s? Cause he’s a punk with a punk attitude. Pity that baby.
Get off the couch and get to work! Gotta luv it!
You just don’t understand them. Give the poor people a chance. Bangor could set up a Kiosk that would give these people free drugs and needles on demand. It could also dispense their Welfare Checks, SSI, SSDI, TANIF, WIC, Fuel Assistance. Come on give these hardworking people a break they are victims. Put yourself in their shoes. Could you ever imagine being told you have to work for a living and abide by laws. That is way over the top. It’s called our generation of entitlement society folks.
put that kiosk in the empty space near the waiting room for the bus
Life wasn’t designed to give you what you need.
Life was designed to give you what you deserved.
If the latter were true, we wouldn’t have ended up with a buffoon in the Blaine House.
President Obama’s biggest supporters rally in Pickering Square everyday!
Governor lepage’s biggest supporters rally in Pickering Square everyday!–just a bunch of conservatives having fun ((you do realize how stupid your comment was?)
Well not being a Lepage supporter I don’t get it!
anyone that tries to imply they are obama supporters has a few loose, get it now?
Might have to spell it out, heyrube, letter-by-letter.
Not sure why they decided to take action now this has been going on for years. I was on a bus a couple of years ago when a kid fired a gun unintentionally. It didn’t happen at the square but that’s where he got on.Lotta, not to bright people, wandering around Bangor.
BANGOR HAS GONE TO THE GUTTER!
There are a lot of nice businesses downtown but I haven’t been in a long time because of the drug addicts walking or lounging all around.
After the trouble makers are arrested (they are likely previous offenders) they belong on a chain gang digging ditches or cleaning trash beside the interstate. Everybody wins.
Haha, I seen what you did there. “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” Nice.
I am glad someone is finally recognizing this instead of just accepting it! They are always there having fights & screaming matches! Watch Jerry Springer when I can go see it live in Pickering Park! “Showing today: Mom of 5 kids screaming at 8 guys because one of them will hold the coveted title of “Baby Daddy”!”
Well I hope there is a solution as this is exactly how an inner city skid row begins to develop.
There is just so much crime that is infiltrating Bangor. The newest issue with Bath Salts is the worst kind of nightmare that someone can inflict themselves with . After watching just one person go into hysterics and screams because of horrifying hallucinations should be enough to turn anyone away.
If anyone is interested in seeing this in action go to YouTube and look it up. I warn you it is not for the weak minded . I didn’t realize the effect it would have on me until I watched a young man in a Police car go berserk! I am still shaken by it. Excuse the ramblings……
hey thats in my backyard at night. i deal with screaming and shouting and loud music every night. call the landlords they say call the police, call the police and it keeps happening.
imagine shoe factory jobs that would hire people who will never, ever be qualified for the high tech jobs that everyone seems to think will save this country… Any low skilled factory job will feed people for life who can’t find jobs elsewhere….
Now go shop at China-Mart to save a few cents. But in the long run is costing this country a great deal in welfare and homelessness and dispair.. The cost of cheat products has created this problem.
My comment from yesterday was removed. Why is the BDN hiding the facts about this once-awesome, now-dying city? The location highlighted in this story is close to the Bangor homeless shelter, which houses convicted sex offenders. Bangor invites sex offenders to town by offering them free food and housing. Add heroin-addicts (invited to town by Methodone clinics which were approved by the city) and instant welfare for people who prefer to spend their days doing nothing and what did you expect would happen to Bangor?
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Bangor’s homeless shelter is the only one in the state that allows sex offenders. There are also 4 rooming houses in Bangor that cater to sex offenders, one located right next to the youth homeless shelter. When sex offenders can’t get jobs, they get free food and housing from the government. Since there are no residency restrictions (Bangor’s city council voted against that), convicted child molesters can live anywhere they want in Bangor, including next door to schools and parks. Other cities and even other states give paroled sex offenders one-way bus tickets to Bangor and Bangor is clearly happy to have them or they’d have done something about it long ago.
If all of that isn’t rolling out the red carpet for convicted sex offenders, I don’t know what is.
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It’ s called “word of mouth”. Maine is a well known welfare state and Bangor is known as a city who will welcome them in. Why do you think half of Bangor falls under Bangor Housing Authority? They welcome people in with little or no background checks. They are givin a welcoming package and keys to their new home which they can damage anyway they see fit because there is unlimited taxpayer dollars to fix them back up again. Until our elderly city council gets off their duffs and start restricting where people can live, it’s just going to keep on.
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Cross Pickering Square of my places to see when I finally get a chance to tour my adopted state.
Bangor is a slumhole anyway let the people be….
SHHHHHH!! This is a big secret the city council doesn’t want anyone to know. They sell drugs there. Shhhh!!! Don’t tell anyone.
bdn, you gotta change your red time frame updates, says this story was posted 26 minutes ago
There’s nobody there on weekends. The BDN is closed.
It’s time for the good people of Bangor to “occupy” Pickering Square and drive the bums from pillar to post.
Brevity is fine if it’s accurate.
Any public space reflects our culture. Been to the grocery store lately? Some of the people look subhuman. Things you once saw in a freak show. A culture going south. Who do you think is going to hire some of these misfits.
Saw this quote today, seems to fit well with this article..
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”– Thomas Jefferson
I’m pretty sure that spot has been crap since the 90’s… classical music works out in Oregon, but I think in some ways having the vagrants in a visible area helps law enforcement track down the bad guys, also it’s right by the bus station… the only viable safe form of transportation for mentally ill/low income/drug offenders, what do you expect?
Bangor is a trashcan.. does this really warrant much more discussion than that?
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A small buisness uses more oil than a large villiage in a third world country. 50 percent of the population should not be working at all. As far arousing anger in the childless people who are less of the problem… and now without healthcare? they are pawns and warriors. They will break the system… Raise Taxes. Create a government that can control (with help of robber barrens) and put those who do not want or need to work. Back in the home.
A small buisness uses more oil than a large Village in a Third world country. 50 percent of the population should not be working or driving. I’m sorry , My error. I was just coming back from the future.
Pickering Square is a terrible place. No way I would go there. It is infested with drugs and the “unwanteds”.
i think that these people have a right to hang out there. we provide places for children like the science museum and the jump house. we provide places for old people, like the bingo halls. what do these poor people have? nothing! i think that people should stop stereotyping people because of how they dress and let them be. Jerks.
If that behavior is happening downtown then the city needs to come up with a way to control it, The square should be for everyone to enjoy but if there are certain people that are taking it over and ruining it for everyone else then something needs to be done. If the police are short handed than how about getting the city to think about a group like the Guardian Angels, A local chapter could be started with volunteers from the area. I don’t know all the legal details for something like that so it’s just a thought, So where is a safe place to stand downtown and hand out some fliers?
“My wife and I were at Paddy Murphy’s having lunch and parked behind
Freese’s,” he recalled. “We had a guy come up and ask us for a couple
dollars so he could go help a friend.”
Oh, no! A stranger approached me and asked me a question!! The horror!
Thanks I thought the same thing. please don’t lump someone asking for $2 dollars with people getting into fist fights….
hahaha you really think that’s the baby’s father?
Just pipe some beautiful classic music onto the square and it will drive the loafers all away. I suggest Swan Lake or Peter and the Wolf.
Ahhhh, summer in Bangor. Drug addled machete weilding transients out wandering the streets. At least in the winter they stick to the Bangor Public Library. We need more homeless shelters, methadone clinics and low income housing with nice vistas of the Penobscot.
Build it and they will come! Gets much worse people will start moving to Lewiston.
Pickering Square has been like that off and on since it was built a few hundred years ago.
This story is old news. What is new news is that City Hall is part of the problem. What this area has always needed is development. Remember Sweet’s Market? It was ground zero for this crowd until Sweet’s was shutdown and developed into a viable business – Paddy Murphy’s. City Hall had the opportunity to develop the space under the parking garage years ago but turned it down.
11 adults and a baby. Wow!!! The hooded one scares me the most.
by the way, I have a child who is disabled. Because of the people who abuse this public assistance system, and the fact that Lepage and the government cannot manage mainecare correctly, my disabled child is losing programs and funding for services, because they have managed to overspend and not manage the mainecare program correctly. So again, why should my disabled child lose out because some people chose to mooch off the system instead????? Imagine how I feel when I see people who are clearly receiving public assistance who probabably shouldnt be because they have learned to manipulate the system, and I have to continue to fight to keep my disabled child on it. My husband and I both work full time jobs, we pay our taxes, we have huge expenses related to our childs medical condition that is not covered by our own medical insurance, so then mainecare pays whatever is left. At least we are trying to provide for ourselves. I also must add that I cannot work year round because I have no one to care for my teenaged disabled child. Guess what? There are no programs available for him so that I can work year round….Why? State budget cuts…(We have no family or friends to leave him with either..besides, I need to be there for my child so that I can try and personally teach him how to be independent-I cant rely that the state will ever help him as an adult)
by the way, I have a child who is disabled. Because of the people who abuse this public assistance system, and the fact that Lepage and the government cannot manage mainecare correctly, my disabled child is losing programs and funding for services, because they have managed to overspend and not manage the mainecare program correctly. So again, why should my disabled child lose out because some people chose to mooch off the system instead????? Imagine how I feel when I see people who are clearly receiving public assistance who probabably shouldnt be because they have learned to manipulate the system, and I have to continue to fight to keep my disabled child on it. My husband and I both work full time jobs, we pay our taxes, we have huge expenses related to our childs medical condition that is not covered by our own medical insurance, so then mainecare pays whatever is left. At least we are trying to provide for ourselves. I also must add that I cannot work year round because I have no one to care for my teenaged disabled child. Guess what? There are no programs available for him so that I can work year round….Why? State budget cuts…(We have no family or friends to leave him with either..besides, I need to be there for my child so that I can try and personally teach him how to be independent-I cant rely that the state will ever help him as an adult)
i agree with mainemom,most of these kkids are just that ,kids.where is their parents?take away the shaw house so they don’t have a place to “hang”out for nothing,basically giving them a free place to live if they all want to be deliquants,send the to MYC ,they will learn to be good ,if they want to fight,let them do it down there..
kick all of them out of the shaw hpouse where they get everything they need.They want to be grown up set there butts on the street and see if they want to be the grown ups.When i was a kid they had MYC and they need to bring it back ,let them fight each other there.iI believe they have another one in Charleston,send them there insted of the free worldd they are to have now!
What happened to the story about the stabbing on First Street? You can’ t locate it from the front page, or the Bangor news section!!! What’s with that???
In the upper right hand corner of the page you should see a box that says, “Search Bangor Daily News”.
In the box type in >stabbing on first street< and you will see all the articles related to that event. Click on whatever one you want to read.
Thanks, Gadael! :-)
The situation in Bangor is symbolic of whats going on in this whole state. Everyday we loose productive working people moving away who are replaced by multiple welfare layabouts. This is the end result of the liberals and this misguided and limitless “compassion”. They care about everyone except those of us who work and have to pay for their endless programs. They believe they have a right to free healthcare, but cannot explain how they are entited to the free labor of the nurses and doctors who care for them. With the liberal its always about passing the costs off on someone else.