Improving the Community Connector
I’m glad to hear that Bangor City Council decided last month to commit funds to improve the Community Connector, including opening bus depot bathrooms on Saturdays and forming a task force with the goal of lengthening service hours.
It’s also great news that there will be a part-time person to clean the buses. As a longtime rider, I know firsthand the need for buses to be cleaned more frequently. Soda cans roll around on the floor, food wrappers are tossed aside, crackers crunch underfoot and you better look before sitting down. I often pick up litter to keep the buses clean for others.
Bus drivers are already overworked, and some of these things happen during daily rides and need to be taken care of after hours. Windows need to be cleaned more often. I have almost missed stops because I can’t see outside. Floors need more frequent attention —I literally have stuck to the same dirty spots for a week straight — and dirt is left in grocery carriers day after day.
I’m not sure a part-time worker will be enough, but it’s a start. The buses need to be kept clean so we who already ride can enjoy a better trip and so we can increase ridership. Clean buses will help to disprove the stigma associated with the bus. The Community Connector is my only transportation, and I want to be as proud of it as I am of my community. I want others to feel that way, too.
Angela Bickford
Bangor
Stand with Turkey
Turkey has been facing many difficult challenges for the past several years. As usual, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed a group for the coup attempt last Friday without any evidence.
Blaming the coup this early on the Gulen movement only raises suspicion about the validity of Erdogan’s claims and intentions — to get credit and to continue his anti-democratic and dictatorial style. He has stopped almost all free media and jailed many opposing him.
I am afraid this attempted coup will be used by him to push more dictatorship on the people of Turkey. Please keep the innocent people of Turkey in your prayers. As a Turkish-American in Maine, I stand with democracy, not with any military intervention that is against democracy.
Yusuf Demir
Portland
Bangor fair shame
I am a senior citizen who is very upset with the city of Bangor. The city is planning to charge the military and all seniors $5 gate admission to go to the Bangor State Fair. This has been only happening the last two years. Before that, they had set aside one-day free admission for seniors to attend the fair.
That is only fair, as most seniors are just getting by paycheck to paycheck. If a husband and wife plan on going to the fair, it would cost them $20 even before they could get through the gate: $5 each for tickets and $10 to park.
It’s not bad enough that they are charging seniors, but to charge our military is disrespectful and a disgrace to our society, after all they have done for our country. Shame on the city for not thinking of anything but the monetary aspect of this.
If this isn’t overturned, I know a lot of seniors who won’t be going to the fair this year. They just can’t afford to go. What a shame to take that enjoyment away from them. I am appalled to think that our society has come down to money. Shame on them for not thinking of our seniors and our military.
Victoria Richards
Bangor