Bangor council hears hours of public comment on homelessness, sidewalks

The Bangor City Council opened its May 11 meeting with a proclamation naming May as Older Americans Month, then heard roughly an hour of public comment dominated by residents and unhoused speakers debating homelessness, encampments, public safety and city spending. Speakers split between calls for a sanctioned outdoor space or housing-first approach and calls for stronger enforcement and fiscal restraint. No votes were taken during the portion of the meeting covered by this transcript.

Key points

• Councilor Wayne Mallar read a proclamation designating May as Older Americans Month, accepted by Eastern Area Agency on Aging Executive Director Tabatha Koso, who invited the public to a Healthy Aging Expo on Thursday at the Anah Shrine from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Multiple unhoused residents and a recovery coach asked the city to create a sanctioned safe outdoor space, citing a survey of 35 unhoused people in which all respondents said they would work with a caseworker and follow rules.
• Property owners and business owners described vandalism, needles, theft and public drug use downtown, with one reporting more than $10,000 in damage to a Main Street building, and urged more enforcement and accountability alongside compassion.
• Several speakers criticized city spending and the budget, with one urging the council to direct staff to produce a zero percent tax increase.
• A resident asked the council to revisit an ordinance on employee authority and immigration matters and called for a councilor to abstain from certain votes; Chair Susan Hawes did not respond to comment during the public comment period.
• Chair Hawes told one speaker that sidewalks are a separate agenda item and that he would be able to speak on it when it comes up later in the meeting.

Next steps

• Sidewalk-related public comment is scheduled to be taken up when that agenda item is reached later in the meeting.
• The Healthy Aging Expo is set for Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Anah Shrine.

Read the full transcript