The liberal mind at work
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Bangor residents resistant to public bathrooms coming to neighborhood parks
Residents who spoke during the first public meeting on Bangor’s public bathroom proposal were resistant to the idea of installing bathrooms in five neighborhood parks, as they fear the resource will draw unwanted behavior.
Most of the roughly 20 residents who attended the meeting on Wednesday worried the bathrooms would draw vandalism and misuse, or people would use them as a place to inject drugs and leave used syringes in areas where children play. Other attendees questioned why neighborhood parks need public restrooms when Bangor’s downtown and waterfront often draw more people for longer periods of time.
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Having available, clearly marked and accessible restrooms is important for all Bangor residents and visitors, but is especially pressing for the city’s homeless population. Without ample restrooms, especially those that are open beyond standard business hours, people are forced to ask local businesses to use their facilities or relieve themselves outside.
“Part of this effort is based on the understanding that having available public bathrooms is more than just a convenience for people, it’s also a matter of public health,” the city wrote in a statement last week. “People can’t spend an extended amount of time using a downtown or city amenity without available public bathrooms.”
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Ben Treat, director of the Bangor Public Library, asked whether Pierce Park next to the library would be a better site for a bathroom, as it’s in an area with more traffic and people may be discouraged from mistreating it. A public bathroom in that area would also be helpful for people who need to relieve themselves when the library is closed.
From his experience offering public bathrooms in the library, Treat also said the new bathrooms will likely need frequent cleanings, and crews should be prepared to encounter someone who is sleeping or has overdosed in a restroom.
“People in general don’t treat public facilities as well as they treat their own,” Treat said.
Bangor’s existing bathrooms are in public buildings such as the library, transit center, and city hall, which has temporarily relocated to the Penquis building on Harlow Street. All of those buildings have set business hours.
And then this:
Bangor’s bathroom proposal comes nearly three years after portable toilets in Broad Street Park and behind the Hope House had to be removed due to heavy and repeated vandalism and misuse that made them unsafe or impossible to service. Those toilets cost $70,000 annually and were provided and maintained by Casella. The units were placed in April 2021 but removed in August 2021.
So … portable toilets were trashed and destroyed by the homeless drug addicts they were intended to serve, and the city’s response is to build permanent ones and place them in neighborhood parks where families and children play. Brilliant.
