Politics in Bangor

[Brodels]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

"To think that the Bangor City Council wishes ill will on people living north of here is crazy."

Those of us from Northern Maine know that we have shopping alternatives like Brewer and local communities closer to home. We also have alternatives as to airports like Frederickton which for many of us is closer to home.

I guess I'm not understanding what this has to do with the thread. Sure, people can shop and fly out of wherever they want. I personally don't know very many people who pass up PQI or Bangor to fly out of Frederickton. Perhaps it happens more than I think, but I don't believe it is a frequent occurance or that it will be in the future. And people can choose to go to Brewer for shopping, but there are many more options in Bangor. I do not believe people will start flying out of Frederickton and shopping in Brewer because the city council went along with what the communities around the proposed park are increasingly heading toward agreeing with anyway. Perhaps I'm wrong.

And I do agree with your belief that the OP deserves honest answers. I do not believe answers filled with rhetoric about city councils starting wars is anything but hyperbolic. Saying that a city council is declaring war because it supports a national park that many other people support is not helpful.

I'm not much in favor of the national park either, mostly because I think it will hurt Baxter and because I don't think there is much there that will be appealing to families from away. I'd rather see it not happen. But I do think that public sentiment seems to be turning, the economy in that region is in poor shape, the concept at least deserves consideration, and we should respect different perspectives on the issue, because it's really unclear how much it could help. The current plan isn't really working, so alternatives should be considered. Heck, I'm not that old (38), and when I was growing up, Stearns was a class A school. Look at it now.

[Submariner]

I do not live in Bangor. I am a recent immigrant to Maine, so I have no long-term biases to whatever happened here 50 years ago. I read the paper, I see the in-fighting at an arms distance.

Bangor is the economic and healthcare hub for most of Maine.

The Bangor City Counsel displays clear obvious biases in their ordinances, that are confusing without the inside knowledge of who is sleeping with who. I am not 'tapped in', so as an outsider, their agenda is confusing. I can not imagine a sane person trusting the Bangor city counsel.

That is "life in the big city".

[Maineac]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

"Oh, my gosh! Talk about stretching the truth!! Perry's got paid dearly for that property "

Take it or leave it. That's the deal with eminent domain. The Sail Inn was a great seafood restaurant overlooking the old Waldo/Hancock Bridge. It was also multi-generational. That family was forced out and their property demolished. Today it is a vacant lot that could easily accommodate the exact business that was demolished. They didn't get anywhere near what their business was worth.

I-95 could have gone west of the airport in Bangor over reasonably even ground instead of the dangerous S-curve across Kenduskeag Stream. Bureaucrats are fascinated by big projects and change. The laws of economics and common sense do not factor into many of their decisions.

I knew the Dyers, too, and they got screwed. When I was a kid I raked blueberries with the Dyer kids (Mary, et al.). The way eminent domain works in Maine, no matter which party is in office, is to calculate the prorata value of the taking from the whole without speculating on the "new" location as a result of what the government intends (new bridge, cleaning up the 2nd Street neighborhood, I-95). They use it every day in expanding thoroughfares. The property owners get a mere pittance, and if you argue, it'll simply cost you. Meuccis ran into the same thing at the end of the old Bangor Brewer bridge.

I suspect politics, common sense and economics in the positioning of I-95. Charlie Babcock once told me he got something like $17.00/acre for his farm land when they split it. Davis Farm took the biggest hit. The only thing I can think of along the existing route that was in place was Bill Hunt's IGA where Irving now sits on Broadway. Bill was into local politics and undoubtedly had a finger in getting a ramp next to his property. Further to that, positioning I-95 any further west would've taken it squarely through Bangor Bog out back of Rudnicki's farm, likely at incredible additional cost. You sure like to pick and choose rationales that don't really fit the argument.

Bureaucrats ARE fascinated with big projects and change. The laws of economics, common sense and the rights of people whose property are taken figure very little into the profit driven purpose of industry. Kinda like the E/W highway, where Pete says "Cianbro won't use eminent domain." Sure, he already has legislation in place that will cause the State of Maine, not Cianbro, to enforce eminent domain against the people and municipalities along the proposed route. Cute play on words. It's O.K. when something like that happens, but things like "Agenda 21" and other malarkey pops up when it doesn't fit the precise political agenda, right?

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Progressives are a patient bunch. They wait for the pieces they create to fall into place then pounce by declaring an emergency. They created the emergency! People who have not been paying attention become alarmed about the emergency. Agenda 21 is not the 21st agenda in a long list of agendas. It is the progressives' agenda for the 21st century. They are making good progress. I have a copy of the original bound book and a copy of the Biodiversity agreement that accompanied it. The progressives told Congress that the book did not exist. Dr. Mike Coffman of Bangor had a copy of the book flown in from Geneva, Switzerland and put it on Senator George Mitchell's desk. The senator doesn't like being lied to. He took if off the Senate docket and it never was approved. Whew: That was a close one. A private citizen can have an impact. You can buy one on Amazon.com for $2,129.35 if you hurry, but an environmental organization will snap that up quickly. They don't want them floating around where the general public can see a copy.

http://www.amazon.com/Conference-Env...ical+diversity

As to costly roads, the road across Alton Bog must have been costly to build. If I-95 had gone west of BIA it could have been built at much lower cost, avoided Alton Bog altogether and been a lot safer.

[Maineac]

Have a look at a map. Trying to come up with some conspiracy theory doesn't work when common sense is applied. So, more westerly with I-95, huh? Through the booming metropolis of Charleston? That far? Or straight through Pushaw Pond with a bridge? Or just west of Pushaw (thereby avoiding the Bog that runs all the way out the Bangor bicycle path behind Rudnicki's farm) and avoiding Old Town, the Mill, the University of Maine and Lincoln altogether? Makes sense if you see a conspiracy under every bush.

Have a look at Google Earth. The bog southeast of Pushaw is no less intimidating that Alton Bog. While I couldn't care less one way or the other, it seems to me they ran I-95 where it would knick Old Town sufficiently and balanced it between Lincoln and Millinocket. The Hainesville Woods road was already in place, so maybe they wanted to catch the Sherman Mill as well before turning east toward Houlton. Don't know, but it's probably not because there was a conspiracy of "progressive" politicians trying to steal people's souls.