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Bangor has needed more public restrooms, especially downtown, for quite some time. So it is welcome news that those facilities will finally be installed this summer.
The City Council approved the use of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for these bathrooms — something we’ve been suggesting for years now — in January. Then city staff developed a good plan for where to locate them, and adjusted that plan after some not-always-so-great public feedback.
We don’t take issue with the finalized restroom locations that, as explained by BDN reporter Kathleen O’Brien, include Coe Park, the Essex Woods dog park, across the street from the Bangor Public Library, Cascade Park and on the corner of Broad and Washington streets. But we do have continued concerns about some of the public input during the process.
We commend city officials and staff for working to finalize this needed addition to city services. The entire Bangor community, whether it is businesses downtown, families spending time outdoors, or people who are experiencing homelessness and don’t have consistent access to other restroom facilities, can benefit from this step.
We also remain frustrated with the reaction from some members of the public who pushed back on the initially proposed locations for these new restrooms. City Council Chair Cara Pelletier said earlier this week that she was “a little dismayed” by the reaction from some who advocated against locating these facilities in neighborhood parks. And we have to agree.
“There is nowhere in the city code that differentiates between city parks and neighborhood parks,” Pelletier said. “Just because you live around a park doesn’t mean you own it. The people who don’t live near your park also pay to mow and maintain it.”
Generally speaking, both when it comes to public restrooms and other services, we’ve seen people worry that those services are somehow going to attract more homeless people to the area. And we’ve seen that fear used as a barrier to action that can benefit people already living here and the community at large. This misguided perspective has continually misunderstood both the experiences of homeless people and the many different community members who can benefit from services like public bathrooms.
And the fact is that there are already homeless people living in Bangor. Failing to provide services that can help them, and help the community, also exacerbates challenges. And despite what preconceptions people might have about public restrooms, these facilities serve the entire community, not just people who are unhoused.
“We do a lot for our unhoused population, but this is not a program specifically targeted to our unhoused,” Councilor Gretchen Schaefer said this week about the restrooms debate. “The unhoused may benefit from this, but this is for the citizens of Bangor, no matter where they live.”
We’re glad that a willingness to act on public restrooms has won out among councilors. And we hope that members of the public can stop incorrectly viewing important services as a magnet, and instead as a way of helping the people around them and improving the community for everyone.
