The East-Central Maine version of liberal Portland, besieged like its southern big-sister city with rag-tag “homeless” encampments, is going high tech.
To wit, Bangor officials are actually considering creating a government-sponsored tent city.
“We can’t keep doing insanity, repeating the same thing over and over and over again,” Bangor City Councilor Joseph Leonard told WVII-TV.
“A sanctioned encampment site that allows the city to regulate, establish laws, get citizens there to actually produce rules and order to maintain the community that’s there – that makes it much easier for social services, for EMS, for police to be able to get in there,” Leonard added.
Bangor, like Portland, has failed time and time again to clear out the self-propagating encampments that seem to pop up like weeds.
The Queen City’s largest homeless encampment to date, known variously as Tent City and Camp Hope, was taken down by city orders in February.
However, a new encampment soon sprouted along the railroad tracks behind the plaza at Washington and Exchange streets.
City officials say the new encampment is creating safety concerns.
So, they are considering a new regulated encampment as a safer, more sustainable alternative.
Now all it’ll need is a name.
Maybe Insanity Village 2.0?
