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biglymonies t1_j98zed9 wrote

Reply to comment by Sudden-Lawyer-8035 in What’s up with Bangor? by EmeraldMoose12

> They did this by not catering to their college communities but their 20-40communities.

Bangor is doing this exact thing, though. Bars, pubs, restaurants, social activities, etc are all mostly available in town or nearby. I'm square in the middle of the age range you mention, and nearly everything in Bangor falls within my rough interests. I'd go so far as to say that Bangor could be doing a better job by prioritizing things for kids, parents, and older folks to do.

  • Year-round family-friendly indoor entertainment. Where I live now, we have indoor playgrounds for kids of all ages that also have bars. They're apparently great for meeting other parents, arranging playdates (without having to clean up your house for company), hosting birthday parties, etc.
  • A barbershop/cigar lounge/social club/billiards hall combo for folks who are into that kind of thing.
  • A real wine bar. Bangor Wine & Cheese is a good stop-gap (especially for oils.. my god, I miss that place), but a dedicated drinking space would get many women's perpetual patronage.

> This is everything from the sushi and steal restaurant, to mexicali blues to walmart. A cursory look at the products from local shops tell you this.

Did you mean Smoke and Steel? They cater to people who like meat, beer, and throwing axes... and they're priced in such a way that it pretty much cuts out college students. I used to live right next to Mexicali Blues, and the only people I'd ever see in there aside from tourists were new-age hippy girls and older women. Walmart caters to everyone (which is why two of them can exist so close together).

Honestly, the only stores I can think of that primarily serve college students are the vape stores and maybe dispensaries... and even then, there's a healthy mix of folks who enjoy both of those things.

Genuinely curious here: What would you like to see as far as new businesses go in Bangor? A great skates revival? Another bowling alley or movie theater that can't turn a profit? Another microbrewery that sells skunky IPA with a Maine-based pun for the name?

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Sudden-Lawyer-8035 t1_j99m1lb wrote

No how about jobs that actually pay worth a damn? How about some tech companies here that drove innovation and solutions for other business and government incentives to move here. Great bars, cigar lounges, and restaurants that's certainly not going to pay the bills. You have a couple of indoor areas for families, and none of them were good. Urban air is ok but super packed most of the time. Or how about affordable housing. Living

When I say they're catering to to college kids that's what I mean is low paying jobs that have little to no chance of providing for a family. Outdoor parks now filled with homeless even the Riverwalk. I'm not saying there's not opportunity for it to be good. It's just mismanaged. Yoga studios, used book stores and coffee shops are ok but no ones paying a 1000-2700 a month rent for a 2br on salaries from any one of those places.

Bangor also suffering from a dramatic shortage of things like optometrists dentists and enough basic services to provide. Yes you can Google them and say but look there's all these places that do that. However, most of then don't have enough doctors to keep up or just none at all.

I'm not sure the answer but attempting a gentrification without a solid infrastructure to bring in new jobs or provide affordable housing to people isn't cutting it. So they'll rely on their rural people who don't have anything in their towns and their college kids during the winter and hope enough tourists and snowbirds want to come back in the summer

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Cutlasss t1_j9aep9x wrote

Problem is that government cannot just bring good paying jobs to an area. Businesses locate those jobs in the places they do for reasons. And increasingly the reasons important to them tell them to locate to places like Boston.

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Sudden-Lawyer-8035 t1_j9af3p8 wrote

Plenty of cities have went and sought out businesses and attempted to bring then to their city. In fact big cities like Portland Boston Charlotte Philly ect have done just that. Bangor needs to get out of the old mindset and start moving into the mindset of how are we going to start helping to provide for our residents. Seasonal rentals and jobs aren't cutting it

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MeanFluffyBunny t1_j9cmzqt wrote

Tyler Tech is building a new office in Orono actually, they are hoping to build a pipeline for software engineers and related stuff.

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Sudden-Lawyer-8035 t1_j9dt88l wrote

Tyler Technologies is a managed service provider that offers little more then 20/hr for their employees and subpar benefits. They also are one of the only MSPs in the area and don't employ software engineers even though that's their title they employ tech support.

They offer a basic network admin that does little more than manage active directory and offer solutions that don't extend past basic domain controllers and AD. Their software engineers offer remote control to solve tech support solutions and offer little to no help transitioning from their service.

So yes its a move in the right direction but hardly the tech company that's going to make a difference. They also are opening in Orono to offer an "affordable" solution to customers by hiring straight out of college employees they can pay less than market. Which only lasts until they get experience find their worth and then move on

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MeanFluffyBunny t1_j9f2gpy wrote

> Tyler Technologies is a managed service provider

They are a tech company that provides software solutions to local governments. In fact, they are the largest tech company in this market in the entire nation. Also they are on the S&P 500.

> They also are one of the only MSPs in the area and don’t employ software engineers even though that’s their title they employ tech support.

Im not sure what a MSP is, but they do employ local software engineers.

> They also are opening in Orono to offer an “affordable” solution to customers by hiring straight out of college employees they can pay less than market. Which only lasts until they get experience find their worth and then move on

They have struggled to hire anyone from UMaime, all of the graduates head south to Portland or beyond. They are hoping an actual tech office, closer proximity and more scholarship/internships opportunity will fix this. Yes, they could pay more. But I’m not sure they have any jobs at 20 an hour (maybe they do, but I’d be surprised).

Edit: yes we need another tech company in the area. They have no competition up here besides the banks.

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KYazut t1_j9a2l4r wrote

Movie theater with the experience of the Alamo Draft House might do okay. Especially as it could also double as a small band/music venue.

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