BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 7, 2025
Over the years, criticisms of the Bangor Mall as something that contributed to the decline of Bangor’s downtown were often met with the response that the mall was the new downtown. This is nonsense. Downtowns are public places, democratic places: Everyone has a right to be there. A mall, by contrast, is a private space. A real downtown is a commons, a gathering place that offers more than an opportunity to buy stuff. It has architectural interest, places to repose and infinite opportunities for people watching. The mall is an architectural study in sterility. Now the mall is dying, and it’s an ugly death. So what is to become of the Bangor Mall property? I’ve long thought that it would make a fine cow pasture. ~ Robert Klose, Orono