I was upset to hear that a committee of the Bangor City Council approved to remove three benches on Maine Street. Do members of the City Council and a few business owners think that altering the physical environment on the downtown streets is going to rid the city of “gangs” of teen-agers? Our should realize that eliminating one behavior (hanging around benches) will bring out another. Next summer teens will possibly be sitting on cars parked downtown since there are no benches.

Not all teen-agers who walk the streets, hang out for a while on a bench or corner, are causing problems. These kids have a right to access the streets and community resources without being labeled as troublemakers. May I suggest that the City Council, the Bangor Police Department, business owners and customers of those establishments work together in solving this problem. If someone is being verbally or physically harassed downtown, store owners’ property or name being damaged or whatever behavior is not acceptable by law then it is our responsibility as citizens to contact the Police Department to address the problem. Ignoring the problem and later complaining about it after the fact by putting labels on adolescent “gangs” and altering the environment is not the solution.

We the residents of Bangor are the ones who can set our future. Use the city services and the law to make it work. Environmental alteration and labeling are not the solutions. Patrick Rager Bangor