Committee presses city over eviction notice at railroad encampment, urges written staff directive

A Bangor advisory committee on equity and human rights spent most of its Nov. 25 meeting pressing city staff for answers after a resident reported that someone had posted a notice on tents at a railroad encampment ordering people to leave by Dec. 19.

"There is a date of the December 19 that people in the encampment need to not be there and all belongings need to be removed, or it will be removed by the city, and they will be facing criminal trespass charges," said Jamie Beck, a resident who raised the item during the meeting's public-comment period.

Beck and several committee members said the notice included inaccurate resource addresses and that outreach to people living in the encampment had been minimal or absent. Committee members described the site as an active rail corridor with emergency-access and winter-safety risks and estimated the encampment houses roughly 40 to 50 people.

Committee members repeatedly encouraged a community-centered approach that follows accepted best practices. "There are 19 strategies for…