Yeah, there are sometimes just all bad options. I hate it.

The BDN tends to be where you'll see right-wing takes, so it depends how you feel about that.

I have plenty of suggestions, and I readily gave them during my service to the US government. 99% of the time, they aren't interested in anything but the status quo. The average government employee isn't paid enough to care, and those in power have no incentive to fix the issues, because they don't usually have to partake in their own broken systems.

It's hilarious you mention whining and hating, as a frequent contributer of the Trumpvirus and MensRights communities. You can't find a more hateful, miserable echo chamber than that.

Before you assume, about half the population is female. I'm sure this interaction will solidify your contempt of us. Have a nice day, muchacho.

If you are planning to “just go into Bangor for medical care” as many are suggesting, please know that everyone in Northern / Western Maine has the same idea, and Bangor does not have the infrastructure. The wait time for appointments here is weeks to months. My daughter had a toothache and it took five weeks to see a dentist. The system is very much overwhelmed.
My daughter also has special needs at school. She was asked to leave pre-k due to behavioral issues and it took us six months before there was an opening at a specialized facility. I have family members insist to me “the schools have to accommodate her disability, it’s the law” but the law can’t force special education teachers to move here and work.

(Plz note that I am very aware that ‘I’m not in traffic, I am traffic’ and I’m not blaming outsiders or anything. Everyone deserves healthcare.)

The county has a few small tertiary hospitals and one “major” hospital at AR Gould. They can cover the basics of normal care, lab work, radiology and most emergencies. For any specialty care you’re going to be driving to Bangor. The county has few specialists due to the low population and pay for providers so most people refer to specialists down in Bangor for anything outside of general care. I would recommend your cousin contact the hospital closest to her and ensure she can establish a relationship with any needed providers prior to moving up there so she isn’t caught in a bind at the last minute.

Just to add as well, I’d they have pets you’re screwed on fixing decent vet care. Almost none of the very few clinics are taking new patients right now.

I have a buddy in the county who goes to the VA in Augusta because otherwise 🤷‍♀️

Never had a problem. Lifelong resident of searsport until moving to caribou. Back surgeries. Kidney surgeries. Major car accident in a coma for 5 days and between Belfast and Bangor they saved my life. You got screwed for sure. Everyone up here goes to Bangor for anything severe.

As someone who lives in Bangor- your needs will not be taken care of here. Northern Light owns every practice in town and they are a joke. I waited months for a urology appointment only to have the urologist tell me to just ask my GP for painkillers. EMMC fucked up their billing so bad that 6 months worth of procedures and follow up appointments were sent to my insurance as one $35,000 line-item marked “etc.” I spent eighteen months being repeatedly sent to collections and having my credit score trashed because they can’t get their shit together. The entire medical complex has one phone number which will connect you to a random operator out of state somewhere, with no way to escalate or speak to anyone knowledgeable if something goes wrong, which it will.

tl;dr if you need urgent care, mental health services, or rely on insurance to help cover costs, Bangor’s not the place to be

Really? Myopic? I'll tell you what lacks imagination. Your use of the same old tired complaints of the government haters. Just whine and hate with no suggestions as to fix shit or whatever. We were talking about the USPS. Before Trump I had next day delivery with Amazon prime. Now 5 days if I am lucky. Got meds the mail. Now I pick them up. You are the blind bullshit, my main man.

Also, not all jobs offer a good plan either. One job I had, the offered plan would take out $400/m with a $50 copay. I was making $10/hr barely getting 40 hrs, that was my grocery and gas money. I just went without.

Ironically happened

>This argument in favor of local control ignores obvious efficiencies of scale

An argument often made by failed politicians and now-unemployed corporate managers.

btw, does Dennysville have its own police department? oh. well, so much for all that verbiage.

Energy Star reports simply list SEER/EER and HSPF. Heat pumps perform differently depending on the outdoor temperature. When I was sizing heat pumps for my Portland house I used degree-days data along with the Energy Star rating of my existing boiler and the setting of my thermostat to determine how many BTUs I used. Any response I get here might be anecdotal, but the response could still be cross-referenced against degree-days data.

MDI is likely a unique situation. Maine already has a countywide police force in its counties but even that is insufficient when you have towns/cities beyond a certain size. A significant number of towns have long relied solely on county deputies for law enforcement, but some towns have found that insufficient given the issues at the local level.

Second this, good people and very high quality work.

...but that's exactly what the Energy Star tests are for, so you can compare the actual difference. How could anyone get data like that in their house?

Rumors circulated on fauxbook often turn out to be nothing. A person passing in a winter fire is indicative only of unfortunate circumstances instead of foul play.

Yeah, I have all of the submittal sheets and whatnot but if there's someone here who has used both at the same residence they might have an idea of the kWh impact each one had on their monthly usage.

wally staples in brunswick

Is it not duplicative for both Dennysville and the County to spend money maintaining law enforcement infrastructure (dispatch, admin, etc) to cover overlapping areas? Is it not duplicative for the town to have its own code enforcement officer when the county already has the capacity to take that over?

This argument in favor of local control ignores obvious efficiencies of scale, and makes "taxpayer control" more of an issue than "crushing property tax bills".

Honestly, I think it's worth it to have both even though it's expensive for two. I've tried having just one or the other and it's frustrating. About a quarter of their coverage overlaps, but it's the other three quarters that's of interest. I'm in York County but from eastern Maine, so I want eastern Maine coverage. PPH is oriented almost exclusively to Portland/Cumberland County plus decent statehouse coverage, while BDN does better statewide of the two and has good political coverage. Between NYT and WashPo for national coverage, I think you've picked the right one.

What’s your budget? It will almost certainly be more expensive to build than buy an existing home. Not to mention a lengthy wait before you actually move in.

If I was looking to buy right now, I’d look at Old orchard beach or maybe the Lewiston/Auburn area. There are still affordable homes in those locations.

A friend of mine sold his Westbrook home in 2020 (made a nice profit) and planned on building a new home elsewhere. They just recently moved in after it took them forever to find a suitable lot and complete the build. They are now in Topsham and regret selling their Westbrook home.

No matter what route you try to go, it’s brutal to try to buy or build anywhere near Portland. Good luck.

I live on MDI. They partially resisted school consolidation and created an AOS. Each town has a school board and budget. Sharing teachers between schools in the AOS is a pain because they are all employees of the individual towns. Multiple towns had their own police chief and fire chief, which is finally merging. Separate code enforcement and planning. There really is no need for all this duplication of effort and services in a small geographic area.

Canada went through with a municipal amalgamation process that was successful

Well, one person has died. That's known. Otherwise there are FB rumors.

I love this book haha