Bangor has some momentum working in its favor.
It has a revitalized downtown with new businesses, a fresh look for West Market Square and events to draw people to the area to spend time.
The city also has become a regional entertainment destination in recent years following a few seasons of the popular Waterfront Concert series and the opening of the Cross Insurance Center.
A group of Bangor residents hope to seize on that momentum and push the city, local organizations and businesses to think about the city’s growth — and contribute to it — in a more coordinated, strategic way.
That group, Bangor Forward, collaborated with students at Husson University’s New England School of Communications in recent months to survey a cross-section of city residents to determine what Bangor needs to become a destination city — for visitors and for new residents.
From those responses, group members developed recommendations aimed at establishing an identity, long-term vision and brand for Bangor; encouraging the city to make key investments that make it a more desirable and attractive community; and promoting the city’s assets in a consistent way, regardless of which entity does the promoting.
The call for more collaboration and consistency in promoting Bangor is nothing new. Neither is the call for a shared, long-term vision toward which the city should always be working.
What would be new? The agreed-upon vision and the execution.
Bangor’s challenge, without an elected mayor, is that there’s no likely suspect to step in and lead the charge — to see through the effort of developing a vision that enjoys broad buy-in, then executing it. Bangor Forward has worthy recommendations for the city, based on the feedback of a wide range of residents, that shouldn’t go to waste.
Those include embracing Bangor’s identity as a college town, given that thousands of college students live in and around Bangor; continued investment in Bangor’s downtown and waterfront areas; promotion of outdoor recreation options within city limits; and the development of a wider array of artistic and cultural entertainment options attractive to younger residents.
Effective and consistent marketing of a Bangor brand would underlie much of the effort, which Bangor Forward members expect to be taken over by a leadership team with participation from city staff, the City Council and organizations such as the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce and Greater Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Inevitably, implementation of a vision requires financial support that will be hard to come by. But the city of Bangor should start with the money it already raises for the purpose of promoting itself. Councilors should ensure it’s spent in ways that realize the Bangor vision and adhere to a consistent brand.
Those funds include a $60,000 annual allocation to the Convention and Visitors Bureau; Bangor should detail a specific return from this annual investment and expect that it be delivered. The city also raises about $57,000 every year through a special assessment on downtown Bangor businesses. The sum pays for the operations of the Downtown Bangor Partnership, which should play a key role in the efforts that emanate from Bangor Forward’s recommendations.
Bangor Forward’s recommendations aren’t revolutionary, but they’re research-based, and they deserve to be the spark that finally leads to a vision for Bangor that’s actually executed.
