BANGOR, Maine — Bangor has a sister in the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, but the two old gals haven’t really stayed in touch.
Originally named Parrtown by royal charter in 1785, New Brunswick’s largest city has a population of 70,063 — more than double Bangor’s 32,391 — and advertises itself as the only city on the Atlantic Ocean’s world-renowned Bay of Fundy.
The last time a large Bangor delegation held a visitor exchange with community and business leaders of the Canadian city was 1999.
According to Bangor City Council Chairman Joe Baldacci, that visit helped create enough political pressure on the state Legislature to lead to millions of dollars of improvements to Route 9, which connects New Brunswick to Augusta, Bangor and Portland.
Bangor and Saint John, Baldacci said, haven’t suffered any great schism in the family. Linked in sisterhood by Irish settlers and immigrants from both cities, they’ve fallen out of touch because of geographic distance, inattention and typical life changes.
Baldacci wants to change that. He wants to resurrect the relationship between the cities.
“We have a lot of common cultural educational ties with New Brunswick, so I see it as an energizing event for people on both sides of the border. They come here as tourists and because we’re a service hub,” Baldacci said of Bangor on Friday.
“We need to strengthen that,” Baldacci added. “We need to really put up the welcome sign and make sure that people know that they are welcome here. This is an interconnected world. The more connections we create between people, the better off we are.”
Baldacci pitched organizing a large-scale visitor exchange to his fellow councilors during a meeting on Wednesday. Such an exchange, Baldacci said, could involve several councilors and local business leaders and cost $5,000 to $10,000 — a small amount of money, he said, given the potential return on investment.
Baldacci also discussed having councilors visit Washington, D.C., with the same principle in mind — raising the city’s profile, but with federal agencies and legislators instead of Canadians.
Councilor Ben Sprague seemed opposed to the idea. David Nealley, Dan Tremble and Cary Weston were lukewarm, saying they want to ensure that the exchange would produce tangible results before committing to it.
“I think we are just too strapped for it right now,” Sprague said.
“I think we need to do something. I’d like to see what we want to accomplish out of the trip. I think it’s great to have a sister city, but I don’t see what we will accomplish by going to Saint John,” Tremble said.
“To some extent it is foolish to have a sister city relationship and not do anything about it,” Nealley said. “It has to be more than about building [a] team with us.”
Nealley said “a strong case could be made” that the exchange would draw Canadian tourism, but he probably wouldn’t put the exchange ahead of the welfare of town departments.
“Without thinking twice, if the library says they need another $28,000, they’ve got it,” Nealley said.
When contacted Friday, Saint John Deputy Mayor Shirley McAlary said she would encourage Saint John’s leaders to pursue reviving the exchange. A participant in the 1999 exchange, in which each city’s full council was involved, McAlary called such visits “a great opportunity.”
“Both cities can share opportunities on economic development, which is most beneficial. There may be opportunities where both cities can work with the same investment or create new investments in each other,” McAlary said. “You learn a lot from each other. Both cities face a lot of common problems.”
Evidence of the Bangor-Saint John connection is still around. The Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce’s Fusion Bangor program was inspired by one initiated in Saint John. The program promotes networking and activism among Greater Saint John residents age 19-40. Bangor’s program is similar. Shriners from Saint John have marched in Bangor parades since 2000.
No final decision has been made. Bangor has another sister city, in Harbin, China, but councilors didn’t discuss that relationship.
Bangor city officials said they will discuss sharing Saint John travel expenses with leaders at Bangor International Airport and the chamber.