Twelve candidates are clamoring for the support of Bangor voters in this year’s City Council race, and once again, homelessness and illegal drug use are front of mind as Queen City residents weigh their options.
Concerns about rising property taxes and aging school facilities are also concerning for some voters, and others are particularly worried about electing candidates who will behave professionally and collaborate well together.
Voters are preparing to cast their ballots as frustration has mounted over the last year about the council’s performance. The nine sitting councilors have struggled to make progress on their stated goals, and time-consuming legal and ethical reviews and rowdy public exchanges with residents have sometimes distracted from the council’s work.
The Bangor Daily News surveyed dozens of readers and spoke with voters downtown, asking which local issues they’re most concerned about and what they’re looking for in a candidate for City Council.
Just like last year, homelessness came up again and again in those conversations.
“Individually, I feel very sorry and very loving towards the people that live on the street,” Jane O’Loughlin French said. “And collectively, however, it’s a problem.”
O’Loughlin French grew up in Bangor and moved back here about 25 years ago, but said she no longer feels safe or comfortable visiting the library downtown or many Bangor parks due to the city’s homelessness issue.
“Quite frankly, if I walk my dog, I do it close to my neighborhood or over in Brewer,” she said. She suggested that the city could help find job opportunities for homeless community members and that candidates for council should focus on specific ideas they think could help reduce homelessness.
Outside the Bangor Public Library in August, Suzanne Duval also listed homelessness as a primary concern, saying she was sorry to see the city remove some of its downtown public restrooms, some of the few that were easily accessible to homeless people.
“There’s just not enough of those basic needs being met,” Duval said.
Many community members who responded to the BDN’s survey raised concerns about illegal drug use in the city’s public spaces. One said they want council candidates to pledge they will stop enabling substance abuse, while another noted, “People, children in particular, should not have to bear witness to this over and over again.”
One voter, Garret Brooks, who said he has been homeless for years, suggested a simple step that the city could take to help address the symptoms of homelessness and drug use: adding more trash cans and syringe disposal boxes.
“They’re small things. They’ll make a really big difference,” he said.
While homelessness and drug use often dominate council discussions and social media feeds, they’re not the only issues voters are worried about.
Residents repeatedly mentioned the property tax burden and other budget-related issues as top concerns, especially for retired seniors. Several people said they’d like to vote for someone who would lower property taxes.
Samantha Hayes said she watched all the City Council meetings and understands that homelessness and needles take up a lot of airtime, but “I do think that we should also be talking about what’s going on with the school system.”
Big decisions are coming up for Bangor’s school committee about the city’s aging school buildings and whether to consolidate schools — decisions that will likely be very expensive. While the City Council won’t directly decide how to proceed, it does vote on the school department budget each year.
Hayes has two school-aged children and said that as a taxpayer, council candidates’ stances on the school department will be important to her.
A number of voters who have attended or tuned into council meetings recently also said they’re worried about councilors’ conduct and ability to get things done.
One bemoaned “the general inaction of the City Council.” Another said they’re concerned about the “ability of council to operate actual meetings.” Another said they’d like to see candidates who are willing to report on what they’re doing in the news and show residents how they’re solving problems.
“I don’t want to say it gets out of hand,” Duval said of the council meetings, but “I’m not sure every subject is appropriate for the City Council.”