The Bangor Daily News is profiling all 12 Bangor City Council candidates ahead of the election this fall. Read more coverage of Bangor’s local election here.
A local business owner running for Bangor City Council for the second time wants to open an emergency homeless service center.
James Gallagher, 38, has lived in Bangor his whole life and owns Bangin’ Whoopie at the corner of Main and Water Streets. He thinks that his experience owning a downtown business for about six years shapes insights he’d bring to the council that many other residents don’t have.
The candidate is toting a stuffed “hot potato” around town as part of his campaign and said it represents his view of the city’s approach to its biggest issues.
“It’s like one department throws the potato to the other department, and it’s like, everyone is an all star at deflecting. It would just be nice if someone would catch the hot potato, catch the problem and let’s talk about it,” Gallagher said.
He is unenrolled in a political party and running for council again after coming in as the runner-up last year, about 300 votes short of winning a seat. He said he thinks the council needs someone like him to “bridge the gap” between Republicans and Democrats.
“We need people that can put down their own agendas and their own political views and try and see the best for Bangor,” Gallagher said.
He said his top priority if elected would be to “fix the broken system,” saying the council needs to take more ownership and accountability for solving the city’s problems.
Gallagher said the council should declare a state of emergency and determine a solution for the city’s homelessness crisis in collaboration with local nonprofits.
“We’re all suffering here, and especially the people that have to live on the streets,” he said.
As an immediate measure to address the crisis, Gallagher envisioned taking over a large space as an emergency shelter with cots and services provided by nonprofits, similar to the type of shelters that are set up during natural disasters.
He suggested the Bangor Mall, the Cross Insurance Center, the city’s parks and recreation facility and school gyms as potential locations. The Bangor Mall is currently owned by a New York-based company and a deal is in the works for a local developer to buy it.
This could be funded, he said, with federal pandemic relief dollars that haven’t yet been spent. All of those funds have been allocated to local projects, and re-allocating them would be tricky, as funds had to be assigned by the end of 2024 and substitute projects are only legally allowed in narrow circumstances.
Gallagher said he would not have supported the tax deal for the Yellen Pines homeless housing development that the council approved. He supports the idea of wraparound services, but said he struggled with the idea that drugs and alcohol might be used inside residents’ apartments.
He also said the council should have agreed on the conditions for the tax reimbursement agreement before approving it, and that the support services at Yellen Pines should be offered to everyone in Bangor, not just the people living in the building.
On the controversial topics of needle exchange programs and syringe litter, Gallagher said he would’ve supported a pause on new syringe service programs but doesn’t want to stop the ones that are already operating because he thinks there is a need for them, especially given the ongoing HIV outbreak and coinciding hepatitis C infections.
The business owner also said he’d like to expand the city’s vacant property ordinance, which regulates residential properties, to include penalties for vacant commercial properties.
Like many candidates, Gallagher is interested in cutting unnecessary spending. He said he wants the city to do more fundraising to support its services without raising taxes, such as lemonade stands or car washes.
He also said he’d like to extend hours at city hall by adding staff in the clerk’s department and make the city’s Facebook page and website more active and easy to navigate.
Gallagher reported that he’s attended “quite a few” city council meetings this year but wasn’t sure of the exact number and watched the rest of them online. He’s planning a meet and greet event, to which he’s invited all of the other candidates, on Thursday, Oct. 15.