Bangor could soon join the ranks of other cities like Toronto and Detroit by installing a large sign spelling out the city’s name to act as a tourist attraction and marketing tool, but not all residents are on board with the project.
City staff and the Downtown Bangor Partnership are reviving a proposal to place a large, internally lit sign spelling out “Bangor” on a piece of city-owned greenspace at the corner of State and Harlow streets.
The idea was first proposed in 2020 when Betsy Lundy, executive director of the Downtown Bangor Partnership, worked as a city employee. But, the project was shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic and staffing changes, according to Anne Krieg, Bangor’s economic development director.
Krieg and Lundy brought the idea back to the Bangor City Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee on Feb. 3, but councilors had mixed feelings about the sign. While some agreed the sign could boost tourism and benefit the businesses in that area, others wondered if the money for the sign should be used elsewhere.
If approved, the sign would join the ranks of other public art displays that have appeared around the city’s downtown in recent years, such as the hanging Umbrella Sky project and the Good of the Hive mural. However, the sign is among the first such projects to receive public scrutiny in the proposal stage.
At least six Bangor residents wrote emails to city councilors to voice their opposition to the idea. Some people feared adding a lit sign to an already busy intersection would distract drivers and lead to more car crashes. Others said they didn’t think the sign fit with the city stylistically or didn’t want the city to use taxpayer dollars on it.
“No individual needs to be informed at the intersection of State and Park Streets that they are in Bangor,” resident Anne Marie Vickers Quin wrote to councilors. “If they haven’t figured it out by then, after driving through many hills and dales, the driver needs far more help than the hideous sign can provide for them.”
Lundy, however, said public art tends to calm traffic and reduce driving speeds.
Westbrook-based Burr Signs drafted two designs with different fonts for the proposed sign. One option has marquee lighting while the letters on the other design would have a backlit acrylic face. The color of the lights could be changed, Lundy said.
The sign would stand 5 feet, 6 inches tall and measure more than 21 feet long, according to the proposed renderings.
Depending on which sign design the city chooses, the cost for the project could range from $25,000 to nearly $30,000, according to the proposal.
High Tide Capital, which rehabilitates historic buildings in Bangor, offered to chip in a $3,000 donation for the sign. The city’s Downtown Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Fund would pay for the remainder of the project.
TIFs are when a municipality uses increased property taxes in a certain geographic area to pay for future improvements and projects within that same area. In this case, the taxes paid by downtown Bangor property owners would pay for most of the sign.
“Modern, artsy and quirky” signs in this style become “massively Instagrammable spots” where residents and visitors alike take pictures with it and post them to social media, which generates interest in the city, Lundy said.
“I don’t think I can underscore how much traction we would get out of people taking pictures in front of these letters,” Lundy said.
Councilor Joe Leonard agreed, and said he believes “the return on investment we’d get from this in tourism alone would pay for it 10-fold.”
Other city leaders and residents, meanwhile, have concerns about the sign’s location, design and price.
Councilor Wayne Mallar said he’d support the sign if it was funded through other means, but feels there are other more pressing issues city leaders should use downtown TIF funds to solve.
“We could use the funds to repair streets and fill potholes in the downtown,” Mallar said. “There are lots of things it could be used for.”
Lundy said she wasn’t expecting pushback from city officials or residents, but isn’t deterred by the comments and concerns.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an artistic project, from a painting on the ground to the hanging of the umbrellas, that hasn’t gotten some portion of the community to pick it apart,” Lundy said. “But, those comments seem to drop away when the thing is in place and people have a chance to talk about it.”
Ultimately, city council members agreed to revisit the proposal after the city’s Cultural Development and Historic Preservation commissions weighed in on the idea.
Bangor’s Cultural Development Commission agreed on Feb. 7 to support the sign. The Historic Preservation Commission will meet next week.
