BANGOR, Maine — Nearly two-thirds of respondents in a recent online survey said they don’t take advantage of everything Bangor has to offer because they simply never hear about it.
That’s one of the findings Bangor Forward, an ad hoc initiative composed of residents, is seeking to highlight in a new report.
The group partnered with students from Husson University’s New England School of Communications to conduct 14 discussion groups with 124 Bangor residents over the course of several months and administer an online survey that reached 708 people — 93 percent of whom live within 50 miles of Bangor.
“We believe that this is potentially the largest sort of listening, outreach effort that has ever been done in Bangor,” organizer Jeff Wahlstrom said.
Bangor Forward volunteers hope local leaders and organizations will use the survey to craft a vision for the city’s future that links economic prosperity and quality of life while utilizing the city’s arts, culture and entertainment assets.
In a report released to the City Council last month, the group noted that 64 percent of respondents said the city does not promote itself well, though the city has all the elements of a destination city that would attract outside visitors.
They also said the city does not promote itself well with residents.
“Much of what we learned was how many opportunities are being missed to engage the people who already live here, that business opportunities are missed, opportunities for cultural activities are missed, because people don’t know about them,” Wahlstrom said.
As a result, the group issued several recommendations, calling for the creation of a single source of information, such as new website to disseminate information about local arts and cultural events.
Other recommendations included the creation of single brand that is used consistently to market the city, increased efforts to attract young people to the city and to develop the city’s identity as a “college town” as well as continued investment in the downtown and waterfront areas.
The recommendations appeared to gain little traction with the City Council during a meeting Oct. 26, as councilors sought more specifics about how the goals in the report could be achieved and who should pay for them.
“It would be helpful to have a concerted community group that’s working with the city to help move these recommendations forward over time,” Councilor Joe Baldacci said at the time.
Members of Bangor Forward said they have no desire to create a new nonprofit group or organization that would see the recommendations through to fruition. Instead, they are hopeful city officials and other groups and businesses will use the information to help realize their vision.
However, Bangor Forward members said Friday they are in the process of forming a leadership committee that would provide more specifics as to how the outlined goals can be achieved.
“It’s still very much a work in progress at this point,” Wahlstrom said.
Members of Bangor Forward include Scott Blake, Mary Budd, Emily Shubert Burke, Deb Claflin, Jean Deighan, Lori Dwyer, Patty Hamilton, Kathy Hunt, Jennifer Khavari, George Kinghorn, Mary Lyon, Eric Marshall, Laura Mitchell, Glen Porter, Liam Riordan, John Rohman, Lynda Rohman, Kathi Smith, Jeff Wahlstrom, Lisa Wahlstrom and Mark Woodward.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter @evanbelanger.