City of Bangor Lobbies Feds
WASHINGTON, March 15 – Two Bangor officials came to the capital this week to lobby the Maine congressional delegation and take part in the National League of Cities’ Congressional City Conference. Councilwoman Anne Allen and Rodney McKay, the director of Bangor’s Department of Community and Economic Development, were here to push Bangor’s interests in the fields of education, transportation, telecommunications and community development.
As members of the Maine Municipal Association, the two officials also belong to the National League of Cities, and Bangor and other cities and towns throughout the state regularly participate in this annual conference. Representatives of Augusta, Brewer, Lewiston and Portland attended as well.
Allen and McKay agreed that the biggest issue facing Bangor and the rest of Maine is the proposed 25 percent cut in Community Development Block Grants, which are disbursed to states and specific communities to spend on things like housing and job creation as they see fit. The Senate on Wednesday approved an amendment that Sen. Olympia Snowe offered to wipe out this proposed cut, but the spending reduction could still go through before the final budget is passed.
When the grants were started in 1974, Bangor received $1.2 million. Despite rising inflation, that number remained static for more than 30 years. The 1974 dollars translate into about $4.8 million 2006 dollars. In fiscal year 2007, the President’s budget proposal would send less than $1 million in grant money to Bangor.
With the number of city projects that would be hampered by the federal cut, Allen said with a chuckle, “It’s gonna kill us.”
McKay said that Bangor has used Community Development Block Grants to improve older residential neighborhoods by giving grants to lower-income house owners for home improvements. The city also bought up unused military housing in the Capeheart area and turned it into transitional housing for the city’s homeless. Some of the money also went to job training programs for those residents.
The city also uses the money to help low-income families buy a house, and it gives money to landlords who rent to low-income people, McKay said. The federal money has been used to improve 12 buildings in the downtown area and to bring buildings up to code and make sure they are handicapped-accessible.
When L.L. Bean wanted to open a new call center near the airport, grant money was used to expand the parking lot at 690 Maine Ave., a prerequisite for the giant retailer’s moving there, McKay said. The call center created hundreds of jobs for Bangor and the surrounding areas.
McKay and Allen were also pushing for a 100,000-pound vehicle weight limit on I-95 north of Augusta’s new bridge. Currently the limit is 80,000 pounds, and trucks that weigh more have to get off the highway at that point and use state and city roads. Not only do they wear out the roads faster, but they also cause many accidents that could be avoided if they stayed on the highway, according to the congressional delegation
The limit used to be 80,000 pounds at the point where the Maine Turnpike ended, forcing northbound trucks to drive down Western Ave. and through the perilous traffic circles in Augusta. After the 100,000-pound weight limit was moved up to the third bridge on Oct, 15, 2004, accidents on Memorial Circle involving heavy trucks dropped from seven in 2004 to two in 2005, and on Bangor Street from four to two. All traffic accidents also declined from 2004 to 2005.
The Maine congressional delegation is trying to get the weight limit extended further north. A bill by Snowe, co-sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, is in committee, and a House version sponsored by Maine’s congressmen is at the same stage.
McKay and Allen also were concerned with recent efforts by telecommunications companies to end city control over when city streets can be dug up for installation of cables. Currently the companies need city approval and have to pay a nominal fee. The telecommunications industry wants such controls shifted to the federal government.
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