Magazine gives Bangor 5 stars

BANGOR – Greater Bangor has been named a “5-Star Quality of Life Metro” by Expansion Management magazine for the second consecutive year.

The magazine’s eighth annual “Quality of Life Quotient” appears in its May-June 2006 issue, and Bangor is the only place in Maine to make the list.

City Manager Edward Barrett was not surprised to see the Bangor area again appear on the list.

“It’s a nice place,” Barrett said Monday. “It’s a nice mix of amenities and strong values. Why else would we live here?”

Expansion Management rated 362 metropolitan areas on almost 50 statistical criteria and came up with a ranking that most middle-class people can identify with.

To come up with the final rankings, Expansion Management grouped its findings into nine major categories: affordable housing, good public schools, peace of mind, a balanced standard of living, broad opportunities for adult education, reasonable traffic and commuting, good commercial air access, a high level of education among adults and, from an employer’s perspective, a young, reasonably-priced work force from which to find good employees.

“Well, I know that when you look at the list of criteria, we know the schools in Bangor are excellent and that our crime rate is low,” Barrett said Monday in an interview in his office at City Hall.

“We’re not Boston, so we don’t have commuting issues, and air access for a community of our size is very strong,” he said.

“Even though we’ve seen some increase in house values, the prices here remain reasonable,” he said, adding that the area also offers many opportunities to experience nature, arts and culture.

Barrett said former and current residents who have experienced life elsewhere tell him they have “come to appreciate that we have a lot to offer, while avoiding [all the problems usually associated with city life] like crime, commuting and pollution.”

Headquartered in Cleveland, Expansion Management has a circulation of about 45,000 subscribers. Its target audience is business officials looking for the best locations to establish manufacturing plants, distribution centers, regional or corporate headquarters call centers and other business facilities.

“Quality of life is available in just about any place in the United States,” Bill King, editor of Expansion Management, noted when the list was released. “The only question is how much it will cost to an individual to tap into it. That’s an important issue for employers, because it translates into how much an employer will have to pay to obtain and retain quality employees.

“True quality of life is about employees being able to afford to tap into the American Dream,” King continued. “It’s about being able to afford to own a home, to be able to send your children to good schools, to feel safe from crime, to live in a place with a reasonable cost of living. This study simply shows you a way to quantify what most people still consider a highly subjective area.”