The decision last week by the Bangor City Council to reject a plan that would have allowed residents to fund a baseball stadium was disappionting for several reasons. But more important than that single vote was the opportunity it now presents for city residents to start offering ideas for making Bangor a better place to live and work.

The stadium proposal wasn’t perfect — almost no opportunity is. But it offered a starting point for rehabilitating the Bass Park complex. A council subcommittee refined the city’s committment to the stadium by greatly limiting the city’s risk: only after private sources had committed $3.7 million and the city was satisfied with contract conditions that included leasing details, surety bonds in case of failure and other considerations would the city bond for the money. It was as conservative a proposal as possible.

Yet its failure was understandable. There was little public support for the stadium, compared with opposition, and councilors heard regularly from residents who said they could not afford the potential property-tax increase. Tax policy — the lack of Bangor’s ability to raise funds other than through the property tax — is at the heart of the city’s reluctance to look for opportunity. Residents must go back generation to remember the last time the city made a large investment in a civic project.

This condition need not be permanent, however, and there is reason to hope that this council has seen that Bangor can have a positive view of opportunity — if not a baseball stadium, then something else — that will enliven the city, serve residents and draw people from beyond the immediate area. A majority of the council, after all, supported the stadium proposal; it lacked the six of nine votes needed for passage.

For the council to bring greater public/private investment to Bangor it needs to start a more thorough education process for the public of what sort of options are available. Otherwise, the questions that surrounded and eventually killed the stadium plan could do the same to the next proposal and the next.

If Bangor is going to remain a viable city and grow, it can’t wait forever.