Editing Bangor, Maine (section)

==Government==
{{see also|List of mayors of Bangor, Maine}}

Bangor is the [[county seat]] of [[Penobscot County, Maine|Penobscot County]].

Since 1931, Bangor has had a [[council–manager]] form of government. The nine-member [[city council]] is a nonpartisan body, with three city councilors elected to three-year terms each year. The nine council members elect the chair of the city council, who is referred to informally as the mayor, and plays the role when there is a ceremonial need. As of 2023-2024, the council members are Susan Deane, Carolyn Fish, Rick Fournier, Susan Hawes, Joseph Leonard, Cara Pelletier (Chair), Gretchen Schaefer, Dan Tremble and Dina Yacoubagha.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bangormaine.gov/content/1538/1751/|title=Welcome to the City of Bangor, Maine - City Council|website=bangormaine.gov}}</ref>

In 2007, Bangor was the first city in the U.S. to ban smoking in vehicles carrying passengers under the age of 18.<ref>{{cite web|title=Area Information|url=http://www.visitbangormaine.com/index.php?id=339&sub_id=302|website=Bangor CVB|date = December 18, 2014|access-date=December 22, 2015}}</ref>

In 2012, Bangor's city council passed an order in support of [[same-sex marriage]] in Maine. In 2013, the City of Bangor also signed an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court calling for the federal [[Defense of Marriage Act]] to be struck down.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Bangor council signs on to call for repeal of DOMA; renews Diamonds liquor, amusement licenses|url = http://bangordailynews.com/2013/02/11/news/bangor/bangor-council-signs-on-to-call-for-repeal-of-doma-renews-diamonds-liquor-amusement-licenses/|access-date = April 20, 2015|first1 = Nick|last1 = McCrea|first2 = B. D. N.|last2 = Staff|date = February 12, 2013}}</ref>

In the [[United States House of Representatives]], Bangor is included in [[Maine's 2nd congressional district]] and is currently represented by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Jared Golden|Jared F. Golden]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://golden.house.gov/about/our-district|title=Our District|work=Congressman Jared Golden|access-date=January 8, 2019|language=en}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable
|+ Voter registration
! colspan = 6 | Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 2022<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/data/data-pdf/r-e-active.pdf|title=REGISTERED & ENROLLED VOTERS - STATEWIDE|access-date=December 3, 2022}}</ref>
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party
! Total Voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent}}
| [[Independent (politician)|Unenrolled/Independent]]
| align = center | 5,113
| align = center | 28.67%
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (US)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| align = center | 7,245
| align = center | 40.62%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (US)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| align = center | 4,913
| align = center | 27.55%
|-
| {{party color cell|Green Party (US)}}
| [[Maine Green Independent Party|Green Independent]]
| align = center | 524
| align = center | 2.94%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (US)}}
| [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]]
| align = center | 39
| align = center | 0.22%
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! align = center | 17,834
! align = center | 100.00%
|}

===Law and order===
In 2008 Bangor's crime rate was the second-lowest among American metropolitan areas of comparable size.<ref>[http://www.bangormaine.gov/lib_safety.php Bangor Maine: the Official Web Site of the City of Bangor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223225728/http://www.bangormaine.gov/lib_safety.php |date=December 23, 2007 }}. Retrieved January 18, 2008</ref> As of 2014 Bangor had the third highest rate of property crime in Maine.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hashtagmaine.bangordailynews.com/2015/02/04/the-internets/website-ranks-maines-10-most-dangerous-cities/ |title=Website ranks Maine's 10 'most dangerous' cities  |author=Seth Koenig |date=February 4, 2015 |website=hashtagmaine.bangordailynews.com |access-date=December 12, 2015}}</ref>

The arrival of Irish immigrants from nearby Canada beginning in the 1830s, and their competition with locals for jobs, sparked a deadly sectarian riot in 1833 that lasted for days and had to be put down by militia. Realizing the need for a police force, the town incorporated as The City of Bangor in 1834.<ref name="Mundy">James H. Mundy and Earle G. Shettleworth, ''The Flight of the Grand Eagle: Charles G. Bryant, Architect and Adventurer'' (Augusta: Maine Historic Preservation Commission, 1977)</ref>  In the 1800s, sailors and loggers gave the city a reputation for roughness; their stomping grounds were known as the "Devil's Half Acre".<ref name="MAGDE">Doris A. Isaacson, ed., ''Maine: A Guide Down East'' (Rockland, Me.: Courier-Gazette, Inc., 1970), pp. 163–172</ref> The same name was also applied, at roughly the same time, to [[The Devil's Half-Acre, Pennsylvania]].

Although Maine was the first "dry" state (i.e. the first to prohibit the sale of alcohol, with the passage of the "[[Maine law]]" in 1851), Bangor managed to remain "wet". The city had 142 saloons in 1890. A look-the-other-way attitude by local police and politicians (sustained by a system of bribery in the form of ritualized fine-payments known as "The Bangor Plan") allowed Bangor to flout the nation's most long-standing state [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]] law.<ref>''New York Times'', January 8, 1890, p. 1; Ibid, August 30, 1903, p. 3</ref> In 1913, the war of the "drys" (prohibitionists) on "wet" Bangor escalated when the [[Penobscot County]] Sheriff was impeached and removed by the Maine Legislature for not enforcing anti-liquor laws. His successor was asked to resign by the governor the following year for the same reason, but refused. A third sheriff was removed by the governor in 1918, but promptly re-nominated by the Democratic Party. Prohibitionist [[Carrie Nation]] had been forcibly expelled from the Bangor House hotel in 1902 after causing a disturbance.<ref>"Carrie Nation Ejected", Pittsburgh Press, August 30, 1902, p. 1</ref>

In October 1937, "public enemy" [[Al Brady]] and another member of his "Brady Gang" (Clarence Shaffer) were killed in the bloodiest shootout in Maine's history. [[FBI]] agents ambushed Brady, Shaffer, and James Dalhover on Bangor's Central Street after they had attempted to purchase a [[Thompson submachine gun]] from Dakin's Sporting Goods downtown.<ref name="walsh">Bill Vanderpool "Walter R. Walsh: An Amazing Life" ''American Rifleman'' November 2010 p.84</ref> Brady is buried in the public section of Mount Hope Cemetery, on the north side of Mount Hope Avenue.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bangorinfo.com/Focus/focus_brady_gang.html|title=The Brady Gang|publisher=Bangor in Focus|access-date=February 26, 2008}}</ref> Until recently, Brady's grave was unmarked. A group of schoolchildren erected a wooden marker over his grave in the 1990s, which was replaced by a more permanent stone in 2007.<ref>''Bangor Daily News'', Friday, September 7, 2007</ref>