How long have people – here and elsewhere – complained that Lewiston’s downtown entry point at Lisbon and Maple streets is an eyesore?

There’s no precise answer. Dismay over visitors’ first impressions of downtown has gone on so long that it seems a permanent part of the city’s image.

The current administration at City Hall is now doing what others have only talked about: It intends to clean up the city’s so-called gateways on upper and lower Lisbon Street, giving the city a much-needed facelift.

It won’t come fast and it won’t come cheap.

No major downtown revitalization project ever does.

It took a decade to free the Woonasquatucket River buried under concrete in Providence, but when the project was done the city took on new life – economically and culturally.

It took just as long for Hartford, Conn., to designate and develop its learning corridor in what used to be one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city. Aspirations for the city’s poor have since risen dramatically.

Closer to home, it took years for Portland to clean up and re-energize its Old Port district, transforming this once-seedy waterfront district into a working waterfront and visitor destination point. And, as in other cities, early taxpayer protests about expense are lost amid approval for what is now perceived as a first-class economic development project.

Lewiston, filled with proud residents who constantly fight ingrained and poor public perception of this city, has been given hope that its downtown can become a place of prominence once again.

The look of the city’s entry point at Bates Mill No. 5 is already starting to change, and may change quite dramatically if the proposed convention center – announced Saturday – materializes.

And, at the other end of Lisbon Street, Northeast Bank and Oxford Networks intend to move into spanking new office buildings, an announcement met with mixed emotions last week.

The city’s gateways need a facelift, but the work will be enormously expensive and will likely depend on the city forgiving tax revenue to ease developers’ costs.

What’s the alternative?

The convention center concept is far in the future, but the Oxford Networks/Northeast Bank project is immediate. If the project dies because citizens refuse to support a tax discount or interfere with eminent domain, that downtown entryway remains the same: a ruin of economic activity and a false picture of this city’s potential.

Tonight, the Lewiston City Council intends to vote on several items, including a new development district at the Libbey Mill peninsula that would open the door for construction of a new hotel and other businesses. The council will take up the matter of the Oxford Networks and Northeast Bank TIF, and will likely hear from fearful taxpayers about the cost of this work, especially since the city hasn’t yet freed itself from the clutches of the money-hungry Bates Mill.

If there is any hope of bringing back Lewiston’s lost vitality, taxpayers must consider downtown projects with open minds and city officials must truly listen to taxpayer concerns.

Overcoming years of negativity and building a city of prosperity depends on full partnership of the public and its officials.


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