LEWISTON – Charles Soule has some definite plans for Lewiston.

Get rid of the city administrator once and for all. Give the mayor some real power, including a veto over the City Council. Build a replica of the Eiffel Tower in Lewiston as a home for satellite dishes and a tourism magnet.

And do some dancing and enjoy a little bit of life.

“I believe the administration has forgotten they represent the people of Lewiston,” Soule said. “I don’t think the real citizens of Lewiston have been given the opportunity to express themselves.”

Soule is one of three seeking to replace Larry Raymond in the mayor’s chair. He points to low voter turnout two years ago when he challenged Raymond for the seat. Out of 28,000 registered voters in 2001, only 7,000 voted.

“So, either total voter apathy has set in or people don’t feel they are being represented,” Soule said.

To begin with, Soule would give the mayor some real power. The mayor currently doesn’t vote unless there is a tie and has little real power.

“But the mayor is the only city official elected by everyone in all seven wards,” Soule said. “He’s supposed to represent the whole city, and yet he’s considered just a lackey.”

Soule would put the mayor in the city administrator’s role and give him a veto over the City Council. Top level city officials would all get cuts in pay, he said.

“I think they may need to learn to live like the workingman has to,” he said.

Soule said he’d also establish city suppers three times a year to get all of the people in Lewiston together. People could eat, talk about the direction they want the city to go and do some dancing.

As far as economic development, Soule said he’d like to build an Eiffel Tower in Lewiston.

“It wouldn’t be exactly modeled on the same lines,” he said. “I see it as more of a swoop, myself.”

The tower would be built jointly by the city and local telephone and cable television companies and become a new home for cell phone antennas and satellite dishes for miles around.

“And, I’d have it done up for tourism,” Soule said. “They say 70 percent of Maine’s economy is tourism, but there’s no reason for tourists to come to Lewiston unless they want to see the Bates Mill or the canal.”

As for the Bates Mill, Soule said he favors not investing another penny.

“I think it’s a communist entity,” Soule said. “It’s government owned real estate competing with private enterprise. That’s not the government’s job, and it should stop.”

Soule said he’s also against using tax incentives and city-owned property to bring business to the city.

“It’s corporate welfare,” he said. “We give money these special interest groups, and I’m not happy about it.”

Instead, Soule would use that money to fix up the city’s roads, which he likened to a patchwork quilt.

Soule said he’s also approached city staff and local developers and asked them to stop using heavy equipment on big projects.

“We need to lessen the use of things like bulldozers and backhoes and create jobs men can do,” Soule said. “I may be thinking outside of the box here, but I think it’s more important to give a person a job than to have a machine there that can do the job in an hour. One machine, that’s like jobs for 30 or 40 people.”

– Scott Taylor


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