I have worked professionally in Lewiston-Auburn for 32 years and I am proud to have my office in downtown Lewiston.

In 1979, there were still 3,000 folks working in the Bates Mill with hundreds employed elsewhere in the mill district. We all know what happened in the bad old days when the mills virtually emptied, so who could have predicted the vibrant and exciting rebirth the city has experienced?

Great restaurants, beautifully redeveloped office space, some of the most architecturally attractive parking garages anywhere in Maine and terrific incubator spaces for industrial innovation. 

Much of this is due to citizens thinking positively and continuing to look forward, not backward, with local developers, property owners and government officials working together to make the community better.

That is why I am so concerned about negative comments I have read recently concerning housing programs and the new immigrant neighbors.

Who remembers the condition of some of the residential neighborhoods 30 years ago? Many building owners could not muster the dollars necessary to improve them, so it took a combined local-state-federal-private sector effort to do the job, which is continuing in the community.

I could not be more pleased to see the many families and new businesses in the downtown as we again re-learn that, as immigrants assimilate into the community, they can help it grow and prosper.

Lewiston deserves a hearty pat on the back for a job well done, not a slap in the face that some seem to favor.

Bob Faunce, Lewiston