We can fix the downtown!

With the attitude “We can’t fix the downtown” area of Lewiston (Sept. 26) coming from the city’s director of planning and code enforcement, how can we expect any changes for our great city?

I think it’s time we find new faces in city hall to help Lewiston with its future. The city needs planning, which should include not replacing recently burnt out buildings and attracting more government subsidized housing which only brings more urban blight to the area.

If we can’t supply jobs then we don’t need to supply more housing. Period.

As downtown landlords, we manage to find hard working, great tenants to live in our apartments. Allowing housing numbers to decline, whether by fires or condemnation (by code enforcement), helps create a better tenant for local landlords to rent to.

Don’t throw in the towel so easily when the answers are so blatantly out there.

City officials need to do their jobs, from policing drug activities to coming down on welfare. Just having police beats walking the inner city would change the whole dynamic of the downtown area.

Let’s try new ideas instead of damning the city with derogatory statements.

Your headline alone sent a great potential tenant away, creating more problems for us landlords and the city.

Steve Goulet, Greene