I read with great dismay about Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald’s reversal of his long-cherished beliefs about welfare reform (Sun Journal, Dec. 31). Macdonald voted in favor of a tax-incentive deal with an unknown retailer and developer Dave Gendron, using future tax income to subsidize the development of privately owned land. It amounts to nothing more than corporate welfare.

What will the taxpayers of Lewiston gain by Macdonald’s largess?

Even if the project is completed, where does that leave the rest of the city? The master plan, as envisioned by the developers, emphasizes the retailer to be a self-contained entity. There would be no reason to ever leave the Exit 80 enclave. Visitors would have no need to go downtown or visit another area retailer.

As for employment, yes, there will be some job creation, for construction and beyond, but not the lasting quality jobs Lewiston so badly needs. The big box stores and restaurant chains will bring in a series of low-paying, part-time, marginal jobs that will offer little in the way of benefits or future.

Lewiston’s landscape is littered with the structural dinosaurs of bygone eras — decaying mills, derelict tenements, empty malls and storefronts.

Lewiston should not shackle itself to a pie-in-the-sky, 30-year project that will benefit only the wealthy few.

Mayor Macdonald must honor his election promises and not indulge in corporate welfare.

John Schreiber, Lewiston

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