As I sit in my office and look out at Michael Lachance’s “onion” (Sun Journal, March 1), I imagine the new life that Bates Mill No. 5 will take on when completed. After all, the building was designed to employ hundreds, back in the day, and, by all appearances, Tom Platz’s new development will do again in the near future.

Thanks to visionaries from CMMC, the YMCA and others, renovating another of Lewiston’s mill buildings and returning it to the positive side of the tax ledger is much closer to reality.

I remember the first time I laid eyes on the space Fish Bones has occupied these past 10 years. The building was in rough shape, similar to the age and weathered look of Mill 5. I could see the possibilities and wanted to take part in re-invigorating Lewiston’s downtown.

So what if it isn’t the industrial toil of yesteryear? What we are doing today is reclaiming Lewiston’s history by preserving the only things left of a bygone era by re-purposing iconic edifices and re-engaging employment with a different kind of industry.

Now, about that “onion.” In my world, onions enhance the flavors with which they come in contact. The preservation of Mill No. 5’s industrial design and curious architecture will honor those who toiled in the mills long before, regardless of the industry.

Stomping on $70 million developments sends a wrong message to those who would invest in the community. I would use the deodorant on the real stink of the anti-community, anti-growth rhetoric.

Paul Landry, Wales

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