To the Editor:

Having studied and written creatively about rural towns (and metropolitan rust-belt towns) in transition, I’d like to offer some thoughts on stewardship of the common good in our local communities regarding a re-envisioning of the Ethel Bisbee lot. I’ve read Meryl Kelly’s discussion/reportage piece in March’s Bethel Living.

The distinction between transition and historical succession is important. Wealth comes into play. Wealth’s proper use is to support the common good. There was a struggle when Newry’s wealth refused to do this in regard to our regional school system, MSAD #44. Individuals seek wealth but should not be consumed by it to the neglect of the common good in our communities. It’s good that individuals can contribute, by means of their wealth, to this common good.

Currently, The Town owns the Ethel Bisbee lot. Maybe our stewards will set up to use it as a communal town space. Safe town recreation and town business. A place where those in charge of our communal good can look out windows and oversee this goodness.

Historical succession in our region runs the gamut from Indigenous through colonialism, then settlement, and then through transitions where wealth was wisely used — not to change the character of the community, but to support and (a bit) enhance it, an example being the Gehring Clinic of 1896. News of its conversion to middle-class housing is also in Bethel Living.

In the metropolis, people do not greet or nod to one another in passing on the sidewalk. There are just too many to do so. The wealth of newcomers should not exclude them from the character of our communities. They might observe, come to town meetings, befriend, and get to know people. Volunteer, engage.

Susan Dorman

Bethel

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