Lewiston and Auburn have cleaned up their downtowns, added new businesses and built parks to replace eyesores, but a few raw spots remain. Among the best improvements, as judged by Sun Journal editors and reporters, are Festival Plaza, Auburn Hall and the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn; and the Colisee, Courthouse Plaza and the Southern Gateway in Lewiston. Among the obvious examples of blight are the Libbey Mill and Bates Mill No. 5 in Lewiston and parts of Minot and Center streets in Auburn, as well as rundown neighborhoods on both sides of the river.

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