August 16, 2010
Monday PM

I strongly support a downtown location for our library and encourage voters to vote yes on Proposition 2. Vibrant and healthy downtowns are not an accident or an "impulse" as other writers suggest; they are a result of good planning and leadership by local officials. Healthy downtowns are not "nostalgic" or "quaint" either. They are long-term economic powerhouses as demonstrated by thousands of communities across the nation.

As a community, we cannot have it both ways. On one hand, our elected leadership gives lip service to the community's desire to have a downtown that is vibrant, open year round, and provides a variety of goods and services to local residents and locals alike. Yet it is the same elected officials who spend the public's money to undermine this effort.

The library is a major public downtown tenant and removing the library, using public money which we don't have, will further undermine the vitality of our community's core. How can our elected officials say that we need people need to invest more in the downtown when they are not even willing to do it themselves?

Keeping the library downtown will be a long-term investment in the heart of the community, support local businesses, and provide a more authentic experience to our seasonal visitors.
John Hill
Ketchikan, AK

About: " Downtown resident and business owner"

Received August 16, 2010 - Published August 16, 2010

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