Fractured region: An open letter for change

A history of short-sighted planning, zoning and variances culminates today in an inert city resistant to change. Culminates today in quicksand.

The post-industry vacuum has crippled resident affluence and scared off the sort of commercial investments which anchor a community.

We are losing faith in our churches, leaders and role models. We are suffering from a lack of individual ownership. From a lack of planning.

To save the future, we need to reconsider law and land alike. To repurpose and reprioritize what we have.

And what do we have? A college, a hospital, a theater and a tourist attraction. Churches. Restaurants. Sundry galleries and boutique shops. All clinging to fading sense of history.

But time, unlike taxes, knows no municipal lines.

To consolidate municipalities, in part or in whole, would free up the log jams of funding and bureaucracy. Make conditions favorable for investors and employers to do business in the city and eventually we will be more than a post-blue collar money pit.

Let's reverse the process of fracture and decay which leads to a depreciation of wealth. Which leads to blight, gunslingers and apathy. When weeds outnumber the flowers in your garden, it is because they adapt to negligent conditions.

The future starts now. Don't neglect it; plan for it. Let's make this city worth something.