Time to apply the brakes???

Last year I confronted one of our "esteemed" City Councilors about my concerns over the impending Main Street Project. I was troubled by various aspects of the costly venture and had spoken to scores of others with the same feelings of uncertainty. I was totally unprepared for the response I received.

"It doesn't matter what the people want. We know what's best for them and will do what we feel is best. They'll just have to adjust to what we decide."

Several months later a different Councilor noted, "We were elected to make decisions and if they want to make a different decision, let 'em run for office. The Council is the engineer of this train......"

Perhaps, before the train leaves the tracks, the brakes ought to be applied? Otherwise, this could be the start of a new error as opposed to an era!

Concord Patch very aptly spelled out some of the costs associated with and anticipated by the project as it is presently envisioned after numerous lurches and stumbles. The numbers stagger me and don't even seem to include the "small fortune" paid to the firm of McFarland-Johnson over the past year or more.

I love Concord. For nearly 60 years this has been a place I have called home. While some may live here, I "lived" here, treating our City like a treasured family member and enjoying all it has to offer.

While some persist in referring to Concord as formerly being a "City in a Coma," I actively defend this sparkling jewel on the banks of the Merrimack. A piece I did some three months ago in the Monitor refuting the "Coma Claims,", resulted in my receiving more than 250 letters and e-mails from others who agreed, based upon their own longtime experiences in Concord, that anyone who made such false claims was clearly asleep.

In dozens of blogs and stories, I have written about the City as I knew it and as I would love it to be. We cannot go back to an era of Woolworth's, streetcars, and the nostalgic warmth of another era.  However, we can carefully balance what made Concord's Main Street thrive in the past with a direction that does not turn the downtown into a sleekly shiny but hollow strip of real estate.

What has been missing during this entire, almost laughable, sojourn has been a genuine discussion with ALL interested members of the community - business owners, shoppers, the young, the middle-aged and oldsters - all of whom have a vested interest in Concord.

If the Council and City believe so strongly in this project then it should be put to a vote. Let the people speak as it should be when something is about to unfold that will not be easily undone and will have a long-term impact - financial and otherwise - on Concord's future.

Huge disappointments from our city's past which include but are not limited to the removal of the spectacular railway station and the promise that Eagle Square would become a tourist destination, should certainly make those in charge want to move slowly, methodically and with as much input as possible, toward a successful conclusion.

Concord is our State's Capital and as such should embrace our rich history and past. We are not Keene (a college town), or Portsmouth (a seacoast community). People visit a State Capital for history - to see older buildings and to connect with the past, while enjoying some of the advantages of a modern city.  Once we stop trying to be what we are not, we'll have the opportunity to be the best that we are.

There is a serious disconnect somewhere and when I read about a possible "red carpet team" and a supervisor making more than $ 80,000 per year, I feel like I am Alice who has fallen through the Rabbit hole. In three years of being the Executive Director of a non-profit, I didn't make a total of $ 80,000 for that time period.

Our community has serious problems far removed from revamping Main Street and the way in which we address those problems will say more about us as a people than anything else.

Let's go back to the drawing board and start a civilized conversation involving everyone, because most people do have an opinion worth hearing about this. Sadly too many have no faith in our government's willingness to listen to the opinions should they be differing. That is another sad commentary on what has been unraveling for a number of years.

Our community has shown, in the past, an amazing ability to come together - united - whether it's in saving the Capitol Center, creating Red River, bringing the Friendly Kitchen back to life......when we share the journey, much can be accomplished.