OUR VIEW: Nuisance letters should serve as warning

• OUR VIEW

OUR VIEW

Talk about it

We appreciate the public stance taken by members of an uptown business group after the city sent nuisance letters their direction last week.

The letters were sent to 35 businesses overall, and warned owners that some cleanups, updates and renovations are in order. We know some business owners aren’t happy with the letters, but it appears the sting is subsiding.

Privately, many are probably still smarting. Publicly, many have gamely moved forward in hopes of fixing any perceived problems.

Molly Goldsmith, director of Mitchell Main Street and Beyond, said the letters could be a blessing in disguise. She said many business owners suspected something like this was coming.

Too, she said the letters may help raise awareness of the Revolving Loan Fund, which can help uptown business owners rehabilitate their property with the help of low-interest loans.

And we suspect that the letters — sent by Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Lanning — will go far in prompting other business owners to scour their own property for potential nuisance violations.

The Daily Republic did not receive a nuisance letter, but managers here suspect that’s only because the newspaper’s building is not located directly on Main Street.

We also know that if some of the uptown businesses were cited for what may have been rather innocent infractions, we can’t be far behind on the list.

So Wednesday, we began some touch-up painting and general cleanup tasks. It’s not an overnight job, but eventually, our property will be tidier. We suggest others do the same.

Certainly, nobody wants to receive one of these letters from the city. Those with legitimate disputes should take them up with Lanning, the mayor or members of the City Council.

But after the initial humiliation wears off, many may realize that indeed, some uptown properties truly needed some cleanup work.

If nothing else, we should all treat the recent round of letters as our fair warning.

Tags: opinion, updates, editorials, downtown, local, mitchell