Who would believe our borough would intentionally create a “downtown blight” area?

Have you observed the “eyesore” left when our old school demolition project was completed? A major blight right in downtown Haines!

Walk or drive Main Street and observe what our visitors see when walking about our town!

Spending public dollars on community projects should result in a something we can be proud of, not a “blighted area” with massive raw rock exposed, serious ruts, piles of rubble, black paper hanging, mismatched building colors all which add to a “nasty scar” making this potentially beautiful area unusable and unsightly! Who was responsible for managing this project?

Negative comments about our downtown business corridor are certainly muted when our borough sets such a poor example. Ask our assembly members why they permitted our Borough to leave such a “nasty scar.”

A change order proposal from December 2010 shows the borough authorized elimination of “landscaping, grass seeding and site clean up” from the Dawson Construction school demolition contract.

With all the good dirt being moved around our town our Borough should clean up their mess, grade and bring in decent top soil depth which will support flowers, trees and other landscape materials and reclaim the “ugly spot” into something we can be proud of!

And please don’t look at our Chilkat Center building or it will “hurt your eyes” due to the lack of maintenance and is still experiencing interior water leaks.

Congratulations to Olerud’s Market and L.A.B. Airlines for making a serious effort to improve their buildings along Main Street.

Joe Poor

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