Editor:
In regards to the Saratoga Sun’s September 2, 2015 editorial “To grow or not to grow … that is the question”. Agree or disagree this article summed up the circumstances that we, as a town, find ourselves in today.
But in order to address this issue of growth we need to address the long held premise that growth is not only bad, but the worst thing that can happen to our town. With this belief one could assume that they think that Saratoga is stagnant and holding its own so why change it. There is a problem with this thinking. We are not holding our own and we are a town facing a slow downward trend only to get worse in the next 7-10 yrs. Stores have closed or are closing. Bridge Street, while it has retained a few good stores it still needs life pumped back into it. This can’t be done by sitting on our hands.
TOURISM - Tourism is the life blood of our town yet some of our visitors are saying that Saratoga “just isn’t as nice as it used to be”. Several have said they won’t be coming back. This is a problem. Tourism should be the icing on the cake, not the primary focus of our local economy. While tourism has always been important to Saratoga it hasn’t always been the sole major economic force in which it has become.
LUMBER MILL - Saratoga has never recovered from the previous lumber mill shut down. It is very good to have the lumber mill and the jobs it brings however, it doesn’t replace all that was lost.
MASTER PLAN - While Saratoga is developing a Master Plan, like other study’s and plan’s of the past this plan too will only be as good as our community standing behind it.
STABILIZATION - It seems that what we need is not necessarily a growth program as much as stabilization program in Saratoga. This would allow us to get to where we were in years past without the massive increase that some think of when we talk about new businesses and a business park.
A controlled and limited growth to stabilize Saratoga is one of the answers for Saratoga.
This should be the topic we bring to the tables around this beautiful town we live in. We can stabilize our economy without effecting the beauty and serenity of Saratoga. This needs to be done before we lose some of the businesses that are important to the survival of Saratoga. This should be the discussion of the town council, Planning Board (which it was at the last meeting), the new Master Plan along with various other boards and organizations, and most importantly, we need to objectively study the situation among ourselves and determine what is best for the community as a whole.
Now is the time to start this discussion and act on it, not in the years to come when it’s to late.
Greg Cooksey
Saratoga
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