One of our online readers quipped last week that the best way for Lewiston to solve its image problem would be to stop talking about its image problem.
Brilliant.
Our low self-esteem has certainly been on parade recently. The high-profile mayoral race, which ended last week, focused more on what’s wrong with Lewiston than what’s right.
We wonder, however, whether there is an important distinction between the way ordinary Mainers see L-A and how public officials and business leaders view the area.
Uninformed people may be content with their stereotypes and preconceptions of Lewiston-Auburn, but we most often hear praise for the cities from the state’s decision-makers.
There is widespread recognition that Lewiston and Auburn have come a long way in a short time, and there is respect for the way we work together.
We saw evidence of that last week when Biddeford and Saco officials announced a new initiative.
“New Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant and longtime Saco Mayor Mark Johnston want to start promoting the two cities as one, much as Lewiston and Auburn do but ‘even better,’” according to a Portland Press Herald story Tuesday.
Saco City Administrator Richard Michaud said L-A is considered “the big model” in Maine for sister-city collaboration, and that similar collaboration between Biddeford and Saco goes unrecognized.
“I would argue that we do more than they do,” Michaud is quoted by the Press Herald as saying.
The mayors acknowledged that L-A has done a better job of selling its new image than Biddeford-Saco.
That’s great to hear, and now would be a good time for newly elected mayors and councils on both sides of the river to re-commit themselves to combining services for greater efficiency and savings.
Those efforts stopped dead several years ago when Auburn’s former city manager and several councilors gave consolidation of services a low priority.
But Auburn now has a new mayor and several new councilors, and we hope to see a renewed willingness to work with Lewiston. The Auburn City Council should also be seeking a new city manager willing to work with his or her counterpart, Ed Barrett, across the river.
A survey in 2005 of Lewiston-Auburn residents found public support for consolidating everything from purchasing to policing.
That year, a commission of local business leaders concluded: “There are few activities undertaken by city governments in Lewiston and Auburn separately today that would not benefit from an integrated approach …”
A joint-services consultant, meanwhile, concluded the two cities could save hundreds of thousands of dollars by consolidating services. He even issued a report that showed how.
Unfortunately, Lewiston’s new mayor has already spoken against the idea.
“We have our own problems; they have theirs,” Mayor-elect Bob Macdonald said of Lewiston and Auburn during a Nov. 14 debate. “I don’t think we have time to waste going back and forth with what we are going to do with Auburn.
“That’s just a waste of time, and I don’t see why we would do something like that.”
Well, the reason is obvious: saving money and improving services.
Every dollar wasted on duplication is a pothole that goes unfilled, a street that goes unplowed or it becomes next year’s tax increase.
We hope the mayor will reconsider the issue as he becomes more familiar with his new job.
There is money to be saved; the Twin Cities have done it before and we can do it again.
And, hey, we have our image to protect!
rrhoades@sunjournal.com
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