Thank you very much for your article “Sprawl” in the most recent issue of The Working Waterfront. You speak with a compelling voice about an issue with which I am very concerned. I have been visiting Maine for over 60 years, first as a child on Little Sebago Lake (where my Grandfather, an early settler, had a small cottage), and more recently as an adult who shares (with other members of my family) a summer cottage on Damariscotta Lake.
The future of Maine as I know it is very much threatened by the sprawl of which you speak. I have particularly noticed this in remote locations, where large boxes like Walmart are beginning to pollute the land. The widening of Rte 1 near Warren is yet another example, as is the proliferation of commercial enterprises on Rte 90 and on the outskirts of towns like Damariscotta. These are places I care about, as a summer resident and, in the future, a potential year-round inhabitant. But their value to me is seriously compromised by this commercial “crawl” all in the name of “progress.” I understand the “value” of a healthy economy, as I care about people and their lives, but surely there must be better ways to accomplish this objective.
So, I am anxious to know what I can do to work towards a constructive solution to these problems. In your article, you speak of the need to “regionalize”, but this suggestion (with which I concur) leaves people like me with little to do but hope that others will work creatively to address these issues …
David W. Pratt
Pittsburgh, PA