Congratulations to Farmington and Augusta, regarding their ability to obtain funds for downtown improvement from the Maine Development Fund.

Farmington's downtown still offers opportunity for shoppers where merchants make their storefronts and shops attractive and appealing. Local governments seem to recognize the positive impact of a vibrant downtown.

While traveling to Scotland and Ireland recently, I was acquainted with the "Tidy Town" concept, where villages compete in an annual beautification program. In many cases, the work is simply cleaning things, painting and utilizing flowers and plants to make a village welcoming. It does not involve spending hundreds and thousands of dollars.

For more than 20 years, I have driven through downtown Fairfield, sometimes shopping at area grocery markets, drug stores, sporting goods stores and hardware stores. In that time, I have seen little effort by merchants or local government to address the appearance of blight and total neglect within walking distance of Town Hall.

It is time for the community, merchants and government to look in the mirror and see what visitors see. Fairfield, you are not a very welcoming place for those who pass through and many will keep on passing by if you don't wash your face, put on clean clothes and express yourself with a welcoming smile.

Janice Crowe

Fairfield