I am writing in response to the letter that Connie Love wrote in to the Auburn Reporter (“Signs of dying, dire downtown”, Aug. 6)

While I may agree that downtown is not all that it could be, and that mistakes were made in the past, I cannot agree with her ending sentence, “I ask the people who run this town: What’s next?”

Our City Council and mayor have been extremely supportive, showing initiative to help jump start our “ghost town.” There are many new businesses that have come in the last 10 years, and new developments and future ones planned. Not to mention a great farmers market. Our city, I believe, has worked very hard in the past years to attract and make downtown more fun and attractive looking and is on a good pace to continue so in the future.

As for my family, which resides out of town, they enjoy Auburn and its great community spirit. And as my ending sentence, if business is to succeed and downtown is to flourish, then it is YOU who must visit downtown and shop. Not the City.

– Steven Hindlock