THE TIME TO PUBLICALLY VOICE OPINIONS IS HERE!
The owners of the Craig Mansion property have officially submitted their application to the city to do two things: subdivide the property and build a Dollar General in front of the mansion.
While some may think this is a solution that serves all involved parties, one can assume that this will in fact be the first nail in the coffin for the mansion. There is a minimum setback of the DG from the front of the mansion. HVAC and other machinery on top of the building will carry to apartments in the mansion, and light pollution from the lights will surely make for an unpleasant living situation. People renting the apartments will grow tired of it and move out. The building will eventually fall to disrepair and then the owners will say they "have to" tear down the mansion for safety reasons. The writing appears to be on the wall--it will only be a matter of time before the historic mansion falls victim to a cheap chain store--and the historic property definitely will.
A Planning Commission Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8th, at 5:00 pm at City Hall to address the proposed build of Dollar General on the Craig property by Ben Franklin School. The official posting is attached. We will be there to speak out against this. Anyone can speak on any topic that is important to them against this build.
We would love to have a huge show of support and solidarity against this. Whether you plan to speak or not, we would love to have as many people attend as possible!
If you are interested, please respond to this Facebook event link if you can and let us know if you definitely or maybe will come. (If enough people plan to come to the meeting it will have to be moved to a bigger venue. How cool would that be?! That would really say something...)
If you cannot respond on Facebook but still want to come, please do!!!
The more people we have against this (and the more people speaking), the better chance we have of stopping this. The less people we have, the harder the fight will be and it will be more likely that we will lose. Please plan to come if you can! Please plan to speak on the topic if you would like.
#stopthebuild #nodollargeneral