The Convention Center, PAM, streetcars…..this is not the face of Lancaster County. We are on the map because of our large Amish community, beautiful farmland, Sight and Sound, Living Waters,Thomas the Tank and Dutch Wonderland. To be separate and apart from the tourist attractions on Route 30 has always worked for Lancaster.
Yes, I am angry and disgusted, and terribly saddened. We will never be Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, or San Francisco, and I would say the majority of Lancastrians do not want to change the face of our city to compete with anyone.
Lancaster city is disjointed with here an attraction, there a few galleries and here a few galleries, a smattering of clothing stores, one shoe store, ….there is no continuity to any of it.
There was a time when every store was occupied and shopping was such a pleasure. We had all we needed downtown. I don’t want to take anything away from the stores who do business there now, we just need more of them! More restaurants also, and some movie houses. The second block of Queen Street has flourished due to the dedicated shop owners.
We have a museum which cannot afford to expand, a library hanging on by a thread all because the developers and planners appropriated funds for them to their own desires….if they are so committed to making Lancaster a “destination”….what up and coming city does not have a strong museum and library presence. Get these robbers and carpetbaggers, speculators and rip off artists, grant babies, roll up their plans for the next flim-flam scheme and hit the road.
Take a look at all the “improvements” they have made and tell me how it has improved the life of any one Lancastrian. The only ones who benefit are the planners and their cronies. Don’t we see what has happened??
The people that benefit are the ones that can pad their projects with Federal or State grants or Tax Credits. It’s almost like the $600 dollar toilet seat in the military.
We have a number of people that are saying its for the good of Lancaster, but… the special interest groups… are really using the money to make a larger profit for their private or not for profit companies.