No pride of place here

I recently read the article in the Travel and Tourism section of the paper where Jim Matthewson told the story of a man who was visiting our town to consider locating his business here. He was impressed with the Hot Springs State Park and the downtown area.

Jim saw this man the next day and he informed Jim he would not be locating his business here after seeing some of the neighborhoods. He cited the reasons being “there is no pride of place here.” This mad told Jim it appeared the town had no compliance officer to protect the property values.

How right this man is. It’s disturbing to know we do indeed have a compliance officer. However, her duties are dictated by the town council. We, the taxpayers, expect our property values to be protected from residents who use their properties as junk yards and storage of vehicles. These people are violating the town ordinances, the law and state regulations.

Why have the ordinances if people don’t have to comply with them? It appears the town council has adopted the “live and let live” attitude, but I don’t see them living next door to such property owners.

I grew up in this town as a Wyoming native and it is disheartening to see it continue to degrade due to the inaction of the city council. The code officer should be able to perform her duties without outside influence. When its reelection time, I hop the voters will remember the visitor to this town who said he would not live here or bring his business here.

Debi Davenport