I applaud the caliber of your articles and photographs and commend you for the many hours you spend covering events and meetings in order to bring residents the latest news that impacts their lives. Sadly, last week’s editorial by Bunny represents the behavior of many Historic Northeast (HNE) residents—whining and ungrateful.

Bunny complains about and criticizes the disruption that gas line infrastructure improvements have made throughout HNE, after so many people refused to support the streetcar on Independence Avenue specifically because they wanted the money spent on infrastructure. Now that the improvements have come to us like “manna from heaven,” Bunny is criticizing instead of lauding the improvements and thanking those who made it happen. Seriously? Gas lines could have been laid in any of the city’s neighborhoods with crumbling infrastructure, but we were chosen.

Perhaps Bunny and others who complain about being inconvenienced for a few weeks with this or any other project that comes our way should make up their minds. Do they want improvements to this community or do they want to continue with the same attitude that has led to us being bypassed for all sorts of improvements and never having a voice for years? And if the streetcar had been approved because people saw the good instead of the bad, we would also be getting new water and sewer lines, street paving and curb cuts, just like the River Market. And we would likely be seeing a business district where it is actually worth shopping and eating, just like the River Market.

What this community needs is a newspaper with Bunny columns that lead the charge and rally residents in a positive way, finding the good that comes from being inconvenienced, that shows the work being done in neighborhoods regarding crime prevention and blight reduction, works with neighborhoods to push the local chamber and CID to work harder on business development, highlights the efforts of residents and doesn’t always bite the hands of City staff that want to help feed us. What a difference it could make.

There are times that negative things need to be highlighted, but why not explore the silver lining in those clouds? Why not help lift people up and show them the good things that are happening around them, instead of so much focus on what isn’t right with our corner of the world? Optimism and vision are what we need so that they become our self-fulfilling prophecy.

Leslie Caplan
Scarritt Renaissance Resident