Thoughts about Waterboro

Monday, January 06, 2014

I have lived in Waterboro for 40 + years, raised three kids, and enjoying 5 Grandsons. My wife and I enjoy the area. Portland is nearby, Boston a short drive, and there are a multitude of things to do, and most important, great places to eat, in the area.

In the area, is Waterboro.

There really is no Town of Waterboro. We don't have a downtown, a retail section, a shopping street. Granted, there is a visionary committee trying hard, and producing wonderful visions of what they see as possibilities for Waterboro growth. Waterboro area growth.

And they mean well. There is a developing EDC committee, the Economic Development Committee, again a group of well meaning folks looking to 'develop" the Waterboro area.

Heck, just pick up the local free papers, especially the Shopper's Guide, and count the ads. My last count showed 13 from the actual limits of Waterboro. All the rest were from the Waterboro area, Sanford, Biddeford, Hollis, Limerick, Lyman.

Waterboro employs a Town Planner, who constantly tries to convince us all there are five Villages in Waterboro. He, and the 20/20 visionary folks want to make them into commercial zones, to attract "some kind" of business. They just don't now what kind of business.

Yep, there are five Villages in Waterboro, if you count Mom and Pop Stores selling pizza.

Maybe , instead of trying to make the area into something it is not, we should devote time and effort into making the Waterboro Area a better place for the rapidly increasing elderly population, sidewalks, areas to walk, a community center, public transportation.

Because the majority of the younger people in town leave every morning about 7AM, drive to work in areas that have all the stores for things they might want. And they drive home at night, to the Waterboro Area, and local pizza.