To the Editor:

The Clark Township Board has a wonderful opportunity to shape the quality and attractiveness of the Les Cheneaux Islands now and for future years. We have a geographical delight found nowhere else in the United States. If we don't encourage others to visit and hopefully live here our community will continue to decline, as evidenced by the loss of businesses, jobs, and young families. Since 1995, our school enrollment has declined nearly 40%, resulting in teachers and administrators losing their jobs. Schools are an excellent measure of a community's prosperity and success, and by that measure we are failing. Think about how many families in our community have grown children who have had to move away to find proper employment to raise their young families. When the existing businesses are able to grow and hire more people, when others are able to start new businesses and grow, all our families will be better off. This is a basic economic principle that seems to be lost in our community. In the past couple of years I have watched as members of our community who do not want any change have actively opposed real opportunities for growth. My sense is that this opposition will continue. Those of us who depend on this area for our income need to recognize and encourage growth because without growth, we stagnate and fail as a community.

The Downtown Development Authority Ordinance will present some administrative challenges but all new opportunities have challenges to overcome. Other nearby communities have benefited greatly with similar plans, and I am certain that we will, too.

I urge the members of the Clark Township board to give this ordinance approval and to once again welcome opportunities that will be of great benefit our Les Cheneaux Islands communities. John Grenier Hessel