City should not approve plans that could lead to blight

To the Editor,

I have been following the progress of this company that wants to start a water bottling business in the new industrial park. I have concerns that this type of business is on the downhill slide and in the long term would be a bad investment for the city. I understand the initial reasoning for encouraging such a venture: (1) bring a few new jobs to the area; (2) the larger volume of water produced would reduce the overall cost to produce a gallon of water; and (3) increase the tax base. As the cost of a bottle of water ($3 bottle) is about 1,000 times more expensive than obtaining it from the tap, more and more people are turning to filling reusable drinking containers from the tap to reduce their expenses, especially during these bad economic times.

As many of us are painfully aware in the recent past, the city approved housing developments when Michigan was facing bad economic times five years ago. Most citizens wondered at the time, who was going to buy all of those new houses as the auto industry was increasingly cutting back on its work force. We now have blighted areas around the city where these developments were started. All of the trees and natural vegetation were removed and now we have acres of land covered with weeds that no longer can be easily cared for or cultivated (13 acres north of Masonic Temple and Tecumseh United Methodist Church).

I see this bottling company as another flash in the pan that will fold. I hope that the leaders of Tecumseh will realize this is an industry that is in decline and we should not support it with infrastructure, tax abatements, etc. Save us the grief. We don’t need another blighted area.

Bill Adams
Tecumseh