Editor,
I grew up in downtown Eureka goofing around in old buildings. In the 1980s, my parents restored historic properties including 3 buildings on N. Main. So, most days, I got off the school bus and played on job sites. It’s hard to overstate the effect this upbringing had on me.
Today it’s continued through my husband’s artisan renovations for this community. For us, historic preservation of Eureka Springs is a sacred duty requiring sacrifice; a labor of love.
The HDC sets out the code by which we live, and I am grateful for the community members who have served. If not for the constraints of the HDC, my father would have changed the picturesque downtown so many of you fell in love with before you moved here, all because of bottom line decisions. Self-interest is inherent in business and community regulation puts a check on that impulse.
Eureka has a unique and vulnerable economy that depends on working as a community to ensure its success. The trend toward self-interest is divisive on a national level. Let’s be grateful we have institutions in our community to protect the common good!
The HDC represents our stewardship for future generations and requires sacrifices from each of us to maintain the authenticity that is our most valuable asset. The term “existential threat” may get overused these days… this is not one of those times. What’s going on here threatens to destroy us.
Please vote not to abolish the HDC.
Leslie Leggett