There is a question on the Camden town ballot that is a nonbinding referendum to give Camden a direction in the use of the tannery property on Washington Street.  You can either answer to continue to look for a commercial tenant or to change the direction of the use and let the property become a more open space park with perhaps some community uses.

For the past six years Camden has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to lure a tenant to this three-acre site in the anticipation that Cupertino, California, was going to come knocking with dozens of high-tech high paying year-round jobs.  Well it just didn’t happen.  The closest it came was a traveling carnival of would-be flimflam movie moguls looking for a political handout and the only jobs might have been extra work for the town’s attorney.

There is a reality here and that is Charley Cawleys only come around once in a lifetime and the corporate climate has changed dramatically since 1993.  

There are empty large spaces from Belfast to Rockland that can be acquired if Mr. Gates comes knocking. The issue is not developing land but to stimulate a year-round community.  Folks, the workers aren't in the area.  The Town of Camden has a number of good paying office and supervisory jobs that need to be filled.  Where are the candidates?

We have had numerous businesses over the years that have left the area because they outgrew the job base. Camden is an incubator of business and many are run in small spaces in homes and in inexpensive office space made available by the Knox Mill. The people who nurture these startups are here not because of a cheap piece of used-up land but because Camden is a sane place to live in a world gone awry.  

I hope that you will vote with me to change the direction of the tannery property and allow it to become a public space that can continue to promote the type of community that attracts the young entrepreneurial person that we so crave. Please support Parks/Open space on Article 3 of the Town ballot.

Thank  you.

Leonard Lookner is a Camden Select Board member.