As a business owner on Main Street and a citizen of Cumberland for 35 years, I would like to see the credit union on Main Street to restore the original business activity in town.

Route 9 is called Main Street for a reason: it is the main artery through town. It should feature business, tradesmen and professionals for all to see in an organized cluster. What good would scattering business interests all about the town be with no reasonable plan? What better spot than to feature them than on the state route that can handle the traffic and still is easily accessible to the center of town?

A credit union on Main Street would only be signaling a return to the vitality this town once had. We’ve lost the Sun Savings Bank, Cap Bragg’s Flower Shop, Harding’s General Store and Dr. Paulding’s clinic. The Log Cabin is gone; Mrs. Merrill’s office is gone and so on. When these were in operation, Cumberland was still a genteel town that I was proud to call home. Now I watch a slow choke-hold strangle any business opportunity.

An active business in the proposed location would be a welcome change from the building that presently sits unoccupied. How long has Main Street witnessed the ugly “For Lease” sign surrounded by overgrown grass? Some are concerned about their property values in this bedroom community. Wouldn’t an attractive, well-kept active business be preferable to the empty shell that sits there now?

 

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