Recently, I ran across the color swatches for some of the newly redesigned Main Street buildings here in Lakeport. They were so different from the old colors; I had to ask myself what was up. Has the owner of the buildings completely lost it?

Though I am a huge supporter of liberty and the right of expression, I have to ask if the owner of those buildings is doing what he wants or is he catering to what “government officials” want? What I saw were not colors picked by an individual but colors picked by committee.

It reminded me of when my parents painted their house blue and then were told by the housing association that it was “too blue” and that they would have to repaint it “slate blue” or pay a hefty fine. It also reminded me of colors I have seen hundreds times before in strip malls and cookie cutter houses everywhere.

This really concerned me and it should concern you. We all really should be asking ourselves, is this the direction our charming little city is going, the way of cookie cutter buildings and strip malls? Where is the originality and charm that makes our city different from all the rest? Have we, as individuals, completely lost it?

I don’t know about the rest of the Lakeportians but I moved here because it was different from anywhere I had seen. This town has a great amount of quaint charm and originality.

In fact, back then – only two years ago – I considered Lakeport to be heading more in the direction of Calistoga rather than the direction of Santa Rosa. Unfortunately, now, I see it headed more in the direction of Santa Rosa and every other little town turned cookie cutter big city.

I believe we are at a point where we need to be asking ourselves, do we want be just another precut Santa Rosa or do we actually want to make our city into something special like Calistoga? Do we want our unique value to be appreciated or do we want our value to be lost to a preselected committee or even to a trend? Do we want to be just another city on the map or do we want to make a place for ourselves on the map?

Consider the quality and value of having a place with quaint charm and individuality, as opposed to the value of being just another city with a strip mall and cookie cutter houses. Consider the value of property of Calistoga, as opposed to the value of property in Santa Rosa. Ask yourself, what direction do you want our city to take?

I see two different paths we could take and I am hoping we choose the one that will do the most to preserve and protect the uniqueness of our city rather than the one that will simply allow for us to be just like every other cookie-cutter, committee-run city.

Andrea Anderson lives in Lakeport.

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