It was with interest that I read your front page article “New Main Street ideas garner community support.” I attended around 5 p.m. and saw about 20 people I knew and all 20 had serious concerns about the scope of this immense project and its potentially negative effects on our historic district.  And many of my neighbors and friends have contacted me with their concerns. But no one is speaking up publicly. Why is that? I think our community is fatigued and has lost its spirit. We used to care about our history and were proud of our historic district.  We used to honor it, value it, support it, and dedicate ourselves to promoting, protecting and preserving it. Now, not so much.Our historic district has the honor of being on the National Register! Both national and local historic guidelines strongly advise against disruption of the historic grids, rhythms, layout, streets, and proportions of the original district. This new Main Street design is reminiscent of an indoor shopping mall walkway, not a genuine historic Main Street. I can’t picture any of our beloved small-town traditions on it — our Fourth of July Parade, our Halloween Dog parade, our Savor the Summit Table, our Miners’ Day Running of the Balls. Will we stop stringing our small-town Utah Christmas lights back and forth on it? We as a community repeatedly have said we don’t want to lose that character. I don’t want to lose it, do you?Infill should be compatible and complementary, not out of character and overwhelming like the large hotels in the rendering. And protected historic structures such as the post office can not be torn down or relocated (other than the non-historic wings). Plus, it is the last genuine surviving institution on Main Street that draws locals.We residents who live in town and regularly come to Main Street add a depth and an authenticity to the community that visitors notice and that cannot be manufactured. The chamber and other surveys consistently cite the authenticity and charm of Old Town as one of the largest draws for tourists, conventions, meetings and visitors to the area. It is what makes us unique. I thought we had learned a lesson after the oversized Main Street Mall was built. It has been remodeled at least three times to make it more approachable and keep tenants. And let’s not forget the last time developers and the city tried to do exactly what the City is trying to do now — generate more people and traffic — when they built Lower Main Street. With its big, generic “Anywhere USA” buildings, it has struggled since day one. With the exception of a couple of businesses, people are just not drawn to it — not to dine, shop, gather or stay.  They prefer the funky fun of the boutiques, galleries and restaurants in the genuine old buildings up the street. I suggest the city work to fix Lower Main and its empty plaza before it builds more of it on Swede Alley.Please note, this is not a matter of refusing to look forward and plan for the future. It is a matter of thoughtfully planning for the future by protecting and playing to our strength — the one asset that makes us unique — our rich heritage, our interesting history, our charm. We shouldn’t try to compete with the glitz of new and shiny. Let the hotels be built on the two nearby resort parking lots where they’ve been planned for decades. And yes, do explore some of the less invasive ideas in the plan.You want to help Main Street? I do not think that jamming more people into half-full new hotels and the hundreds of workers to staff them is the answer. Nor is multiple years of ongoing construction. Nor is further diluting the historic fabric of our town. Instead, use those tax dollars to once and for all bite the bullet and do something truly transformative about our transportation problems. That, more than anything, will bring more people to Main Street.Linda McReynoldsOld TownThe post We used to care appeared first on Park Record.