I just read the article “Visions of downtown” by Don Worthington on the front page of the Monday Herald. I first must say the article was well written and somewhat upbeat about the future of downtown Rock Hill. The only problem is I’ve read many just like it over the last few decades.

I moved to Rock Hill in 1976. That was about the time our city leaders decided to revitalize the downtown area. Fast forward 36 years and millions of dollars later, and they still can't get it right. How many consultants has our city leaders hired over the last three decades to put them on the right track? Without trying too hard, I can remember a handful at a cost of approximately $50,000 per consulting firm.

The bottom line is the “downtown revitalization project” has been a huge failure. There will be many more businesses that come and go in the near future. Bank of America just announced it is leaving downtown.

Look at the downtown areas of Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg and our neighboring Charlotte. I remember in 1980 downtown Charlotte was a ghost town. Nothing but drug dealers, prostitutes and gangs. Look at it today.

In my opinion, not another dime of the taxpayers money should be spent on this project until some competent people are put in charge of it.

Ross McKee

Rock Hill