Dennis E. Klein, Minot

While reading the letter from the dead loop group, it occurred to me that Minot has bigger problems when it comes to being unsightly. Though I agree they should be cleaned up I don’t think they should be removed. In fact I think they add to the landscape and we should find a way to move fresh water into them.

As for unsightly, our whole town is becoming very dirty and my opinion all the sand and dirt thrown on the streets in the winter is mostly to blame. Next August take a ride around town and look at what occurs because of this practice. You will find sand and dirt still on the sidewalks on our main streets and avenues. Select businesses along Broadway, 16th Street and 20th Avenue seem to think that it’s okay to just let it stay. Not being cleaned up gives the weeds a great place to live and makes our town look very bad. We need to get rid of these weeds and clean up the sand as it also is killing the grass along the curbs almost everywhere you look.

Say you are driving south on 16th Street coming up on the CVS area; First you notice all the weeds growing, the dirt on the street, you have wood poles and cables holding up traffic lights, you continue over the bridge and you see more of the same. You talk about unsightly. If you were considering moving to Minot how would this affect your decision? It looks like an area you would find in a poor section of a big city and there really is no excuse for it. It’s time to stop blaming the flood for the poor maintenance of our town and get it cleaned up. Maybe moving snow instead of using resources to spread all the sand would be a good start, it used to be that way.

I’d like to add that the grass has also gotten out of control and the city needs to get on these places to keep their lots and properties respectable. It’s really a shame the way Minot looks these days and even sadder that the people and businesses don’t seem to care.