The City of Natchez is awaiting an appraisal before it moves forward with possible purchase plans for an approximately 3.5-acre property on the Natchez bluff. It should make every effort to acquire the land, if possible.

Originally owned by the City of Natchez, the city sold it to members of the Callon family 34 years ago.

That sale was presumably made to help out the long-standing downtown business Callon Petroleum have a good parking lot for its employees.

In hindsight, perhaps the city should not have sold the property in the first place.

Living with one’s focus planted firmly in the rear view mirror is a pretty miserable existence.

Rather than griping over what may have been a poor decision, let’s simply focus on the reality of the moment.

The fact is the city should own that land, completing the full tract that is the Natchez bluff.

The bluff is unique and it’s special. It should be, as early U.S. Congress reports indicate, preserved for the public good.

Natchez has made vast improvements to the bluff in the last three decades.

The first was through federal projects to stabilize the crumbling bluff.

Next was the work to clean up and define the Natchez Trails project that runs along and beneath the edge of the bluff.

The next phase should be continued public development of the bluff, taking what was begun with the Natchez Trails project and improving upon it and making it world-class.

Hopefully, the full bluff land can be restored into a large, single swath of land again.