Tremendous kudos to the City of Natchez for adopting a strong policy on beautification this week.

Not only do the new proposals focus on education in our community, they also focus on enforcement. And the committees behind the new proposals are made up of city officials and employees as well as community residents.

A group of citizens &045; led by Stephanie Hutchins, Arella Bacon and others &045; has been working hard on beautification for many years. The city’s &uot;official&uot; input adds teeth to their efforts and puts beautification at the forefront for all of us.

Among the proposals Natchez aldermen agreed to:

Funding of $7,000 per year, beginning the 2005-2006 budget, to pay a contracted landscape company to keep tree wells clean, maintained and planted in a consistent manner. This will be overseen by the recreation department.

Funding of $3,500 at the mid-year budget revision to pay for tree-well plantings in time for the May 2005 ribbon cutting of the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Presenting of a &uot;home of distinction&uot; every other month, one from each ward one time a year. The award will be based on cleanliness and upkeep of the property.

This is a great step forward for our community. Beautification may seem like a trivial aspect of city government, but it is incredibly important to our efforts to attract tourists as well as industry.

Beautification is also important to our sense of the quality of life in our community. As the saying goes, dirty places attract dirty people &045; and vice versa.

We are excited about the improvements that can be made as these committees continue their work.