I am very appreciative of your coverage of the Community Alliance’s downtown beautification project in last Friday’s edition; I would like to make a few additional points for clarification.

First, the Adams County Master Gardeners developed the idea for filling empty downtown planting spaces and replacing some of the least attractive trees with species that have been well thought out in terms of their attractiveness, survivability and appropriateness for a downtown setting. They also have agreed to maintain the trees after the landscape contractor’s one-year obligation ends, and they have devoted many hours of research to this project to insure it is a success. They are partnering with Keep Natchez and Adams County Beautiful to share the burden on this effort.

The Community Alliance is a partnership of the city and county governments and several non-profit groups whose role is to facilitate projects that may have been conceived by others. Ultimately, the ownership of those projects rests with the sponsoring organizations, such as the Master Gardeners, the Green Alliance or the Phatwater Challenge as examples.

I want to encourage everyone interested in downtown beautification to attend the public forum at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the theater at the Natchez Visitor Reception Center. This is a change from the originally announced location.

John Holyoak

chairman, Natchez-Adams County Community Alliance