I have lived in Falmouth for my entire life. It’s not like Portland with its many hotels. It’s not like Freeport with its shopping, or Cumberland with its many athletic fields. Our town has its own things. Beautiful trials and picturesque oceans.

Building hotels, soccer fields, shopping centers, and housing complexes would mask our town’s beauty, and it would hurt the environment. People have caused much harm to the environment. Change starts in small ways, like not developing forests. We need to ask ourselves which is more important: hotels, fields, shopping, and unnecessary housing complexes, or the people and animals in our town?

Falmouth wasn’t designed for tourists, traffic-y roads, or people coming to shop and play soccer. It would make our small town overcrowded. The Falmouth Center project would take years to complete. During that time our town would become a giant construction site, and it would clog up the roads.

I don’t think we should do this project because it’s harmful to the environment, it would make Falmouth overcrowded, it would take a long time, and it would cover up our town’s beauty. In the end, it’s up to us. What do you want the future of Falmouth to be?

Lainey Bender, 11
Falmouth