The closing paragraph of the Dec. 26 editorial about the proposal for a medical office building on Prince Avenue, which suggests that developers consider a smaller building, should perhaps be addressed to Athens-Clarke County Commissioner David Lynn and the neighborhood "obstructionists" rather than to the developers and their attorney.

My husband and I watch the commission meetings (What can I say - we're masochists!) and have concluded that the developers have tried valiantly to meet all the objections raised regarding this development in the past year. They have "returned to square one" over and over, only to be stymied by Lynn and his Community Approach to Planning Prince Avenue groupies.

Perhaps it might help if you pointed out, frequently, that Prince Avenue is a state route and, as such, is hardly the exclusive concern of a select few neighborhood fanatics. We once lived on Prince Avenue when it really was more residential than commercial, but those days are long gone.

A medical facility will be a source of tax revenue and jobs and should be welcomed, not scorned. The 1140 Prince Ave. site is a logical place for it, and we feel it's time for Lynn and others to think of the community as a whole and stop nitpicking the project into nullification. There are many more things in Commission District 5 which need attention, and we hope that in the new year, Lynn will discover them.

Mollie Parry King

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, December 30, 2004