In a recent discussion at Belfast City Hall, it was said of the “big box” moratorium and the careful planning process we are actively pursing: “This sends a very bad message about Belfast.”

I thought about that comment and wondered exactly what message is going out to Maine and beyond about our small city on the coast. It made me think of all the messages that were going out over the last decades. What I came to is this: The one true message that is going out far and wide is that Belfast is a rising star, that it has not been as good as today in many years, we are getting better, that Belfast is one of the shining small cities in America, that people love this town, and we are incredibly proud of it and our accomplishments.

No one who lived here through our hard years when jobs were scarce and opportunity less so could have imagined that today we would have come so far. Over and over I hear from people near and far about how lucky Belfast is, how beautiful, friendly, lively, talented, a tremendous hometown this is to raise a family or grow old in with something for everyone. That is the true message we are sending and it is being heard loud and clear. The moratorium will pass, the needed planning will be done, and Belfast will be the better for it. Michael D. Hurley Belfast mayor