It is hard to believe that the editor of the same newspaper that produced a highly thoughtful, informative and insightful series on housing earlier this year has produced the editorial it has on Geneva Village (Sept. 14). Ms. Grimes would have been better served by rereading these excellent articles before writing an editorial that indicates a severe lack of understanding of the dire need for affordable housing in our community.

As a board member on Littleton’s public housing authority, South Metro Housing Options, I strongly support the city staff’s recommendation to redevelop the property to meet goals of more housing in Littleton; goals stated in our comprehensive plan, “Envision.”

When I served on City Council in 2003 I proposed selling Geneva Village so that it could be redeveloped as a mixed-use project that would enhance the economic vitality and vibrancy of our downtown but there was little support for this direction. It was always an untenable situation that the city was in the position of landlord renting units that were not need-based. Since then I have had an opportunity to more fully understand the complexity of housing issues. There is no doubt in my mind that city ownership of this property is an immense opportunity to make affordable housing on this property a focus and better serve more of our citizens.

The city has performed admirably with extreme empathy to ensure the well-being of the current residents. No one in Littleton would have wanted it any other way. However, it is time to move on. In fact, it’s been time to move on for far too many years.