To the Editor:

Be an informed voter.

Whether or not to merge Lewiston and Auburn is an important decision. Depending who you listen to, it will bring great benefit—or not.

We owe it to ourselves, our kids and grand-kids to make a good decision, one that is based on solid facts. Who should we listen to?

Most of us read what we can find, and we listen to the opinions of people who know what they’re talking about before making an important decision.

So, how do you know when people know what they’re talking about? When they use facts, not emotion, to support their conclusions.

Lewiston and Auburn have been successfully saving money and doing things better by doing them together for more than a hundred years. Think of the cost and probable reduced service if we had not long ago decided to share a water supply, a sewage treatment plant, a 911 dispatch center, an economic development agency and the list goes on. We should consolidate because it works, and it has for over a hundred years.

At the request of the city councils, three different citizen groups have studied consolidation over 21 years. The facts, documented in 21 years of independent study by competent people with no axe to grind, are that the people of Lewiston and Auburn will save money and be better off if we merge.

Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, Princeton, New Jersey, and towns in Ontario and New Brunswick have all done it, and it worked to save money and improve service.

Emotional appeals to fear of change and unfounded financial alarms won’t outweigh the facts in the minds of thoughtful voters.

I plan to vote based on common sense, history, the studied opinions of people I trust and the successful experience of others.

I plan to vote for merger.

Peter Garcia

Auburn