Reading through a well-known magazine recently, I came across a little passage that referred to Selma. At first, the mere fact Selma was mentioned in this national publication gave me a sense of pride, but then I began reading it.

I will share with you just a small passage:

“… as you approach Selma the scene is one of neglect and abandonment. Shotgun houses with boarded windows. Rows of depressing project homes — empty now and gutted. Concrete buildings that were once bars or rib shacks and are now empty eyesores. The neglect and the poverty are as palpable and oppressive here as they were before the clash at Edmund Pettus Bridge. Worse, actually, since so much of the rest of the world has moved on and prospered.”

As someone who now calls Selma home, this depiction truly bothered me. This isn’t the Selma I see everyday, rather I see the downtown development, renovations along the waterfront and business owners working feverously to prosper.

But, after reading this, I started to notice some of the boarded up homes, businesses and buildings. I did notice the areas that were once prospering that have now falling on hard times.

In all of this, I began to wonder, is this how a visitor to Selma truly sees us? Is our first impression to a visitor one of “poverty” and “depressing project homes?”

The answer to those questions is honestly, “we don’t know.”

There is really no telling just what kind of impression our city makes on a first-time visitor. But, what we can begin to control what image, what impression we do make by working every day and working together to better this community.

As a community we must work every day, not just on the facades and streetscapes, but the way in which we welcome visitors. As they say, you only get one chance for a first impression and it is that impression that will either bring a visitor back or help attract an industry.

In the news recently, we published a story referring to a number of properties the city had declared “unsafe” and had given the property owners 45 days to bring up their properties to code regulations or “the city will do it for them.”

These owners can either now contest the city’s findings, take care of the issues or “do nothing and allow the city to demolish the property.”

Let’s hope these owners step up and make the properties safe or move aside to let the city do it for them.

It is this type of initiative, along with the development and façade improvements along Broad Street and Water Avenue and the quarterly citywide cleanups that will improve whatever first impression we make on our visitors.

Selma is a beautiful and historic city, but a city of this age has its blemishes. It will take all of us, from city leaders to volunteers to property owners, to constantly seek ways to better ourselves, our property and our city.

The image depicted in that national magazine may have been reality, but give us time. It’ll be truly amazing what Selma can and will accomplish.

Tim Reeves is editor of The Selma Times-Journal. He may be reached at 410-1730 or e-mail him at tim.reeves@selmatimesjournal.com