It’s easy to focus on the empty buildings and the empty promises made by owners of certain downtown buildings, but instead, we should instead focus on the improvements made, the new businesses.

For each Teppers Building, which has been a historic disappointment, there are two or three success stories, such as the new loft apartments downtown and the new boutiques that have opened in recent months.

While most of the heartache and stress among city leaders comes from those building owners who have failed to live up to their responsibility, there are far more who have stepped up to renovate and touch up their buildings. All you have to do is look at Pilcher-McBryde for such an example of a downtown business that understands what it means to be part of Selma’s historic downtown.

It’s a shame other owners — those who have little or no historic connection to Selma — don’t know what it means to live up to the civic and economic responsibility owning a downtown building really means.

It’s also a shame that those owners fail to recognize their shortcomings and find a way out of their investment, finding someone who not only has the means but the want to be a part of Selma’s future.

In addition to the amazing development of Water Avenue and the Selma Interpretive Center compound, businesses such as Pinebelt Wireless, Carter Drug Co., Truax & Co., Pilcher-McBryde, and even the state probation office, have made efforts to develop their facades, thus raising the appeal of Selma’s downtown. To them — and others such as Swift Drugs, who remains an iconic downtown stable — we should go out of our way to say ‘thanks.’