The City Council on April 1 made a monumental error of judgment. They have beheaded the downtown by taking a step to move city offices to Shaw’s Cove. It is a thoughtless denuding of our downtown. Shaw’s Cove is not downtown.

When Crystal Mall and the other suburban shopping centers arrived, New London’s downtown was badly hurt. There was nothing the city could do about it. However, now councilors themselves are the villains. The council is supposed to represent the long-term best interests of the city. A week ago, they failed all of us that appreciate New London.

In 1985, I purchased both the Harris Place Building and the Manwaring Building, one on each side of City Hall. I bought them because they were the central commercial buildings on the main commercial street, of significant architectural quality and on the National Register of Historic Buildings. On State Street, they are in the city’s core.

The complete renovation of each building was expensive. Harris Place has cost over $7.5 million and the Manwaring Building over $3 million. In all these 33 years I've been invested in the quality of the downtown area and the proper preservation of these two buildings.

I write to make two important points.

The first is that having the center of city government in the downtown is an anchor, the heart and soul of New London. To move the city government to any building that is not downtown is equivalent to a beheading of the body of our downtown. I am much against it and recommend that the council not move forward with the lease negotiations for a new location in Shaw’s Cove. There are more important considerations in the long run than the short-term gains envisioned. Historical cohesiveness and continuity are two.

The second point is that as the owner of the Manwaring Building I was not even given the request for bid and did not know about the bidding process until someone showed me the March 30 article in The Day. The Manwaring Building, a neighbor to City Hall, is a perfect place for city offices.

I request, as I did at the council meeting, the right to bid. My bid will be at least $100,000 a year less than anything the city has or is likely to receive and, furthermore, I would be willing to sell the building for $2.5 million, $500,000 less than my cost, should that course of action be one that the city prefers.

We property owners receive written notices for the change of use in our neighborhood for minor alterations and adjustments. Yet here was a major change and I was not notified. Yes, the city put the notice in the Day and on the city website. But I live in New York City. While I am here four days a week, I do not read the Day, nor stay glued to the city website. There are only four or five property owners in the city that have buildings that might qualify for this. I am one. I had absolutely no notice. It is truly shocking to have been maneuvered out of the running.

I ask the council not to move its government offices out of downtown and to give the Manwaring Building the option to make a proposal.

George Waterman owns commerical properties in New London’s downtown district.