I have lived and worked on both sides of the Androscoggin River and currently live and own a business in Lewiston.

I support the merger of the two cities because there are precious few ways to reduce the cost of local government without cutting services that most people want. Why pay for two school superintendents, chiefs of police and fire, two payroll systems and finance departments, etc.? It is basic efficiency to have a single government for a single economic unit.

Auburn and Lewiston already function as one economy. It is past time that economic development, infrastructure investment and city planning were united.

People who think the two cities already work together just fine should remember human nature: People have egos, they are suspicious, they say, “What’s in it for me?” Just one or two people like that on either side of the river can quickly undo the work of a score of people establishing trust and cooperation patiently over a period of years.

The only way to ensure the cities work together as one is to be one.

Sara Goodrich, Lewiston