Several years ago, down in South Windham, there was a great, big rainbow in the sky.

The rainbow, if you were standing just right, began its colorful display at one end of the dilapidated Keddy Mill and arced over to the other. It was pretty surreal, a sign of better things to come – I thought at the time – for the sister communities of Little Falls and South Windham.

Back then, circa 2005, South Windham residents were excited that the town was in negotiations with a promising developer that would come in, tear down that old, unsightly behemoth of concrete and steel and build new housing in its place. The removal of the building would bring relief and renewal to the people who call South Windham home.

Jump forward a few short years and unfortunately the beastly Keddy Mill still stands and the would-be developer, Hudson Realty Capital, says it can’t afford to build what was supposed to be 85 new condominiums. What a shame this news is for all who live in that area and all who have to drive by and view the site. The Keddy Mill is a sad welcome mat and billboard of sorts advertising Windham to the outside world. The building is a visual nuisance, a crime magnet and an embarrassment to all who are proud of Windham. Its removal should be our goal.

The developer revealed last week that the economics of the project make it impossible to proceed. It would cost more to fix up the site than the company would earn from the sale of the condominiums, especially with housing prices slumping.

For those familiar with the property, the fact that the site has major issues shouldn’t come as a surprise. I’ve heard people say there are “bottomless” holes and shafts that run deep into the ground that would need to be plugged before any replacement structures could be safely built. Not to mention the pollution, which, if unleashed during or after construction, could wash or seep into the nearby Presumpscot River. Truly, years and years of industry – which mostly took place before state and federal environmental protection was a force to be reckoned with – have taken their toll on the ground beneath the mill barring, it seems, any possible renovation.

But renovate we must. The property is physically dangerous and it takes a toll on the psyches of folks who have to look at it daily. Several years ago, we (this is when I was the editor at the old Suburban News) did a story on the youth in South Windham who took refuge in the mill. We ran two full pages of text and photos detailing how kids would hang out in the mill, how police would fruitlessly try to keep kids out of the mill, and how these kids would oftentimes end up injuring themselves while horsing around in the mill. The extent of the activities of these children in the mill, according to eyewitnesses and the kids themselves, was disturbing to say the least.

The kids in South Windham are drawn to the mill like a moth to a flame. We almost can’t fault them for hanging out there and getting in all kinds of trouble. By allowing the beastly building to stand, we are perpetuating a bad situation. Our inaction is seen by these kids as an OK, a license of sorts, to go in there and treat it as another home, far from pesky parental supervision.

The mill, in all its hideousness, is a major cause of why South Windham is known as a less-than-appealing part of town. Get rid of the mill and you will elevate the neighborhood and alleviate crime at the same time.

It’s easy to diagnose a problem and complain about it. The harder thing is to find a solution. And, as last week’s news article explaining the demise of Hudson Realty Capital’s condominium project suggested residents of Windham do, I have a proposal for how to reuse the Keddy Mill site. However, there’s not enough space to fit that solution in this week’s edition of “Here’s Something.” So, as my fellow columnist Kay Soldier – who could tell you much of the interesting history of the Keddy Mill – would say: See you next week.

John Balentine, of Windham, is a former editor of the Lakes Region Weekly.