The $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative — and the millions of dollars of private investment that come with it — has sparked a lot of excitement about the future of downtown.

That excitement is warranted. Long-vacant or under-used downtown buildings will soon get new life; that new life ideally will bring hundreds of visitors downtown and spark levels of vitality and traffic downtown Jamestown hasn’t seen on a consistent basis in years.

What will those people coming to a glistening downtown see on their drive for dinner and a show? It’s likely they will see run-down houses, some adorned with big orange signs deeming the properties not to be occupied. There is good work being done in Jamestown’s neighborhoods by a network of non-profits that are supported by the city and private foundations. We all can see from the number of run-down houses we see and the police reports pouring into the newspaper each day that there is a lot more work to be done reclaiming our neighborhoods.

As we wrote two Sundays ago, Jamestown is in the midst of its latest attempt at reinvention. Some of those attempts have been more successful than others. Reclaiming downtown means little without reclaiming neighborhoods. It’s why the Unite North Main project and the United Way’s state-supported poverty-reduction efforts are so important. Our community must redouble its efforts to deal with the root causes of poverty and crime. Our criminal justice system must let drug dealers and other criminals know that Jamestown is not a place for them to set up shop. We must still do more to make sure those who want to kick their drug habit have the programs necessary to do so. It’s time to figure out the best way to spur action from those who refuse to take care of their properties. If there are programs that need to be created to help we should do so, but landlords and homeowners must get the message that there is no excuse for homes to suffer from a lack of maintenance or oversight. Renters must get the message that there is no excuse for trashing property after property.

There is no better time than the present to tackle the problems plaguing our neighborhoods.