Buy land. They&8217;ve stopped making it.

Those two sentences of advice are often attributed to noted author and humorist Mark Twain.

It&8217;s funny because it contains a nugget of truth. And it&8217;s still good advice after all these years.

Not much can beat the long-term value of land. That&8217;s why carefully planning land use is so important.

Members of the Natchez Board of Aldermen are considering an important decision about city-owned land. It could be the most important public land use decision in decades.

So we&8217;re perplexed by the reluctance to publicly discuss the plans recently presented for the development of the Roth Hill riverfront property.

City leaders say they aren&8217;t ready to talk about the plans. Further, they haven&8217;t offered much reasoning on why one of the original proposals was immediately discounted.

Most citizens probably are not as concerned with the financial details of the plans as much as just their general nature.

Why all the secrets? The public isn&8217;t a bunch of blathering yahoos. Giving the public a chance to consider any proposals and offer feedback before it&8217;s too late is critical.

Earlier this year the city made a big splash by publicly flaunting a $400,000 check, allegedly the amount of tax dollars saved through restructuring some city bond debt. Days later we learned the $400,000 check represented the amount before all of the transaction fees had been removed. The actual net amount was less than half the original.

Perhaps a little more public scrutiny on these &8220;big issues&8221; couldn&8217;t hurt. You don&8217;t need to be Mark Twain to see the logic there.