The City of Natchez seems to be taking a wait-until-they-come approach to development of its public properties.

We applaud the city for beginning the process last week to accept requests for proposals for the potential development of the former Natchez General Hospital building on Oak Street.

The vacant building has been an eyesore for far too long.

But the city seems to only take interest in potential development of vacant public properties when a developer is waiting in the wings.

The city’s recent history of dealing with public properties is pretty abysmal.

A prime example of this is the Broadway Street depot, which still sits partially finished and with an uncertain future. Another example is the disrepair at Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center. City leaders say the city does not have the funds to properly renovate and maintain the building.

Rather than letting public buildings become practically a shamble before someone with a vision for the potential comes along, we hope the city will become more proactive on public property matters.

We urge the city to create a list of all public properties, including all the details on each and put out requests for proposals for possible development of all vacant city buildings.

Regularly throwing the bait in the water is bound to generate a few interested nibbles from potential developers.