MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
“Time to settle Syosset mall debate”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, January 8, 2012
It’s been 17 years. Shouldn’t that be long enough?
Long enough to decide whether developer Bill Taubman can build his upscale Mall at Oyster Bay in Syosset. Long enough to decide whether a small but fierce knot of neighborhood opponents will succeed in scuttling a privately financed $700 million project that promises to create 3,500 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent retail jobs and generate $50 million in new tax revenue, including $9 million in Nassau County property taxes and $5 million for Syosset schools.
In his State of the State address last week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo bemoaned how long it takes to get stuff built in New York. “It just can’t take three years to put a shovel in the ground,” the governor said of general infrastructure projects. “Fifteen years of planning and talking is too long,” he said of the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Welcome to Syosset, governor. We’re still clearing our throats around here after three or 15 years.
Under pressure from jittery neighbors, the project was rejected by the Town of Oyster Bay. That was confirmed by the New York State Court of Appeals. But Taubman pressed on, twice reducing the scale of his project. The proposed mall has been declared a project of “regional significance” by the governor’s Long Island Regional Economic Development Council. That’s an important — though not a final — leg up.
And over the next few weeks, the future of the long-discussed mall will get another thorough hashing out in what promises to be a raucous debate before the Long Island Regional Planning Council.
If history isn’t a guide, this could settle the matter once and for all.
WAITING FOR . . .
1. Long Island Expressway’s Exit 47
2. Trump on the Ocean
3. The New Nassau Coliseum
4. The Mall at Oyster Bay
5. Godot
ASKED AND UNANSWERED:
Oh, there it is! Now that Nassau’s “found” new money to rehire 40 laid-off Social Service workers, anyone know of any other hidden cash just laying around?…Unfamiliarity with the local roads? Does that explain 
why Kristen DiCerbo of upstate Malta, assistant to Chief Deputy Nassau County Exec Rob Walker, wrecked that county-owned SUV outside Roosevelt Field? What, no qualified assistants around here?…Singed by Andrew Cuomo’s convention-center dream at Aqueduct, what if the Shinnecocks suddenly lost interest in a Belmont casino and starting asking again: “Why not the Hamptons?”…When will Albany have any good news for parents and children in Roosevelt? The latest downer? Suspended state grants…While the two acting top cops – Nassau’s Thomas Dale and Suffolk’s Edward 
Webbe – await word on their permanent fates, which will be harder? Getting along with their local DA’s or with each other? Both can be challenges, as we’ve learned in the past….Fare hikes are coming next to Suffolk. Is it time for some bold new ideas about the whole buses-in-the-suburbs idea? Clearly, the same old thinking isn’t enough anymore…With “distraction burglars” striking in Oceanside and elsewhere, what’s an elderly homeowner to do? Don’t get distracted, Grandma? Easier said than done…The market may be flooded, but did you know that Long Island now has 1,118 fewer real-estate agents? So says the annual survey from MLS of LI. Don’t worry, though. You’ll still find one.
LONG ISLANDERS OF THE WEEK:
JOHN CAPANO’S FAMILY
It’s bad enough when anyone is shot to death. But really, what could be more tragic than this? An off-duty federal
agent killed as he tried to stop a robber outside a drugstore, the fatal bullet seemingly fired by a retired Nassau police officer who was also trying to help. That’s several tragedies — not one — on the same Seaford sidewalk. At the funeral on Friday, Capano’s family had every right to explode in anger and bitterness. They chose not to. They came to the church with shared condolences, not with blame. With perfect clarity, Capano’s brother James explained. “Let us not forget others responded that day to stop a crime,” he said. “Please remember, they have family and acted as John did. However this turns out, I ask that we pray for them, too.”
E-mail ellis@henican.com
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I’ve been reading the comments left on Newsday’s website. I am sick of the Syosset mentality that this mall will not provide jobs because the jobs Syosset needs are not the “low and unskilled” jobs that this establishment will provide. This is elitist garbage. There are plenty of people that don’t need CEO or “professional” jobs. All of my kids need summer and part-time jobs. The women I know who want to supplement incomes at home are looking for local work. The other argument that we don’t need construction jobs because when this mall is complete they will be out of work again is completely ridiculous. Thats what construction is – project after project. We need the jobs, only NIMBY elitists do not see the value of this mall project.
Dear Mr. Henican,
I respect your role as a journalist to express your opinions each and every week when you put your fingers to the keyboard.
In your piece, you have attempted to marginalize the opposition to the mall by identifying it as a “ small but fierce( thank you for that) knot of neighborhood opponents” that have succeeded ( and we will continue to) in scuttling a privately financed project
To help clarify what the “small” or correctly named , Cerro Wire Coalition, consists of you could have better described us as : a well established , informed, well-oiled organization made up of 32 Civic Associations that includes business groups, the Nassau County Council of Chambers, the Syosset School District, the Jericho District and the Syosset Fire District , just to name a few.
For years, the Cerro Wire Coalition and it’s subcommittee, the Alternate Development Committee has proposed options to the Taubman Company’s mall project. These plans have included a purchase of the property, so Taubman can walk away with their heads held high and with a profit and a joint venture partnership with Taubman in the development of a smart growth concept. This project would include a combination of next generation housing , so desperately needed on Long Island, senior housing, hotel or office and a small retail component. Please let me add a note that we understand The Taubman Company owns the property and it is their choice to decide if it wants to be a “good neighbor” and work with the community on something it supports or continue to advocate for something it overwhelmingly does not want.
Whatever gets built there will produce jobs and new tax revenues and can settle the debate, which by the way is not a debate since there is only one opinion here, NO MALL HERE!
Additionally, you state in your piece that the New York State Court of Appeals overturned the Town of Oyster Bay decision, not correct.
With a little research you’ll find that the New York State Appellate Division overturned the original decision and at a future date the New York State Court of Appeals, the State’s highest court, upheld that position.
Do a little more digging and you’ll find how the Taubman Company is trying to highjack the local decision making process by putting pressure on the Governor’s office with strong lobbying efforts and influence. With the so called support from the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council and the Long Island Regional Planning Council (which still has not been decided) and other lobbying efforts it is always about a mall………….. not jobs and revenue.
Maybe your next article should suggest to Bill Taubman how he should have discussions with the groups that will be most affected, not the muscle that will continue to try and shove this ill-conceived project down the throats of the community and the Town of Oyster Bay.
History repeats itself and we remain confident that in the end, the matter will be settled once and for all…………………The project will be rejected.
Thank you for [The Sunday Column-Ellis Henican} …………….you always have something interesting to say!
Sincerely,
Todd Fabricant
Chairman
Cerro Wire Coalition