To the Editor:

Many years ago, Marty Porter sold his Esso gas station and moved to Florida.  The new owners from Saratoga Springs remodeled the station into a convenience store and the Altamont Stewart's came to be at the original site of the Revolutionary-era Severson Inn. 

The store has since been enlarged several times, remodeled, and the road access reengineered.  Presently, the Stewart's Corporation has proposed to significantly change the store again, requiring a zoning change, the destruction of a historic residence, and the subsequent encroachment of a business further into a residential neighborhood. 

Instead of using the store's profits for a controversial expansion, Stewart's should give its Altamont partners a raise to $20 an hour.  Daily observation.  They work nonstop and twice as hard.  The store manager should receive an annual performance bonus of at least $50,000.  She deserves it, too.

A more ambitious proposal would be for Stewart's to purchase its competition across the street [the Sunoco station] and the adjacent warehouses.  Stewart's would then have plenty of room in a proper commercial zone to build its mega store with enough land left over to establish much needed green space in downtown Altamont.

The present store could be razed and replaced by a pedestrian park, reducing traffic congestion and noise in the adjacent residential neighborhood.  Prospect Terrace could be rerouted closer to the railroad tracks and a dangerous intersection on the main highway would be eliminated.  Also, when the train stops, the crews wouldn't have to walk so far.

Many, many years ago, a well-intentioned group of Altamont citizens wanted to support and expand local businesses by paving half the village park for additional parking.  Only a deed restriction put in place by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad prevented the unthinkable from happening.

The Altamont library's recent adaptation and outstanding renovation of the train station is the type of project the village is capable of, which makes Altamont a special place to live. 

The Stewart's proposal is of the same "pave the park" mentality and must be stopped.  Fortunately, the village government has acted consistently in the past to protect the character of the village from such irresponsible proposals.  When the time comes to decide on the Stewart's expansion, the mayor and the village board should just say, “No.”

Ed Cowley III

Altamont