To the Editor:

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot," to quote a popular song by Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi.” 

Stewart's wants to tear down a house to allow for a larger parking lot.  You may have heard about the proposed Stewart's expansion.  What you haven’t been told is that the new store is going to be smaller than the existing.

I've seen the plans — not much smaller, 325 square feet to be precise.  The plans are available for public review at our town office.  If you have any question, please visit and see for yourself.

The majority of the Stewart's expansion is intended for a larger paved area in lieu of a two-story Victorian rental property (home).  That is, unless we stand up and ask our village to prevent this from happening.

If we don't stand up now and ask our village board to stop this action, we are going to lose a residential piece of our quaint village to an area corporation — a corporation that intends to add more pavement, at the expense of rezoning an inhabited residential property.  It might not be your property, but it is your town.

Do we need to expand our commercial district?  Could there be more appropriate lots available that would not necessitate the destruction of a perfectly good (inhabited) house?

Perhaps Ron's old service station, or perhaps the lot across from the State Employees Federal Credit Union might make for a nice, new Stewart's location.  The decision to expand the current location's area will be made at the village board meeting on Sept. 1.

Please come to the 7 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 1, behind the firehouse and stand with us against this action.  The time is now to let our village board of trustees know we do not want this to take place.  Please also take a moment to visit www.altamontvillage.org and use the “contact us” link to voice your concern on this matter.

Remember: Stewart's wants to convert a residential neighborhood to part of the business district and destroy an inhabited house to make way for a larger parking area, not a larger store.  Please stand with us to stop this proposal on Sept. 1.

Michael McNeany

Altamont