To the Editor:

I think now is as good a time as any to ask: “When is enough, enough?”

This question was one of my first thoughts when I read of the expansion Stewart’s is seeking at its current site in Altamont [“Stewart’s again looking to expand Altamont store,” The Altamont Enterprise, Nov. 15, 2018].

Having bought the house next door, it appeared inevitable that the company would seek to grow its store inventory and customer services as well as its physical footprint.

Early-morning dollars from those workers coming down the hill to satisfy their coffee, hunger, or gas needs would seem to be the obvious reason for the Stewart’s expansion, basically cutting into any customer base the new Cumberland Farms, at the intersection of routes 20 and 146 had built since its opening.

Enter front and center the dueling mini-marts in Guilderland. We saw the saga of the dueling drug stores/retail stores at or near routes 155 and 20 over several years.

One of them is now out of business and the building up for sale.

So, I repeat:  “When is enough, enough?”

Do we just continue to bow to the expansion plans of any company or developer that wants to bolster its bottom line? Isn’t this fattening the very thing that propels corporation after corporation to grow and build out and put increased demands on our energy supply, for decades captive to the ever-ravenous fossil fuel interests?

As storm surges grow and threaten coastal cities, as mammoth fires become almost apocalyptic, and citizens fear widespread water contamination, do we just continue to give the affirmative nod to any and all to either drill, build, or bore?

As we propel ourselves heedlessly toward the global-warming tipping point of no return, a central question remains: Why do we, as a species, hurtle mindlessly toward that cliff edge, believing that the more we are told exists but don’t see is more real and better than the what we do see?

No, I don’t want to see an expanded Stewart’s. Altamont does not need it and I don’t believe Altamont wants it, either.

Betty Head

Altamont