George Chan

                                                                                                                                    Dec. 3, 2000

                                                                                                                                    ***********

                                      Audience: Residents of Syosset Published in Syosset Jericho Tribune

Paper 6: Significant Revision: Evaluation

            Residents of Syosset and Jericho, I write this today to evaluate the proposed mall in Syosset.  Putting a mall in Syosset is almost like building another White House; it is unnecessary.  Over the past month there has been a lot of debates and protests against building the mall.  The contractors say it will help bring more wealth and prosperity into our town of Syosset, but on the other side may be a negative addition to the town.  As a concerned resident and an architecture student, I believe the proposed mall in Syosset is not a good idea. This is because Syosset will have an increase in congestion to the major arteries within Syosset; also it would be a waste of your money, and lets not forget that the proposed mall will take 2-3 years to build, and is placed too close to a residential neighborhood.  Besides those problems the mall will also have a detrimental effect on the beauty of Syosset.

            As a resident of my town, Syosset, I know that our town has a major traffic problem.  Have you ever taken a drive down Jericho turnpike hoping it would only be a 10 minute drive?  But then you hit the congestion and the 10 minute drive turns into a boring and tedious 30 minute wait?  Well have you also been on Rt. 106 and 107 south?  That road always has traffic because of the Broad Way mall.  And the same conditions are located around the Roosevelt field mall these roadways have a major problem with congestion and chaos.  These two malls have 8 lane roads, compared to the 4 lane roadway that we have here in Syosset.  Can you imagine the amount of traffic and congestion that the mall will cause? Besides that it poses a great danger to pedestrians.

            You may ask why not just enlarge the roads.  Well, to do so will take more time and more money.  Besides there are a few obstacles to overcome, the railroad crossing would have to be moved and to widen the existing roads you would have to demolish houses, may even be your houses, and stores that border Robin’s Lane Road.  This will cause a lot of headaches to you on your morning and evening commutes to and from work, and the surrounding communities.

My next complaint is that it will waste your hard earned money to build a mall here, because there is a perfectly good mall 15 minutes away.  The mall is planned to use a multi million-dollar budget from our county funds, and take up to 3 years to build.  That construction will toss the county into a deeper debt than it is in now.  The developers say the mall will pay for itself, but after how long?  This addition to our town will squander away a lot of money into a mall when the money can be used to improve the school conditions like better lighting and new piping, or be spent towards the beautification of our town like more trees and repair on roads.

Although the mall will create both short and long term jobs, and will create more money flow into the town.  Even though the county is in debt, our town is prosperous, so we don’t need a mall.  The mall will create a demand for construction workers, that is the short term; it will also open jobs to the public, which is the long-term effect.  But what about the small strip malls that will be forced to close because of the opening of a mall.  A major side effect of having the mall in Syosset is that it will close down all those nice little shops in the strip mall.  Many of you have been to my dad’s Chinese restaurant ”New May Loong Kitchen”, well if the mall moves in my dad’s restaurant may have to close down the restaurant that he has owned and served the Syosset and Jericho area for 18 years.  This case will be repeated through every strip mall from here and all the surrounding areas.  This closure of so many stores will create a high unemployment rate.  Even though the mall will bring jobs to the community, they will most likely hire the younger workers.  Even if they do employ older workers, sometimes they can’t do anything else than what they know.  I know if my dad goes out of business he couldn’t be employed at the mall, because all he knows is how to do is cook and that is what he is good at.  And this is also the case of many elders that work in the strip malls. 

The site of the mall, which is next to a residential area, is another reason why you, the residents of Syosset, should not want this mall built.  Although the mall is going to be located closer to Syosset, and be more accessible by foot, not many people would want to risk the dangers of walking to the mall if the above problems were to exist, these being traffic.  It is also going to be built on an empty lot next to a residential area.  Being in Architecture, for 3 years, one thing I have learned is that you should not build malls or large attractions too close a residential area.  Building a mall next to a residential area is bad for several reasons.  It can promote crime, depreciate land and the residents near the mall would have to put up with the construction. 

The most important is the safety issue.  The mall sometimes can attract a bad group too it.  For example gangs, vandals, and other groups that are not wanted around a residential area.  Around the Broad Way mall a lot of gangs hang out there, we do not know what they are planning to do but they are a gang, and they have the capability to do mischievous things at times.  These gangs have disrupted the peace of the surrounding community, and the bad elements might disrupt the peace within our neighborhood, and especially in a closely-knit community like Syosset, the elements can have a detrimental effect to property and the safety of your kids.

            The proposed mall will involve 2-3 years worth of construction.  This includes a constant traffic of heavy trucks with dirt and debris flying everywhere.  The noise would also affect the happiness of the residents around the construction area.  Since many of you are fond of the peace and quiet of the surrounding area the introduction of a mall will make that a thing of the past.  The heavy trucks can also pose a danger to your kids. The 2-3 years of construction, trucks, dirt, and debris and the danger to your kids are only a few more reasons why you do not want a mall in Syosset.

Syosset has many lush fields, parks and preserves so people can enjoy a sunny day laying, playing or wandering through the many different areas.  If the mall is built on the empty lot, a favorite hang out for kids will be taken away. And sentimental memories will be paved over.  I remember playing many games in the lot, like war, bike racing and many other activities.  And you when you were kids, you probably remember playing games there too.  Now building this mall here will take valuable memories away from me and other residents of Syosset who enjoyed their childhood playing in that field.  A commuter passing by the lot on the expressway, can see the beauty of the lot with its many trees, and beautiful flowers.  A much better idea for the development of the land is to build a playground.

            So the proposed mall in our town of Syosset is a bad idea.  The many cons that the proposed mall has will outweigh the pros that the mall can offer.  The increase in traffic, the waste of our money and the attraction of bad elements to the peaceful community will far outweigh the benefits like more job opportunities and more money flow into Syosset.  So please do not allow a mall to be built in Syosset, because we already have a mall in the neighboring town.