What a difference a month makes. Thirty days ago the Napanoch Valley Mall sat in complete oblivion — crumbling, seldom visited and virtually forgotten. Driving by on Route 209 one might not have noticed the mall at all, with the peculiar rounded slope of its parking lot hiding most of the building from casual view. The recent frosts bit back the acres of weeds growing through the pavement somewhat, but other than normal, seasonal changes the mall seemed to be the same as always, under-used and ready to sleep through yet another long, Catskill winter. Little did we know at that point in mid-November, negotiations with Wal-Mart were concluding and the future of the mall, and the Town of Wawarsing, was about to drastically change.

Jump to today. With word of the impending transaction either leaked or purposely released to the public a few weeks ago, the mall is now the focus of intense scrutiny, and on the minds of residents like never before. The prospect of a local Wal-Mart excites some residents and fills others with dread, but almost everyone agrees that the changes, if Wal-Mart comes, will be monumental and long-lasting.

So why has the community been given only a few days to consider this? Even in that short amount of time, over one hundred comments and letters about the issue have been received by this paper, an opposition group has formed, and Mr. Joseph Tso, the current owner of the mall, has been advised to stop speaking publicly about the deal. Clearly the community is expressing a need for a dialogue, as much as Mr. Tso and whoever is advising him are trying to stop one. The dialogue needs to occur before any actions are taken, but how can one occur when Mr. Tso will no longer speak candidly to us and plans on signing the deal in a matter of days? That Mr. Tso somehow feels it is his right to impose this "solution" upon us without a measured and complete community discussion is unfair. True, this is America where property rights reign supreme, but those rights are not the only rights at play. Large-scale development affects everyone, and no one person or group should have the power to start a process that may be difficult to stop, or even change, once started.

A sale to Wal-Mart will affect everyone in the Town of Wawarsing and beyond, and we as residents have the right to be heard on such a momentous change. Wal-Mart could very well be a good choice for the Town of Wawarsing, but no one can make that determination in a matter of days. If Mr. Tso wants to set in motion a process that could drastically alter life in his town, he owes it to the community to listen to and respect the views of his neighbors, and that, more than anything, takes time.

COMMENTS about this article (2)