I am writing to respond to Todd Fabricant's letter to the editor published in the July 20, issue of the Farmingdale Observer and to thank Mr. Fabricant for underscoring my point.

I cited the facts as I perceive them to be. It is notable that Mr. Fabricant did not address any facts in his letter. Instead, he trotted out his same old tired talking points and then went on to make ad hominem attacks against me. That doesn't bother me. In fact, I find it amusingly hypocritical that a man whose group is funded by the Simon Mall Company [Taubman's chief competitor] would condemn someone he perceives to be doing the same. However, if the truth be told, I have received no support from Taubman, whatsoever.

This Cerro Wire Site issue has been debated for the last 10 years and is still not resolved because of the Fabricant/Venditto plan to deny the facts, ignore the law of the case, avoid compromise and fight what has been, and will continue to be, a losing battle in court. It is their failed policies that have brought the Town to where it is, on the brink of having a court-ordered 860,000 square foot mall built, in Fabricant's words, "against the wishes of the Town and the overwhelming majority of the surrounding community."

The facts of this case are clear. Both sides are entrenched. Taubman, a mall development company, wants to build a mall. Mr. Fabricant's coalition wants anything but a mall. However, Mr. Fabricant's coalition has not been winning in court and does not own the property. Mr. Fabricant touts how he asked Taubman to "join the community" in the "spirit of cooperation" to "explore alternate development."

I do not understand how Mr. Fabricant believes it is reasonable or "in the spirit of cooperation" to tell a mall development company that they are welcome to revitalize the area and build on the site, but they cannot build a mall.

The real issue is the Town could have taken any number of steps to avoid the current situation. They could have preserved the area for parks. Instead, they waited until after the former superfund site was purchased and cleaned by Taubman and until after an environmental study was done and supported by the Town Environmental Quality Review Commission, to fight this out in court. After they began losing in court, six years ago, they could have negotiated a smaller mall and other concessions, but did not. This debacle is a perfect illustration of the current leadership's lack of vision. Rather than making the tough decisions necessary, our Town government has deferred our future to the courts, lost millions of dollars in tax revenue and spent hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars paying outside counsel to fight on, despite their history of defeat. If I had my choice, would I want to see a mall built there? The answer is no. However, the current administration's mishandling of the situation, from the start, has created this problem. Now we have to deal with what remains.

If Mr. Fabricant honestly wants to know "the true motives" behind my original statements, he need only put aside his obsession with Taubman conspiracies and re-read the article.

Joseph M. Terino

Democrat candidate for TOB Supervisor