Newsday's corporate parent, the Tribune Company, owns the property in Syosset where a mega-mall has been proposed. Given that fact, Newsday should not be staking out, for the fourth time, a pro-development editorial position on this proposal ("Smaller Oyster Bay Mall Merits Town's Approval": April 16). Simply acknowledging this obvious conflict-of-interest does not absolve Newsday of the responsibility to adhere to fair journalistic standards.

There is no evidence that this latest gimmick, an insignificant 12 percent reduction in the size of the mall, would serve to mitigate the negative impact identified by the Town of Oyster Bay's own Environmental Quality Review Commission. Remember, this is the same group that, not long ago, characterized any mall on this site with less than 960,000 square feet as "unfeasible!"

Opposition to this project is as strong today as it ever was, and is still growing. It includes 26 organizations representing over 44,000 homeowners in the Town of Oyster Bay, the Jericho and Syosset Boards of Education, Long Island's distinguished planner, Lee Koppelman, and the Nassau Council of Chambers, which includes 52 local chambers of commerce representing more than 6,000 small business owners.

The community is not opposed to redevelopment of the Cerro Wire property. Uses such as an office building, corporate headquarters, high tech light industrial development, or residential development, all of which would generate the desired tax revenues for the town and create new jobs, would be welcome. However, developing a mega-mall on this 39-acre site would still create nightmare traffic, have a negative impact on the environment and change the suburban landscape of the Syosset/Jericho region forever.

Some will label we who oppose this project a bunch of NIMBY zealots. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. From the outset, the Birchwood Civic Association, the Birchwood Park at Syosset Homeowners Association and numerous other community leaders in the area and beyond have pointed out that we are not against the redevelopment of the property. We want our construction workers to have jobs and we strongly endorse the idea of putting this former hazardous waste site to a useful purpose. But a mega-mall with its inherent traffic problems isn't the answer. There are other perfectly acceptable uses, such as an office building, corporate headquarters, high tech light industrial development, or residential development, that would also generate the desired tax revenues for the town and create new jobs.

As taxpayers and homeowners, it is our right, indeed our responsibility, to question whether the proposed project is good for the community and to oppose it if we see fit.

In the past, Newsday has usually championed responsible, controlled development on its editorial pages. Their departure from this policy regarding the Cerro Wire project raises the ugly specter that Newsday is now more interested in benefiting from the advertising revenue that this mall might generate and profiting from its real estate deal with the developer, while forgetting what most of its readers really are interested in preserving the suburban quality of life.

Todd Fabricant

Chairman

Cerro Wire Coalition