Bath board needs to accommodate public
To the Editor,

On May 14, at the Municipal Building on Liberty Street, over 100 concerned citizens from Bath and surrounding areas congregated in order to attend the Bath Town Board Meeting. The item of interest was the proposal for a Wal-Mart Supercenter to be built on Route 54. The business the Town Board attended to was the appointment of the Bath Planning Board as lead agency for the environmental review process associated with potential Wal-Mart development, but much more could have been accomplished.

The Town Board was very accommodating in their re-arrangement of planned business so that Wal-Mart could be the first item addressed but they failed to react appropriately to the sheer volume of people present. There is no question in my mind that the Bath Town Board behave illegally and irresponsibly when they allowed well over 50 people to attend the meeting by crowding in to the Municipal Building's interior hallway and the chambers connecting to the meeting location. Not only did this arrangement pose a significant safety risk should an emergency arise, but it for all intents and purposes closed the Town Board meeting to well over half the individuals who wished to attend. The building of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in our community has the potential to have serious negative consequences in all of our lives. How could the Town Board in good conscience allow any meeting where this proposal is on the agenda to take place without accommodating every person present with a seat, with an equal opportunity to speak, and with an equal opportunity to listen to every comment made?

The Wal-Mart proposal has given the Bath Town Board and the entire Bath Community an opportunity to come together and envision a stronger, healthier local economy. It is a time to voice what it is we would wish for Bath and to explore how these hopes and dreams can be translated into our new reality. It is not a time to silence the individual, to ignore the crowd, or to polarize the community. I am opposed to a Wal- Mart being built on Route 54, but I want the same things that everyone in Bath wants. I understand how the construction of something, anything new could be exciting and ring with possibility, but there are heavy considerations which are not being appropriately weighed. There are long-term consequences that are not being foreseen. As a community we must examine the information that is available to us through innumerable research studies that investigative reports. We must come together and raise the question of what is best for Bath.

The Town Board missed the opportunity to foster this dialogue, but I hope that no future opportunities will be ignored. I hope the Town Board will enable every member of this community at future meetings by reserving appropriate accommodations to house all those who wish to attend. If such reservations are not possible I hope that the Town Board will have the resolve to reschedule the meeting for a more appropriate time and place. Most importantly, I hope that the Town Board will enact the Moratorium requested by three different Bath residents as part of a realization that what we really need now is time to speak openly and at length as a community about what amounts to a lifechanging development.
Michelle Fahmy
Hammondsport