To the Editor:
Rereading your October 26 front-page article titled “Vanishing Heritage,” I couldn’t help becoming nostalgic about driving over Wemple Rd. and Elsmere Ave. into Delmar before both roads became a giant rabbit warren of cheek-by-jowl housing from 9W to Rte. 32.
My sentiment is best portrayed by the following few lyrics by Malvina Reynolds.
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
In a society where “diversity” is the watchword, the only catch is, that “diversity” has to fit in the proverbial PC box. And in a town where the ticky tacky housing developments are green-lighted over and over again, of course we’re going to have a “Vanishing Heritage.” Antithetical to that very premise is then waxing eloquent about “preserving open spaces in Bethlehem.” Down is up, up is down. It’s all spin of Lewis Carroll “Jabberwocky” proportions.
If anyone in power really wanted to see truly open spaces, perhaps they should slow the encroaching development, and the town should also encourage those who own family farms or real open space around their homes, not penalize them with higher taxes for simple possession of their own property. In turn these excessive taxes (based on how many buildings or homes their property could sustain) often force those very owners to sell to developers. Talk about a Catch 22!
Barbara Burt
Glenmont
