I just got done watching a show on time travel, well, it was a program about the thoeries on time travel. However, the "grandfather paradox" supposedly, would prevent time travelers from altering anything..
Anyway I come to think about the way Riverhead was, just 10 years ago. It was always a central town, located at the end of the LIE and just before Long Island splits into two forks.
The name says it all, the "head" of the river, that would be the Peconic River, one of the most important waterways on Long Island. It runs from the heart of our pine barrens out to Peconic bay, in between the twin forks.
10 years ago, was the end of Riverhead as a nice, quaint community. That came when Tanger corporation decided to build an outlet center there. They decided on land on route 58 just at the end of the LIE. The land was a beautiful eastern red ceder savhana. These are fields with brush, eastern red cedar (a small, greenish bush), and young, stunted pitch pines scatterred about. These are great habitats for white tailed deer to feed. Anyway, much of the land along route 58, to just a few blocks west of the circle, was savhanna and farmland. The shopping was in downtown Riverhead (about 1 mile south of the cirlce) and two smaller shopping centers around the circle. There was TX Maxx, Radio Shack, Waldbaums supermarket, Dunkin Donuts, and Wendy's, and that was plenty enough for me.
Anyway, Tanger corp, with all their $$, bought the land at the end of the LIE and decided to build Tanger I, an outlet center with approx 60 stores and a food court. The center was an immediate "hit", which brought many shoppers from as far as NYC, to shop in the areas first outlet center. Pretty soon, Tanger had expansion plans for Tanger II, an even bigger outlet center, next to the existing center, with 80 stores and a food court. The centers backs face eachother, and it's made as difficult as possible for pedestrians to walk between the two. To add insult to injury, a fence bars entry for any of the locals who live down on Forge road, to walk on over to the center, they have to walk all around. Then again, Tanger gears to people from the city. The whole design creates as much waste as possible, in encouraing the use of fossil fuel burning cars.,
Tanger however patted themselves on the back, trying to look "good" for the environment by donating a small 32 acre piece of the land, now known as the Sabin preserve. However, no one can enjoy this small preserve, which featuresa small kettle lake, and a high fence along the perimiter of the property.
Anyway, after Tanger, came splish splash, a water park about a half mile west of Tanger. Then all the developments along the former farmland at Mill road and route 58, about 1 mile east of Tanger. A proffesional park on the NW corner, and a bunch of big box stores, such as Home Depot, Best Buy, on the northeast side. On the southwest side, a new hotel. It didn't end there, Target built a new store on former farmland closer to the circle.
So now we fast forward to today. The scenery is gone, except for a few small patches of woods. Traffic jams are a constant, especially on weekends. The land is full of trash that ppl toss out their windows. Most of these idiots are from the city and further west, and have absolutely no respect for the land. It is looking more and more like Nassau county, there's even air pollution. And the runoff is causing dead zones in the Peconic River due to oxygen starvation.
Riverhead Town continues to have one of the worst environmental records of LI Townships. Tanger recently decided to open at MIDNIGHT on THANKSGIVING. From what I heard, this resulted in traffic jams and people looking for spaces for hours. Most towns have ordinances about non-essential business being open at that hour, but not Riverhead. I know several counties in NJ have "blue laws", such as Bergen county. God bless them.
The impact of what Riverhead has done to our pine barrens has been almost as devastating, if not more devastating, than the proposed Shoreham nuclear power plant. But yet environmental activists, like the Pine Barrens Society, and state oversight agencies, like the Pine Barrens Commission, have been strangely silent on opposing these developments that have had an extremely negative impact on our pine barrens.
Enjoy what you have in New Jersey. Once you let just one developer in, everything will come crashing down.
Anyway I come to think about the way Riverhead was, just 10 years ago. It was always a central town, located at the end of the LIE and just before Long Island splits into two forks.
The name says it all, the "head" of the river, that would be the Peconic River, one of the most important waterways on Long Island. It runs from the heart of our pine barrens out to Peconic bay, in between the twin forks.
10 years ago, was the end of Riverhead as a nice, quaint community. That came when Tanger corporation decided to build an outlet center there. They decided on land on route 58 just at the end of the LIE. The land was a beautiful eastern red ceder savhana. These are fields with brush, eastern red cedar (a small, greenish bush), and young, stunted pitch pines scatterred about. These are great habitats for white tailed deer to feed. Anyway, much of the land along route 58, to just a few blocks west of the circle, was savhanna and farmland. The shopping was in downtown Riverhead (about 1 mile south of the cirlce) and two smaller shopping centers around the circle. There was TX Maxx, Radio Shack, Waldbaums supermarket, Dunkin Donuts, and Wendy's, and that was plenty enough for me.
Anyway, Tanger corp, with all their $$, bought the land at the end of the LIE and decided to build Tanger I, an outlet center with approx 60 stores and a food court. The center was an immediate "hit", which brought many shoppers from as far as NYC, to shop in the areas first outlet center. Pretty soon, Tanger had expansion plans for Tanger II, an even bigger outlet center, next to the existing center, with 80 stores and a food court. The centers backs face eachother, and it's made as difficult as possible for pedestrians to walk between the two. To add insult to injury, a fence bars entry for any of the locals who live down on Forge road, to walk on over to the center, they have to walk all around. Then again, Tanger gears to people from the city. The whole design creates as much waste as possible, in encouraing the use of fossil fuel burning cars.,
Tanger however patted themselves on the back, trying to look "good" for the environment by donating a small 32 acre piece of the land, now known as the Sabin preserve. However, no one can enjoy this small preserve, which featuresa small kettle lake, and a high fence along the perimiter of the property.
Anyway, after Tanger, came splish splash, a water park about a half mile west of Tanger. Then all the developments along the former farmland at Mill road and route 58, about 1 mile east of Tanger. A proffesional park on the NW corner, and a bunch of big box stores, such as Home Depot, Best Buy, on the northeast side. On the southwest side, a new hotel. It didn't end there, Target built a new store on former farmland closer to the circle.
So now we fast forward to today. The scenery is gone, except for a few small patches of woods. Traffic jams are a constant, especially on weekends. The land is full of trash that ppl toss out their windows. Most of these idiots are from the city and further west, and have absolutely no respect for the land. It is looking more and more like Nassau county, there's even air pollution. And the runoff is causing dead zones in the Peconic River due to oxygen starvation.
Riverhead Town continues to have one of the worst environmental records of LI Townships. Tanger recently decided to open at MIDNIGHT on THANKSGIVING. From what I heard, this resulted in traffic jams and people looking for spaces for hours. Most towns have ordinances about non-essential business being open at that hour, but not Riverhead. I know several counties in NJ have "blue laws", such as Bergen county. God bless them.
The impact of what Riverhead has done to our pine barrens has been almost as devastating, if not more devastating, than the proposed Shoreham nuclear power plant. But yet environmental activists, like the Pine Barrens Society, and state oversight agencies, like the Pine Barrens Commission, have been strangely silent on opposing these developments that have had an extremely negative impact on our pine barrens.
Enjoy what you have in New Jersey. Once you let just one developer in, everything will come crashing down.
