300 protest Cerro site mall plan

A crowd of more than 300 demonstrators gathered Sunday at the Syosset site of the old Cerro Wire property to protest  renewed efforts by a Michigan-based developer to build an upscale shopping mall there.

Participants in the rally -- which was held on Robbins Lane outside the fenced 39-acre property and forced police to temporarily shut down the two westbound lanes -- held signs that read "No mall here."

One protester describing himself as "an angry villager" brought a pitchfork as a prop.

They targeted the chief operating officer of the developer, Taubman Centers Inc.

"Bill Taubman flew in from Michigan and went around to all the business groups," said Todd Fabricant, chairman of the Cerro Wire Coalition, an alliance of local groups fighting the proposed Mall of Oyster Bay. "The only people he didn't talk to was the community standing right here."

Fabricant added: "He can't come in and throw money around."

Taubman's vice president of development last week attended a meeting of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, asking the group to endorse the project as "regionally significant" for the jobs and tax revenue it would introduce. Bruce Heckman, the Taubman vice president, said the company is encouraging "open and full dialogue."

The company's push comes despite a 2009 state appeals court decision to uphold the Town of Oyster Bay's rejection of the $500-million development over environmental concerns.

It is the latest development in a 15-year saga that has pitted the community organization, which says a mall on the former Superfund site would mean increased traffic and decreased quality of life, against the developer, which says it would mean more than 5,000 jobs and $50 million in new revenue.

Taubman has not yet filed paperwork to officially restart the approval process.

Taubman spokesman Menashe Shapiro called the rally's turnout Sunday low and "lackluster."

"The opposition is hollow and the need for jobs is real," Shapiro said, adding that the project has support from organized labor and the public.

Opponents are urging mixed-use structures such as condos, senior housing and offices be built instead on the Cerro Wire site.

"Build a mall here and you can't build something useful," said Joseph Marriott, 49, of Jericho, who brought a pitchfork to the protest.

Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto attended Sunday's rally. "Take this project somewhere else, where it may do good, where it might make sense," he said. "We don't need a 10-pound mall on a 5-pound piece of land."