When we were children we were warned not to take candy from strangers, and to run if anyone approached us inappropriately. Why then are these basic common sense principles being ignored by many in this city?

We have been invaded by strangers in the form of developers who seductively promise excitement, culture, shopping, lower taxes - a virtual world that includes anything their audience wants to hear. You want a cooking school, a skate park, an ice rink, a sculpture garden; they got it! They conjure visions of utopian prosperity and gracious living. They hand out rose-colored glasses and invite you to envision with them without one shred of evidence or a track record to back them up. Also, remember they don't live here and their motive is money.

Is this town really so naive that it cannot see they are wolves is sheep's clothing? Look how crowded we are already. Look at the quantity of vacant and available real estate all over the city. Smell the sewage stench in the air on a humid day. Fill the bathtub with our "safe" drinking water, blue with chlorine. See the trees dying from the air pollution, and the beaches closed after every heavy rain. Clock how long it takes to go crosstown at 5 p.m. Do the math on taxes and count out how much more we will have to shell out to support an infrastructure that will never keep pace with ever-multiplying demand. The idea that a larger populace and skyscrapers (albeit with trees on top) will improve the quality of life here is a hallucination.

Their plan is simple: dupe and abuse the "stupid" public and run with the cash. In this election year, don't be seduced. Vote with your brain and not your desires. Be patient. Support the Suozzi team who are working methodically and systematically to stop the hemorrhage of funds from city coffers and to develop a comprehensive master plan to restore and revitalize the quality of our life and environment. Remember, Rome was not built in a day and if Glen Cove is, we will pay for it dearly!

Joan Harrison