What If ?
            What if things really aren't what they seem to be? It's certainly happened to each of us personally before. And often when we do figure out what's going on it's embarrassing, and we say things like 'I can't believe I didn't see that coming." Usually these situations are personal; we don't realize someone's motives might be different than we figured, or that some critical pieces been withheld from us. Once in a while though, the same thing happens on a different scale, and thousands or millions of people all mutter to themselves at the same instant "Whoa. We've been had." And by the time the words get said, it's too late to do anything about it. When this happens, it usually happens at the same place: the intersection of very big business and government, and the news is rife with examples, from Enron's meltdown to the fiasco with Parmalat, the Italian multinational. When these things are uncovered, we usually end up asking "What's wrong with our regulatory process that could allow something like this to happen?" It's a good question, and it‚s often a better and more relevant question than we even realize.  Because our regulatory processes may be administered by good regulators, but they're often run by politicians.
            The Belleayre Resort's public hearings are underway: two days in which those of us who live here have the opportunity to comment on how we think the project might impact us over the next 10 or 20 or 50 years. It's by far the biggest project ever proposed in our region's modern history, and we all have an obligation to ourselves and to the future to weigh in and help in the decision-making process. We hope people take the opportunity seriously, because it won't come again after Thursday night. 
                     Crossroads' environmental review is of course moving forward in a highly charged emotional climate. That's not surprising because most of us who live here are not ecstatic about the prospect of radical change, either to our communities or to the physical environment so many of us here treasure. Despite the developer's many statements to the contrary, we think significant changes would be inevitable. The question the state has to decide is, on balance, would those changes be good or bad, which begs the question "for whom?"  Fact is, the interests of local residents may or may not factor much in the state's equation.   
            That, we think, is because the review is also moving forward in what can only be described as one of the strangest regulatory environments in New York's history.  As lead agency in its SEQRA process, the Department of Environmental Conservation is supposed to be presiding over a "coordinated" and analytical "hard look" at the project. Instead - and there are many instances of this - it's been effectively an advocate for the developer, making unprecedented efforts to expedite solutions on their behalf. In transparent violation of SEQRA laws against 'segmentation', DEC excluded from the resort review the impact of its own Belleayre Mountain Ski Area, which sits in the middle of the project site, and is in the process of a significant expansion. At this moment, Belleayre's probably the fastest-growing ski area in the Northeast, and it doesn't take a SEQRA lawyer to tell you its traffic impact needs to be factored along with the resort's. Just one example, but part of a pattern of accommodation that's hard to ignore. Equally strange has been the intervention of other state agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the State's Public Service Commission, also on the developer's behalf.
            We ask you to ask yourself why these kinds of things might be happening, and at whose behest. To us, it certainly looks like we have a state government that's marching in step behind the developer. We have a legislature that's never moved to restrict or prohibit gaming from within the blue line of the Catskill Park. We have a county government that's made sure some Indians from Oklahoma can partner with whatever resort operator Crossroads sells to, to build a casino and open up their own sovereign state anywhere in Ulster County.  We have a governor who just recently reversed his longstanding opposition to granting casino-operating compacts to out-of-state Indian tribes.  And we have a developer that's announced its intention to sell the permits, once granted, to a "major resort operator." Those are the facts, and we figure people can add, though we don't imagine everyone will come up with the same thing.
            We are not telling you we think the Belleayre Resort is really a casino project.  Maybe it is, maybe it's not. We are however, asking you to think about what kind of business might be big enough to move a whole state's government to try and facilitate such a project. We've discussed the resort in detail with some of New York's leading hotel and real estate developers; none believes the project as proposed can be financed at all. But several of them added, without prompting,  "except as a casino." As of now, there are no legal or structural impediments to that happening at the Belleayre Resort site.
            It's hard to argue that the world's first ski-golf-casino isn't an interesting marketing idea. It is. But it would bring change on a scale few of us have really considered. It does raise the what-if question though. What if things aren't really what they seem to be? Or more troubling perhaps, what if they're exactly what they seem to be?.  We can't answer those questions for you, but we think they‚re worth thinking about. One thing's evident: we're in the midst of a regulatory process that could stand some closer attention from the public than most of us have paid so far.