Cry me a river -- well, maybe a landslide, the huge flowing mass of tumbling rock and soil that covers Route 65 in Kilbuck Township.

Reporters and officials appear "shocked, shocked" that this could have happened. But it's not as if they weren't warned, repeatedly, by a citizen watchdog group as far back as 2002.

Molly T. Lundquist is a resident of Sewickley and a member of Communities First! (mlundq@comcast.net).

That was when Kilbuck supervisors -- in their eagerness to shoehorn a giant development onto a too-small site -- decided they should, willy- nilly, override the town's grading ordinances. It must have slipped their minds that grading ordinances are put in place to protect public safety. Those who ignore them do so at their peril -- and at everyone else's.

It shouldn't take a rocket scientist -- or a Kilbuck supervisor -- to realize that if you take slide-prone topography, add extreme slopes, subtract all trees and then compound the problem by providing for zero benching (a type of terracing that helps prevent landslides), you've got yourself a formula for creating a big pile of dirt on Route 65.

But the full story of the River Pointe Plaza and Wal-Mart permitting process needs to be brought to light, because the dirt stretches all the way from Kilbuck to the highest levels in Harrisburg.

PennDOT and the Department of Environmental Protection rolled over for the developer, too. They accepted seriously flawed grading plans, one proof of which now sits on Route 65, and ignored problems with the development's traffic, flooding and sewage overflow plans. They should have known better.

The agencies now have gotten tough and have suspended the developers' permits. But their tough love comes a little late.

In fairness to some individuals and agencies, the root problem lies with Pennsylvania laws and regulations. Once Route 65 gets cleaned up, we need to clean up a permitting system that fosters acquiescence toward developers and shuts citizens out.

Currently, we citizens have no authority to challenge a developer's proposals unless we live practically on top of the site in question. This holds true even when we can prove relevant proximity and demonstrate that we might suffer significant safety, environmental or economic effects.

The shame is that state permitting agencies are obliged to consider only a developer's evidence. They are under no statutory requirement to evaluate outside evidence even when it contradicts that of the developer. This needs to change.

Another target for reform is the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code. Something is seriously wrong when a tiny township like Kilbuck, with only three supervisors, can operate with complete disregard for surrounding communities and approve a development that affects tens of thousands of neighboring residents.

In the case of River Pointe Plaza, area residents had no choice but to sit back and watch while a neighboring community approved a poorly conceived project that was bound to affect us all. Sadly, county agencies, which could represent the interests of the broader community, defer too readily to local officials.

Fortunately, what's becoming obvious -- as obvious as the mound of dirt on Route 65 -- is that we need a strong countywide permitting process, one with teeth that takes regional concerns into account.

These represent only a couple of the reforms needed to prevent future disasters like the one we're now witnessing on Route 65 -- reforms that go to the heart of participatory democracy.

Citizen involvement requires a stunning amount of time and effort, even more so when the deck is heavily stacked against you. I know because I am part of the citizens group Communities First!, which arose in opposition to the River Pointe Plaza project.

Over the past four years, I've learned a difficult civics lesson, unlike any I had in high school. I expected our governing bodies to be receptive to legitimate citizen concerns, and they weren't.

It's hard enough holding bake sales so you can stand up against the deep pockets of corporate developers and giant retailers. Far more discouraging is having to stand up against state and local governments, the very institutions that are supposed to protect broader community interests.

Yes, I know, our group finally has been vindicated, but there are only so many landslides to go around.

So here's the challenge: Let's take this landslide disaster and turn it into a "landslide victory" -- a symbolic wake-up call to spur meaningful regulatory reform. Let's try to create a healthier democracy -- one in which state and local governments are truly open and responsive to their citizens.