Letter to the Editor: October 2016
Keep Palisades the Same? Stay Informed!
While scanning through the archives of our Palisades Newsletter I realized that March, 2017 will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of 10964. I read through the first copies printed in 1977 only to find that many of the issues that faced the community back then still face us today. Traffic and speeding, concern for our historic areas and the community’s character, the future of the Palisades School, development and loss of green space, all led to the formation of multiple organizations like the Palisades Community Action Group, the West Hudson Environmental Association, the Palisades School Council, and the Palisades Historical Committee, just to name a few, whose stated goals were that of saving our hamlet. But it is the formation of the Palisades Civic Association in 1985 that would come to have the most comprehensive and powerful voice, short of incorporating as a Town, that represented the community before Town Boards and other government entities with the greatest success. Its history and accomplishments can be read in an article in this issue by Alice Gerard.
10964 was founded to keep the community informed of issues important to it in a way that other news organizations ignored, and when necessary, it was used to tend to matters pertinent to the tranquility of the hamlet. If we are lucky, it will continue to keep Palisadians informed about the issues. Even so, the community’s recent opposition to franchises moving in to Palisades seems to have failed without the organized efforts that a civic association would afford us, as reports that the New Jersey Sotheby’s franchise still plans on moving to Yonderhill in January attest to. This past June, a $7 million lawsuit was filed against the Orangetown Zoning Board of Appeals for upholding the long standing, single use zoning for the building this franchise wishes to occupy. It’s time for the new generation of the Palisades Civic Association!