If you read a landscape as a story (romantic, naturally) then trees are our heroes, our character actors and, from time to time, the lurking villain. Architecture introduced into the landscape can insert itself effortlessly into the plot line. The story is transformed into a play; the landscape becomes theatrical set. But what happens when there is disaster on the set and the hero dies? The play becomes a tragedy.

Back in 1972 when Paul Olsen, a leading paleontologist, professor at Lamont Doherty and a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, was a student at Yale, he and a friend noticed a large flat expanse of rock that had recently been exposed while visiting the friend’s father in Blauvelt. They knew that rock in the area had been determined to be about 215 million years old. (Rock is dated by examining the decay of radioactive minerals.) Within an hour, the duo had discovered about 20 prehistoric footprints in the densely wooded area between Route 303 and Greenbush Road.

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Stepping into the darkened float tank, I pull the door closed behind me. I lie down. Warm shallow water, dense and saturated with natural Epsom salts, surrounds me. It has a pleasant tangy smell. I settle my head back- wards onto a small pillow and let the sinking rise back up into floating. Dang it!...first timer error…I forgot to put in earplugs to keep the water out! Quick exit and poking the plugs into my now very slippery ears, I climb back into the tank and pull the door shut behind me a second time.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has announced plans to build a massive audio-visual production center on their 155 Sterling Mine Road property, which consists of 242 acres in Ramapo and seven acres in the Town of Tuxedo.

Member of the Ramapo Catskill Library System and ANSER Network
19 Closter Road, Palisades, NY 10964
845-359-0136, Fax 845-359-6124
www.palisadeslibrary.org
Hours: Monday - Thursday 11:00 am - 9:00 pm Friday - Saturday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm Sunday 1:00 - 5:00 pm
Holidays: Closed Tuesday, Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve), Wednesday, Dec. 25 (Christmas Day), and Closing Early Tuesday, Dec. 31 (New Year’s Eve)

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PALISADES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Phone: 845-359-3147
Email: ppc10964@gmail.com
Website: www.palpresny.org
Pastor: Reverend Angela Maddalone
Sunday Worship: 10:00 am
Bible Study: Wednesdays 12:15-1:30 pm
Parent Support Group: First Wednesday of the Month 7:00 pm. All are welcome.

RT 9W AND OAK TREE ROAD:
Since 2008, the community has actively pursued safety improvements to the Paliades corridor of RT 9W and its intersection. Although we have had the support of Orangetown representatives, changes are under the jurisdiction of the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT). At our last meeting in November 2018, which was attended by Ellen Jaffee, Supervisor Chris Day, representatives from Senator Carlucci’s office, the Orangetown Highway, Police, Traffic Advisory and community members, the attending DOT representatives agreed to lower the 45 mph speed limit to 40 mph, but all other safety improvements to the intersection would be bundled together with over 30 other Regional requests and put out to bid in the spring of 2020, with work scheduled for sometime in 2021. In preparation of the bids going out, a meeting is scheduled for this month to review and confirm all safety improvements that we’ve advocated for. Over the last four months, there have been three serious accidents at the intersection, and we have requested that the very short light (for travelers going east or west) be lengthened as soon as possible.

Each year, states in the “salt belt” spend millions of dollars on diesel fuel, driver overtime and truck maintenance, dumping 15 million tons of salt on our roadways. Winter road maintenance accounts for 20% of state level road maintenance budgets nationally, according to the Federal Highway Administration. State and local agencies spend more than $2.3 billion on salting programs annually. This salt performs a duty of temporarily reducing the freezing point of the water on the road surface until it is diluted by its own action. After doing its temporary job, the immense amounts of salt now become the source of infrastructure and environmental damage on a scale so large it becomes hard to measure.

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675 Oak Tree Road

We are happy to announce our new board members Sunny Park and Karen Godgart. We thank Alice Buchanan, Vice President and Andrew Nelson, Treasurer for their many years of dedicated service to the PCC. Welcome aboard Sunny and Karen!

Recently there have been various reports and rumors about the sale of the HNA property. Brooklyn-based Vasco Ventures signed a contract to acquire HNA’s Palisades property but defaulted at the time of closure and on September 12 filed bankruptcy to prevent the immediate forfeiture of the Vasco’s deposit and give them more time to raise the financing necessary to acquire the property.

Last May I chronicled the advantages of installing solar panels in New York to help offset our ever increasing cost of utilities. Now that we have weathered three of our four seasons, I can confidently report our purchase of solar panels for our partly shaded hillside property was one of the best investments we could have made.

1. Now that it is getting darker earlier, put your inside lights on a timer beginning at 4:30 so it looks like someone is home.

2. Make sure your house is clearly labeled with your house number for fire, police and emergency services.

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The Global Climate Strike in NYC was an inspiring, if bittersweet, experience. It was great to see how many schoolchildren were there, with teachers, parents, grandparents, and other supporters coming together around the idea that we must invest in change for the future of coming generations, and the planet. I heard estimates from 100,000 to 350,000 in attendance.

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Member of the Ramapo Catskill Library System and ANSER Network
19 Closter Road, Palisades, NY 10964
845-359-0136, Fax 845-359-6124
www.palisadeslibrary.org

In case you haven't seen it, this is what the new Community Center kitchen looks like.

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Once upon a time, shopping for food and toiletries generated little waste. Produce went into wooden crates or string bags. Staples like flour and sugar were purchased in bulk. Soap was cut from big blocks, and medicines came in glass bottles. It’s a quaint, sepia-toned picture, but these old-timey practices of refill and reuse are the cornerstones of Loop, a new joint venture between the small recycling company Terra-Cycle, and industry giants Procter & Gamble, Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, Clorox, Coca-Cola, and others.

Columbia University Press has just released Plate Tectonics and Great Earthquakes by Dr. Lynn R. Sykes, a geophysicist and professor emeritus at Columbia University. Sykes, who played a key role in the birth of plate tectonics, brings an invaluable insider’s perspective on the theory’s development and its implications.

Driving down Route 340 into New Jersey you can’t miss Rockleigh Equestrian Centre across from the Paris Avenue turnoff with its big metal gate and beautifully manicured lawn. Stephanie and Peter Walsh have owned the ten-acre hunter/jumper facility with three barns, eight turnout paddocks and two fields for the past nineteen years.

James Kimak, a founding member of the Flywheel Gallery with over 40 years of experience as an artist and muralist, is working with Lamont Research Professor Maureen Raymo to create a mural for the Hudson River Field Station. Located at the end of the Piermont Pier, it has been a site for research, education and outreach for Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for more than two decades. The building has been currently undergoing renovations for expansion of Lamont’s work there.

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Regardless of your politics, religion, your ethnicity or socio-economic status, we share a common concern that affects all our lives: the rising cost of living and taxes! Well, pay attention, Palisades, because you’re about to be bombarded with political flyers, yard signs, robocalls and emails trying to sway your vote to the right or to the left for Town Supervisor. On November 5th, Orangetown voters will have the chance to chose between Republican Teresa Kenny, a local attorney who has worked in the Town Attorney's office for over 22 years and is currently the First Deputy Supervisor, and her opponent, Democrat and former Town Supervisor, Thom Kleiner, who previously served Orangetown from 1996 to 2009.

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