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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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As a result of the recent United Nations Climate Summit, climate change was at the center of the news in the last two weeks. I suspect that many of us are deeply concerned about the future of the earth and of humanity. We want to help reduce harmful carbon emissions but we don’t know what further actions to take.

Memorial Day honors the men and women who served in our military forces and those who gave their lives for our country, from the Revolutionary War through the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was a child during World War II, and still remember the emotions of fear and hope in this country as the Allied forces struggled with our enemies in Europe and the Pacific. It was a battle for civilization, one that averted a threat that would have destroyed the world as we knew it. In an unprecedented war effort, our country mobilized to produce weapons and equipment and sent its sons and daughters to the battlefront. Our participation made the difference between winning and losing.

I was reminded of this recently when I realized that we are facing another battle, even more consequential. If we lose this battle, it could be the end of humanity on earth. Until recently global warming seemed to me a threat far in the future, and I had faith that we had time to deal with it. But that’s not true: the world has already changed and what’s ahead, according to what scientists say, will be much, much worse.

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Thank You to our Community!
Thank you to all who have become members of the PCC, have given financial donations and attended our events this year. Since Board members and volunteers operate all PCC activities, 100 percent of donations and membership dollars go directly to the upkeep and restoration of this historic building. Thank you!

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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

Hours: Monday - Thursday 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Friday - Saturday 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sunday 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Holidays: Closed Sunday, May 12 (Mother’s Day), Closed Monday, May 27 (Memorial Day)

In 2019, we can already see some of the effects of increased global warming: more floods and wildfires, stronger hurricanes and tornadoes, heat waves and droughts. But what can we as individuals do? Faced with future massive changes to our planet, it is easy to become depressed. Our country, one of the largest polluters, has not yet developed any plan for dealing with the threat. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that we have less than 12 years to act.