Palisades residents, turning out by the dozens, filled the room at three Historic Areas Board of Review (HABR) meetings in September, October and November to contest the building of a 12,000 sq ft house in the Palisades Historic District. The property is located on a 2-acre land-locked lot behind the cemetery. The main concern of the community was the proposed size, which was three times the average size of the historic homes surrounding the area. In addition, the design of the home was not “in harmony” or compatibility with the surrounding his-toric homes. There was great concern that the approval of this 12,000 sq. ft. house would set a precedent for future new construction in the Historic District. Three times, the architectural plan was denied by HABR.

Tallman Park pool in years past
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The Tallman State Park swimming pools are reopening this summer thanks to Billy Procida. After this wonderful community landmark sat vacant and abandoned for the last several years when New York slashed funding to the State Park system during the Recession, Procida has signed a twenty-year lease with the Palisades Interstate Park Commission to reopen and manage the adult and kiddie pools. Tallman Beach and Pool Club LLC will be operated as a public-private partnership between Procida Funding and the State Park System.

Williston, North Dakota is a small city of 15,000 over 1,800 miles away from Palisades. We don’t share much in common with this community aside from huge quantities of crude oil passing through our communities daily. Williston has been ground zero for the American oil boom brought on by the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing, more popularly known as “fracking.” This boom has made America the world’s largest oil producer by volume. In 2015, the North Dakota oil fi elds fl ooded the market with one million barrels a day; that equates to over 50 million gallons every 24 hours.

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Palisades Community Center (PCC) News
www.Palisadescc.org

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Sunday, December 20 15th Annual Christmas Caroling and Pizza Party
Meet at 11 Horne Tooke Road at 2:30pm sharp. Sheet music provided. Carolers will sing thru the streets and then bring holiday cheer to the Esplanade and Jawanio ending at the PCC for a Pizza Party For further info: miepbalm@aol.com

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Palisades Presbyterian Church
117 Washington Spring Road, PO Box 687
845-359-3147
ppc10964@gmail.com www.palpresny.org

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 12 - 5:00 p.m.
Please check out our facebook page!
www.facebook.com/ThePalisadesPresbyterianChurch

Elections: Two years ago, Orangetown Supervisor Andy Stewart was re-elected by only two votes; this time he defeated his opponent by 1200 votes. There were two contested seats on the Orangetown Town Board. One was won by Democrat Gerry Bottari and the other by Republican Paul Valentine. Eileen Larkin, who worked at the polls that day, tells us that only 25% of the registered voters came to vote. Elections matter; let’s do better next time.

Thomas Mazziotti, Palisades resident and film director (“Charlie Hoboken”) will be hosting a new after hours series called “Little Known Films” at the Palisades Free Library. Read the film review first in Tom’s column of the same name in 10964, then come with your friends and neighbors to see the film. This issue’s title, Gemma Bovery, will be shown free of charge on December 5th at 5:00 pm in the Marie Firestone Community Room on the library’s third floor. Light appetizers and discussion to follow.

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Next Meeting of the Board of Trustees: Wednesday, December 9 at 7:30 pm at the Library. Open to the public.

Save the Date: Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees - Sunday, January 24 at 2:00 pm at the Library. Open to the public.

Holidays: Closing at 2:00 pm Christmas Eve, December 24, Closed Christmas Day, December 25, Closing at 2:00 pm New Year’s Eve, December 31, Closed New Year’s Day, January 1, Closed Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 18

Charles Oppler is excited. Not only is he the chief operating officer and co owner of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Reality which covers twelve offices in six counties, but he soon will be opening his first office in Rockland.

Those of us who live in Palisades value its charm, the historic houses (small by today’s standards) lining its main streets, the nature that surrounds us, and the sense of community that binds us together. But change may be coming. At the beginning of September residents were alerted to an application coming before the Historic Areas Board of Review (HABR) for a 12,124 square foot house to be built on land west of the old Henry Kennell property on 9W by David and Erica Chung.

UPCOMING EVENTS

October 4 - Piermont’s Civic Association and Chamber of Commerce invite all to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the filming of Woody Allen’s film The Purple Rose of Cairo. Beginning at 1:00 there will be a display of photographs by Sally Savage who documented the filming, a panel discussion with filmmakers at 3:00pm and a champagne toast and showing of the film at 6:00pm. For updates go to www.piermontchamber.org/events/2015/10/4

Palisades Free Library
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 11:00am – 9:00pm, Friday - Saturday 11:00am – 5:00pm, Sunday 1:00 – 5:00pm.

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The Thruway Authority is attempting to go green with mixed results. In exchange for a Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) permit to build the new Tappan Zee Bridge (along with millions of dollars in low and noninterest loans from New York state), the Thruway Authority is required to implement numerous environmental mitigation projects including the restoration of the Piermont Marsh. At issue is what restoration of the marsh means. According to the DEC, it is the eradication of the mighty Phragmites, an invasive non-native reed now common in many wetland areas.

Tempest in a teapot? Maybe not. Orangeburg’s Town Hall was filled with concerned citizens last January because of controversy over whether Anellotech, a small technology company, will be allowed to enlarge its Pearl River research facility. At issue is what might emerge from a six-inch diameter stainless steel pipe poking out of the new building’s roof. The company says the vent will emit a harmless mix of carbon dioxide, water vapor and nitrogen. Others call the pipe a smokestack and believe the air of Orangeburg and Clarkstown will be laced with carcinogens. Science says the truth is somewhere in between, but given the issues at play: public health, questionably green technology, and taxpayer confidence in local representatives, this kerfuffle might just be a perfect storm of money, mistrust and misinformation.

Dear Readers: In 2017, 10964 will be celebrating 40 years of uninterrupted publication, an achievement we share with the entire community, all the more remarkable because the staff is and always has been made up entirely of volunteers.

Again, we thank Mary Ann Brueckner and Lyn Fowler for their years of service as they step off the Palisades Board and we welcome our two new Board members, Keith Buterbaugh and Lynne Sandhaus.

South Orangetown Central School District Budget Vote
The Annual Budget Vote and Board Election will be held Tuesday, May 19, from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. Palisades residents vote at the Tappan Zee Elementary school on 561 Route 9W in Piermont. The 2015/2016 proposed budget of $85,969,882 is 0.49% less than last year’s budget. For more detailed information, visit the District’s website at www.SOCSD.org and click on Board of Education meeting presentations.

Blog post from Daniel: Chirpy looks like a stuffed animal.

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Response from Chirpy: Do you have a problem with that?

Daniel has a point. Chirpy really IS a stuffed animal, a little robin that sits on Ms. Christie-Blick’s desk in a 5th grade classroom of Cottage Lane School in Blauvelt….when he’s not traveling the world and blogging back to the children, that is.

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RCLS Institutes Six Month Trial Governing Hold Requests
The Palisades Free Library is a member of the Ramapo Catskill Library System, which is a cooperative that allows libraries throughout Rockland, Orange, and Sullivan Counties to share books, audio-books, and DVDs through inter-library loans. Nearly all the libraries, including Palisades, restrict their newest books from inter-library loans. Beginning May 1, there will be a six month trial lifting restrictions on new books.

Deferring to the many of us who expressed opposition, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has withdrawn its proposal to clear-cut its woods and build a solar panel farm in their place. This was a case where the goals of conservation and green energy conflicted. After some debate, the preservation of the ecological habitat of the Hudson Palisades was recognized as more important than the generation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission-free electrical power. Such tensions among the environmentally- conscious are on the rise, driven by the complex environmental problems of a world experiencing the enormous and still-growing impact of human beings. Few such problems have ideal solutions; solving one often exacerbates another.

For decades, environmental groups, politicians, and concerned citizens have called for closure of the aging nuclear facility in Buchanan, New York, citing safety and environmental issues. Recent federal approval of a 42-inch high-pressure natural gas pipeline within 200 feet of some of the plant’s vital structures has activists back on the warpath.