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.

Palisades Community Center Board members:
Carol Baxter, President
Alice Buchanan, Vice President
C. Andrew Nelson
Carol Knudson, Secretary
Michele Balm, Mary Ann Brueckner, Lyn Fowler,
Dr. Leo Keegan and Dr. Jeffrey Levine
Honorary Board member: Dr. Virginia McCauley

Bell-ans Center for the Creative Arts
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After more than a century of industrial use the Bell-Ans pharmaceutical factory at the intersection of Route 303 and Kings Highway is being reborn as the Bell-Ans Center of Creative Arts. Last September dozens of visitors sipped wine and wandered through a maze of paint-spattered studios flooded with natural light at the center’s very first Open House. Phyllis Dodge, the woman spearheading the structure’s renaissance, couldn’t have been happier.

Desalination plant defeated. The NYS Public Service Commission ordered United Water not to pursue their plans for a desalination plant and to work with the community to come up with alternative solutions through conservation, reduced leakage and improved repairs. Massive public resistance - over 25,000 people signed petitions - played a major role in its defeat. The Commission ruled United Water was not entitled to seek recovery through a ratepayer surcharge for $50 million pre-construction costs but the company may pursue a surcharge of about $40 million later if the plant is built or plans are permanently scrapped.

More than a year ago the New York Department of Environmental Conservation announced that it planned to eradicate the tall common reed, also known as phragmites, from the Piermont Marsh using herbicides. DEC considers phragmites an invasive species that they say tends to suppress biological diversity.

An Artist's Rendering of the Proposed Office Tower
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The LG headquarters controversy continues. On August 13, 2014 the Englewood Cliffs Borough Council voted to reinstitute a building height limit of 35 feet for all of Englewood Cliffs. This reverses a 2012 decision by the borough’s now defunct Zoning Board to allow buildings up to 90 feet high on commercial lots between five to 25 acres, and up to 150 feet on lots larger than 25 acres. The increased height limits were instituted after the borough was sued for giving electronics giant LG a variance to build a 143-foot tower as part of its new U.S. headquarters.

The History of a Living Commiunity Hidden Away in the Palisades Cemetery
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After 65 years, ownership of the Palisades Cemetery has returned to the community. On December 12, 2014, David Englander and Michael Shapiro drove to the city, carrying a modest check, and returned with a deed to the Palisades Cemetery signed by the widow of Adolpho Luca, the last owner. The cemetery is now owned by a non-profit cemetery corporation administered by a Board of Directors: Carol Knudson, Joan Salomon, Lee Sneden, Michael Shapiro and Alice Gerard, all of whom have been associated with the efforts made in the last few years to preserve the cemetery and return its ownership to the hamlet of Palisades.

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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 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Please check out our facebook page!
www.facebook.com/ThePalisadesPresbyterianChurch

There is not a Division of Motor Vehicles in Nanuet but there is something that comes very close. Housed in an unobtrusive store front for the last 18 years, Wendy's Auto Express, owned by Suffern resident Wendy Winneck, can process things like registrations, duplicate titles and even license plates for a nominal cost with no lines or hassles.

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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