Sept, 2011 - The Nyack Villager

Letters
An open community forum.
to the editor
Opinions expressed are those of
each letter writer; The Nyack Villager
need not agree.
Let elected officials set salaries
To The Nyack Villager—
A NYS arbitration panel just ordered the town
of Clarkstown to give their police two retroactive
3.4% salary hikes. In this bad economy
this award is very high.
The Governor & State Legislature should eliminate
arbitration panels and let local elected officials
set salaries for police/firefighters. The
Governor & State Legislators received praise
for passing a property tax cap. How can officials
live with a tax cap if we can't control
salaries under our jurisdiction?
—Paul Feiner,
Greenburgh Town Supervisor
Street sweeper=giant leaf blower
To The Nyack Villager—
Only in the shadow of an impending leaf
blower uprising should the newly formed
Village of Nyack Environmental Committee
waste time on the matter.
Our tax dollars pay for a monstrous reverse
leaf blower called a street cleaner that drives
up and down the streets very early in the
morning making awful noise and stirring up
street dust, animal feces & pesticides. I never
get warning to put on my ear protection or to
close my windows before all the nasty blows
in. So until the day the leaf blower uprising
actually takes place, the focus of the committee
should be on things that could actually
cause serious long term impact on our immediate
environmental health—Indian Point for
one! Thanks,
—Maia Allen, Nyack
Nyack’s Garden Club
To The Nyack Villager—
The Garden Club of Nyack was founded in
1912 by Mrs. Joseph Hilton and two friends.
In 2012 we will celebrate our centennial year
with an exhibit in the Nyack Library. We
would welcome any old Garden Club history
or materials that your readers would like to
share with us.
In particular we would like to find a copy of a
book published circa 1920 about the gardens
of Nyack garden club members with wonderful
photos of the gardens. In the late 1970s a
copy of this book was in the Nyack Library,
but cannot be found there 30 years later.
—Betty Perry, Club Historian
wandbperry@msn.com 358-0552
Seeks info on baseball team
To The Nyack Villager—
I am trying to find information on the Tidal
Waves baseball team from about the 1870s.
I am looking for information on a possible ancestor
named Alexander ( Sandy) Perry. Any
information you could provide would be
greatly appreciated.
—Beth Brown
[Editor’s note—We will ask our readers and hope
someone can help. Send information to us at
info@nyackvillager.com and we will forward it
to Ms. Brown.]
On the discourtesy of cyclists
To The Nyack Villager—
... they (the bicyclists) pedal furiously through
town—coasting through stop lights and stop
signs, shouting directional coordinates and
tales of 10-speed glory at top volume, riding
three abreast in single lane traffic—to arrive at
their favorite Broadway coffee shop.
By 9:30 am, the swarm is thick and suffused
with the stench of self-entitlement. Many of
these cyclists clog the sidewalks, forcing pedestrians
to walk in the street. The worst offenders
zig zag in front of cars, subjecting everyone
to danger. And, of course, they envelop the
entrance to their coffeehouse Mecca, thereby
detouring most thirsty clientele who do not
clatter out a syncopated rhythm on the sidewalk
with their biker cleats.
It’s a problem. The solution?
A) We should have stricter enforcement of
traffic laws as they pertain to bicyclists. There
is usually a police car parked at the corner of
Broadway and Main. I’d like to see (a patrolman)
ticket the occasional cyclist for running
red lights and obstructing traffic. Rarely do I
see a lone mountain bike rider sail through a
stop sign, but many of the 10-speed cyclists
brazenly disregard traffic signals on a regular
basis. Enough is enough.
B) Why are we allowing 10-speed cyclists to
force women with strollers off the sidewalk
and into the road? I’m all for sharing the sidewalk,
but the cyclists need to show some courtesy.
It’s not acceptable for them to disregard
the humanity of passersby who aren’t part of
the hive. If they don’t voluntarily show consideration,
then they should be asked to do so.
Repeatedly.
Am I the only one who feels this way?
—Suzanne Barish, Nyack
On the discourtesy of motorists
To The Nyack Villager—
Bikers rage, think again!
I have lived in Nyack for 11 years and there
are times when the tandem bikers get on my
nerves, but when my friend could have died
because she was passed too closely on North
Broadway, I lost it!
We, two middle aged women, were following
the rules, riding single file, two blocks from
Main Street when a motorist drove too close
to my friend, who got scared and fell into traffic.
The person stopped then parked and ran
over to ask if she was ok. My friend, in shock,
with a huge gash on her knee, said she was ok
while she lay in the street, unable to get up.
Out of the half dozen cars behind us, just one
driving by asked if she was ok, while the rest
honked their horns. I expected, at least, that
16 The Nyack Villager September, 2011