The Piermont Village Board islooking at a number of ways tomake more room for the Police

Department. It now shares the VillageHall ground floor with the VillageClerk's office. New York State law saysthe police must have more workspace.

Moving the clerk's office to the Pier-mont Community Center building onHudson Terrace is one idea the Boardis considering as a permanent solu-tion. While it is studying this andother possibilities, the Board has takensteps to ease the police crowding. Ifyou've been to any Village Hall meet-ings recently, you've noticed a changein the meeting room. The stage curtainis gone, replaced by a partial wall ofsheetrock, creating new locker roomsfor the police.

To save taxpayer money, the vil-lage's own Department of PublicWorks did the work. It will next turnits attention to transforming the cops'former downstairs locker room(HGTV has nothing on these guys)into a police intake and juvenile inter-view room, offering much needed pri-vacy and separation from the comingsand goings at the clerk's office.

Besides moving the CommunityCenter, proposals permanently to endthe police space jam also includerebuilding the Village Hall or buildinga separate police station or a com-pletely new municipal/police facility.

But observers are betting that in thistime of sharply rising constructioncosts and diminishing state aid, theBoard will want to use the solid brick

Community Center. It was built as anannex to original Tappan Zee HighSchool that was demolished in 1971.Old-time Piermonters still call theCommunity Center “The Annex.”

Inside, on the Hudson Terrace streetlevel, it has four large 12-foot high,light-filled classrooms, each about 600square feet. There's also a main hall-way, small office, kitchen, a staff bath-room, and handicapped accessiblebathrooms. The mezzanine level has asingle small office, and the groundfloor has a lofty gymnasium withbleachers, and a small separate stor-age/office space. There is awheelchair access ramp to the north-

west classroom entrance, a large park-ing lot, a basketball court and chil-dren's playground.

During the day the CommunityPlaygroup uses building and Piermon-t's Police Athletic League (PAL) takesover in the evening. The Playgroup, anot for profit daycare center, has calledthe Community Center home since the1970s. It currently serves about 20 chil-dren (7 from Piermont). Those num-bers grow during summer, says SusanLoiacono, its director. The Playgroupuses three of the four classrooms, thekitchen and office, and has use of thegymnasium. It rents the space from the

VOLUME XXXVIII NO. 1 PUBLISHED BY THE PIERMONT CIVIC ASSOCIATION SPRING 2008

Will They Move The Village Clerk To The Community Center?

The Village Clerk's office may move to the Community Center. Fred Burrell photo

continued on page 15

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2

Governments move in slow andmysterious ways. Right now,right here in Piermont, we

have a prime example. Getthis—Rockland County is spendingan estimated $1 million plus restoringan 1880 drawbridge it owns and thatno one will ever drive across.

At the same time, mind you, thereis no money to fix another historicPiermont bridge, our Silk Milk Bridge(also known as the Rockland RoadBridge). This a crossing we actuallyuse but it is in such sad shape that it isnow limited to one-way traffic. Thevillage was so worried about itssoundness that for a period it com-pletely shut it down.

So why, you may wonder, didn'tthey use the drawbridge money torepair the Silk Mill Bridge? The samequestion occurred to our Mayor, ChrisSanders, and our County Legislator,Connie Coker. They thought abouttrying to get the money shifted butthey feared if they raised the questionRockland County might take it awayfrom Piermont and spend it on otherprojects.

Keep in mind that the drawbridge(listed on the National Register ofHistoric Places) belongs to the countyand the Silk Mill Bridge (designated aNational Historic Monument)belongs to us. That's why the Countysays repairing it is our problem. Butmany people believe that the Countybroke it so it should fix it. That'sbecause 20 some years ago all traffic

heading downtown was detouredonto it while County contractorsbumbled and procrastinated repair-ing the Army Bridge. It's the one at theend of Ferdon Avenue near the play-ground.

The Silk Mill Bridge took a terriblepounding back then. A daily congaline of trucks carrying constructionequipment and supplies to PiermontLanding crossed it on the way to thepier. What's more, every bus, everycar and every delivery truck cominginto or leaving the village from thatdirection used it. No wonder it isfalling apart.

Because just one other New YorkState bridge shares its turn-of-the-cen-tury brick arch design, the Silk MillBridge has historic value. Piermontmade that point in applying for anhistoric preservation grant to restoreit but the state turned us down.Mayor Sanders promises that we'll tryagain for a grant. Meanwhile, he'sasking the village engineer for a newrepair estimate.

Perhaps, he said, we would havemore of a chance for a grant if thebridge remained one-way andbecame a park. Under this scheme, hewould widen sidewalks and addbenches for people to sit and watchthe water come over the dam.

Even during a drought it flowsmore logically and faster than govern-ment.

~Bob Samuels

Cowboy Fields Decision Near

Rockland County is waiting for theSouth Orangetown School Board'sanswer to its proposal to buy theCowboy Fields and turn the propertyinto parkland. The details of the bidhave not been made public. The hopeis that the Board will make a decisionsoon.

President’s Corner

The Newsletter is published three times a year by thePiermont Civic Association, Box 454, Piermont, NY10968

Editor: Bob Samuels

Contributors to this issue: Fred Burrell, Bob Cone,Rosemary Cone, Margaret Grace, Joan Gussow,

Grace Mitchell, P.J. Mouquin, Sally Savage

Advertising: Charlene and Dick Stern

The Newsletter Is On The Web

The Piermont Newsletter is alsoavailable on the World Wide Web.You can find it at:

http://piermont-ny.com/newsletter/,

free to everyone with an internetconnection.

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One of the joys of the Tappan Zeeis the marvelous changingvista as one drives across the

Bridge. But as part of the refurbish-ment of the Bridge, a new view-block-ing sheet of steel is being installed. Thefence stands three-feet seven inchesabove the roadbed. Driving a smallcar, you can't see over the fence. Butmost vans, SUVs and 18-wheelers aretall enough to allow a view. By Octo-ber 2009 it will block river views fromRockland's shore through the mainspan. Thruway Director RameshMehta said Federal regulations requirethe new barrier, intended to keep largetrucks from driving off the Bridge into

the river. But he said that in the fifty-year history of the Bridge only sevenvehicles—four tractor trailers andthree cars—had driven into the River.

~~~The Coast Guard patrols the Tappan

Zee by sea and air. It has five ice break-ers available to keep the channel openso heating oil can keep flowing toAlbany. The channel didn't freeze overthis year and Information OfficerJames McGranathan said he couldn'tthink of any particular incidents thatroused the Guard to action. "In ourbusiness it's a good day when there'snothing to report."

But he reassured us that "If a Coast

Guard crew notices any lights out onthe Tappan Zee Bridge, they willreport it to Bridge maintenance."

~~~On its surface, the Hudson has been

quiet. But underwater there's been nolack of action.

The Fire Department's SCUBAdivers, led by Chief Danny Goswick,pulled the bodies of two suicides thatjumped from the Tappan Zee Bridgeon the same dismal afternoon in earlyApril. The coincidental suicidesoccurred within a little more than anhour of each other.

Training of the SCUBA unit will

We Cover The Waterfront

Gulls rest on rocks off the Piermont pier. Fred Burrell photo

continued on page 19

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Love Baseball? Well, love this:Piermont has a championshipteam - Piermont Police Athletic

League's White Team. Those terrificballplayers took the 2007 “Elite Cham-pionship League, Garden State Divi-sion” title.

The PAL program came full circlewhen the Piermont’s Taylor Simpson,great grandson of Piermonter HowardBrawner, one of the founders of theoriginal 1957 Piermont BaseballLeague, played second base with the2007 championship team. That’s 50years of Piermont baseball.

Peter Cocker is the engine behind anextraordinary sports program for localkids. Peter, a retired NYC policeman, isthe son of former deputy mayor andfire chief Don Cocker and his wifeRonnie. As a kid growing up in Pier-mont he took part in PAL programs.Peter always loved playing ball, buthis interest spiked when his son 11-year-old John took to the game. Hepitched for the 2007 championshipteam.

On the sunny first day of Piermont“Spring Training Camp” at the Ritten-burg field, we caught up with Peter.About 60 boys and girls were workingout. In the far outfield, the youngestwere practicing their throwing, whilethe more experienced kids were goingthrough a pitching rotation with a pro-fessional ball player that Peterrecruited to fine tune their skills—yes,a pro ball player. Peter has brought inseveral semi-pro and pro players,among them Pat Gorman from the NYMets and Chris Lamones from the Bal-

timore Orioles, who volunteer to workwith the kids.

PAL runs three programs duringbaseball season. T-ball games get thelittlest ones started, followed by the t-shirt league where all kids play all posi-tions. Ten and 11-year-olds can try outfor the “traveling teams”, the WhiteTeam and the Blue Team. They playagainst the best comparable youngteams in the tri-state area as part of theElite Championship League.

“Piermont’s sports programs arereally a great coming together of thecommunity, the police, fire and publicworks departments,” says MayorChris Sanders “Everyone pitches in to

get these programs going, and helpsmaintain the field and equipment.Fund raisers and donation have paidfor fencing and will mean new bleach-ers this season.” Sanders has a singleword for what Peter Cocker has donefor these kids: “exceptional.”

You can sit in the bleachers andsoak up some of the fun of t-ball and t-shirt baseball on Tuesday and Thurs-day evenings at 5:30. They’ll post thehome team schedule for Piermont’stravel teams at the pavilion.

Up on Hudson Terrace at the Com-munity Center, the gym is equippedwith a pitching cage for extra practice,although most evenings the actionthere is with a basketball.

Peter Cocker hopes to add someacademic mentoring to the PAL pro-gram. He’s talking about helpingteens with homework and studyskills. “We really need a committedgroup of volunteers,” he adds. “Per-haps we could find some retired edu-cators, to help out a few afternoons aweek,” says Peter.

Looking across Rittenberg Field’sbright new grass to where a profes-sional ballplayer is fine-tuning ayoungster’s position on the mound,and the afternoon sun is casting longshadows across the reeds at the edge ofthe outfield, it was easy to understandthe nickname some of the kids havegiven this place, “field of dreams”.

~Margaret Grace

To volunteer for a teen afternoonhomework program, call the PALoffice, 359-1258, Ext. 8.

Piermont Baseball -- A 50 Year Tradition

Peter Cocker and some of his ballplayers.Fred Burrell photo

PIERMONT P.B.A

478 PIERMONT AVENUE = PIERMONT, NEW YORK 10968

PHONE: 845-359-0240

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5

When the time comes to sell your house, you willprobably take for granted the stately dance ofofficial procedures that surrounds the transac-

tion—the necessary evils of mortgages, title clearance,closings, and other lawyer-friendly procedures that havebeen locked in place seemingly forever. Oddly enough,one of these routines is now a subject of controversy inPiermont. That is, the role of the village in the clear-titlesearch that accompanies the sale of a property. To whatextent if, any, should the village play a role in the privatetransaction between somebody selling and somebody elsebuying one's house?

The procedure causing the controversy begins when thetitle company representing the buyer's bank checks withthe seller's town (in this case Piermont) on the accuracy ofthe declared data on the property. Title companies do thisroutinely to verify that their information is correct as to thenumber of bedrooms and baths, the presence or absence ofair conditioning, the number of fireplaces and outbuildingsand such things. It is their job to insure that the propertybeing sold accurately matches the tax records and that thebank is getting what it expects.

On receipt of the query, the seller's town has one of twochoices. It can do a cursory paper search to verify that thetitle company information matches the local records. Or itcan do a more thorough job with an on site inspection tocheck the accuracy. If the second route is chosen, as is thecase in Piermont, it is the job of the Building Department tomake that inspection, and it is this act that some residentsdeclare is an unwarranted invasion of their privacy, andpossibly illegal.

In the view of those questioning onsite inspections, it isthe responsibility of the buyer, not the village, to insure thatthe property they are purchasing is as advertised. Caveatemptor is their attitude: Let the buyer beware. To quoteRichard Stark, a longtime resident, the inspections meet thedefinition of a warrant less inspection as defined by theState Court of Appeals. The court judged unconstitutional,in a slightly different context, a Freeport, Long Island, ordi-nance requiring owners of a rental property to obtain a per-mit certifying their residence as safe, clean and in goodrepair.

Piermont Mayor Chris Sanders sees onsite inspections ina more positive light and as generally beneficial in helpingthe village maintain good property values. He is preparingto hold open hearing to air all sides of the argument.

In the event the board gets a nod from village attorneyWalter Sevastian and votes to make permanent a regulationrequiring onsite inspections, the Mayor stresses that it willbe important that the Building Department be monitorednot to go beyond the limited objectives required by the titlesearch itself and essentially to be blind to non-connectedcode violations.

~Bob Cone

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Actor/director Elyse Knight andher husband, writer/directorJoe Giardina, met in a New

York City acting class in 1989, fouryears after Elyse came east fromSouthern California where she hadgrown up, and more than a decadeafter Giardina had come to New Yorkfrom Boston.

Which of them first picked the otherout in class? Their silence eloquentlysuggests that neither was initiallyimpressed. However, some weekslater, when their coach asked classmembers to interact as the charactersthey had been working on, Elyse'sproudly confident G.B. Shaw charac-ter Lina encountered Joe's Mamet per-

sona Edmond. When Edmond con-fronted Lina with a gun, she laughedit away. Which was undoubtedlyimpressive.

They began their married life inManhattan, acting and directing inand out of town, but by 1996, deeplyinvolved in running a New Jersey artseducation organization called ArtsHorizons, Joe was tired of reversecommuting to his Jersey job. The cou-ple decided to move west across theHudson, thought of Nyack, and foundPiermont. Now they both commute,Elyse to her present job as an under-study to two soccer moms in KathleenClark's “Secrets of A Soccer Mom”which is running in the Jerry Orbachtheater at Broadway and 50th Street.Since 2002 Joe has traveled in to a day-time job as Education Director for The-atre for a New Audience inManhattan. It's an off-Broadway pro-duction company that brings inclasses of students for performances ofShakespeare plays.

The couple is deeply committed tothe theatre; both have done years ofregional and off-Broadway theatre.Between them they have written,directed, and/or acted in well over 100works, many of them bluntly political.To read and hear about their activitiesis to understand commitment to themedium and an equally strong com-mitment to speaking out politically.

Piermont's Stage Struck Couple

Actor/director Elyse Knight and writer/director Joe Giardina. Fred Burrell photo

Over the last decade, their produc-tions, at the Puffin Cultural Forum inTeaneck, and elsewhere, include Joe'sadaptation of George Orwell's 1984,Elyse's adaptation of anti-war poetRobinson Jeffers' Earth, God Americaand Men, and a play about Julius andEthel Rosenberg, the convicted Rus-sian spies, Red Nightmare, by StantonWood whom Joe calls their Playwrightin Residence.

Mr. Hoover's Tea Party, anotherWood creation about a re-imaginedconversation between J. Edgar Hooverand Martin Luther King, was pre-sented in 2005 at St. Charles AME ZionChurch in Sparkill. They trucked allthe props for that production fromTeaneck to Sparkill in a raging bliz-zard. There appears to be nothing theywon't bite off.

Joe's Invasion, based on Invasion ofthe Body Snatchers was produced atthe Puffin in 2006, its interpretationreflecting, as Joe has written, his hor-ror at the 2004 election and his convic-tion that “people are aliens when theydon't agree with me.”

Elyse, well practiced in actuallybeing on stage, found herself initiallyterrified in her first understudy job.But there are understudy rehearsalsonce a week, so a few months in, she'snow feeling confident that if one of herprincipals goes down, she's ready togo onstage.

The couple started their newestenterprise, Off World Theatre, in 2000.They found the name on the label of amusic tape and thought it perfectlyexpressed their view that the world isa little off.

Joe and Elyse, plus whatever actorsthey recruit, perform in Off World'svarious productions. A significant partof what they produce is Chamber The-atre, which Joe describes as “a style ofadapting prose for dramatic presenta-tion which includes the narrativevoice. An omniscient narrator controlsthe actions of the characters by usingthe narration to interact with them.”

It was chamber theatre that some120 Piermonters had a chance to sam-ple at the Off World Theatre's debut inthe new Piermont Library this springwhen a four-person cast presented achamber theatre production of EdgarAllen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. OffWorld plans to return at the end ofOctober for a three-day, Halloween-bracketing production of Joe's adapta-tion of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

~Joan Gussow

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Walking to School

“I started school at the age of four. Theonly school near enough for me to walk toalone was Talcere Covent, a mile upFfordd Ddwr, across fields and lanes anddown into a tree-shaded scoop on the wayto the estuary. The first couple of daysAnnie (thirteen-year-old mother’s helper)took and fetched me, but I was soon off onmy own, lank hair shorn off, swingingsandwiches by the string and a tin of coldtea with “G.W.” scratched on the lid.”

From George, An Early Autobiographyby Emlyn Williams (Welsh actor, play-wright, director).

At the time I read this wonderfulbook, my own boys werealmost this young; it startled

me, and was a passage I never forgot!One morning this March, the

William O. Schaefer School in Tappanlost all electricity. The children whosehomes were not directly on the routeswere bussed to the Tappan Zee Ele-mentary School on 9W. When myneighbor Jennifer Bikker got the call tocollect seven-year-old Paul, she hadno car, a baby and a four-year-old athome. Since I only had one car seat,she adamantly refused my offer of aride up to the school, even though Itried to assure her that the PiermontPolice would understand the reasonfor the short emergency trip.

Being a stalwart, Jennifer was intenton walking to the school with babyKatie in her stroller. I took four-year-oldMichael, but was not sure exactly howto direct her the back way to the school(after all, I have only lived here for 51years!!). Alas, I misinformed her thatpossibly the Erie path would lead there.

Once I found out my mistake—ourroads department guys told me aboutthe “fire road”—I tried to find Jenniferand Katie. I finally drove with Michaelto the school, and learned that in theend she had had to walk ALONG 9Wwith baby in her stroller. Terrifying! Iwas mortified!

We then decided to try out the routeone nice day with Jennifer's wholefamily. We found that the “fire road” isan extension of Crescent Road, whichis an immediate right turn off Pier-mont Place. Ten-year-old Jan Bikker

timed the entire walk from PiermontPlace at five minutes!

We have suggested to Al Bartleythat there might be two signs indicat-ing: “FOOTPATH TO SCHOOL” or“FOOTPATH TO T.Z. SCHOOL”much like they do in England, where,in fact, if one closes the gate againstescaping cows or sheep, one isallowed to cross the farmers’ fields.

In discussing this misadventure,Margaret Grace mentioned that thereis a wonderful website (www.walk-ingschoolbus.org) with a plan forcooperative groups of parents to taketurns escorting their children toschool. Described as “like a carpoolwithout the car” it not only wouldgive the children good exercise, whichrecent concerns emphasize, but alsogive parents expanded social connec-tions, in a time when neighborhoodschools are mostly a thing of the past.

Of course not all locales lend them-selves to this idea, and we have hills!But more than once I have seen aschool bus stopping twice between9W/Ash Street and Piermont Place!There are only five homes there. Thesame occurs in Grand View. Do chil-dren really need door-to-door service?Perhaps now that warm weather ishere, some T.Z. parents might like atleast to experiment.

In soggy Wales, I have no doubt thatyoung Emlyn Williams trudged toschool even in the rain, armed with his“wellies” his “mac” and his “brolly” !

~Sally Savage

Yes, some kids still do walk to school.Sally Savage photo

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Department of Public Works

The Department of Public Works (also known as theHighway Department) is preparing for a busy summer,according to Superintendent Al Bartley. Projects they will beinvolved with include the following. For more information,go to the website www.villagedpw.com:

Phase III of sidewalk and curb replacement has beenadvertised for public bid. This will affect parts of MainStreet, Paradise Ave., Piermont Ave., Ash Street, Ohio Street,Tate Ave., Hester Street, Franklin Street and 9W. Specificareas are listed on the Department's website above.

Phase III of road resurfacing is in the engineering phaseand will soon go to public bid. Most of the resurfacing in thevillage has already been done.

A new drainage line and check valve will prevent flood-ing on Bridge Street; the DPW is seeking bids from contrac-tors.

Silt remediation and retaining wall repairs on the SkatingPond (Eleanor Stroud Park) to be completed this summer.

Bi-weekly rubbish and debris pickup started on April 15and will run through October 15.

Rockland Road Bridge (Silk Mill Bridge): The village istrying to secure funding (See President's Corner.

Police DepartmentFrom Chief Mike O'Shea:

We will be checking commercial vehicles monthly inresponse to complaints from residents about increased trucktraffic. On April 24 the Piermont PD and NY State Policechecked commercial Vehicles on Rt 9w. Forty-one violationswere issued, three arrests were made and four commercialvehicles were taken out of service. The 10-ton truck ban lim-its vehicles over 10 tons to local deliveries, which includesall of Orangetown.

Please make a closed home report with the Police Depart-ment before going on vacation. We regularly check allclosed homes. Remember to lock all doors and windowswhen you go out: 60 percent of burglaries are the result ofopen doors and windows.

Fire Department

Before you set out, did you know that you can check thestatus of traffic on the Tappan Zee Bridge simply by goingto the Empire Hose Company #1 comprehensive website atwww.pfd13.com? Click: Bridge Webcams. Also on the PFDwebsite, note the specific services provided to the village bythe Piermont Fire Department, including:

* EMS* Water/Dive/Ice Rescue* Fire Fighting* Jaws of life victim extraction* High Angle Rescue* Regional Area Disaster Shelter* Flood Pump Outs/Sand Bag Man Power* Hazmat Spill Control* Heliport Landing Zone* Fire Safety Education

THE FRONT LINE

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FROM THE LIBRARY

Many new movies, books onCD and music CDs will soonbe available at your new

library thanks to a $10,000 grantsecured for us by State Senator ThomasP. Morahan. Many thanks to him forhis continuing support of our efforts.

Our new Library Director JessicaMaisano, who will begin work on June16, will be helping us choose the newmaterial. Ms. Maisano has been theDirector of the Catskill Public Libraryin the Mid-Hudson Library Systemsince June 2006. She had been Assis-tant Director/Library Manager of thatlibrary since September of 2005. Sheearned her Master of Library Sciencedegree from Pratt Institute in 2005.Now in the process of relocating to ourarea, Ms. Maisano says she is “cus-tomer-service oriented and works wellwith the community as well as staffand trustees.” We look forward to herarrival.

Another welcome addition, AlexisStarke, joined our staff in January.She'll be able to walk to work whenshe and her husband Martyn moveinto the old library on Hudson Ter-race! Alexis spent many childhoodhours there and will now bring herskills to a new generation of youngpatrons as she begins a series of specialStory and Art classes for children,(described below) at the end of April.

Alexis studied art and design atDartmouth College and English andArt History at University College,Cork, Ireland. She has taught children'sart classes for the past eight years atvarious schools including the SaddleRiver Day School and the Martha'sVineyard Public Charter School.

The library quietly celebrated ourfirst anniversary in the new buildingin March. In the past few months,many patrons have noted how nicelythe place is coming together, with new

furniture, new environmentallyfriendly lighting, many new books,and the gradual development of afamiliar and lived in feeling.

A computer center, donated by Pier-monter Lynn Boone, provides a spacefor the use of multiple laptop comput-ers. A number of community groupsare now holding regularly scheduledmeetings in the conference room.

Wonderful paintings by local artistsgrace our walls each month, and acouple of red leather club chairs, givenin memory of Davis Crippen, attractthose looking for rest and relaxationwith a river view. Special events,including concerts, play readings andother programs, have been enjoyed byhundreds of people.

A Sons of Italy donation allowed usto buy state of the art audiovisualequipment and we are starting to planfilm showings. Donations from ourwonderful group of “Friends” have

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facilitated a number of projects, and adedicated corps of volunteers has reallyhelped keep us going. We are pleasedand proud of what we've accomplishedin our first year here, and are lookingforward to adding more programs andservices in the coming months.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Children's Story and Art classes withAlexis Starke: Classes will meet onWednesday afternoons from April 30 toJune 4, 4:30-5:30. In these free classes,children will create imaginative art pro-jects inspired by books from theLibrary's collection using different tech-niques and media appropriate to theage group including drawing, painting,collage and mixed media. All materialswill be provided. Class size is limited,so please call 359-4595 to register.

Paintings by Delah McKay, May-June: Piermont artist Delah McKayspent her early years on a farm in theEnglish countryside where sheabsorbed the colors, sounds, smellsand sights of the natural world. Shelater explored the far corners of theearth, working successfully in interna-tional fashion and photography, andthen found her real passion in paint-ing. McKay has studied with some ofthe major figures in contemporaryrealist painting including StevenAssael, Frank Acuri and Dennis Shee-han. She now maintains a studio inPiermont. For more information onDelah and her work, seewww.delahmckay.com.

Book Discussion with Author FirthHaring Fabend: Firth Haring Fabend,

a Rockland County native who is adescendant of some of the earliest set-tlers in our area, will talk with usabout her new book Land So Fair at7:30 pm, Tuesday, June 10.

Land So Fair is a historicalnovel/family saga set in Rocklandduring the eighteenth century, withflashbacks to the Dutch colony of NewNetherland. Her discussion topic is“The Land of Milk and Honey andWhat Happened to It.” How did Pier-mont look in 1609 when Henry Hud-son sailed past? How did it look in1783 when George Washington and SirGuy Carleton met at Tappan Slote andtraveled to Tappan for their historicmeeting at the DeWint House? Howwas the area changed by years of Rev-olution? Come hear Firth and find out!Books will be available, and refresh-ments will be served.

Gamelan Son of Lion Concert forthe Summer Solstice: The group willpresent contemporary music for theJavanese Gamelan at 2 pm, Sunday,June 22.” This group is a new music“composer's collective and repertoryensemble” co-founded by the com-poser, performer and ethnomusicolo-gist Barbara Benary. She also builtmany of their instruments herself.Since its inception in 1976, it has pre-miered more than one hundredpieces. It also performed as guests ofthe Government of Indonesia at Expo86 in Vancouver and toured Java in1996. The group has an impressivearray of scholar/teacher/musicians.For more information, seewww.gamelan.org/sonoflion.

This is the last of a series of three

“Celebrate the Seasons with Concerts”from the Library. The series was madepossible, in part, with funds from theCommunity Arts Grants Program ofthe Arts Council of Rockland, theDecentralization Program of the NewYork State Council on the Arts and agenerous grant secured by Assembly-woman Ellen Jaffee. The Friends of thePiermont Library concerts also sup-ported the series.

Frances Pellegrini's PHO-TOGRAPHS FROM THE 1950S, July-August. Frances Pellegrini had asuccessful commercial career in NewYork from the late 1940s through the1980s. She was a contemporary of themovement that saw photographerslike Margaret Bourke White andWalker Evans lend artistic ability tocommercial purpose. Her imagesreflect an elegantly understated styleand modern sensibility. She alsoworked with photographers DanWeiner and Sid Grossman whose useof photography as a tool for socialchange and personal expression foundtheir way into her work.

Frances recently sold Buttercup andFriends, her much loved Piermontshop for children, and is now return-ing to her photography. In this showshe will include examples of bothreportage and fashion photographyfrom her extensive body of work.

For more information on upcomingprograms for summer, please checkour website frequently: www.pier-montlibrary.org. There you can alsoaccess your library record, orderbooks, see what new titles are in and

continued on next page

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even write your own book reviews!

SPECIAL BOOK DONATION

Book donations have added significantly to our col-lection in the past year. Especially in the categories ofmystery and popular fiction, donated books havebecome welcome additions to our growing collection.

One particular book stands out however. Little Town,a picture book for children, was published by theMacmillan Company in 1941. Authors Berta and ElmaHader lived for many years in Grand View. The sand-stone storybook house they built overlooking RiverRoad has long been a landmark. They illustrated LittleTown with scenes of both Piermont and Nyack to createillustrations of an iconic American small town. It iscomplete with Main Street, churches, factories andsmall businesses with friendly proprietors.

In this town the people sleep peacefully while Offi-cer O'Malley patrols Main Street on foot, whistling andswinging his nightstick for fun. After school the chil-dren go down to the river to fish, swim and sail smallboats. At four-thirty the mill whistle blows and adiverse group of workers walks home along the “wind-ing creek,” with a view of the smokestacks and watertowers of the mills in the background. A particularlyamusing illustration is that of a meeting of the villageboard, in which of nine members present (all men, ofcourse), a total of seven are shown smoking—eithercigarettes, cigars or pipes - with clouds of smokeswirling around their heads!

The Piermont Civic Association bought the Librarytwo copies of this charming little book. We thank itsmembers for the donation! The books will become apart of our local history collection and charm futurereaders with scenes of a bygone era in Piermont.

~Grace Mitchell

From The Library continued from previous page

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What To Do With The Mill Pond Silt

Now that they finally know the extent of the pol-lution in the silt clogging the Sparkill Creek'sMill Pound, Mayor Chris Sanders plans to

have a meeting this summer with residents and countyofficials to hash over ways to get rid of the stuff.

The good news is that the State Department Conser-vation (DEC) says that the it isn't hazardous but merely“municipal” waste.”

“As we all suspected they are contaminants inthere,” says Piermont Legislator Connie Coker. “Thereis nothing that is life threatening or a highly toxic.However, it will cost more money and be more of ahassle to find a place to put it than if it was clean,” shepoints out. “It can't be used as your garden varietylandfill. It could be used as a cover in a landfill like theClarkstown dump.”

Mayor Sanders says there is a facility in the CatskillMountains that can bake the pollutants out of the silt,turning it into clean fill. That's another possibility.

In the meantime, the village is pressing the ArmyCorps of Engineers for approval of a plan to dig the siltout of the skating rink and dumping it on nearby landunder the 9W viaduct. You can't do the same thingwith the silt from Mill Pond, according to the mayor.

Instead, he suggests we might use the silt to build upthe pond's existing islands and plant native marshplants on them. Some residents east of the Mill Pondhave suggested taking out the dam near the Silk MillBridge. That would remove both the problem and theMill Pond.

The Flywheel CreameryPiermont, New York

210 Ash Street, Piermont, New York845-398-2433

The Ice Cream Storewith

So Much More!

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The new owners of Diplomat Gardens, Redbrick Part-ners, have begun work remodeling the 106 rentalapartments into 106 one- and two-bedroom condo-

minium apartments they are calling The Overlook. (After33 years as The Diplomat Health and Swim Club, ownerBruce Woolley assures us that that name is there for keeps.)

Meanwhile, two of the five empty buildings are alreadygetting an extensive new look, designed by Robert Hoene,a Piermont architect. The mansard-type roofs are beingextended, looking darker and flatter, and the fronts of thebuildings are being fitted with plank siding and stone fac-ing along the foundation.

Peaked dormers and outside staircases with woodenrails and banisters are to be added. Much larger windowshave already changed the look, and new balconies, againwith wood railings, will give a softer sense of being froman earlier era. Some of the two-bedroom units will occupy

two floors. By June, Redbrick hopes to have a model apart-ment ready to show.

The firm hired another Piermonter, landscape architectDan Sherman, to design the grounds. His plans call for edg-ing the buildings with flowerbeds and adding a joggingpath. It will connect to a new staircase down through agrove of trees to the Erie path. Plans include a gazebo-typebuilding with seating overlooking the Sparkill Creek.

~Rosemary Cone

Affordable Housing Still a Possibility“There is still a good opportunity to secure truly afford-

able housing at the Diplomat,” maintains attorney DeniseKronstadt. She heads a group of local citizens' determinedto save some of the apartments for lower income tenants.

“It will take a coordinated effort with government, thetenants and the developer,” she continues. “This effortbegan last year but it has proven to be very difficult toaccomplish. Of course, it would help if the developerunderstood that it is in its interest both economically andas a good citizen to assist tenants who have made theDiplomat their home.

“But this should not be only for the short term,” shepoints out. “Creating permanent affordable housing wouldbe the goal. There is a pending complaint with the NYSAttorney General's office that names a number of problem-atic conversion tactics the developer has undertaken. I donot know where that stands at this time. I do hope there isthe will to sit down and genuinely offer security to themany people who still live there,” she adds.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The development's website offers old time Piermonters a fewlaughs. “Historically, Piermont has been home to the rich andfamous,” it says. For more, click: www.overlookatpiermont.com.

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Diplomat Gardens Morphing into The Overlook

Diplomat Gardens becomes The Overlook. Sally Savagephoto

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village under a yearly contact, which isup in June.

PAL uses the other upstairs class-room as a “social space,” outfittedwith foosball, a pool table, computers,television, and sofas. Downstairs areits offices. The gymnasium is hoppingevery weeknight with supervised bas-ketball. Dozens of Piermont kids, 10-17 years old, use the programs andfacilities.

“It's a home away from home, aplace to meet friends and relax andplay some ball,” says Police ChiefMike O'Shea. “This facility and pro-gram have served generations of Pier-mont kids, some of whom, like PeterCocker, Alex Rivera and Jose Vega,have returned to help keep the pro-grams going for the younger ones.”

If the Village Board decides to movethe clerk's offices and possibly theBuilding Department, to the Commu-nity Center, it will necessitate somespace reorganization for the existingtenants. The move would free theentire downstairs of the Village Hall

for the police department. Upstairswould continue as Piermont's mainmeeting room and village court.

The Center building is in goodshape, says DPW head Al Bartley. Thevillage replaced the roof in 2000 andthe windows a few years earlier. Hespeculates that the building madeneed a partial electrical upgrade.They'll also have to see if the buildingrequires an elevator to meet handi-capped access rules.

Piermonters will surely miss thateasy Main Street “walk-in” quality tothe clerk's office, if the Board decidesto make the move. On the positiveside, the building has plenty of day-time parking and, best of all, it’salready built and we own it. Any oneof its classrooms is almost twice thesize of the current clerk's office.

The Mayor says that the Board willsoon re-focus on resolving policespace needs. The Community Centerwill be in the mix. Perhaps its time hascome.

~Margaret Grace

Will The Village Clerk Move continued from page 1

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A dog walker was surprised to find the pier's North Shore Walkway closed for repairs. It hassince been reopened. Bob Samuels photo

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Rockland has homeless people? Yes, I suppose wealways knew that. We had a chance to learn it firsthand when Helping Hands Safe Haven of Rockland

County contacted Pastor John Vanden Oever three yearsago. The request was simple: could the Piermont ReformedChurch provide food and shelter for from 12 to 25 people forthree nights a month during the five coldest months of theyear?

Homeless people! My thoughts went back to seeing andsmelling them on subways or New York City Streets. Some-times we heard them rant and rave as well. What were wegetting ourselves into - I wondered as my husband Charlesand I prepared pot roasts and mashed potatoes and vegeta-bles for “anywhere from 12 to 25 people.”

“They're hungry,” Pastor John told us. “Some of themcome back for seconds and thirds. So be prepared.” Johnalso told us that they used up many paper towels, trying towash up in the church rest rooms. I went through my linencloset and found a dozen bath towels I could part with. Johnsaid he'd launder them and keep them on hand at thechurch. I also donated the soap and lotions I'd collectedfrom various hotel stays.

My Piermont dentist, Dr. Vincent Ferrara, donated adozen toothbrushes, each with sample toothpaste and den-tal floss.

We had everything ready to serve a hungry crowd by thetime the Helping Hands van pulled up. The first shock washow “normal” they appeared. They didn't rant, rave, or smellbad. Most were well dressed in clean clothes and new sneak-ers. Helping Hands gets donated clothing, along with the useof the vans that pick people up at designated places aroundthe county.

“Although the people who come to sleep in our varioushouses of faith have become homeless for any number ofreasons,” notes Pastor John, “many of them have jobs andare working to pull their lives together. Each year, HelpingHands helps ensure the survival of these people through thewinter. There are always some among those who come to

our Safe Havens who find sufficient employment, savemoney and find housing, and return as volunteers the nextseason,” he adds.

I was touched by how orderly and polite our guests were,saying “please” and “thank you,” as we ladled out the food.Pastor John set out board games on the tables and selecteda DVD to play on the Sunday school television, as they gotready to bed down with new sleeping bags, pillows andblankets,

The Piermont Reformed Church is a small congregation.This past winter, Pastor John felt we needed more help. Heknew the Piermont Civic Association, through its e-mail list,could get the word out. “We were heartened by theresponse,” says Reverend John.

Among those who came as a result was Marjorie Der-ven. “My daughter Rebecca and I prepared and served ameal,” she says. “We enjoyed this very concrete way ofhelping people.” Shari Meyer, Chris Sanders, MarleneDietrich, and Dick Benfield also volunteered.

Girl Scout troop leader Mary Ryker found her two GirlScout troops enjoyed helping others. Her fifth grade JuniorTroop made bag lunches for the people to take with them thenext day. The older girls cooked a huge pot of matzo ballsoup. “They were so proud of that soup,” says Mary. “It tookthem all afternoon. They made it from scratch, including thestock.”

Girl Scout Victoria Dellacava said she would definitelywant to help out again. “I felt sad when I saw the men,” shenoted, “but good that we were doing something nice forthem.”

“People don't realize that there is poverty right in ourback yard,” observed Girl Scout Emily Ryker. “When I sawthese people I kept wondering how this happened to them.Just making one meal, on one day can really make a differ-ence.”

Allison Kroenert felt “It was fun to come together as atroop and help people who needed it. It feels good to makea difference.”

Helping Hands Safe Haven was founded by RaoulCansino four years ago. Today, over thirty communities offaith pitch in to supply volunteers and other resourcesneeded to provide a safe haven.

“Hospitality is a tremendous gift to those in need,” pointsout John Vanden Oever. “It may not be obvious on the nightyou serve dinner, but it is very possible you have helpedsave a life.”

~P.J. Mouquin

Piermont's Helping Hands

Thank you Piermont for accepting two Hungarianvillages, Nagygéc and Komlódtótfalu, as sister villages.

Thanks also to the 220 Piermonters who signed mypetition and helped this to happen. Thanks to the Vil-lage Board of Piermont for warm-heartedly welcomedthe idea of twinning with those villages on the Hungar-ian-Romanian border.

Thanks to former Mayor Ed Traynor, who from thebeginning of my proposal, embraced the concept of oursymbolic union with the villages which are the carriersof an ancient beautiful legend.

You are welcome to a virtual visit to Piermont,TheLegendOfYou.com and to Komlodtotfalu, Hun-gary; falvak.hu/komlodtotfalu.

Ivan Szendro

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KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENINGJoin the Piermont Civic Association e-mail list and keep up to date on

what's happening in your Village. We won't share your address and we won'tsend you spam. You’ll just get Piermont news, Village Board agendas andlocal announcements. To signup, e-mail BobSam@optonline.net.

Readers Write

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continue on the water this summer.Working invisibly, below the surface,the team will practice ways to get peo-ple out of vehicles that have plungedoff the bridge. Trustee/diver MarkBlomquist said they'll sink a car with adummy in it; then take a car door offunderwater, break windows, andremove the dummy. As a separateexercise, the divers will learn toexchange spent air tanks for fresh airtanks under water. "Technically, youcould stay on the bottom all day,"Mark said. It could be nice in hotweather.

~~~Chris Schneider, who runs the Tap-

pan Zee Marina with his family, saidhe's never seen the river as richlyabundant with life as it is now. "WhenI was a ten year old boy, it was in badshape. Now it's amazingly alive. Lastsummer the whole marina was full ofschooling fish. We've got clams thesize of half dollars on a mushroomanchor. And we've got oysters the sizeof quarters hanging on poles, pilingsand tires. The river's as clean as it'sbeen since we weren't even here," hesaid.

The history of oysters in the rivergoes back 6000 years, according toside-scanning sonar research by Lam-ont-Doherty scientist Suzanne Car-botte. The Tappan Indians left shellmiddens in Nyack. Bill Herguth'sgrandfather made his living harvestingoysters in the shallow waters between

Piermont and Nyack. Encouraged bythe River's new health and vitality, theDEC plans to grow oysters on an arti-ficial reef they'll create with the help ofscientists from SUNY Stony Brook.Betsy Blair of the DEC said the reef thatwill become encrusted with oysters,their shells open, filtering water. It willcreate a complex shellfish habitat sup-porting a coalition of crabs, fish, min-nows and others of God's wee, wetcreatures.

"Since it is so clean, oysters can livein the Tappan Zee," Betsy said, "but thewater's still not clean enough for us toeat them."

~~~The Hudson is brackish-- an estuary

of the Atlantic-- and its salt content isdetermined by how much rain falls.Joan Gussow, who has an organic gar-den along the river, has observed someeffects of salt on her plants and thosein the Community Garden next door.On the Ides of April 2007, the Hudsoncovered her garden with 18 inches ofwater, mud, salt, PCBs and driftwood.It seems it was all nutritious. "Lastyear I had one of the best years I everhad with the garden," Joan said.Another year there was a severedrought and the lack of fresh waterraised the River's salt content. Joannoticed that gulls and other seabirdscould tolerate the salt, but river ratscouldn't. She saw them invade theCommunity Garden, climb the trel-lises of tomato plants and eat a lot of

tomatoes, apparently for their watercontent.

~~~Drew Ciganek reports that Pier-

mont's resident pair of America BaldEagles have been having a feast onsmall striped bass released by anglerson the Pier. "A lot of the released bassdon't make it," Drew said. "The eaglessee them floating on the surface; theysweep down from Tallman, scoopthem out and sit on pilings in the Riverwhile they eat them." Drew noted thatDowny Woodpeckers have been bang-ing their beaks on the Pier's metal"Don't'' signs, trying to make enoughnoise to get a woodpecker date.

And a harbor seal returned this win-ter.

~~~There's always a commercial angle.

Hendrick Hudson sailed his HalfMoon up the Tappan Zee 399 yearsago. Next year it will be 400. A river-long, summer-long celebration isbeing planned. There is State fundingfor communities participating in thequadricentennial: $40,000 to each of 16counties and $40,000 apiece for 16cities along the river. Rockland Countydoesn't have any cities, so HeatherDuke, director of Rockland tourism,suggested that Nyack and Piermontmight link up and become a 'city,'thereby getting $40,000 to spend cele-brating Hendrick's trip.

~Fred Burrell

Join Us! The Piermont Civic Association is a nonprofitgroup dedicated to the betterment of Piermont. Thanks tomembership dues, numerous fundraising events and count-less hours of volunteer work, Piermont has its Newsletter,Main Street has its trees, bike rack and flower pots, KanePark has its gazebo and the Community Playgroup, EmpireHose and PAL have received generous donations, to namea few PCA accomplishments. Please mail this applicationto: Piermont Civic Association, Box 454, Piermont, NY10968 I have enclosed: $_____2008 PCA Family Member-ship ($25 includes the Newsletter)

NAME___________________________________________

ADDRESS_____________________________ZIP___________

We Cover The Waterfront continued from page 3

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