The Astronomy Club at Rockland Community College invites the public to see Saturn and the Moon through the college’s high-powered telescopes on Wednesday April 1 from 8p-10p.

Bring the family to see Saturn and the Moon through modern telescopes that Galileo could only dream about. This event is part of the UN sanctioned International Year of Astronomy 2009, a world-wide event to get all humanity to experience viewing through a telescope just as Galileo did 400 years ago.

Meet at the Fieldhouse parking lot, south side of campus on Wednesday evening.

Source: Rockland Community College

The Nyack Library will show America’s First River: Bill Moyers on the Hudson Part 2: The Fight to Save the River tonight Tuesday March 31st 6:30 PM as part of its Quadricentennial Film Series.  The film talks about the role of Hudson River Valley environmentalists in the birth of the modern environmental movement.  Footage of Nyack’s Hudson River fishermen are included in this film.  Light refreshments will be served.  To check out all the Quad programs at the library: http://nyacklibrary.org/quadprograms.

The new New York State budget includes expanding the recycling “bottle bill” to include water bottles and other beverages. But bottlers like Coca-Cola are opposed to the measure and are threatening to close plants if the bill is passed. Continue reading →

A construction crane several stories tall stopped traffic on South Broadway this afternoon in Nyack.

According to contractors diverting traffic, the crane was lifting steel work on top of the building behind the Runcible Spoon in preparation for locating a cell tower.

Tonight, millions of people are going to participate in Earth Hour, an event organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  Households and businesses are to turn off their non-essential lights and appliances for an hour to raise awareness about climate change.

The event started in Sydney in 2007, and many cities have followed suit to participate in the event.  82 countries and 2,100 cities are participating tonight.

So at 8:30pm local time, participate with millions of people and turn off your lights for an hour!  Village Hall is one of the participants, and will be dark for the hour.

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Bob Gunderson has stepped down as President of Nyack’s Chamber of Commerce due to a dramatic increase of his job in NYC.  He was semi-retired from one of the largest not for profit companies in the City, but his successor suddenly left, forcing him to resume duties as COO.  It is a demanding job, and the two days a week he was committing to the Chamber was too much.

There is no clear succession plan, so the Board is working on next steps.  The Chamber Board has recently moved downtown to 94 Main St. on the second floor of the “Woolworth” building.

Budget meetings are not generally fun, but these days they are more depressing than usual.  Last night was take 3 of 5 public budget meetings at Village Hall.

On the agenda was public works, Friends of Nyack, and the Nyack Center.  For an hour the discussion was between the Trustees and Superintendent of Maintenance, Victor Overton.  The focus was on a few cost saving ideas like changing the alternate side parking hours from 2am-6am to 2am-10am, and not picking up trash for non-residential activities such as the Nyack Boat Club, houses of worship, the Housing Authority, the Nyack Center and Head Start.

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Parking Ticket

Here is a funny story that could be Nyack (sent anonymously by a local)…..

The other day I went into Nyack to run a few errands. I went into the local coffee shop for a snack.

I was only there for about 5 minutes, and when I came out, there was this parking guy writing out a parking ticket.

I said to him, ‘Come on, man, how about giving a retired person a break’?

He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. His insensitivity annoyed me, so I called him a ‘Nazi.’

He glared at me and then wrote out another ticket for having worn tires.

So I proceeded to call him a ‘doughnut eating Gestapo.’ He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first.

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Florida officials are considering a private lease of the public I-75 Alligator Alley through the Everglades. Transportation officials are considering creative funding relationships to guarantee regular revenue and offload problematic projects — like building a new Tappan Zee Bridge.

Chicago seems to have made this work through their lease of the eight mile Chicago Skyway in 2005 with the proceeds were used to retire city debt.  The privatization of  Midway Airport followed last year.

Sources: Naples Daily News, Wired

The Progressive Rockland blog reports eight school districts and two regional hospitals will lose some funding under proposed cuts in the 2009-10 New York State budget.

• Good Sam Hospital will be $7 million lighter
• Nyack Hospital will be trimmed by $5.3 million
• About $20 less for Nanuet, Nyack, Pearl River, Ramapo, Clarkstown, Haverstraw and South Orangetown collectively

Source: Progressive Rockland