This Week in Nyack: A Path, A Monitor… and Happy Father’s Day!

by Max Cea

Happy Father’s Day! For the sports fan father, today is a big day. The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers square off in Golden State’s Oracle Arena for Game 7 of the NBA finals tonight at 8p. After a sluggish start to the series, Cleveland has won the last two games, led by back to back 41-point efforts by LeBron James. This year marks James’s fifth straight finals appearance; he’s won twice, in 2012 and 2013, when he played for the Miami Heat.
Golden State is trying to win their second straight championship, and in the process make a case for themselves as the best team of all time. They set the NBA record for regular season wins this past year, going 73-9, breaking the 1996 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72-10. The Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, won the championship that season.
The Warriors’s best player, Stephen Curry, has under-performed thus far in the series, perhaps due to an ankle injury suffered early in the playoffs, putting up a mortal 23.5 points and 4 assists per game, and failing to shoot with the ungodly range and confidence that won him the regular season MVP. If both players, Curry and James, are chasing Michael Jordan, vying to eventually be considered the greatest of all time, it is James who is making the more convincing case. At 31-years-old, only months younger than Jordan was in 1996, he is performing better than he ever has in a finals, averaging 30.2 points, 8.5 assists, and 11.3 rebounds per game. (For comparison, in the 1996 finals, Jordan averaged 27.3 points, 4 assists, and 4.8 rebounds. Of course, in the 1993 finals, he averaged 41 points, 6.3 assists, and 83 rebounds per game. So yeah, Jordan was pretty frickin’ great.) He’s also done things like this:

Still, history quickly forgets the loser. And the Warriors are the superior team. The Cavs will likely need another inspired performance from James if they are to win, and — as silly as it may be — James will need to win to avoid detractors’ nitpicks.

Game 7 will take place tonight at 8p, and will be aired on ABC. Several Nyack bars, including Pour House and Bourbon Street, will be showing the game.

In more local news:

• The Shared Use Path terminus debate has been terminated, so to speak. After more than two years of discussion, and after four proposals were narrowed down to two (Concepts E and F), Governor Cuomo on behalf of the State of New York, on Tuesday, selected Concept F for the Shared Use Path. Concept F relocates parking to Exit 10 (DOT-owned land), away from South Nyack’s residential area, and pushes traffic onto 9W. It will cost the state approximately $15 million, which is a compromise; the cheapest plan was $4 million cheaper, the most expensive plan would have cost an additional $9 million. The plan has been considered the favorite by village officials and residents for months; now it’s official.
• Sour Kraut aufs Neue! For every Nyack restaurant that closes, it seems like… that same restaurant reopens. Just months after OD’s Tavern reopened, Marianne Olive’s small German restaurant, Sour Kraut, has reopened. Olive told LoHud that she decided to reopen Sour Kraut, which closed in January, because she was sad that there weren’t any more German restaurants in Nyack. Sour Kraut is again located at 118 Main Street, in Nyack, and the menu and decor are similar to how they were pre-closing. Still no dirndls!
• Following the devastating June 12 Orlando night club shooting, more than 300 people marched in Nyack on Thursday in remembrance, and with a purpose. Several faith leaders spoke. And there was a call to contact New York’s representatives to affect gun control and human rights change. “If you think coming here tonight is enough, I’m here to tell you it’s not,” said Grace’s Church’s Theresa Bergen. “Go home, pick up the phone, and make at least three phone calls. One, to NYS Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee. Tell her you want civil rights (for LGBT people).”
•  There is progress in East Ramapo. On Tuesday, Senator David Carlucci, Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, and Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski in conjunction with East Ramapo Schools President Yehuda Weissmandl and the school board announced an agreement that will provide $3 million in additional resources and oversight to the East Ramapo School District. The legislation will be in effect for one year, and, most notably, it keeps a state appointed monitor in East Ramapo. The placement of a monitor was quite controversial this past winter. But the school board supported the final measure, and Rockland legislators expressed great enthusiasm for the bill they were able to get passed. “After almost two years of contentious debate, this bill represents hope for the East Ramapo School District. Hope for meaningful oversight, restored opportunities and a future where both sides can come together for the best interests of the kids,” Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, said in a statement.