The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a luminary of the civil rights movement, will be keynote speaker tonight at the 50th anniversary of the Nyack chapter of the NAACP.

Lowery — who gave the benediction at the Inauguration of Barack Obama in January (as shown in this photo from The Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights) — led the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., helped lead the Montgomery bus boycott and co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The 87-year-old has continued to be an activist for racial justice, human rights and world peace.

He was a vocal opponent of apartheid in South Africa, and has spoken in favor of gay rights.

The chapter’s anniversary and fundraising dinner will be 6:30 p.m. at the Pearl River Hilton in Pearl River.

The namesake of the Indian Rock shopping center in Montebello will be getting a plaque at 1 p.m. on Sunday so passersby can reflect a bit on what came before them.

The 19,000 ton granite boulder was used by native Americans as a trail marker, pointing the way to Mahwah, N.J., which Craig Long, the village historian, translated as meaning “meeting place” for area tribes. Long will talk about the history of the rock at Sunday’s program.

Mayor Jeffrey Oppenheim said the plaque will likely be read by generations of shoppers. It will be easily within their reach, unlike roadside historical signs that people may want to read, but can’t as they race by in their cars.

The boulder, moved to the spot by glaciers that scraped the earth, was saved by residents from a dynamite blast when the shopping center was built.

It stands today in a garden, perched in a parking lot within easy sight of Route 59, just east of the Suffern Library.

The Martin Luther King Multipurpose Center in Spring Valley is facing funding reductions that may result in cutbacks to its summer day care and youth employment programs.

Not only are donations from municipalities down, but private benefactors and other individuals are feeling the pinch too.

So the center’s taking a novel approach to try and bridge the budget gap: it’s holding an “Altruistic Auction” Saturday as part of its 18th annual fundraiser 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in Montebello.

Bidding on, say, a bag of groceries for the pantry, a day or a week of summer camp or a trip to a museum gives supporters a way to provide tangibly, said Nathan Mungin III, the center’s executive director (pictured

in the file photo at right with the then-executive director, Stella Marrs).

Of course, the center has faced financial crises before, but has weathered them and stayed within budget.

“We have been frugal but again, given just, the whole nation’s financial position, nonprofits … are the first to feel it and we’re usually the last ones to come out of it,” Mungin said.

The center, located on Bethune Boulevard, opened in 1964. It offers more than 20 free or low-cost programs, including an after-school program, a summer child-care program and a program for seniors.

In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the center distributed more than 100,000 pounds of food to needy local families through its food pantry.

The Town Board has decided after public hearings that its planned affordable condominium development off Twin Avenue will not significantly impact the environment.

Spring Valley, though, continues to be opposed to the size of the project – 132 units – as too large and Village Attorney Bruce Levine had asked the board to do a full environmental review of the plan.

In response to some residents’ concerns expressed at at public hearing, the board approved an amended version that decreases the number of condominiums from 138, eliminating one of the dozen buildings initially proposed. It also increased parking spaces to 175 from 156.

Fencing has also been an issue for neighbors who had been used to living beside a wooded eight acres. The plan promises fencing as well as buffers of trees and shrubs.

A key concern of Spring Valley, as well as of some residents who spoke at the hearing, was the development’s impact on traffic, particularly on Union Road, Twin and Maple avenues.

What do you think?

The Tuesday, April 21, Ramapo Planning Board agenda includes public hearings on a proposed school and dormitory, a rabbi’s residence, and subdivisions ranging between two and six lots.

Among the larger subdivision proposed is one off the east side of Remsen Avenue in Monsey, where Elazar Steinwurtzel plans to leave two existing houses on two lots, and build four single-family attached houses with accessory apartments on the other four lots.

The yeshiva and dormitory is proposed on .79 acres off the south side of Grove Street in Monsey, about 204 feet east of the Augusta Avenue intersection. That’s being proposed by Mefal Hatorah, which also wants to create four building lots from 1.6 acres in the area of the yeshiva property.

On the west side of Cole Avenue in Monsey, a four-lot subdivision is proposed about 90 feet north of the First Street intersection. The total property is .93 acres.

For those interested in attending, the meeting starts at 8 p.m. in Town Hall, 237 Route 59, Airmont.

Yankee Stadium in the Bronx is more than just the new home of 26 World Series championships.

The newly built stadium on 161st Street also “is a model of accessibility to people with disabilities.”

So says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District in Manhattan. The district includes Rockland and Westchester, as well as the Bronx.

Tomorrow, the Yankee brass and U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin  (no word whether he’s a Yankee fan, by the way) will hold a news conference at the stadium to announce that the office has completed its review of the ball park. 

Providing proper accessibility for people with disabilities resulted from cooperation between the Yankees, the Department of Justice, and private groups during the stadium’s design and construction.

The Yankees voluntarily sought input from the Justice Department to ensure that the stadium would be accessible to people with disabilities in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said today in a news release.

The act is meant to guarantee that people with disabilities have equal opportunities, including the opportunity to enjoy a sporting event as others do.

Following the news conference at 11 a.m. today, there will be a tour of some of the new Stadium’s accessible features will follow the press conference 11 a.m.

The Yanks open the season at the stadium on Thursday, though the team played the Cubs at the new ballpark to cap off spring training.

 

I recently received an anonymous call, telling me that Haverstraw town Supervisor Howard Phillips bought a new town car for him despite the town’s challenging financial condition.

The town had to raise its tax rate for 2009 by 12 percent to finance its $32.96 million spending plan.

Phillips defended the purchase, saying that the town did not use town taxpayers’ money to buy the new supervisor’s car, which is on its way. He added that his current car was also purchased using a state grant more than seven years ago. He put 80,000 miles on it over the years, he said.

Phillips said that a reliable car would be necessary because his job requires him to visit many places, including Albany.

“Every single day, including Saturdays and Sundays and evenings and mornings, I’m driving out there, checking on things,” Phillips said.

He noted that Haverstraw town’s practice in supervisor’s car is frugal compared to some other towns, although he did not want to specify which towns.

Below are two lists—the first is Nyack’s new parking fines fee structure, which will go into effect starting Monday, the second is the old list of fines. I should mention that these fine increases come on the same day as a new 25 cent hike in metered parking, to 75 cents an hour.

While parking meter violations and expired meter fines will stay at $15, other fines—deemed by the Board of Trustees as safety issues—will quadruple (perhaps this merits an exclamation point).

For example: parking in front of a fire hydrant will go up from $50 to $200. So will parking on the sidewalk. So will parking in police only spots. So will parking in handicapped spots and in fire zones.

For fairness sake, those are the largest increases, but—hey—don’t take my word for it. See for yourself.

Read more of this entry »