Got an e-mail this morning from someone complaining about a new valet parking area at the Palisades Center, in front of the Staples, facing the New York State Thruway.

Reporter David Schepp called over to the mall to check out the valet situation and he found that yes, indeed, there was a new area at that spot, in addition to those on Level 2 of the parking deck and in the underground parking garage.

“We moved the valet parking around a little bit,” mall spokeswoman Ann Marie Dell’Accio said.

Whether the valet area in front of Staples will remain after the holidays isn’t yet clear.

“That I’m not sure of yet,” Dell’Accio said.

What do you think? Should they keep it or can it?

A whole lot of Ramapo news for this Week in Review.

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County Democrats abandon meeting

Motorcyclist who hit Nyack restaurant suffers leg injury

Ramapo police commission grants officer’s request for Sabbath off

Ramapo cop wants same religious consideration as collegue

Vendetta Paintball fills void in Rockland

Ramapo mom gives birth before rescuers arrive

There were many major breaking stories out of Rockland this week, check them out on the Week in Review.

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Judge gives ‘monster’ Modica 2 years

Homeless man was slain, authorities say

New census data shows added residents throughout Rockland

Man on tracks may not have heard horn

Holiday starts early with fireworks in Nanuet, Haverstraw

Shortly after I started working in the Rockland newsroom more than seven years ago,
I was taught a truism by my fellow staffers: If it’s Greek Festival weekend, it must be raining.

I laughed, but year after year discovered that it didn’t much matter what meteorologists predicted, if it was Greek Festival weekend, it was most likely going to rain.

There would be fantastic food (check out those kebobs from 2003, to the left) , great dance and music performances and anything from drizzle to a monsoon. Guaranteed.

So when I first heard it was supposed to be sunny and hot this weekend, I was surprised. And skeptical.

But the festival opened last night and started up again at noon today and, so far, no rain. In fact, the sun has finally come out and it’s shaping up to be a lovely day.

I began to wonder: Did it just seem as if it rained every year?

Well, I went back into our photo archives and this is what I came up with: Read more of this entry »

The West Nyack Free Library is planning a program on Saturday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. to support soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The program is called “Operation Home Front” and it encourages people to get involved in two programs sponsored by the United Service Organization. There’s Operation Phone Home, which distributes free phone cards to members of the armed forces, and United Through Reading, in which soldiers read a children’s book, record it on a DVD and send it to a child.

Veterans and current members of the armed forces will speak at the event about how the public can get involved. For more information, call the library at 845-358-6081.

To read more about veterans affairs, visit the At Ease! blog.

Podcast file:

Top stories
Two men die after jumping from Tappan Zee Bridge
Fire burns couple out of their new home in Airmont
Mirant says it will raze Stony Point station
Rockland county exec talks economics, nursing home during address
Demolition of Nyack Icehouse under way

Palisades Center mall stories
Palisades Center reshapes Rockland
Megamall replaces county’s downtowns
Mall a magnet for white-collar crime, but violence is lowPalisades Center mall timeline
Mysteries, myths lurk beneath mall’s surface
Palisades Center’s options: Adopt or fade
Retail jobs drive mall’s economy
Palisades Center didn’t cause windfall on locals’ tax bills

Some of you may have noticed camera crews and trailers on Route 303 in West Nyack about a week or so ago. It turns out Fiesta Sunrise, a Mexican restaurant, is going to be featured on Kitchen Nightmares, a reality television show on FOX, where a chef and his team help failing restaurants get back on their feet. It’s not just any chef though — it’s Gordon Ramsay, the guy who gained notoriety on Hell’s Kitchen (another reality television show) for making people cry.

The crew was at Fiesta Sunrise for six days and helped restaurant owner Patricia Zaldivar redo the decor, the menu and the way food was prepared. Zaldivar said she put her life’s savings “and more” into the restaurant and that she was elated when she was chosen to be on the show, even if it meant displaying her life’s problems for all to see. “I just felt like that was my last resort,” she said. “I think it needed a big change.”

A spokeswoman at FOX said she doesn’t know yet when the show will air but we will definitely do a story on it beforehand to let you know.

You really can’t make this stuff up.

Clarkstown police were called to the Palisades Center tonight after it was reported that a man stole 100 bras from Victoria’s Secret. The theft happened around 7:30 p.m. and police got only a vague description. The bras were estimated at $4,000 in value.

So many jokes…

Don’t forget that the next public forum on developing Clarkstown’s comprehensive plan is scheduled for this Thursday at Clarkstown North High School. Officials said they’re looking for suggestions from residents on what should be included in the comprehensive plan, which they want to complete in 2009. Some of the topics include housing, recreation, transportation and cultural resources.

The workshop begins at 7 p.m. and ends around 9:30 p.m. and is one of several meetings to discuss the plan.

UPDATE: The meeting was actually held on Monday, Feb. 4 and we missed it. There is no meeting scheduled for Thursday. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Just a reminder that Clarkstown officials are holding their next public forum on developing the town’s comprehensive plan on Thursday, Jan. 24, at the Congers Community Center. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and last until about 9:30 p.m. People are invited to offer suggestions on topics such as housing, recreation, transportation and cultural resources.

The workshop is among several meetings that officials are going to hold in Clarkstown to get input from the public. Town officials said they hope to complete the comprehensive plan in 2009.

In fact, Clarkstown officials plan to spend much of 2008 studying, consulting, planning and evaluating. There’s the energy audit, the mall study, the parks and recreation forums and housing for volunteer emergency services among many other issues the town is looking at.

As Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander Gromack said in a phone interview yesterday afternoon: “2008 is the year of the plan.”

If you haven’t already, check out part one of our Year In Review below.

Part 2:

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Rockland’s top stories of 2007

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Clarkstown officer critically injured in cruiser crash improving in hospital
South Nyack man charged in false report of stabbing
N.J. man gets 6 months in jail for DWI assault that severely injured cop in Rockland
Rockland health officials warn of measles exposure at Good Samaritan Hospital
Experts: MRSA panic unfounded
Egan celebrates bicentennial Mass in West Nyack

Links to related videos:

District attorney dissusses case

Researchers study different strains of MRSA

Edward Cardinal Egan presides over mass in West Nyack

So … in today’s paper, I wrote an article about the Rockland Center for the Arts’ recent project, which had artists design skateboard decks to raise money for the nonprofit’s children’s programs. (Read more about that here: Rockland artists take on skateboard challenge.) And while I was at the center I was a bit photo-happy. Anyway, here are some other decks that weren’t included in the paper. More photos after the break.

Gobble gobble, I’m back and here with another Week In Review.

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After the break, check out the links to related articles, videos and blogs. Note: These Week In Reviews only show portions of the videos our photo staff puts together, so be sure to view the full videos by clicking the links.

I wrote a story for Sunday’s paper on a group of West Nyack residents and businessmen who came up with some largescale solutions to eliminate flooding on Route 59. In the story, I mentioned some “choke points” they described. Basically, it’s where railroad trestles, culverts or bridges could be widened and/or heightened to allow more water to flow underneath during a storm. Here’s a graphic with specific locations that didn’t make it into the paper:

If you want to read the story, you can find it here.

By the way, just a reminder that the meeting on flooding issues in Clarkstown is still on for Thursday, Sept. 20 at Clarkstown Town Hall at 1 p.m. The meeting is open to the public so anyone else with flooding concerns is encouraged to talk about them there!

The Trows of West Nyack have their dog back, after a trying week of posting flyers and fielding phone calls about Penelope’s wherabouts. They were reuinted last night after a neighbor found the Newfoundland walking out of the woods and toward his home. The neighbor called the number on her collar.

The dog had fled home nearly a week ago after being scared off by fireworks. Steve Trow said the dog was hungry and drank “about a gallon of water,” but otherwise was unharmed.

Steve Trow said he was touched by the response he got from the community after an article appeared in The Journal News about dogs that get scared and run away during fireworks shows. He is still looking for his dog, a black Newfoundland that ran away during a fireworks show in West Nyack Tuesday night.

The family got some 15 calls after the story ran, but most people just called to commiserate or often words of hope. “Some of them had great stories about how they lost their dog and found it days later,” Trow said.

For now, the family continues to field phone calls and keep up hope.

Phew! Took me forever, but I finally successfully uploaded the video interview I did on the Rockland 11 mural project. If you were here, you’d see me bowing with a smug smile across my face and perspiration dripping down my cheek.

Two days ago, I was imagining a timely blog entry with a fancy link to reporter Amisha Padnani’s story on the issues surrounding the mural followed by the amazingly edited video by yours truly not knowing how truly difficult it would be to actually post. Sigh! But here it is, the fruits of my cubicle labor. Of course you can see the video on our video section, but blogs are just so much more personal you know?

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A group of 11 artists partner with Keep Rockland Beautiful and the town of Clarkstown to complete a series of murals on the 130-foot-long wall near Maple Avenue and Congers Road in New City. The artists, all from Rockland, each had a 12-by-6-foot panel of concrete to paint on, which they could use for personal, social or political depictions or commentary. Video by Christina Jeng

Vinnie Reda, Rockland Republican Committee chairman, took a break from his Cocoa Beach, Fla., trip to read off the names of the Republican candidates vying for Clarkstown seats.

They are: Frank Borelli Jr. and John Miele for Town Board; Wayne Ballard, an incumbent, for superintendent of highways; and Duncan Lee and Thomas Mascola for town justices.

“I’m very exicited,” he said. “I think we have a wonderful selection of candidates.”

Vincent Monte, Rockland Democratic Committee chairman, said the party was still screening candidates for Clarkstown seats.

Upon returning to her Klein Avenue home after the nor’easter two weeks ago, a frustrated Jane Stormes discovers two new roomates. She e-mailed The Journal news with the tale. Her story after the break …

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WEST NYACK – From when he drops off his group of St. Dominic’s School students at 8:15 a.m. to when he picks them up at 2:15 p.m., Daniel Joseph has quite a bit of time to himself.

So what does the Brooklyn bus driver do to wile away the hours? Joseph — and other drivers like him — visit what sometimes seems more like a metropolitan city than a mall — he hangs out at the Palisades Center.

(Daniel Joseph, 39, a bus driver for USA United Transit leaves Target to pick up students at St. Dominic’s School in Blauvelt) … Read more of this entry »

Firefighters extinguished a small mulch fire late this morning by the Route 303 entrance to the Palisades Center.

West Nyack Fire Chief George Drescher said today that firefighters were dispatched around 11:50 a.m. and were rolling up the hoses about 15 minutes later.

“It’s hard to tell,” Drescher said regarding the cause of the fire.

He said it was probably caused by a cigarette butt, but firefighters never found anything in terms of evidence. The cause, he said, will be officially listed as unknown.

The smell has inspired descriptive phrases like “baby’s diaper,” “wet wood, mildewy” and “a crate of dying animals.” Those new to the area are shocked by it while those who live in the county almost seem resigned to its cloying presence — most obvious during the spring and summer.

It is, many suspect, the Clarkstown Solid Waste Facility just south of routes 303 and 59.

Read more of this entry »