by Elijah Reichlin-Melnick
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to give a huge thanks to all of you who came out on Election Day three weeks ago to support my re-election campaign! With your help, I was elected to a second term on the Village Board with support from more than 70% of voters in Nyack. It is a tremendous privilege to be entrusted by voters with the opportunity to continue to work to improve our village and protect the things we all love about our community. Congratulations also to Don Hammond, who was re-elected as Mayor, Marie Lorenzini who was re-elected as Trustee, and thank you to Joe Carlin for running a spirited, issue-focused campaign. Democracy works best when people participate, and that relies on people who are willing to step up and run.
There have not been too many major developments in the village since my last update, but I wanted to share information about a few upcoming events and other items.
Upcoming Events
The Nyack Chamber of Commerce will host the annual Holiday Lights celebration on Saturday, December 7 from 4-6p at the gazebo in Veterans Park on Main Street. This family-friendly event will include “hot refreshments, music, and merriment” and “a visit from Santa himself.”
On Saturday, December 14, from 10a-11:30a, there will be an open house at Nyack Village Hall to learn more information about Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), an innovative program that will ensure that the majority of our electricity is generated from renewable sources, at no additional cost to utility customers. Nyack has joined with South Nyack and Upper Nyack and other municipalities in Rockland in this initiative, which is a great way for our communities to do our small part in fighting climate change.
On Sunday, December 22, Chabad of the Nyacks will host the annual Community Menorah Lighting Ceremony at the gazebo in Veterans Park to celebrate the start of Chanukah. This is always a festive and joyous event.
Free Holiday Parking
At the November 14 Village Board meeting (which I was unable to attend, since I was out of town), the Board approved free holiday parking in the three main parking lots downtown: Artopee Lot, the Riverspace Lot (where the farmers’ market is held), and the Veterans’ Park lot next to Cedar Street. Parking will be free in these lots on four Saturdays: November 30, December 7, December 14, and December 21. Nyack’s downtown is full of wonderful small businesses and we hope people will take advantage of this free parking to do their holiday shopping locally.
Remembering Jamal Ladson
On November 15, Jamal Ladson, who had been a member of the Nyack DPW for 13 years, passed away unexpectedly. He was just 38 years old, and leaves behind his wife Jackie and two children. In addition to his work at the DPW, Jamal also served as a volunteer firefighter and an auxiliary NYPD officer. When I first ran for office two years ago, I remember knocking on his door and having a long and friendly conversation with Jamal about Nyack and how much he loved the community, having moved from Brooklyn to live with his wife, who grew up in Nyack. Jamal touched many lives and he is deeply mourned by everyone in village government and many in our community. A GoFundMe page has been created to help support his family at this difficult time.
Military Tribute Banners
Two weeks ago, we celebrated Veterans Day, and remembered the sacrifices of the men and women who have risked their lives to protect our freedoms. In 2020, Nyack will join the ranks of communities honoring our veterans with military tribute banners in the downtown. These banners, which are sponsored by local veterans’ organizations and families of veterans, will be displayed in the downtown between Memorial Day and Veterans Day 2020. For more information about this program, and how you can sponsor a banner for a veteran, please visit https://militarytributebanners.org/current-programs/nyack-ny.html or contact Ann Marie Tlsty at 845-358-0548 or annmarietlsty@nyack-ny.gov.
