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Homelessness in Nyack: It’s Complicated
A couple of weeks ago, a man named Alex approached me on my way into Nyack Fresh Market (see below for an update on that increasingly precarious commercial situation). Anyone who spends time in downtown Nyack has probably interacted with Alex.
When I first moved to the village in 2018, he was the first homeless person to ask me for money. Living on the street for at least the past several years has clearly taken its toll — there was now a large scar on his forehead and multiple teeth were missing.
He told me he was sleeping in Memorial Park during the dead of winter because he couldn’t secure a bed in a Rockland shelter — all of the 40 beds at a place in Suffern were filled. (Not sure how accurate this was given his long tenure on the Nyack streets, but there do not appear to be tons of attractive options — a quick Google search was frustratingly fruitless, although it looks like there is one in Spring Valley, as well as the Suffern location Alex talked about, according to this list.)
In any case, Nyack’s homelessness issues have ebbed and flowed for years.
According to Mayor Joe Rand, this issue hit a high point in the summer of 2023, evidenced by a sharp increase in panhandling, public drunkenness and public urination. Last summer, 2024, saw a big rise in people sleeping in both Veterans Square and Memorial Park.
At a recent forum to address this ongoing issue, dozens of residents and business owners lamented the deleterious effects the homeless were having on the village’s quality of life.
Rand said the village had taken steps to mitigate the problem, but that, as a village of roughly 7,000 people, and a budget of around $6 million, Nyack simply doesn’t have the resources to eradicate such a “pervasive” issue that is, to put it mildly, extremely complicated.
At the forum, Rand said the village was working with the Orangetown Police Department, which includes Nyack as part of its jurisdiction, and social services organizations. They set up a 10 pm curfew in Memorial Park and Veterans Square, where they also removed the benches to make it “less enticing” for people to spend time there (which is sad but make sense).
Rand says these measures have put a dent in lessening the pervasiveness of the problem, but solving it?
That’s a tall order for a tiny village.
News 12 was at the meeting and filed this informative summary: Nyack residents express concerns about homelessness, panhandling
In other news:
Could Nyack be losing the supermarket it finally landed after 40 years without one? After opening to much fanfare in 2023, the owners of Nyack Fresh Market say it may need to close up shop if they don’t figure out how to increase revenue in the near future. At a forum on Tuesday night, some 80 residents showed up to discuss how Nyack Fresh could better serve the needs of Nyackers, according to lohud.
Owner Karen Zeor admitted that “our market research wasn’t the most efficient” before opening. But she says they are now listening to community needs and hoping to take in feedback from the forum and a recent survey to offer a “grand re-opening” with a selection and experience better suited to Nyack.
Here’s hoping for a fresh start.
Finally, former Nyack school board member and current Rockland County legislator Beth Davidson, a Democrat, announced she is running for Congress against incumbent Republican Mike Lawler in the 17th District (which includes all of Rockland and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties).
In an interview with the NY Times, she said, “Right now we are watching an unelected billionaire run roughshod over the Constitution, raid our government and hurt federal workers.” She added, “I certainly don’t see Mike Lawler standing up for us on any of these issues.”
According to lohud, Davidson has the backing of former Rockland representative Mondaire Jones, who Lawler beat handily in November.
Lawler, meanwhile, who is mostly going along with Trump’s legislative agenda, is said to be contemplating a run for governor and has been working on his Trump impersonation.
ICYM NNV’s weekly features: See Andrea Swenson’s newest Photo Shoots; Bill Batson’s latest “Nyack Sketch Log”; Mike Hays’ most recent “Nyack People & Places”; and past editions of “The Villages.”
Meeting you should think about attending in the next two weeks: Nyack’s planning board meets on Monday, March 3, at 7 pm inside Village Hall. Click here to find more information about local meetings and civic happenings.
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