My home town of Nyack is pretty much overrun with people up from the city trying to improve it. I was down on Main Street last Saturday night to see my Brother’s blues band play. Nyack was mostly 20 somethings getting drunk at any one of the dozen or more bars up and down the street. Nyack is quaint, but it is also a party town for people up from the city.

I had to park a half a mile from the Casa Del Sol bar (where I’ve seen Rosie O’Donnell having dinner more than once). I was carrying a very heavy amplifier that made the walk a little difficult.

My father would say “send all the city people back to the city”, and as I get older, I tend to agree with his attitude more and more.

I clicked on the Riverspace project today. It involves building a very large Art Center where the municipal parking lot is located. It includes a multilevel garage and even more retail space. I haven’t seen the plans but it seams like they want a large mall in the center of town.

There is a mention of revitalizing Memorial Park, which is a quaint 19th century green area down to the Hudson River where people hang out and fish and play softball. I’ve been to many concerts on the lawn at Memorial Park. I used to go fishing there with my Father and crabbing there with my Uncles. I am worried about fiddling with the park. There are several memorial plaques from the Revolutionary war right up to the Viet Name war. I don’t know if there is a Gulf War plaque, yet, but I seem to remember reading that there was a 9/11 plaque as Nyack lost a few dozen that day. There has to be total of two dozen Polhemuses, Blauvelts, Galbraiths, Mansfields and Grahams on all those plaques, all of them in my family tree. I would not like these bulldozed to make room for concession stands or parking.

Unfortunately, the old town people are few and far between. My family has lived in the Nyack area for 350 years, but except for my cousins, I don’t know many others with this kind of heritage.

The newcomers will probably remake Nyack to something more to their liking. I am not sure why they are here if they don’t like the way it is. We are headed for a long recession where money for large projects like this will be tight. I wonder how far they’ll get.