This is a picture from a few years ago of our Community Center, before we obtained grants to rehabilitate the building and park. This is a very special part of Piermont for me. I remember going to the Community Playgroup preschool here in the 70s, and attending our PAL summer camp in the 80s, where we would walk to Tallman pool and pay our two quarters to swim all day, with a break for a bag lunch and maybe a cookie or ice cream from the concession stand. Every kid in Piermont was here after a snowfall to test their sledding skills on the hillside leading up to Hudson Terrace, even if just riding a pizza box, and many lifelong friendships and memories were made here.
I was saddened by the deterioration of the building in the last few decades, and distraught by the suggestion that we sell it to cover Village operating costs a few years ago. It gives me great satisfaction that we were fortunate enough to secure funding to rehabilitate the building and grounds, and the newfound appreciation our residents have for the potential it holds as a public third space for community activities. I hope new generations of Piermont kids’ lives are enriched by our revitalized Community Center for years to come, as mine and many others have been.
This is a picture of our skating pond on Valentine Ave. This is a very special part of Piermont for me. I grew up on Valentine Ave, and the pond was a year-round playground for me and all the neighborhood kids. In the summer, last year’s worn-out sneakers became this season’s ‘crick shoes’ for mucking about in the pond and Sparkill, catching bullfrogs and crawfish and dodging angry geese protective of their nests. The viaduct that carries 9W over the Sparkill gap was a supersized jungle gym for the more adventurous among us, and the rope swing on the Ferdon side made for many afternoons cooling off where the Sparkill seemed clean. In winter, the pond came to life as soon as the ice was solid, lit up into the night with skaters from all around, keeping warm with hot chocolates from Mrs. Stroud's concession. This is where I learned skating, and how hard ice really is, in a pair of secondhand skates from our own thrift shop.
These days, we are lucky to get a few days a year of ice solid enough to skate, but when we do, as we did this past winter, it brings me great joy to see all the new faces struck by the Rockwell-Esque perfection of a bright winter day skating at our pond. Over the years, the pond has silted in, but our Fire Department grooms the ice when it freezes to make skating possible for today’s kids to enjoy. Empire Hose Company has also rehabilitated the existing building, and we hold our annual Christmas tree sale here every December. In the future, I plan to work with County agencies to try and address the silt issue and bring back the illuminated aerator fountain that for years graced our summers nights. I hope that these efforts will ensure that generations to come can experience the same appreciation of the pond as I have.
If you would like to put out a yard sign to show your support for my Mayoral candidacy, contact me at NateforMayor@PiermontsThePlace.com
This is a picture of our Erie path, approaching from Kip’s Crossing under the 9W viaduct. This is a very special part of Piermont for me. I remember using this trail to bike to my first job at the old library on Hudson Terrace, sneaking past Mr. Kelly who didn’t like us riding past his house in the train station to get to First Street and beyond. This is the path that leads to our Cowboy Fields, where many a night was spent camping out around a fire just because we could. Walking the path from here affords a unique aerial perspective of our Village along the Sparkill, and of the Hudson as you travel further north towards Grandview.
Our hidden gem has seen more attention than I like in recent years, with the County and Metro Transit Authority both expressing interest in tapping into it as part of larger connection projects. While its appeal to them is understandable, the fact that it traverses the backyards of many of our homes makes massively increased traffic a quality of life and public safety concern for our residents. There is a public meeting on September 17th at the Palisades mall where residents can weigh in on this proposal. I hope to see you there.
A lot of folks don’t know, but our trail also serves as a critical component in our stormwater management, diverting water coming down the hillside from 9W underground and south with the incline. in 2021, a portion of the trail was overwhelmed with a record-breaking rainfall event and washed out. We have partial funding for making improvements to the stormwater culverts at that location and we have made improvements in the area of the train station and at the top and bottom of First Street. Hopefully over time, we can continue to find and fund ways to make incremental improvements to our stormwater management infrastructure and preserve our Erie path as a community asset, not add impervious surfaces and stormwater runoff to our already at risk hillside.
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