Nyack's unsafe sidewalks

A letter to the editor in today's Journal News:

Another year has passed, and Nyack's sidewalks are still difficult to push a wheelchair around, which I've experienced personally many times. The residents of Nyack should bring this concern up at their next village board meeting. The majority of sidewalk ramps do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act code. The curb edgings on Nyack streets are an inch in height at most corners, and also it's very difficult to maneuver a wheelchair around Nyack - and that does not include the hazardous blocked sidewalks from dining tables on Main Street and Broadway on weekends.

Traversing down to Memorial Park, with no sidewalks, is another area of a "no pedestrian safe zone" where there's a constant fear of being hit by a passing speeding vehicle.
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Another sidewalk hazard is from First Avenue to the end of Upper Nyack along Broadway, where overgrown tree branches are low and shrub edges have spread into the walking path of sidewalks. The hedges and shrubs should be no further than the sidewalk edge and tree branches should have a 7-foot clearance above the sidewalk.

Nyack village leaders should address these problems immediately.

The Village of Nyack must have millions of dollars in its treasury to give away for many potential sidewalk injury lawsuits; leaders show a lack of respect for the villagers' and visitors' safety!

Eric Santiago
Valley Cottage

My take is below the fold.

I can't say that I have the same problems as Mr. Santiago. I do, however, often walk from my home in South Nyack into Nyack and I often take different routes. There is a lot of broken pavement, disintegrating curbs, and blocked passageways.

I do find it ironic that Nyack, a village that has turned metered parking into an expensive game of "gotcha" with its visitors, is also so unfriendly to pedestrians, and especially handicapped people like Mr. Santiago and the young mother I saw the other day trying to maneuver a double stroller throughout downtown without waking her babies. (Unfortunately, one missing chunk of sidewalk on Piermont Ave. disrupted her babies' sleep and the peaceful walk she was having.)

You would think that with the muni-meters, the higher parking fees, and extraordinary parking fines, Nyack would have sidewalks paved with gold. But it appears that the village is sitting on the money, unwilling to spend it on the village's neighborhoods.

Before I moved into the area, I always thought that the Village of Nyack had a bit of a Bedford Falls quality to it, but these days I'm seeing it turn into Potterville.