An open letter to the Mayor and Trustees of Piermont

Dear Mayor and Trustees,

I attended last night’s meeting at the request of several neighbors and local merchants and of course my own interest. My questions related to two issues: the DEP’s soil removal at 100 Paradise Ave. and the relocation of the SOUK to the lot across from the Turning Point Cafe.

First let me say one thing… being a public servant is not easy. After a long and hard day at work, to prepare and attend a three hour meeting ain’t easy and I didn’t even sit thru the whole meeting! So whether we agree on issues or not, sitting thru one of these every once and a while proves for a long day. Your service is commendable and I applaud you all. Plus it’s really hot in there!

As for the DEC’s contaminated soil cleanup of 100 Paradise Ave., it seems to me that based on the response given, no one knows where 100 Paradise Ave actually is. Some of us thought it was the lot adjacent to parking lot D in the south west corner fronting on Paradise Ave. The board suggested that it is the lot by the condominiums tennis courts. I asked that we get a public hearing with the DEP to determine what they are doing? Why they are doing it now? And to confirm that the heavy construction equipment and dump trucks they will be using will not use Paradise Ave, and that they are properly routing those vehicles to insure the least amount of impact on the community. I look forward to receiving a response to this very reasonable request.

As for the relocation of the SOUK to the lot across from the Turning Point Cafe: for the record and full disclosure, I like the SOUK guys, rented a table there last year to promote the Tallman Beach & Pool Club, and have recently offered them use of the pool club as an alternative location. As to their request to relocate downtown, it’s just not reasonable on several levels. It’s not really fair to local merchants to bring in outside food vendors with little to no overhead, who will undercut the restaurants in their peak season, while they are paying for parking, rent and employees year round. What would the insurance requirements be? How will garbage be handled? What bathrooms would the merchants and customers use? What is the layout? Who are the vendors? What would they be serving and selling? If prepared food is being served, where would their customers eat? Probably the most overwhelming issue is this would require a full traffic study. Having been involved in dozens of traffic studies myself over my years in real estate development projects, I believe it will show that there is already a substantial traffic and parking problem in Piermont and adding more traffic during the peak spring, summer, and fall Sundays would lead to potentially dangerous conditions and surely a quality of life issue and not in a positive way.

The alternative discussed was that they stay where they are. While on a personal note that only affects me when I drive up and down Ferdon, which becomes a one lane street on Sundays and the occasional bottle neck of bikes and cars, if those neighbors have no problem with it then by all means keep it there! One note of concern, when it was originally approved, was there a traffic/parking study done? If not, and if an accident was to happen the village may have liability.

Those are my thoughts on the two subjects I was asked by my neighbors and merchants to address.

The other subject I discussed was the horrible condition of 474 Piermont Road and how we could have a building in such bad condition next to village hall. The rear looks like a war zone and the front looks like … well you can choose your own words. Having an open permit saying you’ll do the work does not cure the violations if the work is never done. I am happy to volunteer spearheading working with our building inspector and the property owner to fix the violations, beatify the façade and finally get a tenant in the space next to village hall that’s been vacant for 20 years!

I didn’t stay for the discussion of fees for special events but hope the board supports the Chamber and Civic Association’s initiatives. I don’t have a business in town and have donated over $10,000 for Bastille Day since I moved to Piermont 9 years ago to support our merchants, not to mention running several fundraisers for the Chamber and personally handling putting up the stage and handling all the bands. While no one wants an event every week, Bastille Day is fun and I do enjoy selling stuff at the Flywheel Park Community Flee Market events… let’s keep Piermont fun!

Lastly, Tallman Beach & Pool Club will be a host site for the upcoming River Sweeper cleanup and Procida Funding will be sponsoring the Rock the River Race to benefit the Palisades Park Conservancy.

We are also the proud recipient of the Rockland Business Association’s “Corporate Citizenship Award” for our work reopening Tallman Pool and our continued relationships with local charities. Tallman Beach & Pool Club will be open again this year and the NoCo Beach Grill will be open May 1st. Check out our website for our events calendar.

Come join the community tonight and March 29th for the last Humpday Hoedown at the Turning Point Cafe sponsored by Tallman Beach & Pool Club and Procida Funding!

Again, thank you for your service to the community and your commitment to making Piermont a great place to live!

Best Regards,

Billy Procida

Piermont Resident

Sparkill Creek Alliance Member

Piermont Marsh Alliance Member

Piermont Chamber Member

President Tallman Beach & Pool Club