2021
A new year has arrived. Usually it is the time of new beginnings, resolutions, a chance for a do over. The exit of 2020 had much of the globe sighing and looking forward to new beginnings arriving at the stroke of midnight. Maybe, but given everything going on, who knows?
So, what does this year hold for Upper Saddle River and its neighbors? You don’t need a crystal ball. It will probably be a do over of the same.
Toll Brothers will continue to pump its brown water, usually surreptitiously, often at the weekend. With no consequences. After how many years the brown Pleasant Brook flows unchecked?
Upper Saddle River will continue to increase its number of residents as Toll Brothers move people into their new homes on a lot with questionable soil that holds who knows what?
The Airmont / Upper Saddle River connection – the bridge on Hillside Ave – has been closed. The cut through from the buses and traffic from Airmont to Route 59 has been severed, for now. Possibly resulting in more traffic in parts of town?
The proposed new construction and development on Hillside Ave in Airmont will continue on creeping slowly through the system, threatening the water supply among other things.
But what new things will the year bring?
2021. Isn’t this the year that the court order regarding the eruv in parts of town ends? Yes, summer 2021, but who knows what this even means. Who even knows or remembers what the court order was? The gross mismanagement of Upper Saddle River mayor and council ensure that there was so much chaos during this that unravelling what was occurring is nearly impossible. And in true Upper Saddle River fashion the details are buried somewhere and only an OPRA will get it. Good luck finding this. Read what is probably the best – and only easily available – account of the history on Wikipedia.
News has been circulating that Nyack and Suez water informed their customers in Rockland county that their water has got PFAS chemicals in the drinking water, which is cause for concern. Why should residents in Upper Saddle River pay attention to this? The new homes in Toll Brothers Preserve are apparently supplied by Suez water and it is possible Suez water probably draws some of its water from the same aquifer USR residents do. More to come on this.
Will Saddle River continue its deer cull, or has the recent election brought some change? Or are they so focused on reducing their Affordable Housing obligation that they have taken their sights off the deer? Nothing galvanizes a community like falling house prices.
Happy 2021.