A new documentary by Gary Hustwit (Helvetica and Objectified) explores the changes happening to our cities, villages, and other settlements. The world is urbanizing and the places that do it well will ultimately win. Places with the best quality of life and the best urban environments (all places are ultimately “urban,” remember that) for its citizens will attract the most people and have the most vibrant economies.
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A Vacation Island in the ‘Burbs . . . with “Shocking” Food
Posted: January 19, 2012 by HaverstrawLife.com in Downtown, Cafes & Restaurants, Activities, Opinions & PoliticsTags: Antoine McGuire's, Bar and Grill Haverstraw, Bar Haverstraw, Bella Rose Cafe, best mexican food, blue collar, Bricktown Inn, California, Celebration, culinary, Downtown, Emeline Park, farmers market, food, gentrification, Haverstraw, haverstraw new york, Haverstraw Restaurant, haverstraw village, Haverstraw Village Hall, Henry Hudson, high tor mountain, hipster, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, Lasagna, Main Street, New York City, New York State, pop up, Rocky Mountains, salsa, tacos, Tacos Marianitas, tex-mex, The Picturesque Hudson, tri-state area, United Nations of Food, village of haverstraw, West Street, yuppie
Bella Rose Lasagna - Borrowed from the UN of Food
A feisty food blogger from the United Nations of Food (one small man’s attempt to eat food from every country without leaving NYC ) took a weekend excursion with his fiance to Haverstraw where he was admittedly “shocked” by the wide selection of uber-awesome, unpretentious, Hudson Valley, non-yuppie, blue collar Latin/Italian, etc. food. Several times he exclaims in as many ways as he can: “And guess what? I had it all wrong. Haverstraw, formerly known as the brickmaking capital of the world, is a mostly working-class town, featuring a gravel mine and a gigantic oil-fired power plant. No silly, pretentious food here. Not even in the prettiest cafe in town.” That pretty cafe he mentions? Well, that’s the Bella Rose Cafe on New Main Street. And where did they sleep while staying in the Village? In the best bed and breakfast in the County, the Bricktown Inn on Hudson Avenue. Read the rest of this entry »
HLife Welcomes a New Contributor: Donna Schmidt
Posted: January 19, 2012 by HaverstrawLife.com in Blogroll, Opinions & PoliticsTags: Antoine McGuire's, contributor, culinary, Haverstraw, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, New York, ny, rivertown, Village, village of haverstraw, writing
Donna Schmidt’s first job in High School was writing for the Enterprise Newspaper in Westchester County, New York. She has always been fascinated by the written word and the smell of newsprint. Both her father and grandfather were printers. Schmidt grew up in an Italian-American family in Westchester where sauce was always called gravy.
Schmidt is currently the President/Owner of a small publishing company, Donnin Publishing; a freelance writer specializing in feature and human interest stories; a writer for AOL’s New City, Nyack-Piermont, Pearl River and Nanuet Patch.com, Rivertown Magazine, and The Valley Table. Read the rest of this entry »
I found a fun post on streetsblog yesterday. “Pop-Up” cafes are springing up in downtowns across the nation. New York City is pioneering a pop-up program, where parking spaces are given over to restaurants that are then granted permission to install basic outdoor seating platforms, which create an intimate pedestrian environment. Some of these restaurants are even offering WiFi and table service at their pop-up lounges or dining areas. What is normally just a parked car, baking in the sun, becomes a hive of activity. The major question is: What Haverstraw restaurant will be the first to get in on the trend? Here’s lookin’ at you, Antoine McGuire’s and Bella Rose Cafe! Enjoy a cool time-lapse video of a new pop-up cafe on Sullivan Street in Manhattan:
Lower the Floor in the Haverstraw Tunnel?
Posted: November 29, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in History, Sustainability
W Haverstraw Station - NY Central Line
The great Cap’n Transit wrote a blog post on the virtues of lowering the floor of the Haverstraw Rail Tunnel, which is seen by State officials (and the CSX freight rail company) as the biggest impediment to restoring passenger rail service on the West Shore Line. Before 1959, New York Central ran passenger service from Hoboken/Jersey City to Albany, New York on the line, stopping in the Village of Haverstraw, West Haverstraw and Stony Point. By lowering the floor, a cheap alternative to blasting a larger tunnel cavity, vertical clearance is increased allowing for double-tracking through the tunnel. It seems suspicious that the tunnel is the biggest deterrent to restoring passenger service. It is more likely that CSX doesn’t want to share its tracks with passenger services, as this would limit the number of freight trains that can use the line per day. Since 1990, New Jersey Transit has been studying passenger service restoration to West Nyack with the option of building a terminal in Haverstraw or West Haverstraw.
A Facebook Vignette: Urban v. Suburban
Posted: November 18, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in Activities, Downtown, History, Opinions & Politics
I love the Haverstraw – Our Hometown Facebook page. It features several discussions on the history of Haverstraw and brief accounts of life in the Village, today and in the past. Renee, a member of the page recently gave an account of her experience while visiting Downtown Haverstraw. She describes perfectly the relationship between density and a vibrant street life, which is all-too-often missing from the suburban strip mall. Haverstraw is not suburban. It is a uniquely urban place with a breathtaking view of the Hudson River, sitting in the shadow of the towering peak of High Tor. Because of this, many existing residents of the sprawl areas of Rockland County fear the Village. They cannot understand the benefits of living in an urban environment, because they have become so familiar with an inhuman, car-dominated sprawl landscape. Here are more excerpts from Renee, Dianne, Peter and other members of Haverstraw – Our Hometown. Read the rest of this entry »
Sound Off: How will high energy costs affect the Village in the future?
Posted: November 17, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in Downtown, SustainabilityTags: ecological sustainability, economic turmoil, Economy, Energy, energy production, energy scarcity, EROI, finance, financial markets, haverstraw ferry, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, New York, New York State, Oil Production Decline, oil scarcity, Peak Oil, sustainability, unemployment, village of haverstraw
Oil Depletion & Production Decline
More and more analysts are blaming financial market turmoil, real estate market stagnation and decline, and high rates of unemployment on expensive and volatile prices for oil. Since oil and other sources of energy are embedded in every aspect of our economy, this claim has a lot of teeth. In your opinion, how might the growing price of oil affect the Village of Haverstraw? Might we see an influx of new residents as suburb dwellers seek ways to avoid driving expensive cars? Might a rebirth in local manufacturing and commercial river traffic emerge? Perhaps the future of the Village will look much like its past?
Village Resident Honored by REDC
Posted: November 1, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in Downtown, Opinions & Politics
Mia V. Marsh
Mia V. Marsh, a resident of New Main Street in the Village of Haverstraw was recently honored by the Rockland County Economic Development Corporation (REDC) “Forty Under 40 Young Business Leaders Recognition Program” for her work in non-profits and for jump starting the Haverstraw Farmers Market. Mia is currently restoring a beautiful Queen Ann house in the Village, on New Main Street, and is running for local government for a Village Trustee position. Read the rest of this entry »
Haverstraw Village Local Currency Plan
Posted: October 14, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in Downtown, Events, History, SustainabilityThe Concept: Haverstraw Notes
Local currency is a powerful, local economic development engine. The problem with national currency like the U.S. Dollar is that value is quite often removed from a local economy, as that value is transferred to national retailers (chains) or is spent elsewhere, in other communities. By creating a local currency system value is retained within the community, and additional value may be funneled into the local economy. The United States Constitution explicitly states that bank notes or paper currencies are legal, however, minting coin is prohibited.
How it Works
Village patrons can use the currency in the same way they use the U.S. Dollar; they can use the Haverstraw Notes as a replacement for, or in addition to, the Dollar. They might receive a discount for using the Notes at a local restaurant. The Haverstraw Note will grow in value over time, which is its interest rate. Essentially, a Bank of Haverstraw is created to administer the Haverstraw Notes.
Local Currency Plan for the Village of Haverstraw
One concept that can provide value to the Bank of Haverstraw, and allow the bank to pay an interest rate on its Notes, would be to invest the Bank’s holdings of U.S. Dollars into growing the fresh produce for the restaurant. The Bank would accept Notes as payment for produce, and can also sell the produce in exchange for U.S. Dollars in order to increase the value of its holdings. This means we are “pegging” the Haverstraw Note to both the value of produce and the U.S. Dollar. The Note’s value is literally backed by fresh produce. Cool huh? Remember the Gold Standard? This is the Produce Standard.
We can start this process by calling the Notes “Gift Certificates.” This allows the conversation to run more smoothly, and more people would feel comfortable adopting this concept. Have any questions?
Actual National Bank of Haverstraw Note, 1875
What’s in a Name?: “Short [and] Long Clove”
Posted: October 14, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in History
Believe it or not, the origination of the word “Clove,” which is featured in the names of two prominent mountain passes at the southern end of Haverstraw, Short Clove and Long Clove, begins in Dutch-influenced Afrikaans. A “Kloof” is a deep ravine or mountain pass in Middle Dutch tradition. “Kloove” is directly translated as a “cut or gash in the body of Mother Earth” in Old Dutch. The Dutch, in their conquest of new worlds settled many regions including the Hudson Valley, parts of the Caribbean, and Africa. The use of the term arrived with the earliest Dutch settlers as they settled Haverstraw. “Clove” is an anglicized version of “Kloove” or “Kloof.” The Short and Long Clove are rifts in the Palisades Escarpment south of High Tor Mountain, which became the most obvious locations for Native American then Colonial paths out of Haverstraw and south in to Clarkstown and the Nyacks. Today, the Long Clove hosts Route 9W and the Short Clove allows the passage of vehicles on Haverstraw Road past the Quarry and toward South Mountain Road.
Quote of the Week
Posted: September 30, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in UncategorizedTags: Chelsea, Downtown, Haverstraw, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, New York, New York City, New York Region, urban, village of haverstraw, West Village
“We realized that if we were going to live in NYC it would have be in the West Village or Chelsea or something. Obviously, that’s cost prohibitive. So, we just decided to live in Haverstraw.” — Anonymous Brooklyn Transplant
Election 2011: Chris Ernst, Mayoral Candidate and Mia V. Marsh, Candidate for Village Trustee
Posted: September 10, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in Opinions & Politics
HaverstrawLife.com will not endorse any candidate for the upcoming election season.
Mia V. Marsh is running as a Democrat for Village Trustee. Her opponent is either Rafael Bueno or Thomas Watson. Chris Ernst is running as a Democrat for Mayor. His opponent is Michael Kohut, the incumbent. The two candidates have also been endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties. Below, is Mia and Chris’s letter to HaverstrawLife readers and voters:
The Village of Haverstraw- A Fresh Perspective for a Historic Village
The undiscovered gem of the Hudson River, the historic Village of Haverstraw, is ready to realize its potential. Boasting unique turn-of-the century architecture, a thriving multi-cultural community and an expansive waterfront with Rockland’s only ferry service, Haverstraw is a village of unlimited possibilities. Read the rest of this entry »
Pet/Owner Look Alike Contest @ the International Street Fair!
Posted: September 8, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in Activities, Downtown, EventsTags: Cat, Contest, Dog, Festival, fundraiser, Haverstraw, haverstraw new york, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, International Street Fair, Look Alike Contest, New York, Owner, Pets, Photography, photos, Street Fair, Streetfair, village of haverstraw
Election 2011: Jay Hood, Jr., County Legislator
Posted: August 4, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in Opinions & Politics
HaverstrawLife.com will not endorse any candidate for the upcoming election season.
Jay Hood, Jr. is running as a Democrat for Rockland County Legislator of the County’s 3rd Legislative District, which encompasses the Village of Haverstraw. His opponent is Ricky Sanchez. Below, is Jay’s letter to HaverstrawLife readers and voters:
It has been an honor to be the County Legislator from District 3 for the past four years. I have worked hard to fight for issues that affect the Villages of Haverstraw and West Haverstraw. Like many government levels we are facing serious budget problems but I am committed to facing them this coming budget season. We will look for ways to further reduce spending while continuing the services that are needed more than ever.
I possess a temperament which allows me to work well with others in government, which my opponent sorely lacks.
I believe my record of supporting community events and organizations shows my love for this area and its people. I am always on call when anyone needs help, the people have learned to count on me. Read the rest of this entry »
Rockland Street Kids’ Fair II Delights!
Posted: August 3, 2011 by HaverstrawLife.com in Activities, DowntownTags: Bricktown Gospel, Bricktown Gospel Fellowship, Celebration, Church, Conservation, Crafts, Downtown, Events, Haverstraw, haverstraw new york, haverstraw village, Haverstraw Village Hall, high tor mountain, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, Kids' Fair, Main Street, new urbanism, New York State, Rockland Street, Tim Tyree, Village, village of haverstraw
The Rockland Street Kids’ Fair, hosted by the Bricktown Gospel Fellowship, drew large crowds of Village families to Downtown Haverstraw to take part in a day of fun and games. Rockland Street was shut down to vehicles to accommodate the festival. The fair included fun activities for the kids, including crafts and a small petting zoo.
