Nyack Mayor Asks For Cooperation With O&R Workers

Nyack Mayor Jen Laird-White asked residents to have patience with Orange & Rockland Utilities workers while they work to restore power to the area.

“We’re hearing horrible stories about O&R guys, people being very aggressive with them and these are guys working 24 hours a day doing a job that has to be so exhausting and frustrating for them,” Laird-White said. “So if you can spread the word that we have to be decent to them. I know how cold and tired we all are, I know this is dragging on way too long, but it is not their fault. They really do want to help us. They want to get us back online as fast as they can.”

Laird-White spoke with residents in front of Village Hall Sunday morning during her daily question and answer session with the public, which she said she’ll do every day until power is fully restored.

She reminded the 40 or so residents at the meeting that many of the workers have come from outside of the community to help.

“These are guys that have left their families and come from other states. They’re really, really busting their tails for us. So just if you can spread the word, because we’re hearing bad stories about people getting all over them and these poor guys are working in the cold all night long.”

Also at the meeting, she gave an update on the power situation, and said O&R told her 37,000 Rockland residents are still out of service. She said the North Broadway area remains dark from the waterfront all the way up to about Franklin, with the outage including a few other nearby areas. She said she was told the outside line for the restore time for that area is Wednesday.

Other items that came up during the meeting:

• There will be ice distributed today at 3 p.m. in the Riverspace parking lot. Someone asked the mayor if they could donate surplus firewood if they have, and Laird-White said to bring it to the ice drop off today. “If you have extra firewood, bring it to the ice drop off behind the old Riverspace building. We’ll find a spot that’s out of the way there in the parking lot and we’ll post it so people know there’s firewood available, because I do know there’s people running low on firewood and it’s hard to get deliveries now.” She added that any leftover ice and firewood will be taken back to Village Hall to be distributed from there.
• Those looking to charge phones and computers, or just get inside and warm up can go to South Nyack Village Hall today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The YMCA is also open today and has showers in addition to power. The swimming pool will be open today from 12-4 p.m. for family recreation swim, and the pool has hot water.
• The Department of Public Works has asked that people put their brush out on the curb for pickup, but to not let it fall into the street.
• Laird-White said anyone who wants to go to the county shelter at Rockland Community College and needs transportation should let Village Hall know so they can arrange for transportation if needed.
• School superintendents will have a conference call later today about reopening schools tomorrow. Laird-White said Nyack High School, Nyack Middle School and Upper Nyack Elementary School all have power, although Upper Nyack has an issue with a down tree. She said either Valley Cottage Elementary School or Liberty Elementary School has power and the other has major issues, but wasn’t positive which was which during the meeting.
• If there’s no school tomorrow, the Nyack Center will show a free movie for families at 3 p.m.
• Someone asked the mayor about volunteering with the cleanup area. “The waterfront is still off limits. There was some sewage leaks, there’s hazardous material, so we don’t want healthy citizens doing anything that might be unhealthy,” Laird-White said. She added that people looking to volunteer can reach out to People2People to see if they need anything, and that people should just check on their neighbors and make sure everyone is doing okay.