So, it ends up they got it all wrong at those two public hearings last year, hosted by the state Department of Transportation, in which town residents asked the state to scale back plans for the Farley Bridge project on Route 9W. At least that’s what Stony Point Supervisor Phil Marino, the town’s highway superintendent, fire chief and police chief said last week, as reported by Khurram Saeed.

DOT first planned to place a new span along Route 9W that would add right-turn and left-turn lanes, and sidewalks, but would also mean the taking of property in the area. Then, residents at well-attended public hearings said the town could do without the larger bridge. DOT came back with a smaller plan that needed less land-taking, but had fewer of the lane options.

Why the change now? Well, Stony Point Police Chief Patrick Brophy says he brought up his concerns (he wants left-turn lanes at all four directions at the Route 9W/Main Street intersection) with DOT engineers 18 months ago. As for Marino, he said last week that he “was not as vociferous as I should have been. But I am now.”

Just how “not vociferous” was he? Well, here’s a clip from the news article in October 2007, in which Marino himself announced, during a Town Board meeting, the DOT’s intention to acquire less land for the project:

Marino, who worked with the state, said he was pleased with the outcome. … “The three big properties that everybody was worried about, they’re not going to be touched,” said Marino, who is running for re-election against Republican candidate Jerry Rogers in November.

No, not vociferous.

It’s not clear what this change of tune means. DOT seemed unfazed. “Whether or not the left turn goes in now or not, the design of the new bridge will not preclude that from being done in the future,” DOT spokeswoman Sandra Jobson told staff writer Saeed.

Let’s not forget why this project’s being done in the first place. The 85-year-old James A. Farley Memorial Bridge has been deteriorating for years. DOT rated it 3.99 out of 7, and it’s received two yellow flags for corrosion on a nonweight-bearing piece of the deck truss and for corrosion on a floor beam. A yellow flag identifies less critical conditions that are likely to get worse if not addressed before the next inspection, as well as flaws in nonvital components. Now, the DOT plans to do the work in 2010. Let’s hope town officials and residents can get their desires expressed clearly to the DOT this time around.

The other day the children of Sal and Catherine Marasa of New City hosted a surprise birthday party for their parents who are turning 80 and 75 respectively within the space of a few weeks.

Two of their daughters sifted through more than 56 years of the memories of their parents’ marriage and created a little display of photos on a side table at Pasta Cucina in New City.

Sal, who came to America in the late 1940s and toiled in his own barber shops, a deli and a luncheonette, made a comfortable life for his family while doing much good working through groups like Jawonio, the Haverstraw Knights of Columbus and the Sons of Italy in America.

But in their first few years of marriage, money was sometimes hard to come by.

Searching those boxes of memories, daughters Mariann and Cathy found the proof.

They found a birthday card their dad gave to his young bride back around 1954 or so.

It was a rectangle of cardboard, cut from a box.

On one side, Sal scrawled in big letters, “Happy Birthday Honey.”

On the other side he wrote, “That’s all I can afford. I’M BROKE. I love you, Sal.”

It was a touching expression of love that didn’t need an envelope, a postage stamp or a gift.

Truly, it was a gift all its own.

Sal’s hard work and Catherine’s love of family has made it possible for them to share a special kind of wealth with children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. They’ve traveled and shared a wonderful life and a beautiful love.

And its essence was captured, more than a half-century ago, on the slab of cardboard that’s been tucked away, but never forgotten.

Nyack recently paid more than $400,000 to install a new parking meter system in the village and now they’re boosting parking fines, more than doubling them from $12 to $25.

If you’re quick to pay—in two days or less—you get a discount to $15, still more than before.

It’s fine to boost fines and it’s fine to use that mechanism to fill the village treasury.

But how about a break. I’ve been to Nyack a few times since the new system went into use and I’m still figuring out how it works and where I can park. On one trip, I saw what I thought were three available spaces only to find that none worked for me in terms of time allowed.

And that wasn’t all that easy to figure out.

I can tell you for one that if I’ve got a choice as to where to meet someone for lunch, at least in the short term I’ll think twice before I pick Nyack.

That’s a shame and if others feel that way, it’s going to cost the village lots more than they’ll ever collect in the increased fines.