A Walk Along the Hudson Greeway Trail

Its days like today that make me feel great about moving to the Harbors at Haverstraw. The sky is clear blue, the Hudson looks calm and the air is crisp. It’s odd, for all the negative stuff I read in the Journal news about Haverstraw, it sure seems like someone is trying to keep this place, their secret…I mean seriously, let me try to digress.

First off, lets get something straight, I believe that if a great business opens, people will come from near and far, even if the location has a negative reputation. This means that Haverstraw is ready now for any great business, especially restaurants. Case in point would be Union, a high-end but affordable restaurant with a great reputation and a great chef is successful and trust me I could have found you 25 people who told me that the Union model wouldn’t work, I guess not, last time I checked Union is busy on weekends and some week nights.

And now to Bricktown Brewery, R.I.P. dear bar, you served many patrons well and had a good reputation from all of your customers and had good food. I recently read in the Journal News that the number 1 reason why they closed was because of the element in the street and of course the economic downturn. Let me respectfully disagree, I have been all of the world and America and have been to many great bars/pubs, this place was a snooze, no atmosphere, no music that’s relevant or live and ultimately they failed in creating an atmosphere that makes a small bar like Old Village Inn in Nyack to be so successful. My message to potential restaurateurs, come to Haverstraw, have the Village or GDC subsidize your rents and open up a loungy B.Y.O.W. and get this place a little more sophisticated.

So, no matter what you read about what happens inside the Village of Haverstraw, don’t forget the Journal News needs to sell papers. And remember, once there are respectable business’ that open up in the downtown, the street front apartments are changed back to commercial and the ferry is moved to the base of Main St. which is coming soon according to the Mayor, things will get a lot busier, to say the least.

Phew..now that I got that off my chest, let me go back to the beauty of today. I took 4 videos for your enjoyment to show where the new $1 million promenade that Haverstraw was just granted from the state last week. The promenade, which is a 15′ wide blacktop with Belgian blocks on each side will extend from Civiles to the soon to be new entrance to the Hudson River Greenway Trail. Eventually, this promenade is supposed to connect to the Harbors with the downtown. How great would that be!

This next video was taken on Broadway facing east, recently two old car garages were demolished to make way for a beautiful new park that might include a coffee shop. Imagine Starbucks in Haverstraw? Hey, Why not…