TZ Bridge: Living in Limbo 1: South Nyack homeowners Melissa Hall and Matthew Holober are left in limbo to wait, wonder and worry about thier homes, in the new Tappan Zee construction project. (Video by Melissa Elian/ LoHud.com)
After construction project change, South Nyack residents wait to learn fate of homes . . . .
Photo credit: Faye Murman | Melissa Hall and Jacqueline Peralta, both of South Nyack, express their anger about their homes not being purchased for the renovation at a live town hall meeting concerning the Tappan Zee Bridge at the DoubleTree Hotel in Tarrytown. The meeting was sponsored by Newsday and News12. (June 28, 2012)
In June News 12 hosted a live Town Hall meeting on the new Tappan Zee Bridge project. Our case received public attention at this meeting, and a meeting with Larry Schwartz, secretary to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, was scheduled soon after. At the meeting held at the Piermont Public Library, Mr. Schwartz promised us he would look into our situation. He also promised “weekly updates” which have not been forthcoming.
In spite of repeated inquiries we have received no updates — only reassurances from Brian Conybeare, the News 12 anchor appointed by Governor Cuomo to be a liaison with the public, that they are working on our case. At one point we were told that a resolution would be reached in “weeks not months;” That was already several weeks ago.
Meanwhile, critics of the project continue to highlight its failure to address the congestion problems that warranted the proposal in the first place. To answer these concerns, State official keep trumpeting the fact that the bridge will be “transit-ready,” which is bad news for South Nyack residents. Because this means that even after the 5 year construction project is over, our properties will still be unsalable because of the threat of eminent domain.
Eminent domain kind of sucks.
Eminent Domain Sucks 
This project has been bungled by Cuomo’s administration all along. The price tag right now is 5.2 billion. Wanna bet? If there is this much mismanagement before a single shovel has hit the dirt, how much mismanagement will there be throughout and what will it bring the cost to in the end? The 5.2 billion is a number that has been around for a while and no doubt includes the cost of eminent domain. NYS should do the right thing and compensate the Nyack home owners fairly. And then, how about try a little harder to manage this project without doubling the cost to the rest of the taxpayers in NYS.