Monday, June 21, 2010

On the Waterfront

Promenade Hill Yesterday's enormously successful Hudson Pride Rally on Promenade Hill demonstrated what a wonderful (and underutilized) venue it is for this kind of event. While ascending the stairs to the Promenade yesterday, I overheard a voice somewhere in the crowd behind me say, "They just built this park." I looked around to see if I could identify the person who'd spoken, but I couldn't. If I had, I would have told her that Promenade Hill was more than 200 years old. Established in 1795, it is Hudson's oldest park, one of the oldest parks in the United States, and the first public space in the country to be set aside expressly for viewing the landscape.

The Valley Alliance The formation of a new group was announced this morning: The Valley Alliance. Co-directed by Sam Pratt and Peter Jung, heroes of the David-and-Goliath victory over SLC, the newly formed Valley Alliance will take up, as its first project, the work of Save the South Bay. To inaugurate its activities on behalf of the South Bay and the Hudson waterfront, the Valley Alliance has retained respected land-use attorney Warren Replansky of Pine Plains to analyze the draft Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan and address widespread public concerns about the future of the waterfront.

In a statement released this morning, Peter Jung said, “We are very pleased to bring an attorney of Warren Replansky’s caliber and experience to the table. Warren will add his substantial professional expertise to the concerns which citizens have raised about the Waterfront plan. Residents’ detailed and heartfelt comment will now be backed up by expert legal counsel. Decision-makers at all levels of government will now have the benefit of a ‘second opinion’ on a draft plan which could shape the future of Hudson for generations to come."

Click here to view the entire Valley Alliance press release.

LWRP Hudson's Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan will be on the agenda of two Common Council committee meetings this week: the Economic Development Committee, which meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., and the Legal Committee, which meets on Wednesday at 6:45 p.m.

Also on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Greenport Town Hall is the Greenport Planning Board meeting. For the past several months, the Greenport Planning Board has been wrangling with their portion of the proposed industrial haul road from the quarry to the river. The haul road, which would pass through the South Bay on the "causeway," would then continue into Greenport on the east side of Route 9G to Route 9, across Route 9, and on into the quarry.

It's always interesting to see how the Greenport Planning Board deals with the issues that come before it.

6 comments:

  1. The retaining of Mr. Replansky is a most welcome development. Good work, and wonderful news.

    T. O'Connor

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  2. You can start by telling Mr. Replansky that there's a fresh batch of concrete poured into the marsh reeds at the far end corner of the fireworks parking lot. There's no point in telling code enforcement!

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  3. From the Valley Alliance press release:

    "... the group will also establish a framework for citizen engagement throughout the region, providing the tools and support necessary for residents to participate meaningfully in community affairs. Residents interested in learning more about the Alliance are encouraged to email ..."

    May I recommend to the Alliance directors that they provide a way "for residents to participate meaningfully" by allowing one to comment directly at the website?

    That would indeed demonstrate the kind of faith in the common citizen that I expect the directors would welcome.

    T. O'Connor

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  4. Tim: There already is a comments section at the website. It has been there all along. Just click the link on the righthand side of every page which says, "share your feedback."

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  5. Sam,

    Thanks for pointing that out. Had I realized that "sharing feedback" was one and the same as leaving a comment we might have avoided all of that trouble for others concerning the "standing water" map.

    But would "sharing feedback" be the same thing as being able to simply leave a comment in the usual way of blogs? What if the comment is polite, but critical?

    To my great distress, I have found that it is more customary for webmasters hereabouts - and I am thinking of no one in particular - to edit and censor for content as much as to prohibit bad behavior.

    Can I be assured of not being censored at the Valley Alliance for what might be intelligent and mannerly but otherwise critical content?

    T. O'Connor

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  6. Tim: This is Carol's blog, not the Valley Alliance's -- and in any case is probably not the right place to debate web design preferences, especially when there is so much pressing work to be done.

    If you have questions for our group about any issue (whether posting feedback to the South Bay site or anything else), there is an email address to contact us there, or use the link indicated for feedback. Posts that are reasonable and constructive are always welcome.

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