Monday, September 26, 2011

IMPORTANT MEETING TONIGHT

The Common Council meets in a special session tonight, Monday, September 26, to hear a presentation by City Attorney Cheryl Roberts about the changes made in the past few months to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which accompanies the Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (LWRP). After the presentation and discussion by the aldermen, the Council is expected to vote on whether or not to accept the document. The meeting takes place at the Central Firehouse, 77 North Seventh Street, at 6:30 p.m. 

The meeting has been scheduled for the larger venue of the firehouse to permit more members of the public to attend, but it has been rumored that Common Council President Don Moore will not be allowing the public to speak. Contacted by Gossips this morning, Moore explained that he would allow public comment but only after the Council has voted on accepting the GEIS. He explained that there was a ten-day period following the adoption of the GEIS, during which the public could "put things on the record," but stated that he believed "it was in the city's best interest to move beyond this right now, and let the chips fall where they may." He characterized tonight's vote as a "particularly important step in advancing the LWRP to its conclusion"--something that he expects to see happen in the next month or so.

Not everyone shares Moore's opinion that this action is in the city's best interest. The Valley Alliance is urging "all residents with an interest in the economic, environmental, and social future of Hudson" to attend tonight's meeting to "encourage a better outcome." On Friday, Scenic Hudson sent out an Action Alert that began with this call to action: "PROTECT YOUR WATERFRONT: Urge Local Officials to Fix the LWRP." Scenic Hudson summarizes its position in this way: "The draft LWRP includes a number of positive strategies to achieve the vision of a revitalized waterfront area that we all can support—but all that is undermined by an incomplete approach to industrial activities on the waterfront." This morning, the South Bay Task Force, anticipating not being able to speak prior to the vote, send to members of the Common Council a list of seventeen questions about the most recent changes to the GEIS that should be considered before they vote to accept or reject the document.

3 comments:

  1. Given that our city government has never paid attention to any of the citizen input they have received regarding the LWRP over the years, it isn't surprising that they would take comments from the citizens AFTER they have voted to pass the GEIS. This is the sort of stunt they used to pull in the old Soviet Union, and we used to marvel about how any country could be so corrupt and ass-backward.

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  2. Carole:

    I did not say that there wouldn't be public comment because that would mean that the formal GEIS record is open. That is not the case. This is a work session for the Council to consider the GEIS. If there are questions from the audience germane to that then I will entertain them. But this is a session to consider a vote and I want to get to that point in a reasonable amount of time. If anyone wishes to discuss the LWRP in another forum, I am certainly willing to do so.

    Don

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  3. The waterfront park should now be renamed "Splendid Failure Park."

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