Thursday, April 12, 2012

Such Chutzpah!

At the Hudson Area Library Board meeting last night, the trustees discussed, among other things, the input received from the focus groups conducted recently. One of the focus groups was designated for city and town elected officials, and although few if any of our Hudson elected officials showed up, officials from Greenport and Stockport did. It was reported that Greenport supervisor John Porreca expressed the opinion that the library should be located in his town and reiterated this idea in a subsequent email to the consultant who conducted the focus groups. What shameless presumption. The City of Hudson supports the library to the tune of $120,000 a year, while Greenport kicks in a mere $5,500. Perhaps if Greenport provided some real financial support for the library Porreca's suggestion wouldn't seem quite so ludicrous.

What emerged as the principal concern from all the focus groups was parking. People have always been dissatisfied with the parking available at 400 State Street, and the two potential new sites for the library--the Armory at Fifth and State streets and the Register-Star building at Fourth and Warren streets--offer no improvement. HAL board president Mark Orton told the trustees that he had spoken with Common Council president Don Moore and reported that "Moore is actively working on promoting a solution to the parking problem" in Hudson. The solution Moore is promoting, according to Orton, is a two- or three-story parking garage at the northeast corner of Fourth and Columbia streets--an idea that was part of Rick Scalera's "Plan B" for relocating the Department of Social Services. Orton told the board that Moore had spoken with Tom Swope, Eric Galloway, and Rick Scalera about the problem. 

Were this parking garage to be realized, it would only help solve the parking problem for the library if the library were to relocate to the Register-Star building, which is only a short block away. It would provide no solution to the parking problem if the library moved to the Armory, since people who complain about lack of parking are not likely to be willing to walk a block north over to State and then a block east on State to get from the parking garage to the library. 

One trustee reported being asked if the two houses north of the Armory--the two houses now being rehabilitated--were going to be demolished to create a parking lot for the library if the library moved there.

There is still time to make your thoughts about the library known. The library continues to gather feedback from the community with its online survey, but time is running out. Sunday, April 15, is the last day for responding to the online survey.        

6 comments:

  1. There was a special focus group for elected officials? In 2012? I never got an invite . . ..

    Regardless, why is parking 1 block away not a solution? Put handicap-only parking on the 5th Street and State Street frontage and the rest of us can "hike" a block. Why is this not acceptable?

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  2. John--Why don't I think a parking garage at Fourth and Columbia will be used by people going to a library at Fifth and State, which is two blocks away not one? For the same reason that the municipal parking lot behind the PARC Park, with a well-lighted sloping walkway to Warren Street and the Hudson Opera House, stands empty when the 300 block of Warren Street is teeming with people and cars looking for a place to park. People have a shopping mall mentality when it comes to parking. They want to park as close as they can to their destination, and they want to be able to see their destination from wherever they leave their car.

    Are you saying that the parking garage now being contemplated would be located at Fourth and State, on land the City of Hudson owns? The original plan was to site it on the northeast corner of Fourth and Columbia, where there is now a county parking lot.

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  3. I agree with you Carole: John Porreca's suggestion that the Library be located in Greenport is a shameless presumption at best! Besides the paltry $5500 contribution (a contribution that has not increased in a long time), Greenport officials fought the library every step of the way on every issue when I was the Director.

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  4. I have no information about the parking garage that you don't have I believe -- I understand that it is proposed for the location you said: the current county lot behind 401 State. But as for the "shopping mall" mentality -- it may be what people want but they tend to take what they can get. I know I'd like to park right in front of where I'm going too -- but sometimes (often) I can't so I park where I can and walk to my destination. This has to be the universal experience except for those who when they can't find the spot they want simply go home or on to their next destination. But if someone wants a library book, or to do research . . . it's a destination and people will park where they can and walk as they need to.

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  5. John--Your last comment suggests that people use the library in a way that the people who complain most about parking don't. It might be worth the effort to walk two blocks if you planned to spend a significant amount of time in the library, doing research, making use of the library's WiFi, sitting and reading the New York Times (although I'm not sure if the library still subscribes). The truth is--and I know this from years of volunteering at the circulation desk--most people pop in to pick up books and DVDs that they have requested online. They don't plan to be in the library for more than a few minutes, and having to walk two blocks to and from the library might just be enough to persuade them to drive a little farther and patronize the Claverack Library instead.

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  6. Wow. In NYC we walk non-stop, block after block, mile after mile. Helps us stay thinner and fitter. I have to say that I find hand-wringing over walking a block or two absolutely rdiculous.

    -- Jock Spivy

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