Visiting the Orphans The Board of Supervisors paid the Hudson Orphan Asylum a visit, in a body, this afternoon. The occasion was a pleasant one, and was enjoyed by the children as well as the Supervisors.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
620 State Street and the Board of Supervisors
Next week, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors is likely to vote on a proposal to make this historic building on the corner of State and Seventh streets into the centerpiece of a facility for the homeless called "Galvan Quarters." From the 1840s until 1881, this building was the Hudson Orphan Asylum.
I recently discovered this little item in the Hudson Evening Register for December 8, 1874, which reveals a different relationship between the Board of Supervisors and the building than the one that exists today.
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As most of you know, Eric Galloway's Galvan Initiatives Foundation has proposed a facility for the homeless at 7th Street and State Street. In the past week the proposal has morphed a number of times. First it was to hold 30 single men, then 37, then 44. The Department of Social Services currently counts 25 homeless individuals in Columbia County.
ReplyDeleteEven though Supervisors have not even seen the lease, the Board of Supervisors is set to vote on a contract with Galvan and the Mental Health Association to operate the facility this week. All without ANY public input.
If you are concerned about this proposal, there are two meetings this week that you must attend. The Board of Supervisors Finance Committee will meet on Tuesday August 7th at 5pm and the full Board of Supervisors will meet on Wednesday August 8th at 7:30pm. Both meetings are at 401 State Street.
A strong showing of concerned citizens at these meetings is imperative. Please make every effort to attend.
Victor Mendolia
Victor,I was at the meeting on Thursday.There is much public dissent,but few people showed up.Maybe people were still worried to go outside because of chemical fire in Gent.
DeleteThis is a quote from "Gossips of Rivertown "Sat. Aug 4th "A Meeting in Two Acts"report on that meeting on Thurs.Aug 2 at City Hall.
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From "Gossips of Rivertown"
"Moore, who initially seemed to want to avoid the discussion by saying the proposal for the homeless shelter "is not a Common Council issue until there is a SEQRA review," ended the meeting by saying that the Common Council will hold its informal meeting on Monday, August 13, and there will be a public discussion of the issue at that time. He also said that he did not think the Board of Supervisors can vote on this issue on Wednesday, August 8, and expressed the opinion that, if they do, it would be "wrong and challengeable."
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How can it be challenged if they just bullheadedly go through with this?
Something has to be able to stop the way they are doing this.I'm no lawyer,but something is very wrong here.
Once BOS signs that lease on the 8th,we are on the hook.What good will public input be on Aug 13th?
GalVan will put something homeless related in there..but no one will know til it happens,not even him. His moves are dictated by the most money he can get,from government grants tax credits no interest loans DSS/Mental Health/SSI payouts ETC.piggybacking on other programs,anything he can find.This project will not cost him a nickel.
I am starting to think that this is what his game is.Something motivates him to the point of obsession.He is already very rich,so I am left to think it's just a game to Galloway, to never use his own money.It's what he's done in NYC on a very grand scale and his connections in U.S. social service government agencies are
very serious and real.He doesn't belong here.He is not needed here. He has only brought fear,suspicion,corruption,ill will, in the name of the weak,the homeless, the sick, the desperate,the poor.So that he feels he is unchallengeable. He depends on the GUILT of those who otherwise wouldn't give him a second thought ,if this was a straight business proposal devoid of homeless;
and the knowledge that if he concentrates this in HUDSON,no other BOS is going to vote NO,please bring this mess to our town ,our village.There are not enough BOS in Hudson ,not in Galloway's Pocket to stop it.
He will be off the tax roll,collecting rent from taxpayers with some loosey goosey plan,subject to change,before he lifts a finger,if BOS signs this lease, and just waiting for the right program to come along, that pays out the most...to him
I really hope residents and business owners of Hudson show up.It will take just a pen stroke to make this a reality and it will be hell to undo.
There is no justification for this rush decision.There is no hurry,There is much to be considered.We and future residents can be permanently affected by this vote.
and it may ultimately not even help those that this is supposed to be about.
"The very least of us."our own that need help.