It is hoped that, in addition to extending the sidewalks on Harry Howard Avenue to reach to all the school buildings, Department of Transportation grants can to secured to build sidewalks on Joslen Boulevard in Greenport from Fairview Avenue to Livingston Parkway. Interestingly, the article identifies John "Duke" Duchessi, who is on the staff of the Hudson Development Corporation, as "Greenport's grant writer." Also revealed in the article is that the grant application, which is due on Friday, is not available for public review because it hasn't been completed yet.
Although the meeting was held at the Hudson Junior High School building and the lead agency in this initiative has been identified as the Hudson City School District, there is no mention of the effect that the implementation of the plan is expected to have on HCSD's $2.2 million transportation budget.
The paved walking path from Mill St up the hill to Harry Howard Ave,which is a nice way for kids to walk without traffic from downtown up to school, is falling to pieces and no longer useable. I wrote to the current and former Mayor several times about this and they both assured me that it was about to be repaired, but unfortunately it never was.
ReplyDeleteSlowArt--I believe the City got a grant to do this several years ago. Why is hasn't yet been done is a mystery . . . to me, at least. To eliminate confusion, this path is also referred to as a bicycle path and sometimes "the dugway." Apparently, it's a favorite place for sledding in winter when there's snow.
DeleteSlowArt, there's another grant for the Charles William Park which hasn't even been mentioned yet: a Department of Transportation "TEP grant" for $240K.
ReplyDeleteThat money was earmarked "for the construction of pedestrian and bike connections," and included the path which you mentioned above (called by some "the Dugway").
As of a year ago, the HCDPA had not yet collected the money. Perhaps they have now, and for all we know the money is being used towards the Safe Routes to School project.
I don't know what it all means, other than that someone believed that a gigantic heap of state money wouldn't be totally wasted on a park nobody was going to use.
You can read more about the DOT TEP grant on the final page of the following HCDPA audit from last September:
http://www.abo.ny.gov/annualreports/PARISAuditReports/FYE2011/Local/HudsonCityCommunityDevelopmentPlanningAgency2010-11.pdf