Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Hudson's 2025 Budget

Tomorrow night, the Common Council holds a public hearing on the budget proposed for 2025. In 2020, the year Mayor Kamal Johnson took office, the city budget was $14,910,741. Five years later, the budget proposed for the second year of his third term in office is $19,771,551. That's an increase of close to a million dollars a year.

A budget of more than $19.7 million for a city with a population of fewer than 6,000 works out to $3,412 per person. Wondering if that per person cost was typical, Robert Rasner decided to compare the budgets and populations of other cities in New York State, and he generously shared his findings with Gossips. Rasner's research shows that of all sixty-two cities in New York, Hudson ranks sixth in per person spending. The chart below gives the data for the fifteen cities with the highest spending per person. A chart showing the data for all sixty-two cities can be found here 


Among cities with a population of fewer than 10,000, Hudson has the highest per capita spending, exceeding the next highest in per capita spending by more than $1,000.


Rasner will be presenting his findings at the public hearing on the budget tomorrow night. The hearing takes place at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. The proposed 2025 budget can be found hereThe link to join the meeting remotely can be found here. Hudson residents are encouraged to attend, either in person or virtually.
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Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Saving the Historic Bridge

On Wednesday, November 20, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors Public Works Committee meets at 5:00 p.m. in the Committee Room at 401 Street Street. The committee will be discussing and voting on a proposal for a community-oriented design process put forward by the Stuyvesant Town Bridge Committee. The proposal can be found here.


The Stuyvesant Town Bridge Committee, which grew out of opposition and concern about plans to demolish the historic Stuyvesant Falls Bridge and replace it with a modern bridge, has been advocating since August for a process that brings together experts and leadership to come up with a proposal for the bridge that balances community values with feasibility. 


Those who support the effort to save the historic bridge are encouraged to attend the meeting on Wednesday night. There is also a petition to be signed, which can be found here. You do not need to be a resident of Stuyvesant to sign the petition.
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HHA Seeking to Renew Its Option to Buy

At the end of October, the Hudson Housing Authority (HHA) asked Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) to extend the second year of its exclusive option to buy three properties currently owned by HCDPA for two months--from October 31, 2024, to December 31, 2024. HCDPA agreed to the extension at a special meeting on Monday, October 28. Last night, the HHA Board of Commissioners passed a resolution to request that HCDPA extend the option for another year on just two of the three properties and make the $25,000 payment required by the option agreement. The two parcels HHA is still considering for development are what remains of the community garden at Second and Columbia (202-206 Columbia Street) and the lot at the end of Warren Street (2-4 Warren Street), now an urban renewal era park.

202-206 Columbia Street
2-4 Warren Street
You can hear the resolution read aloud by Jeffrey Dodson, executive director of HHA, here, beginning at 10:30.

Also it last night's HHA meeting, it was mentioned by Nick Zachos, who is part of the Redevelopment Committee, that the idea of extending First Street from Columbia to State, which was part of the original master plan, has been abandoned.

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Sunday, November 17, 2024

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

Well into November, we continue to enjoy unseasonably warm days. So much for drizzly November. Much needed rain is in the forecast for Thursday and Friday. Meanwhile, here's what else is happening.
  • On Monday, November 18, the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meets at 6:00 p.m. This meeting always presents the possibility of an update on HHA's redevelopment plans. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person in the Community Room at Bliss Towers and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
  • On Tuesday, November 19, the Common Council Finance Committee meets at 5:15 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
  • At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 19, the Common Council holds its regular monthly meeting. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
  • Also at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 19, there is a free proof-of-concept screening of the documentary film Hudson Limits by Karl Frederick Mattson. This short 30-minute version of the film illustrates the project's direction and focuses on the story of Leo A. Bower, a lifelong resident of Hudson and an advocate for the preservation of Shantytown, a.k.a The Shacks, a.k.a the Furgary Boat Club. The project has been in the works for the past year, with generous support from the History Room at the Hudson Area Library and CREATE Council on the Arts. The feature length version will continue to be in the works for the next two years. Tuesday's screening will take place in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street.
  • On Wednesday, November 20, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meets at 6:00 p.m. On the agenda for the meeting is State Street Lofts, the Kearney project proposed for the vacant lot at the corner of State and North Fourth Streets. The meeting takes place in person only at City Hall.
Update: The ZBA meeting has been canceled.
  • On Thursday, November 21, Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
  • At 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 21, the Common Council holds a public hearing on the proposed city budget for 2025. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
  • On Friday, November 22, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
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At the Bottom of the Stairs

When you descend the newly rebuilt Second Street stairs, you come upon the oldest surviving house in Hudson, now with a banner adorning the fence in front of it.


If you can't make it out from the photograph, the banner reads:

The Robert Taylor House
Proudly Being Restored by Nice and Weird LLC

For those who care about historic preservation and authenticity, it's a nice change from this:

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Saturday, November 16, 2024

The Stairs Are Back!

The Second Street stairs are now complete and were reopened a week or so ago, despite the fact that there is no railing. At the Public Works Board meeting on Thursday, David Marston reported that he had run the stairs, going both up and down, and expressed his enthusiastic approval them.


Regarding the missing railing, Justin Weaver, mayor's aide and ADA coordinator, said a temporary railing would be installed next week. It was not indicated when the permanent railing would be in place. 
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Today Is the Day

Building Permit: An exciting new look at businesses coming to Hudson, NY, an installation and video by Mark Allen and The Hudson Wail, launches this morning. 


The video can be viewed here, beginning at 6:00 a.m. The installation along Warren Street can be viewed this morning as well. The creators share this advice: 
When you watch the video the installation will make sense, and you'll know what to look for. But you might want to look quick, because it may get taken down fast. Enjoy, Hudson!

Friday, November 15, 2024

Galloway and the Performing Arts

In recent years, the Galvan Foundation has been directing its attention to acquiring and creating entertainment venues here in Hudson. In 2022, Galvan acquired the former Community Theater and announced the intention to make it a regional theater "with flexible performance space and room to fit 400 seated attendees and many more for standing room only events." In July 2023, Galvan purchased the Helsinki Hudson complex, which includes a theater, a restaurant, and an event space. What the plans are for that property have never been made public. A couple of months ago, Galvan presented its plans to create a theater, with 120 to 150 seats, in what remains of the Gifford-Wood building on Columbia Street, to be called, appropriately "The Foundry."

Photo: Win Jackson
Galvan's current interest in the performing arts doesn't seem to be limited to Hudson. Recently, Gossips learned of a project that Galvan Initiatives Foundation has undertaken in partnership with the Perelman Performing Arts Center in lower Manhattan. 

Photo: Iwan Baan
Galvan is partnering with PAC NYC in The Democracy Cycle, "a multi-year commissioning program to assist in the development of works across theater, opera, dance, and music exploring themes relating to democracy." You can read more about the project here and here
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Thursday, November 14, 2024

Trucks in the City

Over the years, Gossips has reported on a number of trucks that have strayed off the truck route and gotten stuck on our narrow streets. Here is the latest incident, which happened today.

Photo: Britt Zuckerman
I do not know the circumstances that led to a truck of this size attempting to execute of righthand turn off Warren Street onto Second Street, but I question the judgment of the driver who tried to make that turn, no matter what his GPS was telling him. 
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Surprise Change in the Planning Board Agenda

On Sunday, when Gossips was assembling "Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead," the agenda for the Planning Board meeting indicated they would be taking up the issue of Colarusso's dock operations. At some time after that, the agenda was revised. Colarusso was removed, and added in its place was a presentation by Public Works Partners about the city's new comprehensive plan. Melissa Lee, principal of Public Works Partners, Dan McCombie, Aron Lesser, and Danny Goodman were all present virtually for the presentation.

Although the comprehensive plan doesn't seem to be on too many people's radar, we are more than halfway through the process, which began in January 2024 and is expected to end in April 2025. So far, there have been two Community Visioning Workshops--one in June, another in September. There will be a third workshop in December.  


A draft of the comprehensive plan is expected to be ready in February 2025, and the final plan will be completed by April 2025.

The Community Preference Survey may be the element of the comprehensive planning process most familiar to readers. (Gossips shared the link to the survey back in May.) Last night, McCombie reported that there had been 471 responses to the survey, 366 of which came from people who actually lived in Hudson. (366 represents 6.28 percent of the population.) He went on to say that the demographic distribution of the respondents did not match the demographic distribution of the community as a whole. The graphic he shared (reproduced below) shows that the majority of the respondents were white women who lived in the First or Third ward and had an annual household income of more that $50,000.


To reach communities that did not respond to the survey, Public Works Partners is conducting separate focus groups with the Bangladeshi, Spanish-speaking, and Black communities. One of the focus groups has already taken place; the other two are expected to happen soon.

Among the Main Survey Findings, the following are of particular interest.


McCombie explained that the following Guiding Principles are based on the engagement conducted to date. 


The entire presentation made to the Planning Board last night can be viewed here, beginning at 2:12:28.
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Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Good News for the City's Infrastructure

Last night's informal Common Council meeting was adjourned prematurely, before Rob Perry had a chance to present the monthly report from the Department of Public Works. That was unfortunate, because it contained some good news. The City of Hudson has been awarded a NYS Water Infrastructure Improvement (WIIA) grant of more than $14 million ($14,150,000 to be exact) to improve stormwater separation and mitigate combined sewer overflows (CSOs) into the Hudson River during major rain events.
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Annoyance or Threat?

In 2022, Council president Tom DePietro banished Bill Huston from attending meetings at City Hall in person, allowing him only to attend meetings virtually. Huston's persistent and belligerent manner of interrogating city officials and department heads, which DePietro once declared to be "disorderly conduct," has gotten him ejected from meetings and was the reason for his banishment. Despite that history, Huston was present in person at last night's informal Common Council meeting.

The Council was less than halfway through the night's agenda when an incident involving Huston occurred. The Council had heard the monthly reports from the Youth Department, the Fire Department, and the Police Department. The report from the Police Department included the information that twelve new cameras had been installed on the streets to replace existing cameras. When comments from the audience were invited, Huston asked why there was a camera at Sixth and Columbia streets, demanding to know its purpose. Lieutenant David Miller, who was reporting for the HPD, told him the camera was there to assist the police in solving crimes. Dissatisfied with the answer, Huston continued to question him. When DePietro interrupted him, telling him to stop, Huston protested, asking if his banishment from City Hall was a "lifetime ban." DePietro told him, "Numerous members of the Council have felt personally threatened by you." 

At this point, Miller and a second police officer present at the meeting approached Huston, who appeared disinclined to cooperate and leave the meeting. Then, perhaps at the direction of one of the officers, everyone in the audience rose as one and left the chamber and the building. DePietro then adjourned the meeting, and the councilmembers prepared to leave. Gossips, attending the meeting virtually, does not know how the situation resolved itself.

Gossips has learned that Huston, a relentless and strident critic of conditions of the city, has appeared unexpectedly at councilmembers' homes and places of business to voice his complaints and argue his case. His vigilance seems to have intensified into harassment. He sends emails daily to the mayor and the Common Council, as well as other people in the city's employ. The principal targets of his criticism are the Department of Public Works and the Code Enforcement Office. From time to time, Huston copies Gossips on his emails. Last month, Gossips was copied on an email complaining about the absence of stop bars at several intersections around town. The following is reproduced from that email, much of which was in enlarged type and "shouty caps."

  
Regarding the purpose of the camera at Sixth and Columbia streets, I do recall its purpose. The camera was placed there in response to concerns from residents of the area. At least two cars, maybe more, parked overnight near that corner had been badly damaged or totaled by vehicles driven recklessly through the intersection. The camera was placed there to help identify the miscreants should there be similar incidents in the future.
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