Last Night at the Planning Board: Part 2

The major purpose of last night's special Planning Board meeting was to review the design of the proposed buildings. In March, Quncie Williams, the architect from Alexander Gorlin Architects who said he was the architect for the project, made a presentation to the Planning Board and got a tad huffy when Planning Board member Peter Spear pressed him about the relationship of the renderings to what would be the final product. Last night, Alex Gorlin himself was there to make the presentation. Interestingly, he identified himself as the design architect and did not mention Williams. 

Gorlin began by saying his firm has worked with Mountco, HHA's development partner, for the past fifteen years, "doing a number of award-winning projects." He proceeded to show pictures of some of those projects: Neremiah Spring Creek in East New York;

The Brook in the Bronx;

Boston Road in the Bronx; 

and El Borinquen Residence in the Bronx.

He maintained that all of these buildings were "designed not to look affordable but to look market rate." 

In demonstrating his credentials for the project, Gorlin also mentioned his book, Housing the Nation: Social Equity, Architecture, and the Future of Affordable Housing, which is actually a collection of essays by other people that he co-edited with architectural historian Victoria Newhouse. 

He then launched into a history of the site, which he described as being in its earliest time "near whale fishing docks." The visuals started with an 1838 map of Hudson and ended with this is still from the 1959 film Odds Against Tomorrow.

He explained they were "trying to bring back the bustling urbanism of Hudson." (An aside: Gossips was just on Warren Street and can attest that Hudson does not need any help to bring back its bustling urbanism. That might have been true thirty years ago, but it certainly isn't now.)

Displaying this graphic, Gorlin talked how about the green space planned for the development "should take its place along the emerald necklace of parks" in Hudson. 

Gorlin pointed out, as he has done before, that the open space that is part of the redevelopment plan is the same size as the Public Square, a.k.a. Seventh Street Park. He asserted that the open space could be "designed wonderfully to be one of the great parks of the city." 

When Planning Board member Veronica Conca asked if there would be more open space than there currently is around Bliss Towers, Gorlin didn't actually answer the question. Instead he said, "It won't feel like leftover space." Interestingly, two weeks ago, when the Planning Board was reviewing plans for the proposed "Waterfront Village," on the other end of Second Street, members of the Planning Board worried that the open space included in that project would be "exclusive." No one expressed similar concerns about the open space proposed for this project.

Gorlin's presentation provided lots of new renderings. These two which show essentially models of what the site will look like when Phase 1 is completed and what it will look like when Bliss Towers and Columbia Apartments have been demolished and Phase 2 is completed.

There are also these renderings, which show the project from various vantage points on the site. The inset in the bottom right indicates the vantage point for each one. A couple of them assume that Phase 2 is already completed.

Gorlin said he had "looked to the texture of the city on Warren Street to pull that into what we're doing and especially the scale and the use of brick and bay windows." He noted, "We're doing four-story buildings in keeping with the general height of the city itself." Despite the talk about texture and scale and buildings that "align harmoniously into the community," not one of the renderings presented by Gorlin shows the project in actual context. What will people walking on Warren Street see when look to the north at Second Street? What will drivers see when they turn north onto Second from Warren Street? What will people leaving the dog park see after they've pulled up the steep hill and are approaching State Street? And maybe the biggest question: Why did Gorlin say they were building four-story buildings when the renderings clearly show five stories? 

Gorlin called Bliss Towers "a good example of bad urbanism." One wonders what fifty years from now people will call what is currently being proposed.

More to come.

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Last Night with the Planning Board: Part 1

Last night, the Planning Board held a special meeting devoted exclusively to the Hudson Housing Authority's massive redevelopment plan, which when complete will have a total of 276 apartments, more than twice the number of units in Bliss Towers and Columbia Apartments. At one point, Ron Bogle, who chairs the Planning Board, spoke of the meeting as having three parts. Gossips' reporting about the meeting will also be in three parts, although the segmentation will not be the same. 

After some introductory comments by Bogle, Sara Black spoke to address concerns about conflict of interest. Black, who was appointed to the Planning Board by Mayor Joe Ferris in April, was up until that time a member of the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. Prior to that she worked as coordinator for Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) and for The Spark of Hudson on its HudsonDots affordable housing initiative. 

Black defended the propriety of her participation in the review of the HHA project. Here is what she said:

I think most people who have been following the recent public media in town about this project may have seen a concern expressed in the Register-Star and Gossips about whether or not my participation in the discussion of the HHA project constitutes a real or perceived conflict of interest, before I was appointed, because I previously served as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority from January 2025 'til I resigned prior to being appointed to this board. We spoke, I believe the mayor spoke with the city attorneys and I've had a chance to speak with the Planning Board attorney, and Ron did as well before my appointment. And just out of respect for our neighbors and this process and the applicants, I just want to clarify that I do not meet by any stretch of the imagination any sort of legal threshold for a conflict of interest. I'm not financially or relationally involved with any of the applicants' party other than, you know, I see Nick Zachos at a barbecue every now and again. 

I think the matter of a perception of a conflict of interest, I think John Friedman in the Register-Star was quoted as saying that I would be appointed to rubberstamp a project that I developed, and that wasn't my experience on the Housing Authority board. I was appointed after the majority of the development work had been decided on, including all the sort of resident feedback. Most of what I learned about this project I learned the same way other members of the public might have, by going to the HHA meetings. I was never a member of the development committee. I essentially in no way shaped this development. I went back and checked the minutes. From my appointment, we never voted on this project. I never really weighed in substantively on the configuration of the project. I think I at one point in the process asked a question in public, you know, how can the commissioners be supporting this process? But, so I welcome any public or personal feedback on this, but I have received clearance from legal counsel to participate fully as a member of the Planning Board. I think that might be all I have to say.

The Register-Star article Black references can be found here. What Friedman actually said, as quoted in the article, is this:

I have no idea who Ms. Black is, but I know what she has been doing, which is sitting on this particular board that has a matter that's now before another board, so she'll basically be passing judgment on her own work. Whether she approved of that work or not is somewhat immaterial. The fact of the matter is that she had a stake in the outcome, and now she has an ability to basically act as a sort of an adjudicator on that particular project [Bliss]. So, I would think that, as a matter of just basic ethical practice, that she would recuse herself from the deliberations and any decision-making concerning any matter that was before the Housing Authority Board while she was a sitting member of that board.

After Black made her statement, Bogle made his own statement, as a "point of clarification":

The Planning Board is appointed by the mayor, and in this matter the Planning Board, including the chairman, has no particular authority or position to make any determination. It would be Sara's decision alone to decide how she wanted to engage on this particular project.

And so the meeting began. More come.

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News of 11 Warren Street

At its meeting on Tuesday, the Common Council approved the agreement between the City of Hudson and Columbia County regarding dedicated onstreet parking for county employees at 11 Warren Street but not before amending it. The term of the agreement was reduced from five years to two years, and a stipulation was added that the County would assume the expense of having the onstreet handicapped spot moved from the south side to the street to the north side. 

Even with the amendments, two councilmembers--Claire Cousin (Fifth Ward) and Lola Roberts (Third Ward)--voted against it. Cousin, who represented the First Ward on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors in 2023 when the decision to buy 11 Warren was made and was absent from the meeting at which the vote on the acquisition was taken, told her colleagues on the Council that residents and business owners on lower Warren Street object to the plan for providing parking for county employees "because we haven't figured out how to accommodate their employees." Cousin was alluding to the recently imposed parking fees for parking below Third Street. 

In more news regarding 11 Warren Street, the promised workshop session at which the public is asked to review and comment on three possible designs for exterior changes to the building has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The following statement is from Ray Jurkowski, Commissioner of Public Works for Columbia County:

You're invited! On Tuesday, June 9th between 5pm-7pm at the County offices located at 401 State Street, Columbia County is hosting its first community meeting regarding the facade improvement project for the building at 11 Warren Street in the City of Hudson. The purpose of this meeting is to gather community input on the three proposed exterior renovation options for the building.

The meeting will include a brief presentation from the project team, and an opportunity to provide input on each renovation concept and take a community survey. Visit www.columbiacountyny.gov for regular project updates and more information.

It is typical of the County's obviousness to Hudson and the concerns of its residents that the meeting overlaps with a Planning Board meeting (6:00 p.m.) and Mayor Ferris's town hall meeting for the Fifth Ward (6:30 p.m.).

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News of Pocketbook Hudson

On Tuesday, the Common Council approved the lease agreement between the City of Hudson and Pocketbook Hudson which, for an annual fee of $18,000, gives PBH the use of 10,458 square feet, the space needed for 34 parking spaces, in the vacant lot across Washington Street from Central Fire Station. Perhaps this will alleviate some of the issues arising from patrons of Pocketbook Hudson Hotel and Baths taking up onstreet parking spaces in the immediate neighborhood typically available to residents. 

In its continuing effort to be good neighbors and a vital part of the community, Pocketbook Hudson announced yesterday on Instagram "Luncheonette: A Free Community Meal," to take place on June 15, beginning at 1:00 p.m.

The event, which is to happen every month, is described in this way:

A community gathering that brings people together over a nourishing free lunch. Each month, Lunchbar Project crafts meals rooted in the seasonality of local farm purveyors, using organic, high quality, whole ingredients to create healthy, nutritious, beautiful, and accessible food for everyone. Share a meal, connect, and indulge in conversation.

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Not Yet Done with the Dunn

Spenser Walsh reports on Tuesday's contentious meeting of the Hudson Development Corporation, during which Mayor Joe Ferris, who serves on the HDC Board ex officio, accused HDC officers Chris Jones and Nick Haddad of "blindsiding" him at the Common Council's informal meeting on May 18: "Ferris urges HDC to stay on 'sidelines' in Dunn deal."

At Tuesday's HDC meeting, Ferris suggested the incident at the Council meeting had been a "setup" because Council president Margaret Morris had violated Council rules by allowing Jones and Haddad to speak before the public comment period on the agenda. Jones denied that this was the case. Haddad reminded Ferris that they had expressed their concerns about the sale to him two months ago. Ferris is quoted in the article as saying, "If this falls through, HDC better be willing to buy the building, because it will have been the efforts of HDC leadership that have helped end this process."

This isn't the first time an elected official serving ex officio on its board has locked horns with HDC. In 2018, then Council president Tom DePietro expressed that opinion that HDC was "a quasi-agency that is outdated and should probably no longer exist" and asked the city attorney to "look into how does one get rid of an LDC [local development corporation]."

But help is on the way to bring this Dunn dilemma to a satisfactory end. Lloyd Koedding, now identifying himself as the "Savior of the Tree of Peace," has announced, at several public meetings in the past week, that he is actively working on an amazing plan for the Dunn warehouse, which he proposes should be called by its original name, "Boston Hudson Railroad Shop," a plan he predicts will "put Hudson on the map big time."

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Happening Tonight

Tonight, Wednesday, May 27, there is a community town hall about the downsizing of Columbia Memorial Hospital. The event takes place from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the theater at Time & Space Limited (TSL), 434 Columbia Street in Hudson.

Community residents, frontline hospital workers represented by 1199SEIU, and elected officials including State Senator Michelle Hinchey, Assemblymember Didi Barrett, and Mayor Joseph Ferris will gather to speak out against the proposal to slash inpatient beds at Columbia Memorial Hospital from more than 192 certified beds to just 25 in order to apply for Critical Access Hospital designation. Leaders and advocates warn the proposal could increase emergency room wait times, delay lifesaving care, strain EMS services, force more patients to Albany, and deepen transportation barriers for vulnerable residents. They maintain the plan prioritizes finances over community need and follows a decade of disinvestment at the hospital since its affiliation with Albany Med. 

At the town hall, organizers will present findings from a community "health equity impact assessment" informed by more than 400 surveys and in-depth interviews of residents, EMS workers, patients, and hospital staff.

Contradictions and lack of essential information plague the publicly available request for state approval submitted by CMH administrators last year. A heavily redacted version of their initial plan is available on Albany Med's website: https://digital.1199seiu.org/CMHcutsCON.

Addendum

The following was left out of this week's "Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead":

• On Thursday, May 28, Mayor Joe Ferris holds a town hall meeting for the First Ward at Christ Church Episcopal, 431 Union Street. Coinciding with a special Planning Board meeting devoted to the Hudson Housing Authority redevelopment plan, the town hall takes place from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Change of Leadership at CEDC

Last week, the imminent retirement of Mike Tucker as president and CEO of Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) was in the news. This week, CEDC revealed Tucker's successor. The following is the press release making the announcement:

The Board of Directors of the Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDE) is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Spampinato as the organization's next President and Chief Executive Officer.

Spampinato brings more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning economic development, sustainability, strategic communications, public affairs, and organizational management across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. He will succeed longtime President and CEO F. Michael Tucker and will lead the organization's continued effort to strengthen Columbia County's economy, support local businesses, expand housing and workforce opportunities, and advance strategic development initiatives throughout the county. . . . 

Most recently, Spampinato served as Senior Manager of Global Sustainability for Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a publicly traded international shipping and logistics company, where he worked across global business units to integrate environmental, social, and governance practices into corporate strategy and operations. Prior to that, he held senior leadership roles with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the IKEA Foundation, and other organizations focused on communications, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable economic development.

Earlier in his career, Spampinato worked in Massachusetts state government, including positions with the Massachusetts Office of International Trade & Investment and the Office of Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation, where he developed experience in public policy, economic development, and regulatory affairs.

A resident of Hudson, Spampinato has also become deeply engaged in local civic and economic development efforts. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the Hudson Industrial Development Agency and is involved with several local nonprofit and community organizations, including the Columbia Memorial Health Foundation and Friends of Park Square [sic]. . . . [Gossips Note: That should be Friends of the Public Square (FOPS).]

In the coming months, Spampinato will work closely with CEDC staff, Board members, local governments, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, and regional partners to ensure a smooth leadership transition and maintain continuity across the organization's ongoing initiatives and programs. The transition process will prioritize collaboration, relationship-building, and continued progress on the organization's strategic priorities, while creating opportunities for community stakeholders to engage with the new President and CEO as he begins his tenure.

Spampinato will officially begin his role on June 15, 2026.

A Hundred Years Ago in Hudson

The following item, first published on May 26, 1926, appeared in the Times Union today.

Curious to know more about Emmanuel Volk, I checked the city directories, made available online by the History Room of the Hudson Area Library. Alas, the directories for the years immediately prior to 1926 only list an E. Volk at 14 South Front Street, an address that is now a vacant lot.

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Many thanks to Virginia Martin for bringing this to our attention.

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

Starting out with a holiday, this final week in May is a short one but possibly a consequential one when it comes to meetings. 

• On Tuesday, May 26, Hudson Development Corporation meets at 4:00 p.m. in the conference room at 1 North Front Street. This will be the first meeting since HDC's president and vice president, Chris Jones and Nick Haddad, appeared at the Common Council meeting to urge that the City not sell the Dunn warehouse, and it is likely that proposal and the response from Mayor Joe Ferris, who serves ex officio on the HDC board, will be a topic of discussion. The meeting can be joined remotely on Zoom. Click here for the link. 

• Also on Tuesday, May 26, 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 Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

UPDATE: The Finance Committee meeting has been canceled.

• At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, the Common Council holds its regular monthly meeting. As Gossips has already reported, Ben Fain is expected to be at the meeting to speak about the proposed "Waterfront Village" and address concerns that have been raised by councilmembers. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

• On Wednesday, May 27, at 4:00 p.m., Mayor Joe Ferris is holding a public hearing on a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application the City of Hudson is proposing on behalf of Return Brewing LLC. The hearing will be a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the hearing remotely.

• Also on Wednesday, May 27, the Public Works Board meets at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
• Thursday, May 28, is Grievance Day. From 3:30 until 8:00 p.m., members of the Board of Assessment Review (BAR) will be at the Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street, to hear and examine all properly filed complaints about assessment of real property. For more information, click here.
• Also on Thursday, May 28, the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
• At approximately 6:45 p.m., on Thursday, May 28, or whenever the HCDPA meeting adjourns, the Planning Board holds a special meeting devoted to the Hudson Housing Authority's redevelopment plan. In particular, the meeting is meant to review the design of the proposed buildings. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

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It's Gonna Rain on Our Parade

Because this dismal rain is expected to continue tomorrow, the Memorial Day parade has been canceled. The following is the announcement just received from City Hall: 

Due to expected inclement weather, tomorrow morning's Memorial Day parade has been canceled. Everyone is invited to the Memorial Day Ceremony which will be held at St. Mary's Academy, 301 Allen Street. The event will start promptly at 10 a.m.

An Invitation to Make Your Voice Heard

Now that the school budget vote is behind us and the selection of a new superintendent of schools has not yet been made, it seems an appropriate time to share this information. 

Peter Meyer is working on story about the Hudson City School District for a national publication. Meyer is not only a journalist who writes about education, a former news editor for Life Magazine, and the author of numerous nonfiction books, he is also the father of an HCSD graduate (who went on to the University of Chicago), a former member of the HCSD Board of Education, and the creator of a successful student journalism program at HCSD which was discontinued in 2024 by former superintendent of schools Dr. Juliette Pennyman.

The story will be published sometime this summer. In the meantime, Meyer invites people who were engaged in the budget struggle or affected by it and/or are involved in some way in the selection of a new superintendent to respond to a survey he has created. The survey can be found here. Completed surveys should be returned to Meyer at the email address provided on the survey.

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The Problem with Renderings

Gossips has on a few occasions bemoaned the shortcomings of renderings of proposed projects. Renderings can be downright inaccurate, or, as is usually the case, they can make what is proposed look a whole lot better than the reality of the finished project. 

On May 12, the plans for the proposed "Waterfront Village" were presented to the Planning Board. Although the project will be completed in three phases, the entire project was presented to avoid the misfeasance of segmentation. All the drawings and renderings for the project that were submitted to the Planning Board can be found here. Gossips reproduced some of them here. One of the renderings also appeared in the Register-Star. Although the project is currently before the Planning Board, the renderings are being scrutinized and commented on in other public meetings.

At the Common Council Legal Committee meeting on May 14, when the committee was discussing the rezoning petition received regarding the project, Hudson resident Ronald Kopnicki made reference to the rendering shown below and cautioned the renderings were not to be trusted because the crane in the rendering does not appear to be where it currently is. 

At the informal meeting of the Common Council on May 18, when Council president Margaret Morris called for New Business, Councilmember Henry Haddad (First Ward) brought up the proposed Waterfront Village and mentioned in particular this rendering:

Haddad said the rendering "shows properties not owned by Ben Fain demolished and used as parking lots." He alleged that residents of Cross Street and Tanners Lane have been "muscled out." He also claimed that there were only three occupied houses left on Tanners Lane.

Gossips has learned that Ben Fain, who is proposing the project, will be at Tuesday's Common Council meeting to clarify the renderings and respond to concerns. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place at 6:00 p.m. in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely. 

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Of Interest

The first item in the weekly catalog of happenings in Hudson on Trixie's List today is a review of an hour-long walking tour of Hudson offered by US Ghost Adventures: "Hudson Ghost Tour Adventure."   

Photo: Trixie's List

Trixie reports: "The tour guide started by explaining how Hudson is possessed by spirits who are unhappy and not at rest." That statement should surprise no one. There are many among the living in Hudson who could be described as "unhappy and not at rest."

More "Accidental Beauty" to Be Lost

Since January, the Historic Preservation Commission has been considering a proposal to demolish this historic accessory building at the corner of South First Street and Cherry Alley, behind 30 Union Street, and replace it with a new building.

The desire to eliminate this building, which was probably originally a carriage house, and replace it with something new has been shared by at least two owners of the property. As Gossips has recounted before, in 2017 the HPC received a proposal for a new building that was at least an attempt to replicate the character of the historic building, but that proposal was never pursued. 

Elevations for the 2017 proposal

In January, the HPC received a new proposal to demolish the building and construct something new. The renderings below show the building that was originally proposed.

The HPC was concerned about the height of the new building, the orientation of the roof with the gable on the narrow side, and the overall modern look of what was proposed. At one point in the review process, HPC chair Phil Forman and architect member Cara Cragan made a visit to the site to see if the existing building might not be salvaged. Members of the HPC were concerned about losing a building that had "enormous charm" and contributed to the character and unconventional beauty of Hudson's alleys. Sadly, the owner of the building considered it a "dilapidated eyesore," maintaining that it had no history and was "just a shack in the middle of town." 

At the May 8 meeting of the HPC, as an "homage to the original structure," it was agreed that a faux hayloft door would be added to the design, "to capture what would have been the vernacular of a horse barn." And so it was.

At its meeting this morning, the four members of the HPC present--Forman, Cragan, Jeremy Stynes, and Paul Barrett--agreed to grant a certificate of appropriateness to the proposed building with a faux hayloft door in the north gable. 

It should be noted that the height of the roof has changed since the building was first proposed, and the applicant has agreed to use real wood siding instead of Hardiplank.

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