Launching a Year of Celebration

This year--2026--marks the 2ooth anniversary of the birth of Frederic Church, To celebrate, The Olana Partnership is launching a special initiative, Frederic Church 200, to extend this important artist's legacy.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 14, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., you can learn about the conception of this project and what the coming year will entail during a webinar with Sean E. Sawyer, Washburn & Susan Oberwager President of The Olana Partnership, and Elizabeth Kornhauser, Consulting Senior Curator and Chair of the Church 200 Committee, moderated by Sylia Yount, Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in charge of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The presentation and conversation will highight Church's legacy as a national and global artist, with paintings in more than seventy public art museums across the United States and in Europe, and also at Olana. Join the discussion to learn more about how to get involved in the celebration and participate in exhibitions and programs celebrating this important artist's work and vision.

To register for the webinar, click here.

The More Things Change . . .

The Common Council held its organizational meeting tonight, at which it reviewed and adopted the rules of order for 2026. Perhaps the biggest change going forward is that Council meetings will be held later in the month than they have been for as long as anyone can remember. The regular monthly meeting will be held on the fourth Tuesday of the month instead of the third Tuesday, and the informal meeting will be held eight days prior to the regular meeting, which usually works out to be the third Monday of the month.

Council president Margaret Morris suggested that the time of the Council meetings might be changed back to 7:00 p.m., which up until 2022 had been the usual time for Council meetings. Morris polled the councilmembers, and the majority of them preferred 6:00 p.m. or had no preference. It appears the meeting time will remain 6:00 p.m., although toward the end of the meeting, Henry Haddad (First Ward), who had stated his preference for 7:00 p.m., argued that the decision about the meeting time should not be made based on what members of the Council wanted but rather on what the community preferred. He opined that meeting at 7:00 p.m. might better serve the community. 

The rules of order prescribe that, except in "unavoidable or unforeseen circumstances," all resolutions and proposed laws must be introduced at the informal meeting, and that every resolution or law must have at least one member of the Council as its sponsor, whose responsibility it is to present the legislation and explain its intent and the reason for its consideration. Having the informal meeting be the time for introducing new resolutions and legislation is what the informal meeting was intended for back in 2000 when the practice of having an informal meeting was initiated. 

In January 2021, Tom DePietro eliminated all standing committees in favor of having all department heads report to the full Council at the informal meeting. Morris is reversing that and bringing back standing committees, although not the same ones that existed before. Morris has designated five committees:

• Finance--Treasurer's office and economic development
• Safety--Police Department and Fire Department
• Services--Youth Department and Senior Center
• Code and Infrastructure--Code Enforcement Office and Department of Public Work
• Legal--most resolutions and all proposed laws will pass through this committee

Every councilmember is required to serve on at least one committee. Committee assignments have not yet been determined and will be announced at a later date.

The majority and minority leaders for this year and the next were announced. Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward), who previously served as minority leader, will now be the majority leader. (This is what can happen when all the councilmembers are of the same party.) Mohammed Rony (Second Ward) will be the minority leader. The duties of the majority and minority leaders are serving on the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA). 

The Council will meet on January 20 at 6:00 p.m. to vote on paying the bills and on some other matters. 

The recording of the meeting can now be viewed on YouTube by clicking here.

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News About 11 Warren Street

Alexandria Madero, who now represents the First Ward on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, shared the following information about the County's plans for 11 Warren Street. Readers will recall that Madero was a charter member of the 11 Warren Street Action Group. 

I recently met with Ray Jurkowski, County Commissioner of Public Works, who welcomes initial design suggestions from City of Hudson residents. Ideas can be sent to me at alexandria.madero@columbiacountyny.gov and I will forward them to him.

There will be a County Public Works Committee meeting on January 21 to propose a resolution to hire an exterior design consultant. While the public is welcome to attend, please note that there will be no discussion regarding design or scheduling at this time; the focus is solely on the resolution to hire the consultant.

Meeting Details:

January 21, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

County Public Works Committee Meeting

401 State Street--Committee Room

Once the committee approves the resolution, it will go to the full Board of Supervisors for a vote in February. After a consultant is hired, they will provide three schematic concept drawings for review and input at two public input sessions. The dates for completion of schematics and public input sessions are still to be determined, and I will share that information as soon as it becomes available.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Alexandria Madero

Supervisor, Hudson First Ward

An RFP (request for proposal) for a design consultant for 11 Warren Street was issued in September. Nothing is known about who responded to the RFP, how and by whom the responses were evaluated, or even if a decision has been made about who the design consultant will be. There may be some discussion of the proposals submitted in response to the RFP at the January 21 meeting, or it may be the case that the decision has already been made, and the committee will just be agreeing to something that is already a fait accompli. Time will tell.

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Protest in the Public Square

Yesterday, about 150 people gathered in Seventh Street Park to protest the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

Gossips was unable to attend the protest, but a reader provided these pictures.

The main speaker at the event was Malcolm Nance, who said something that resonated with my source and in turn with me. Nance asserted that Kristi Noem was chosen to head up the Department of Homeland Security because of her ability to be cruel. As my source reported, "Shooting her puppy is not a punchline; it's her job qualification to head a secret police force under Trump."

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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

The holidays are definitely behind us, and the regular rhythm of meetings has resumed.

• On Monday, January 12, the Common Council holds its organizational meeting at 6:00 p.m. It is at this meeting that the Council adopts its rules of order for 2026 and the majority leader and minority leader are announced. Margaret Morris, the new Council president, has made known her intention to reinstate standing committees, so those committees and the councilmembers who will serve on each committee may also be announced. 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 Tuesday, January 13, the Planning Board holds its first meeting of 2026 at 6:30 p.m. The agenda for the meeting suggests that this will be an organizational meeting, with opening remarks from the new chair, Ron Bogle, and brief statements about their background and perspective from each member of the Planning Board. The consultants--legal counsel and engineer--will also be introduced. The meeting will be in person only at City Hall, but it may also be livestreamed on YouTube.

Update: Gossips was informed this morning by Planning Board chair Ron Bogle that the Planning Board meeting on Tuesday and all Planning Board meetings going forward will be hybrid--taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely. 

• On Wednesday, January 14, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meets at 9:30 a.m. Because the makeup of the IDA is primarily ex officio--mayor, Council majority leader and minority leader, Planning Board chair, city treasurer, city assessor--almost all of the members of the IDA will be different for 2026. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at 1 City Centre, Suite 301, and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely. 

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Checking Up on HCSD

As Gossips has already reported, the Hudson City School District Board of Education has initiated the process of searching for a new superintendent. In the meantime, a reader sent the link to tables that show the percentage of students in Grades 3 through 8 in New York who scored proficient on statewide assessment tests in the 2024-2025 school year. The tests are administered in math and in ELA (English language arts--reading and writing). In the tables, school districts are listed in descending order, from highest scoring to lowest scoring.

• The table for math is thirty-six pages long, and you have to click through to page 35 to find HCSD. Of the 608 students who took the test, only 25 percent scored proficient in math.
• The table for ELA is forty-four pages long, and the results for HCSD appear on page 41. Of the 621 students who took the test, 31 percent scored proficient in ELA--reading and writing.

You can explore the tables for yourself by clicking here.

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New Year, New Council

On Monday, the Common Council holds its organizational meeting. At the meeting, the Council president proposes and the Council adopts its Rules of Order for the year. As a preview of the meeting, Trixie's List interviewed the new Council president, Margaret Morris. That interview can be found here. 

SHPO Weighs In on 14 & 16 North Fourth Street

On November 20, two days after it was acknowledged that 14 and 16 North Fourth Street were in a locally designated historic district and the proposal to demolish them needed to go before the Historic Preservation Commission, the project was submitted for comment to the State Office of Historic Preservation (SHPO). Yesterday, January 9, the comments from SHPO were received by the Planning Board. The following is quoted from the letter from SHPO:

We recognize that these buildings may not be readily adaptable to the proposed hotel use, although a version of what appears to be a workable conversion of both buildings is provided in the alternatives documentation. In accordance with the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation, new or continued use should be compatible with the historic building and the new use should be deferential to the historic building and its character-defining features. Thus, although the proposed use may not be easily adaptable to the historic building it is the preservation of the building that is paramount when considering impacts to historic resources.

It is our opinion that the proposed demolition of the two State and National Register listed buildings is an adverse impact to historic resources. We recommend that alternatives continue to be considered to avoid adverse impacts resulting from the proposed demolition. . . .

The entire letter can be found here.

The Historic Preservation Commission, which is currently reviewing the proposal for 14 and 16 North Fourth Street, had scheduled a public hearing on the application to take place yesterday, Friday, January 9. At the request of the applicant, the public hearing was postponed, and a new date for the hearing has not been determined. At the HPC meeting yesterday, a member of the public who did not realize the hearing had been postponed spoke in opposition to the demolition.

The picture below, which dates from the end of the 19th century, shows the houses on the east side of North Fourth Street. The two Greek Revival houses in the foreground are being integrated into the Hudson Public Hotel. The two houses in question--14 and 16--appear just beyond the alley. 

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Whatever Can Go Wrong Will Go Wrong

Murphy's Law seems to be in control of the city's efforts to update its parking system. Today, the signage explaining how to pay for onstreet parking began appearing in the blocks of Warren Street below Third, but, alas, the signs, which are attached to lamp posts, are positioned so high that it is impossible to scan the QR code or even to read the numbers and codes needed to make a payment.

Photo courtesy Rachel Careau

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Addendum: Rob Perry, superintendent of Public Works, took issue with the statement that it was impossible to scan the QR code because the signs were positioned too high. He offered this advice: "Just hold your phone up and 'zoom.'" He provided these photographs to demonstrate how it's done.

Gossips stands corrected.

The Superintendent Search

An adage familiar to many, often erroneously attributed to Albert Einstein, is this: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results." It came to mind on Wednesday when, at the Hudson City School District Board of Education meeting, it became known the HYA was been engaged to conduct the search for a new superintendent. HYA is the same search group that brought us Juliette Pennyman, who resigned abruptly and without explanation in August, after serving as HCSD superintendent for only two years.

The video of Wednesday's superintendent search workshop can be viewed here.

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Ear to the Ground

Gossips has learned that Craig Haigh, who has served as code enforcement officer since 2013, has submitted his resignation. 

In September, at the first budget workshop held by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, Haigh requested a 40 percent increase in his department's budget, which would bring it to $234,335. Part of that increase was a $10,000 raise in his salary. Haigh told the BEA, "If I were employed by the state, that would be my salary." He also indicated that he had applied for state jobs, and were he to be offered one, he would take it. The 2026 budget does not include the increases in the Code Enforcement Office budget that Haigh sought, and what he said might happen has happened.

In a city that takes pride in its historic architecture, Haigh is to be commended for his willingness to work with the Historic Preservation Commission. His approach to historic preservation and the HPC was a welcome change from the previous code enforcement officer, who never attended HPC meetings, issued demolition permits without certificates of appropriateness from the HPC, and allowed projects that significantly altered historic buildings to bypass the HPC altogether. In contrast, Haigh has faithfully attended HPC meetings and maintained a good working relationship with the HPC.

Phil Forman, who has chaired the HPC since 2017, said this of Haigh and his work with the commission:

Craig was my partner, friend, and mentor in making preservation a reality in Hudson. We worked together for ten years and hundreds of projects. We shared the conviction that problems are there to be solved and government is about service to the community. I will miss working with him but am grateful for the gift of having done so.

On a personal note, from The Gossips of Rivertown, Haigh was always responsive whenever I contacted him with concerns about activity in historic districts and questions about ongoing projects.  

Haigh said at the HPC meeting this morning that it was the goal to have a new code enforcement officer in place before he left in early February. 

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The Fate of Two Houses

Tomorrow's meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission was supposed to include a public hearing on the proposed demolition of 14 and 16 North Fourth Street to make way for an annex to the Galvan Foundation's Hudson Public Hotel, at the corner of Fourth and Warren streets. Gossips learned this morning that, at the request of the applicant, the public hearing has been postponed. A new date for the hearing is still to be determined.

At the December 12 meeting of the HPC, when the proposal was presented, Walter Chatham, who represents Galvan on the hotel project, argued that Hudson is changing and replacing the two houses with buildings compatible in use and appearance with the proposed Hudson Public Hotel was good planning. At one point, Chatham lamented, "Nobody is looking at the city holistically."

Chatham also argued that the surroundings of the two houses were "a harsh urban environment to have a home in," noting, "The houses will be in a very busy place," with Helsinki behind them and Warren Street half a block away. The two houses have been vacant since Galvan took possession of them in 2023. When the houses were part of the Helsinki campus, they were used to house staff and visiting performers.

When the question was asked why the demolition of these houses and the construction of the annex buildings were not part of the original proposal presented to the HPC, it was noted that the original plan was to create additional hotel rooms in the houses, but that plan was abandoned because the challenge of converting a house into hotel rooms proved too great. HPC member Miranda Barry suggested the houses could be used as apartments for hotel staff.

HPC member Hugh Biber observed, "These are two viable historic homes in a historic district. I don't see how we just take them down. Taking them down would go against what we do here." He went on to say, "People come to this town because it represents every architectural movement. This goes against what we are trying to do here."

Chatham maintained they were "the wrong houses in the wrong place" and asserted, "It is an impediment to how our city could develop." He opined that "urban planning should be part of what the HPC does." He tried to discount the historic value of one of the houses by saying its design "has been repeated all over the city." He went on to suggest that, if the HPC denies a certificate of appropriateness for the demolition, the owner (Galvan) "can ignore the buildings until they are deteriorated, so they can argue they are beyond repair."

As stated at the beginning of this post, the public hearing on the demolition of these houses, which was supposed to happen at tomorrow's HPC meeting, has been postponed. When it will be rescheduled is not known. The HPC meeting takes place tomorrow, Friday, January 9, at 10:00 a.m., in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

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New Faces on the Planning Board

The Register-Star reports today that Ron Bogle and Peter Spear have been appointed to the Planning Board: "Hudson Mayor Ferris names two new members to city planning board." 

Bogle, who has impressive credentials--founder and CEO of the National Design Alliance, former president of the American Architectural Foundation and a managing partner in the Mayors' Institute of City Design--replaces Theresa Joyner as chair of the Planning Board. Bogle is the author of two opinion pieces published last year during the Planning Board's review of Colarusso's application for a conditional use permit for its dock operations: "The Cost of Getting It Wrong at the Hudson Waterfront" and "A Time to Listen, Not Dismiss."

Peter Spear, former mayoral candidate and founder of Future Hudson, has spoken for years about the "planning gap" that exists in Hudson. 

A third vacancy remains on the Planning Board, which, according to the article, Ferris expects to fill before the first Planning Board meeting of 2026, which takes place on Tuesday, January 13.

The Latest Information on Parking

This information has been published in any number of other places, but on the off chance that someone may have missed it, here it is again.

As the City of Hudson transitions from parking meters to a new street-parking payment offering, the Office of the Mayor and the Hudson Police Department would like to share the following updates:

• As of today [January 6], the installation of new parking signage is underway. More production delays have set us back a few days.
• To provide residents the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the new system, on-street metered parking enforcement is suspended until Friday, January 16th.
• All of Warren Street is now paid parking, including the previously excluded blocks (Front Street to 3rd Street and 8th Street to the Prospect/Worth intersection).
• Other side streets that were previously metered remain subject to parking fees, payable via the new kiosk system or other payment methods on the signage.
• With paid parking now expanded and kiosks located only at municipal lots, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the location of the closest kiosk if you intend to pay with coins (those paying by card will be able to pay by phone/app from anywhere).
• Kiosks that have been installed are being programmed to pay for both municipal lots and on-street parking.
• A valid license plate number is required for all payment options.
• Meter heads will remain at handicap accessible spaces to ensure that individuals with disabilities continue to have multiple payment options.
• As a reminder, payment via the QR code and text-to-park will incur a $.39 per transaction convenience fee while ParkMobile includes a $.60 per transaction convenience fee.
• For those wishing to pay in cash at the kiosks, please note that quarters, half dollars, or dollar coins (no bills) are accepted.
• There are plans to add parking spaces to both the upper and lower sections of Warren Street, including handicap accessible spaces, in the spring.

If you have any questions, please email parkingbureau@cityofhudson.org or doreen.danforth@hudsonpoliceny.org. We appreciate the public's patience and understanding as these updates are implemented and will continue to provide information as it becomes available.

Meeting Meriting Attention

Tonight, Wednesday, January 7, the Hudson City School District Board of Education meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting, a Superintendent Search Workshop, takes place in the Senior High School library. The announcement of the meeting does not indicate that the meeting will be livestreamed, although school board meetings typically are. If it is livestreamed, it can be viewed here on YouTube.