A Preview of What Is to Come

The Planning Board meets tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. On the agenda for the meeting is the Hudson Housing Authority's redevelopment plan. In advance of that meeting, materials to be presented at the meeting have been posted in the Planning Board Portal. Among those materials are elevation drawings--not renderings that show the buildings in the context of the surrounding neighborhood but two dimensional elevation drawings--of the buildings proposed for the Bliss Towers site and for the lot at corner of Second and Columbia streets, now a community garden.

This is the elevation drawing for the west facade of Building A1, which will be situated on the Bliss Towers site, behind the current building. (When the new buildings have been constructed and the current tenants relocated, the tower will be demolished.)

Additional elevation drawings for this building, as well as floor plans, can be found here.

This is the elevation drawing for the street-facing facade of Building B, which will be located on State Street where the park and gazebo currently are. 

Additional elevation drawings for this building, as well as floor plans, can be found here.

In July, this drawing of the design being considered for the townhouses was shared.

The design seems to have evolved since then. This is the elevation drawing for the street-facing facade of the townhouses.

Additional elevation drawings and floor plans for the townhouses can be found here.

When this project got started almost three years ago, Alexander Gorlin Architects was announced as the architectural firm that would be designing the buildings. Gorlin and his associates appeared at several meetings over the years. Curiously though, the plans and drawings submitted to the Planning Board today are not from Alexander Gorlin Architects but from a firm called Aufgang Architects, located in Suffern. One wonders exactly when and why Gorlin was replaced by Aufgang as the architects for the project. 

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HCSD Superintendent Search Update

The Hudson City School District website now has a page devoted to the Superintendent Search.

There you will find the proposed timeline for hiring a new superintendent. It involves four phases, the first of which, to take place in the month of February, is Community Input. A part of the Community Input phase is the Superintendent Search Survey. Input is being sought from all stakeholders in the district, which are defined as:

• Parents and guardians
• Students
• Teachers and staff
• Community members
• Local partners and organizations

The survey can be found here. Readers who live in the Hudson City School District, especially those who are property owners and taxpayers, are encouraged to complete it.

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

The best thing that's going to happen this week is that on Wednesday the high temperature is predicted to be a balmy 36 degrees. In addition to that eagerly anticipated event, there are some meetings of interest.

• On Monday, February 9, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meets at 1:00 p.m.--a different day and a different time for this group, not mention all the new faces: Mayor Joe Ferris, Planning Board chair Ron Bogle, Common Council minority leader Mohammed Rony, and community member Jonathan Spampinato. 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.
• At 5:30 p.m. on Monday, February 9. the Common Council Code and Infrastructure Committee holds its initial meeting. At this meeting, Rob Perry, superintendent of Public Works, is expected to make his usual monthly report. Since this past Friday was Craig Haigh's last day working as code enforcement officer for the City of Hudson, and, to Gossips' knowledge, a new code enforcement officer has not yet been hired, it is unclear if the Code Enforcement Office will be represented at this meeting. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
• At 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 9, Mayor Joe Ferris holds his first town hall meeting in the Second Ward. The meeting takes place in the Community Room of Bliss Towers, 41 North Second Street.

• On Tuesday, February 1o, the Planning Board meets at 6:00 p.m. The agenda for the meeting, which can be found here, contains several things of interest, among them Hudson Housing Authority's redevelopment plans (it is hoped the presentation to the Planning Board will finally include renderings to show what the proposed buildings will actually look like) and a proposal to locate a business called GiGi's Wine Bar in one of the commercial spaces at 76 North Seventh Street, a.k.a. Depot Lofts. 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 Thursday, February 12, 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 for the link to join the meeting remotely. 
• Also on Thursday, February 12, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
• On Friday, February 13, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. No agenda for the meeting is as yet available, but it is likely the meeting will include the continuation of the proposal to demolish the existing garage behind 30 Union Street and replace with a new structure. 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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Food News

Eater NY reports today a change soon to happen in the restaurant at Rivertown Lodge: "The Hudson Valley's Buzziest Chef Is Opening a New Spot." What's coming is a "new Mexican restaurant, Pez, with a focus on seafood, on track to open in early May."

The Torch Is Lighted

In 1980, the Olympic torch passed through Hudson on its way to Lake Placid for the Winter Olympics. That event was recorded by Lance Wheeler in a video that can be viewed here.

To memorialize that event, the Hudson Kiwanis Club created a commemorative Olympic torch, which currently resides in the little traffic island that is Rogers Park.

Today, to mark the opening of the Winter Olympics in Milan, officials from the City of Hudson and Columbia County, along with representatives of the revived Kiwanis Club, gathered to light Hudson's commemorative torch, which will burn throughout the duration of the XXV Winter Games.

Photo: Lance Wheeler

Lance Wheeler's video of the torch-lighting ceremony this year in Hudson can be viewed here. 

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A Disturbing Development

Investigative reporter Sarah Trafton has an article in the Times Union exposing the appearance of Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, in the Epstein files: "'I miss you': Emails detail close ties between Jeffrey Epstein and Bard President Leon Botstein." The picture below, which accompanies the article, shows Epstein in Botstein's office. It was included in an email set to Epstein on May 14, 2013, and released as part of the Justice Department's disclosure of the Epstein files.

Botstein is maintaining that his relationship with Epstein was "strictly for the purpose of securing donations for Bard."

Related to the HCSD Superintendent Search

At the January 20 meeting of the Hudson City School District Board of Education, board member Michael Zibella noted there were "six to eight districts in the immediate area looking for a superintendent." One of those districts is Catskill Central across the river. 

Today, Catskill Central shared this information with the Catskill community by email and on its website:

Dear Catskill Community,

The Board of Education would like to send an update to the community regarding the Superintendent search. We hired a search consultant, conducted a full search, interviewed candidates, and brought back three finalists that our community met with. We are very pleased with the completeness of the process and the interest of everyone involved. The Board offered employment to one candidate who accepted. Unfortunately, the candidate then withdrew. The Board pivoted and offered employment to another well-qualified candidate who accepted, then withdrew. Needless to say, this was very disappointing to the entire Board.

At this time, the Board of Education is continuing to explore its options and continue its search. Thank you to our community and stakeholders for their patience while we continue to maneuver this process.

Sincerely,

The Catskill Central School District Board of Education

The consultant hired by Catskill Central School District is Mike Ford of School Leader Search. 

It's a Small World

Last week's post explaining how Bliss Towers got its name inspired Louise Bliss to share some information that may not be generally known. Louise's first husband was Malcolm Bliss, the son of Elah and Roger Bliss, Roger Bliss being the person for whom Bliss Towers was named. Louise and Malcolm's son Robert was a teacher and the assistant superintendent of schools in Rutland, Vermont, when our mayor Joe Ferris was growing up and going to school there. According to Louise, her son remembers that in high school Ferris was an excellent student who participated in clubs and organizations that seem now to "fit right in" with becoming a mayor.

As Mayor Ferris said when I told him that I was planning to write this post, "It's a small world."

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Of Interest

In 2018, a group from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University created eight design ideas for Oakdale Lake. In 2021, students from Pratt Institute's School of Architecture and Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation proposed ideas for reimagining Hudson's waterfront. 

Now a group from the Yale School of Architecture is doing a project on Hudson, which focuses in part on the waterfront. To assist in this effort, Sam Pratt created a timeline of Hudson history. That timeline can be found here. 

The timeline is the focus of a post by Donna Streitz, of Our Hudson Waterfront, which is featured on imby.com today: "A Clear Lesson from Waterfront History." The following is quoted from that post:

The timeline makes clear that Hudson's waterfront has played a central role in the city's economic, cultural, and civic development far beyond the shoreline itself. Today, that legacy is at risk following the Hudson Planning Board's 2025 approval of a Conditional Use Permit for the dock--owned and operated by A. Colarusso & Sons since 2014--that imposes no limit on truck volume and allows weekend operation.

Streitz's entire post can be read here.

What a Concept

Ron Bogle, the new chair of the Planning Board, appeared at last night's meeting of the Conservation Advisory Council to propose that the Planning Board and the CAC might collaborate to achieve better outcomes. He suggested there were projects that had come before the Planning Board in the prior year "that would have benefited from input from the CAC." He didn't specify which projects, but two spring to mind: Mill Street Lofts and the conditional use permit for Colarusso's dock operations. 

In the discussion that followed, CAC member Joshua Cohen noted that in Saugerties the Planning Board regularly asks the Conservation Advisory Council to weigh in on projects before it. This hasn't been happening Hudson. Quite the opposite. It will be recalled that former Common Council president Tom DePietro specifically advised against the CAC weighing in on the Colarusso issue.

It was speculated that Nathan Woodhull, who has served on the CAC and was recently appointed to the Planning Board, might serve as a liaison between the two bodies. 

Could this be the beginning of a more enlightened age in Hudson? 

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Report About Parking

At last night's Common Council Safety Committee meeting, Captain David Miller of the Hudson Police Department reported on the situation with parking. He acknowledged that some people feel the changes in parking are not beneficial but assured the committee that parking, now overseen by HPD, is "working great."

The HPD took over management of the Parking Bureau six months ago. To demonstrate that the Parking Bureau was running more efficiently and more profitably, Miller compared revenue figures from that third and fourth quarters of 2024 and 2025. The income from parking during those two quarters in 2024 was $555,395; during the same period in 2025, the revenue was $649,256--an increase of 17 percent. Miller also reported that in December, 1,322 parking tickets were issued, 1,883 tickets were paid, and 13 cars were booted, resulting in total revenue from parking for December of $101,413.47. 

The video of the entire Safety Committee meeting can be viewed here. 

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Mark Your Calendars

Columbia Memorial Health is holding a Community Town Hall on Wednesday, February 11, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The meeting will take place in person at the CMH Support Services Building at 65 Prospect Avenue.

CMH president and CEO Dorothy M. Urschel and her executive team will provide updates about CMH's goals and strategic imperatives. It will also be an opportunity for the hospital's leadership to hear from the community and answer questions.

All attendees, both in-person and virtual, are asked to register, which can be done here.

Job Opening at the Board of Elections

There is an opening at the Board of Elections for a Democratic Election Specialist. The job is a full-time position with a competitive salary, an excellent benefits package, and New York State retirement. The Election Specialist is the person the public encounters when they visit the Board of Elections. The person filling the position must reside in Columbia County and be a registered Democrat. A full description of the duties and the requirements of the job and information about how to apply can be found here.

Youth Department News

After announcing on Saturday that all programming, including that which took place at the Hudson Area Library, was canceled until further notice because there was a problem with the heating system at the Youth Center, the Youth Department posted this update on Facebook today. It seems the K-2 programming at the library has resumed.

Unwelcome Prognostication

I'm never eager to share bad news, so I let an hour and a half pass before reporting that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, and, according to groundhog lore, we're in for another six weeks of this dreadful winter.