Ear to the Ground

Gossips has heard that Mayor Joe Ferris is appointing Sara Black to replace Gabrielle Hoffmann on the Planning Board. Black currently sits on the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, having been appointed to that board by Mayor Kamal Johnson in June 2025. 

According to Gossips' sources, Black intends to step down from the HHA Board to take the position on the Planning Board, apparently to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest. Still it seems more than a little inappropriate for someone from the HHA Board to serve on the Planning Board at this point in time, given that HHA's ambitious proposal for redevelopment is currently the most significant project before the Planning Board. HHA and Mountco, their development partner, have been bemoaning what they perceive as a delay in the plan site review caused by the number of new members of the Planning Board. It would seem to be quite a coup for them to have one of their allies on the Planning Board to get the board up to speed and to fight their corner. 

Sara Black at a recent HHA Board meeting

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK

Of Interest

Bon Appetit recently published a list of "The Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings This Spring." There are eight restaurants on the list, in such places as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, St. Paul, Washington, D.C., and, you guessed it, Hudson.

The Hudson restaurant featured is Pez, "a contemporary Mexican spot from Efrén Hernández," which is coming to Rivertown Lodge. Bon Appetit says this about the new restaurant:

The menu at Pez focuses on sustainable East Coast seafood presented in three sections: frio, vegetables, and caliente. Hernández is pulling out all the stops with raw bar dishes like a Jonah crab tostada with chicatana chintextle (a smoked chile spread from Oaxaca), plus hot plates like grilled dayboat scallops with smoky chipotle and seaweed butter, or a whole dry-aged Atlantic mackerel with salsa serrano and housemade sourdough flour tortillas.

Pez is expected to open sometime in May.

Correcting the Record

On March 20, Spenser Walsh reported about the Common Council Legal Committee meeting which took place on March 12. The report was mostly about the proposed amendment to clarify Section 325-17.1 of the city code. The article contained misinformation, which is explained by Donna Streitz today on imby.com: "Again? Correcting the record on Colarusso's dock." 

Dust created by Colarusso's dock operations

How Much Do You Know About Olana?

Test your knowledge of all things Olana at a special trivia night celebrating Frederic Church's 200th birthday year. 

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 4, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., you can join The Olana Partnership staff for a rousing game of trivia. Bring a team or play on your own. Winners and runners-up will receive a special Olana prize pack. To register for Church 200 Spring Trivia Night, click here.

The State of the HCSD Budget

It's been a few weeks since Gossips posted about the Hudson City School District budget being proposed for 2026-2027, but it seems since then things have gone from bad to worse. In a few weeks. the proposed budget has gone from $61.4 million to $63.1 million. Roger Hannigan Gilson tells the story in today's Times Union: "Hudson school board faces tough choices amid huge budget gap." The following is quoted from that article:

Without cuts, spending is expected to rise about 7.8% for the 2026-2027 school year, a figure that would require a large increase in school taxes and for the district to spend a significant amount of its unassigned fund balance--excess money that is supposed to serve as a rainy day fund.

But the situation is worse than that. Even if the school board were to approve a budget that would raise taxes by the maximum allowable amount this year--5.8%--and spend the maximum allowable amount of the unassigned fund balance, the district would be $2.58 short, or more than 4% of the total proposed budget of $63.1 million.

Gilson reports that Mark DePace, president of the Board of Education, asked the district to prepare plans for cutting $2.5 to $4.5 million from the proposed budget, "allowing for different options with tax increases and using the unassigned fund balance," before the next board meeting, which takes place on April 14.

Looking Ahead to Summer

Registration for Oakdale Summer Camp 2026 is now underway. The program runs for six weeks, from July 6 to August 14. To register a child for summer camp, click here. The deadline for registering is May 31.

At the Common Council Services Committee meeting this evening, Youth Director Calvin Lewis reported that 71 campers have already registered for the summer camp program. More than 30 applications have been received for jobs as camp counselors, and almost 20 applications have been received for jobs as lifeguards.

Photo: cityofhudsonyouth.org

In Case You Missed It Yesterday

The Hudson Wail spoofs the New York Times.

Webinar on Frederic Church

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederic Church. Next week, as part of its bicentennial observance, The Olana Partnership is hosting Where to Start: Frederic Church's Early Career in Wider Contexts, a webinar with Joseph Mizhakiiyaasige Zordan, Ph.D. candidate in History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University and contributor to the forthcoming publication Frederic Church: Global Artist. 

The presentation will reexamine the role of local, national, and familial mentors in establishing Church's artistic career, particularly through his painting Hooker and Company, which is in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum on Hartford, Connecticut. The webinar will be moderated by Erin Monroe, Krieble Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Wadsworth.

The webinar takes place on Thursday, April 9, at 6:00 p.m. For more information and to register, click here.

What's Happening with CMH

Columbia Memorial Health traces its roots back to 1887, when Hudson Hospital was first established in a house at the corner of North Fifth and Washington streets. In 1900, the hospital moved to its first building on Prospect Avenue.

Today, the hospital is the city's, indeed the county's, largest employer, and we all rest a little easier knowing that there is a hospital in our city, close by, only minutes away. But, after nearly 140 years, the future of Hudson's hospital seems unclear.

In 2014, the hospital announced plans to enter into a "strategic alliance" with Albany Medical Center. In 2015, the relationship between the two institutions was described as AMC being the "parent" of CMH. Around that time, too, the H in CMH came to stand for "Health" instead of "Hospital." By 2022, it was clear Columbia Memorial was one of four hospitals in the Albany Med Health System, and new signage introduced in 2023 made that relationship clear.

A plan is currently being pursued to change the hospital's designation from "rural hospital" to "critical access hospital" and to reduce the number of medical beds to 25. The plan is being presented as a necessary step to ensure the survival of the hospital. At the same time, CMH is adding 23 beds in its inpatient psychiatric unit, more than doubling its capacity. 

Members of the hospital workers union, 1199 SEIU, take issue with the plans, which they say would reduce the services provided at CMH by 80 percent. They have been trying without success to meet with members of the hospital administration. 

Today at 4:00 p.m., members of the union plan to attend the annual friends event of the Healthcare Consortium, hoping to make contact and state their case. The meeting takes place at Hudson Hall and is open to the public. It might be a good way to get some insight into just what's happening at an institution we all count on to be there when we need it.

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK

Temporary Trail Closure at Oakdale Park

City Hall just shared the following information:

Greenagers, Inc., an education and conservation nonprofit, will be doing trail work in conjunction with local students at Oakdale Park from April 1 to April 10. A section of the forest loop trail will be temporarily closed on April 1 and April 2 due to tree work near the trail. Please observe any trail closure signs and exercise caution if you are in the woods during this period. As a reminder, all dogs must be kept on leash at all times in Oakdale Park.

Commemorating the Semiquincentennial

Patriots of Hudson in the Revolutionary War, the exhibition commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, continues at the Hudson Area Library. To entice you to visit the library to view the entire exhibition, Gossips share two panels that tell of Seth Jenkins, who with his brother Thomas led the group that set out to find a new deep-water harbor and found what they sought at Claverack Landing. (Click on the images to enlarge. The main text of each panel is transcribed below the image.)

Seth Jenkins

Nantucket Sea Captain,

Friend of Benjamin Franklin, Hudson Proprietor

Jenkins was a sea captain in Nantucket often traveling to London where he argued before the House of Lords for the rights of the colonists’ maritime trade activities.

Along with Alexander Coffin, He was instrumental in carrying important messages from France to the Founding Fathers. He also loaned money to the Continental government.

“The vessels of Nantucket … played an important part in the early days of the Revolution through being used as the medium of the conveyance of important letters to the Colonial authorities.” --The History of Nantucket, Alexander Starbuck

In spring 1783 Seth and his brother Thomas Jenkins purchased the Hudson River port of Claverack Landing on behalf of a group of proprietors. Along with other families, Seth returned in the fall with his wife Dinah, her mother Dinah Coffin Folger, and their four children, to begin the settlement. They lived on their boat while their house was built.

On May 14, 1784, the first meeting of the Proprietors was held in Seth’s house. He was on the committees that laid out the streets of the city and had the city incorporated by the state. He headed a project to build a bridge over the great hollow on Main Street. He was the first mayor of Hudson and served from 1785 until his death in 1793, whereupon his brother Thomas became mayor and then was followed by his son Robert.

Seth and Stephen Paddock began a sailmaking business, and Seth was involved in other businesses in Hudson.

 

Correspondence & Meeting with Thomas Jefferson

In 1791 Thomas Jefferson and James Madison traveled in the Hudson Valley to examine its flora and fauna and meet with local political leaders. They breakfasted in Hudson with Seth Jenkins, who owned a large distillery, and tried to persuade him that wine from France was superior to molasses from the British West Indies in making spirits. Jefferson subsequently wrote to Jenkins about the matter. Jefferson’s object was to encourage trade with France rather than dependence on the British West Indies.

Jenkins answered his letter a couple of weeks later complaining that the low cost of wines might serve a good purpose if “that heavy Duty was out of the way,” which Jefferson was imposing! He also mentioned that he had carefully read Jefferson’s report on American cod and whale fisheries and found it quite thorough, then added that some whale fisheries in Nantucket will be moving to France, perhaps another jab at the American government for its policies regarding duties on American goods.

Years later President Jefferson would sign the Embargo Act of 1807 prohibiting American ships from trading in all foreign ports. This act was to force Britain and France to respect American neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars, but had a devastating effect on American trade. It was repealed two years later but by then it had destroyed Hudson’s whaling industry.

Hudson, 5 July 1791. Acknowledging Jefferson’s letter of 21 June about cost of “low Wines” in southern France, Jenkins states that if “that heavy Duty was out of the way,” they might serve a good purpose. But at present they “cannot answer for Distilling in this Country.”

Panels from the exhibition previously published on Gossips can be found here, here, and here.

News of Columbia Turnpike

Columbia Turnpike, now known as Route 23, connected the farms in the eastern part of Columbia County with Hudson and the river. Two toll houses, both listed in the National Register of Historic Places, survive at either end of the turnpike: East Gate in Hillsdale and West Gate in what is now Greenport. (Columbia Turnpike was established before the secession of Greenport in 1837, so West Gate was originally in Hudson.)

East Gate

West Gate

The Pomeroy Foundation, which placed a historic marker at the West Gate Toll House, explains this about Columbia Turnpike:

Built during what the History of Columbia County, New York (1878) called the "era of turnpike roads," the Columbia Turnpike was meant to link New York farmers near the Massachusetts border with the Hudson River. The History goes on to state that the Dutch settlers in the area were originally against the construction of such a road, because they believed that if their grandfathers didn't need one, then they wouldn't either. It is thought, however, that New Englanders were able to assert their influence, and since there were settlers from out east in the town of Hudson, and New England was just past the Taghkanic Hills, "a turnpike-road between these two points was inevitable." The turnpike was chartered in 1799 and stretched through six towns, covering 20 miles, and it is stated that the first toll was taken in November of 1800.

The West Gate Toll House is made of stone, but the East Gate Toll House is wood and consequently was more vulnerable to modern-day hazards in its location close to the road. In 2023, approval was obtained to move National Register-listed building thirty feet to protect it from traffic and road hazards. 

Yesterday, Friends of East Gate made the following announcement about the progress in reconstructing and preserving the East Gate Toll House:

Friends of East Gate announced today that reconstruction of the historic East Gate Toll House will enter a major new phase in early April, when the building's original early 19th-century timber frame will be mounted onto its newly completed foundation along NYS Route 23, just west of the Massachusetts border in Hillsdale.

Motorists traveling along Route 23 this spring will be able to witness the long-anticipated reassembly of one of few surviving tollhouses in New York State—a visible milestone in a preservation effort that began nearly a decade ago.

Friends of East Gate was established in 2016 with a mission to save the East Gate Toll House from collapse and restore it as a landmark of early American transportation history when the building was added to the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places. Since then, the structure has been carefully investigated, stabilized, and supported to prevent further deterioration.

Constructed following a 1799 act of the New York State Legislature, the East Gate Toll House served travelers on the Columbia Turnpike, a toll road organized by the founders of the City of Hudson—known as the Proprietors—that connected the Hudson River to the Berkshires. The East Gate was one of three tollhouses along the route.

Given the structure’s fragility, it was carefully dismantled to preserve its historic fabric. Its original timber frame and many salvageable materials were documented and safely stored for reuse. A new foundation was constructed in 2025—safely set back from the roadway—preparing the location for reconstruction.

The historic timber frame will be raised and secured onto the foundation by Babcock Timber Framing of Lanesborough, Massachusetts, marking the moment when the building will once again stand along the historic turnpike corridor.

Work will continue throughout the spring and summer to restore the exterior structure. Additional fundraising will be required to complete the building’s historic details and interior, ensuring that the tollhouse can serve the community as an educational and cultural resource.

“This is the year the East Gate Toll House gets back on its feet,” said James Wagman, chair of Friends of East Gate. “After years of planning, stabilization, fundraising, and careful preparation, the public will finally be able to see this historic structure rise again in the landscape where it stood for two centuries.”

The reconstruction represents a significant step in preserving regional history and the legacy of the Columbia Turnpike—one of the earliest transportation corridors linking local farms and industry to Hudson River markets—and restoring a rare surviving example of vernacular toll house architecture.

“Reconstruction is only the first step,” Wagman added. “We are now beginning the search for a responsible tenant—ideally a nonprofit or low-impact business—that will help sustain the building, support public interpretation of its history, and ensure its long-term vitality.”

To learn more about the project and the vision for this historic structure, visit friendsofeastgate.org.

Mystery Solved

Gossips didn't report on this last week when it originally happened, but the Register-Star did--twice: "Ex-Hudson mayoral aide finds dead fish on windshield" and "'Person of interest' photo released in Hudson fish-on-car case." 

Although we ignored that story when it happened, Gossips finds the resolution of interest. Earlier today, Columbia County Morning News reported the outcome of the investigation:

The Hudson City Police Department has concluded its investigation, determining that the individual responsible was a cousin of Justin Weaver, who carried out the act as a prank.

According to an official statement, "As a follow-up to this matter, the suspect has been identified as an acquaintance of Mr. Weaver, and the act was intended as a practical joke. Consequently, the case is now closed."

Update: Since Gossips published this post, the Register-Star published its own story: "Fish on ex-mayoral aide Justin Weaver's windshield was prank, police say."

Hudson in the New York Times

Galvan's gift of property in Hudson is the subject of an article today in the New York Times: "How Bard College Became a Major Real Estate Player 20 Miles Away."

Photo: Cole Wilson for the New York Times

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

In this week, which sees the end of March and the beginning of April and leads up to Easter Sunday, not much is happening. 

• Wednesday, April 1, is April Fool's Day. Be on the lookout for pranks.

• On Thursday, April 2, the Columbia County Housing Task Force meets at 3:30 p.m. 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.  
• Also on Thursday, April 2, the Common Council Services Committee (Youth Department and Senior Center) 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. 

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK