COVID-19 Update

I drove home from Joey's vet appointment this afternoon listening to the report about the CDC's new guidance about COVID-19 on NPR's All Things Considered. That report can be heard here. The message seems to be that COVID-19 is now to be treated as if it were no worse than the flu.  

A couple of hours earlier, the Columbia County Department of Health released its numbers for today, which suggest that COVID is still not something to be taken lightly. Since yesterday, there have been 18 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 6 more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 12 county residents have recovered from the virus. There are 3 more county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 today than yesterday, but the number in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since yesterday. 

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 7 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 4,416, and the number of active cases was 37. There were 52 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 2 were hospitalized, and 1 was in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 96.

A Decision in the Case

In November 2021, the Planning Board made a positive declaration in the SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) process, requiring A. Colarusso & Sons to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). Colarusso responded by filing a lawsuit against the Planning Board, seeking an annulment of the Planning Board's positive declaration. Earlier this week, on Tuesday, August 9, a decision in the case was handed down by Acting Supreme Court Judge Henry F. Zwack. The gist of the decision is this: "[T]he haul road project is not the subject of further SEQRA review by the City of Hudson, and site plan approval is directed to proceed."

The following are a couple of interesting passages from the decision:

Colarusso argues its repair of the waterfront bulkhead should be classified as a Type II action, reflecting the limited dock repair that it was, which does not require an SEIS. Colarusso also argues that the City failed to properly designate the Common Council as the lead agency as required under the plain language of SEQRA. The determination was therefore arbitrary and capricious, effected by error of law and made in excess of jurisdiction. Colarusso also asserts that the Planning Board is also bound by the Town of Greenport's Planning Board negative determination as to the haul road and must issue a final determination of the pending site plan application. Colarusso also asserts that the Planning Board's assessment that the dock repair constituted a Type I action was arbitrary and capricious, not supported by the record, and the result of bias against Colarusso in that two Planning Board members were conflicted because of their relationship with a group opposing the commercial dock and mining operation, known as "Our Hudson Waterfront." Colarusso further argues that the Mind [sic] Land Reclamation Law preempts the Planning Board's attempts to regulate Colarusso's operation, Colarusso has constitutionally vested rights, and the declaration is an unlawful restriction of interstate commerce. [Pages 8-9]

Information about the Mined (not Mind) Land Reclamation Law can be found here. 

Colarusso has yet to begin the approved improvements to the haul road, which includes portions within the City of Hudson, as it continues to be embroiled in City actions which make forward movement on the project nearly impossible. According to Colarusso's counsel, at a regular meeting of the City's Planning Board on July 14, 2020, the haul road improvements had not begun because the City has not approved their site plan for two way traffic on that portion of the haul road that enters the City. Counsel further stated that he would not advise his clients to complete improvements to the haul road if two way traffic could not continue into the City. Counsel further noted that the County Planning Board has approved the haul road, which will include two lane traffic. The City's Planning Board erred when it attempted to equate the haul road, an already SEQR approved project, with the conditional use permit sought by Colarusso for the dock. [Pages 12-13]

The entire decision can be found here.

This is not good news for the Hudson waterfront.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there has been another death from COVID-19 in the county and 14 new cases. The number of active cases being reported today is 3 more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 11 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and in the ICU remains the same today as yesterday. So far in the month of August, 3 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported. The previous two were on on August 2 and August 3.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 14 new cases of COVID-19, the same as today. The total number of cases was 4,409, and the number of active cases was 37. There were 32 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 1 was hospitalized, and 1 was in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 96.

Coming to a Theater Near You

Jon Bowermaster, environmental filmmaker, writer, and activist, recently announced the completion of a new film called WindShipped, about a vessel familiar to most of us in Hudson, the schooner Apollonia. Bowermaster says of the film:

We've been following the exploits of the "Schooner Apollonia" the past three years, as it establishes itself as the only ship in the country making deliveries . . . of malt, corn, pumpkins, red oak, a printing press, various CBD products, hot peppers, organic pillows and more . . . by sail-power (i.e. no fossil fuels).

You've probably spied the "Apollonia" on the Hudson River at some point during the past three years; they've made 15 successful [round trips] from Hudson to NYC, delivering more than 100,000 pounds of goods that would have otherwise been driven by diesel-burning trucks. Sounds Quixotic, perhaps? But Captain Sam Merrett is the first to remind "this is not a gimmick. We want to see sail freight return to the Hudson Valley in a big way."

The film is being previewed this week and next in Rhinebeck and here in Hudson. Click on one of the links below to RSVP and secure tickets.

• Thursday, August 11, Upstate Films, Rhinebeck  
• Wednesday, August 17, Basilica Hudson, Hudson

The screening at Upstate Films is at 7:30 p.m.; the screening at Basilica Hudson is at 8:00 p.m. At both screenings, the crew of the Apollonia will be on hand for questions and answers afterward.

Click here to watch the trailer.

Reminder

If you want to attend tomorrow's virtual public information meeting about improvements to the Hudson Boat Launch, you must be preregistered for the meeting. The deadline for preregistering is today. Do so at http://forms.office.com/g/d9jvAFrXv.

The meeting, which is being held by the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, takes place virtually beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 11.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 13 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 6 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 19 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and in the ICU is the same today as it was yesterday. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Wednesday, August 3.   

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 15 new cases of COVID-19 after a two-day weekend. The total number of cases was 4,395, and the number of active cases was 27. There were 35 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 2 were hospitalized, and 0 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 96.

The Planning Board Tonight

The agenda for tonight's Planning Board meeting has been published. It can be viewed here. On the agenda is the continuation of the public hearing on the hotel proposed by the Galvan Foundation for the corner of Warren and Fourth streets, as well as the continuation of the board's review of plans for the renovation of 508-510 State Street, the subdivision of 2 to 12 Hudson Avenue, and Galvan's plans for the renovation and repurposing of the former Community Theatre at Columbia and Seventh streets.

The meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. and will take place virtually. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.

Last Night at City Hall

When the practice of having an informal Common Council meeting was begun back in 2000, its purpose was to introduce resolutions so that members of the Council and members of the public would have a chance to study the documents before the Council voted on them. At the beginning of 2021, Council president Tom DePietro changed the nature of the informal meeting when he did away with standing committees and required department heads, who once reported to separate committees, to report to the full Council at the informal meeting. Since then the introduction of new resolutions has taken a backseat to department reports, and resolutions are regularly not presented for consideration until the regular meeting, immediately before they are voted on. Last night, only four resolutions were introduced, but DePietro promised, "We'll have a lot for next week." Nevertheless, the informal meeting was not without interest or incident. 

Typically the report from the Hudson Police Department is presented by Chief Ed Moore, but last night Police Commissioner Shane Bower presented the report. Bower reported that, in the month of July, there had been 46 arrests, 9 calls about emotionally disturbed people, 2 drug overdoses, 1 death from a drug overdose, and no incidents of use of force. When the public was invited to ask questions of Bower, Bill Huston wanted to know Bower's role in approving the elimination of parking spaces in front of The Maker. Bower reacted to the questions by telling Huston, "You are not an attorney, and I am not on trial." 

Huston then began questioning Bower about the shooting in the early hours of July 4, demanding to know why it had not been mentioned in Bower's report. At this point, DePietro told Huston he was "not following the rules," presumably referring to the Council's Rules of Order, and asked him to leave, calling Huston's behavior "disorderly conduct." Before Huston departed, shown the door by a Hudson police officer who was present at the meeting, Bower explained, "It's an open investigation. That's why we're not talking about it." 

Mayor Kamal Johnson made a brief Zoom appearance at the meeting to announce he has made Cheryl Roberts a city judge and Andy Howard would be replacing Roberts as city attorney. Howard served as counsel to the Council when Claudia DeStefano was Council president (2016-2017) and as city attorney during Mayor Rick Rector's administration (2018-2019). 

Perhaps the most interesting news was contained in a report from Department of Public Works superintendent Rob Perry, but unfortunately, owing to technical problems, he never got to that part in his oral presentation. The news is that the long awaited custom crafted railings, the absence of which has been preventing the completion and reopening of Promenade Hill, are starting to arrive. To quote Perry regarding the project, "The end is near."

Update: Rob Perry just provided Gossips with this photograph of the first delivery of the railings.

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Updated Meeting Link

The link for tonight's informal Common Council meeting provided on the city website and on Gossips is incorrect. Click here to join the meeting. 

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since Friday, there have been 22 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 4 more than on Friday, from which it can be inferred that, since Friday, 18 county residents have recovered from the virus. There are 2 more county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 today than on Friday, and 1 of those hospitalized is in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Wednesday, August 3.  

A year ago, August 8 was a Sunday, and the CCDOH did not report COVID numbers. On the previous Friday, August 6, the CCDOH reported 6 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 4,380, and the number of active cases was 39. There were 55 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 2 were hospitalized, and 0 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 96.

An Explanation and a Recommendation

Recently several of you have contacted me to report that you are no longer receiving Gossips posts or notifications of Gossips posts by email. There are two reasons why this is happening.

You may have signed up to receive Gossips by email. Once a day, usually in the late afternoon, you would receive, in your inbox, all the posts published in the previous 24 hours. That was a service provided by Google Blogger, the platform used for The Gossips of Rivertown, and it has been discontinued. The last post delivered by that means was received on July 24.

Alternatively, you may have requested that you receive email notification whenever a new post appeared on Gossips. That was a service provided by me, and one that has been progressively hampered by restrictions imposed by email service providers trying to prohibit spam. Ever tightening restrictions on the number of notices and the number of recipients have significantly reduced the number of notices I send out. In addition to the restrictions, I find, once I have published a post, I am more interested in diving into the next topic than taking the time to send out notifications. As a consequence, notifications from me have become sporadic at best. 

Today I have added a new device to Gossips, one that is now being offered by Google Blogger. You will find it toward the bottom of the right column. I don't know exactly how it works. It appears you need to subscribe either to NetVibes or to Yahoo in order to use it. I am not recommending it; I am just making it available to readers should they choose to use it.  

My own recommendation is that once or twice a day you just go directly to The Gossips of Rivertown and check out what's new. The URL is easy to remember: gossipsofrivertown.com. If you do it often enough, the entire URL will appear as soon as you type g in your browser. Should you forget the URL, just type gossips (be certain it's plural) into your search engine. In all likelihood, The Gossips of Rivertown--this blog not the 1848 novel from which it takes its name--will be the first thing to pop up.

Thank you all, always and sincerely, for your loyalty and interest in The Gossips of Rivertown.

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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

As we move further into August and the heat wave continues, here's what's happening in Hudson.

• On Monday, August 8, the Common Council holds a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Four items will be considered at the meeting, among them authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with the NYS Department of State for a $67,500 grant in the Smart Growth Comprehensive Planning Grant Program and approving a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Hudson Business Coalition for Warren Street Shared Usage 2022. The meeting is a hybrid--taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join remotely.
• At 6:00 p.m. on Monday, August 8, the Council holds its informal meeting for the month. So far, there is not much of interest on the agenda, but that will no doubt change. The meeting will be a hybrid--taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join remotely.
• On Tuesday, August 9, Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at noon. At the last meeting of HCDPA, attorney Christine Chale reported that an agreement had been drafted for the Hudson Housing Authority (HHA) to purchase property owned by HCDPA. That agreement is expected to be discussed at this meeting. The meeting will take place virtually. Click here to join.

• At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 9, the Planning Board holds its regular monthly meeting. No agenda for the meeting is yet available, but it is likely the board will once again take up its review of the hotel proposed by the Galvan Foundation for the corner of Warren and Fourth streets and begin its review of Galvan's plans for the former Community Theatre at Columbia and Seventh streets. The meeting will take place virtually. Click here to join the meeting.

• On Wednesday, August 10, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. It is expected that at this meeting the Legal Committee will consider a number of revisions to local laws suggested by Crystal Peck, counsel to the Council. The meeting is a hybrid--taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
• Also on Wednesday, August 10, Waterfront Wednesdays takes place from 5:30 p.m. until sunset at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park. This week, in addition to such regular On Water offerings as the schooner Apollonia, fishing, and trips to the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, the event features the Bindlestiff Family Circus, at 7:00 p.m., and the band Pocket Merchant, at 8:00 p.m. 
• On Thursday, August 11, at 6:00 p.m., the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation holds a virtual public information meeting to discuss improvements to the Hudson Boat Launch. Participation in the meeting requires that you preregister at http://forms.office.com/g/d9jvAFrXv no later than Wednesday, August 10.

• On Friday, August 12, the Historic Preservation Commission holds its first meeting of the month at 10:00 a.m. The meeting takes place virtually. Click here to join the meeting.

For those who like to plan ahead, it has been confirmed that the ad hoc Truck Committee will meet regularly on the first Thursday of the month, which means that the next meeting of the group will take place on Thursday, September 1.

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Ear to the Ground

Hudson City Court has two judges. One is elected; one is appointed by the mayor of Hudson. Both serve six-year terms. Jack Connor, who was city attorney during Rick Scalera's many terms as mayor, has held the elected position since 2012. The other position is held by Brian Herman, who was appointed in 2016 by Mayor Tiffany Martin. Herman's term ends later this month, and Gossips has learned that he will not be reappointed. The word is that Mayor Kamal Johnson intends to appoint Cheryl Roberts, current city attorney, to the position of city judge. Roberts is the executive director of the Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice and is the facilitator of the Joint City/County Task Force "to close gaps in mental health and substance use disorder services."

40 Under 40 in Columbia County

Today, Mayor Kamal Johnson, who by Gossips' calculation must be about 37 now, announced a 40 Under 40 initiative in Columbia County, presumably inspired by the Albany Business Review's annual 40 Under 40 recognition. In announcing his initiative on Facebook, Johnson explained:

Growing up in Hudson I always felt like our young adults are a "left out" population. I know the talent we have in our county and I want to recognize the amazing young people who show every day why we might be a small county but we are a special county!

Do you know a Columbia County resident who 40 or under, with passion and dedication, is a leader in their profession, creates positive change in the county, or is inspiring others in a positive way? Nominate them for Columbia County's 1st 40 UNDER 40 awards!

You can nominate candidates by clicking here. The nomination form explains that honorees will be selected "based on their professional accomplishment, demonstrated leadership, and community contributions" and that "multiple nominations will have no bearing on selection." The deadline for making nominations is Monday, August 15.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 13 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 9 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 22 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and in the ICU remains the same as it was yesterday. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Wednesday, August 3.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 7 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 4,374, and the number of active cases was 44. There were 75 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 2 were hospitalized, and 0 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 96.

The Topic Was Trucks

The nine-member Common Council ad hoc committee tasked with addressing the issue of trucks in Hudson met for the first time last night. The committee is made up of five councilmembers (Margaret Morris, Amber Harris, Ryan Wallace, Dewan Sarowar, Mohammed Romy), two county supervisors (Abdus Miah and Linda Mussmann), one member of the public (Donna Streitz from Our Hudson Waterfront), and Mayor Kamal Johnson. Of the five councilmembers, only three were present at the meeting--Morris, Harris, and Wallace. Sarowar and Romy were absent. At the meeting, it was clarified that only the five councilmembers are voting members of the committee. 

The meeting began with selecting a committee chair. Morris proposed herself, a proposal that was supported by Ryan and Harris. Morris then defined the goal of the meeting: "to set out what we are going to try to accomplish." She then identified the topics: (1) the truck route; (2) the issue of trucks regularly traveling off the truck route, west of Third Street.

Morris opined that the committee should be thought of as a task force or a work group rather than "a committee discussing policy" and repeatedly stressed the need for action. In the course of the meeting, Morris gave "homework" assignments to four of the members: 

• Harris is to gather quantifiable data about air quality to demonstrate the connection between trucks and higher rates of asthma in Hudson
• Johnson is to speak with the Code Enforcement Office and the Hudson Police Department about enforcing the code as it pertains to the truck route and weight limits
• Streitz is to speak with MJ Engineering, the group that did the truck study, about getting more detailed data on the impacts of Option 6 and Option 12, the two alternate routes favored by those responding to an online survey conducted in April 2021
• Morris is to speak with the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) to determine what regulations regarding trucks are imposed by the state and what is within the purview of the City of Hudson

Morris commented, "Every time we meet, we come back having done our homework." The members with homework assignments are expected to report back at the group's next meeting. It is uncertain exactly when that meeting will be. At one point, it was agreed that there would be a regular meeting on the first Thursday of each month, which would mean the next meeting would take place on Thursday, September 1. Later, Morris said the next meeting would be on the Thursday after Labor Day, which would be Thursday, September 8.

About 34 minutes into a meeting that lasted for about 50 minutes, Mussmann brought up the elephant in the room: the haul road. "If we are considering the truck route and Abdus's petition," Mussmann said, "then the haul road should be considered as part of the conversation. . . . It is a remedy that would help Abdus's petition immediately if it were to actually happen."

Morris responded, "I want to be very careful not to interfere with anything before the Planning Board." She then outlined an elegantly simple way that gravel trucks returning to the quarry could avoid passing through the Second Ward. Since DOT prohibits trucks coming off the haul road to turn left onto Route 9G, they could just turn right, go south on 9G to the roundabout, and then follow the truck route back through Hudson. This is something they could have been doing since the roundabout opened back in October 2019.

Mussmann countered, "There is an alternative being proposed, and to erase it from the discussion is not fair." Claire Cousin, county supervisor representing the First Ward, added: "From listening to what supervisors from other towns have said, there is not much for them to entertain until there is some resolution around the haul road."

Streitz suggested that the committee needed a mission statement, or purpose statement, and read a draft she had prepared. The following is what Gossips was able to transcribe of that statement. The ellipses indicate spots where what she said could not be deciphered with certainty. The statement can be heard in the videorecording of the meeting, starting at about 40:11:

We as Our Hudson Waterfront think it is super important that the City take as an official position that the truck route needs to be moved for the sake of countless Hudson households and businesses. The existing truck route is an environmental and infrastructure disaster. There are viable alternatives, and while we will work with our neighbors, we will not allow them to hold this crucial change hostage . . . and will politely refuse to undermine our own Planning Board and zoning laws and will work hard to convince the state to move the truck route. . . .

Morris said she thought it was important that, instead of a mission statement, the group have a charter to establish the scope of work for the group. She asked Streitz to circulate her draft statement to the members of the committee so they could discuss and come up with a document at the next meeting.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 13 new cases of COVID-19, but mercifully no deaths. The number of active cases being reported today is 2 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 15 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 today is 5 fewer than yesterday, and, as was the case yesterday, no one is in the ICU. After two days of reporting a death from COVID-19, the CCDH reported no deaths from the virus today.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 3 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 4,367, and the number of active cases was 37. There were 68 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 2 were hospitalized, and 1 was in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 96.

Happening This Weekend

This Saturday, the Hendrick Hudson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is opening the historic Robert Jenkins House for tours. The house, constructed in 1811, has been the DAR Chapter House since 1900 and is the repository of an impressive collection of local history memorabilia.   

The open house happens Saturday, August 6, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The house is located at 113 Warren Street.

Truck Committee Meets Tonight

The recently formed ad hoc committee dedicated to getting trucks off city streets meets for the first time today at 6:00 p.m. In anticipation of that meeting, the Hudson City Democratic Committee (HCDC) sent a letter this morning to Mayor Kamal Johnson and the Common Council. The letter, which apparently was written by Dorothy Heyl, who identifies herself as "Acting Secretary and Treasurer" of HCDC, and signed by Heyl and all the members of the HCDC, offers the committee's "full-throated support of the petition submitted to the Council by one of our members, Abdus Miah, the official elected by the Second Ward to represent their interests as County Supervisor." Miah's petition addressed specifically trucks traveling on Columbia Street west of Third Street, which is not part of the officially designated truck route. The petition, which has 180 signatures, can be found here. 

The letter from the HCDC reiterates the point made by Miah's petition that "exhaust from the trucks poses a serious health risk to the large number of children and senior citizens who live on Columbia Street" and continues:

The HCDC views the high number of heavy trucks on Columbia and State Streets as an egregious example of environmental injustice. For the last seven or eight years the low-income residents of the Second Ward have suffered from the injustice of these trucks using their neighborhood as a thoroughfare, and they have finally found their voice. Hudson needs to address this injustice.

The letter also addresses "another form of injustice mentioned in the petition: the high cost of damage to city streets by Class 8 trucks," asserting: "The harmful impact goes beyond potholes and ruts, and extends to the high taxes paid by city residents, who must pay for the constant maintenance and repair to streets not built for such heavy axles."

The following course of action is urged by the letter:

The solution is to refuse to spread the harmful impact of these heavy trucks to city streets west of 3rd Street. None of the streets west of 3rd Street, including as well as Warren, Union, and Allen Streets, are on the City’s Truck Route. The City Code is clear that trucks belong on the defined truck route and must not use roads off the truck route except for local delivery. . . . 

The heavy trucks spewing soot along Columbia Street were never entitled to use that road and could have been ticketed for straying off the truck route, which goes no further west than 3rd Street. They are not making local deliveries in the Second Ward. Instead, they are delivering to a dock in the 1st ward via a private road, and choosing to go through the 2nd ward for their return trip, instead of via the private road. We understand that there is ample space . . . for the trucks to turn around for the return trip, which was contemplated by the zoning restriction in place when Colarusso acquired the property. 

We urge [the] City to address an injustice too long oppressing Hudson residents who live west of the Truck Route. . . .

Forcing Colarusso to use the road through South Bay for trips both to and from the waterfront is the same solution proposed back in 2011 by then Council president Don Moore, when it was O&G not Colarusso that was running gravel trucks through the city: "To and Fro, from the Quarry to the Dock." That it never happened was because the Department of Transportation would not allow the trucks to make a left turn onto Route 9G from the haul road, then known as the "causeway," making it necessary for the trucks to make the return trip on city streets or make a longer journey back to the quarry by way of Route 23 and Fingar Road. 

The entire letter from the HCDC can be found here. Reading it is recommended as prep for this evening's ad hoc committee meeting. Also recommended reading is this Gossips post from June 2013: "The Tyranny of Trucks." It summarizes the issues we are still facing, nine years later.

The ad hoc committee meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid--taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join remotely.

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