Get Ready to Vote on Tuesday, May 19

With the school district election just five days away, Hudson Common Sense has an editorial about the vote: "Hudson's School Vote Has Been Captured." It is recommended reading as voter prep.

Another "Transformative" Project

Jeffery Dodson, executive director of the Hudson Housing Authority, regularly describes HHA's proposed redevelopment as "transformative." On Tuesday, a new project was presented to the Planning Board that was also described as "transformative." The project, which has the working title "Waterfront Village," was presented by Ben Fain, who brought us Kitty's, The Caboose, and Mr. Cat Brasserie and owns the The Wick Hotel and the historic Robert Taylor House, the former which is being renovated and the latter meticulously restored. The new project will cover a 6.82-acre site at the end of South Second Street, which, until thirty or so years ago, was the location of a factory that made humidifiers and similar products. 

The project will be carried out in three phases. Phase 1 involves a grocery store, parking, landscaping, and the creation of a street grid that extends the street pattern of the rest of the city to this site.

Every proposed street on the site would have sidewalks on both sides. In the center, there would be a large open space, "almost like a central park." 

Phase 2 of the project involves the construction of a retail building, "intentionally angled toward the train station."

Phase 3 of the project is an apartment building, which is currently proposed to have 150 units.

The project was described as "an extension of Hudson," a "walkable, mixed-use neighborhood," "incorporating a lot of landscaping to make the pedestrian experience enjoyable." Fain, who told the Planning Board he "really drank the Kool-Aid on believing what Hudson can be," predicted the district "could become the most welcoming section of Hudson." It was also said that, with the development, there would be "a real destination for the Second Street stairs," which lead down to the site from Allen Street.

Members of the Planning Board raised a number of issues. Sara Black wanted to know how this project differed from the Kearney project proposed for Mill Street, maintaining they were both on dead-end streets and in a flood plain. She also asked about the intended market for the residential units. Someone else raised concerns about the project interfering with the views from Deer Alley. Ron Bogle, who chairs the Planning Board, opined, "You are disturbing the lives of the people on Tanners Lane in way they cannot even imagine." Concern was expressed about possible exclusivity in programming for the open space.

A surprising concern was expressed by Veronica Conca, who maintained that Hudson "has never had a big supermarket" and seemed to imply that, in the divine order of things, Hudson residents were meant go to Greenport if they wanted to buy paper towels or toilet paper or anything that went beyond simply the ingredients needed to prepare a meal. She seemed to have forgotten, if she ever knew, that Sam's Supermarket operated at 310 Warren Street (now the gymnasium of The Maker Hotel) until 1994, and reopened briefly as the Hudson Supermarket a few years later. 

Her comment also revealed that she had no idea that Hudson once had several supermarkets. There was an A&P at the corner of Seventh and Columbia streets, where Proprietors Hall now stands.

Photo by Gibson

There was a First National Store (the chain now known as Finast) at 751 Warren Street, in the building that currently houses the Social Security Administration office.

Photo courtesy Bob Tomaso

The building at 713 Union Street, which now houses the Mental Health Association of Columbia & Greene Counties, was originally a Grand Union.

 

Photo by Gibson

And there were others, as folks who grew up in Hudson in the '50s, '60s, and '70s will likely recall. 

According to the materials submitted to the Planning Board, the grocery store/supermarket is proposed to be 15,915 square feet. A Google search yielded this information about the average size of supermarkets in the United States:

The average conventional grocery store in the United States is approximately 38,000 to 42,000 square feet. While traditional supermarkets hover around 40,000 square feet, the industry is seeing a shift toward smaller, more urban formats (12,000-25,000 sq ft), while large, suburban supercenters can exceed 187,000 square feet.

Of interest, back in 2018, at a DRI public workshop, a retail specialist on the planning team assigned to Hudson reported that Hudson residents spent $5 million annually at the supermarkets of Greenport. She suggested that Hudson could support a 10,000 square foot grocery store. Gossips research at the time found that the only supermarket chain with stores as small as 10,000 square feet was Trader Joe's. That information is eight years old, and there is no indication that the grocery store proposed as part of this project will be part of a chain.

At the meeting on Tuesday, the Planning Board determined the project to be an unlisted action under SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) and declared itself lead agency in the SEQR process.

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More on the Fate of the White Pine

This morning, I published a communication from Lloyd Koedding regarding his rescue of the white pine that was ceremoniously planted on Promenade Hill and unceremoniously uprooted by vandals. I reproduce that missive again here:

Since publishing that post, I received from a reader this picture of Koedding, taken on Tuesday morning, May 12, when he was on his way to rescue the tree.

Photo: Peter Spear

I also received from DPW Superintendent Rob Perry, who located the tree after it was discovered that it had been uprooted, this picture, which was taken at the time the tree was found. Its location on the steep slope below Promenade Hill is circled in blue.

It has been reported that last night Koedding had the tree with him when he attended the Planning Board meeting, although he left it outside, on the sidewalk across the street from City Hall.

This morning, the tree was spotted on the street in front of Supernatural Coffee.

At this point, the survival of the white pine seems iffy at best.

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The High Cost of Getting It Wrong

The Hudson City School District Board of Education is now in the process of selecting a new Superintendent of Schools. While that process is ongoing, it is useful to review the outcome of the board's last effort at hiring a superintendent.

Dr. Juliette Pennyman, who was selected in August 2023, resigned in August 2025, after serving as superintendent for just two years. 

Pennyman had a contract to serve as HCSD Superintendent of Schools from September 7, 2023, to August 31, 2026. Although it appeared that Pennyman had resigned, Gossips recently learned that the Board of Education may have bought Pennyman out of her contract. According to the Separation Agreement between Pennyman and the BOE, upon her departure, she received a lump sum payment of $197,107.72 and a $35,000 contribution to her tax-sheltered annuity account.

Our message to the BOE: This time, please choose wisely.

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The Fate of the White Pine

Gossips has twice reported about the ceremonial white pine that was planted on Promenade Hill in October and was recently discovered uprooted and tossed over the fence.

Today, I received this communication from Lloyd Koedding, former mayoral candidate and ubiquitous attendee of public meetings and events, announcing that he has rescued the tree and is caring for it in an unknown location.

Take the Survey

The City of Hudson is looking to improve safety at intersections throughout the city.  

Toward that end, the City is asking residents and frequent visitors to the city to complete a survey to help prioritize the intersections most in need of safety improvements. That survey can be found here.

UPDATE: Mayor Joe Ferris shared the following statement "for clarification purposes," no doubt in response to comments suggesting that government by survey is akin to abdication of leadership:

Making the much-needed long-term changes to dangerous intersections in our city requires money. These kind of projects typically require grant funding from either New York State or the federal government. When applications are being considered at the state or federal level, community engagement is one of the determining factors for who does and does not receive funding. As much as I wish that the City could cover the cost of these improvements today, we cannot. Community engagement efforts like this survey and follow-up studies are a required first step in permanently fixing dangerous roads and intersections.

More Vandalism

Last week, Gossips reported that the white pine planted on Promenade Hill last October during the observance of the bicentennial of the opening of the Erie Canal, as a symbolic tribute to the Haudenosaunee and a commitment to a sustainable future, had been uprooted and tossed over the fence and down the bluff.

Tonight, at the Common Council Code and Infrastructure Committee meeting, Rob Perry, Superintendent of Public Works, reported about two more instances of vandalism on the waterfront. A window was smashed in the restroom at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, and someone broke into the Dunn warehouse and damaged the replica of The Hudson, which is stored there, by snapping off the dolphins at its base.   

The Hudson, a whaling ship, was the first ship to be built in the City of Hudson. According to Anna Bradbury's History of the City of Hudson, New York (1908), The Hudson was completed in 1785, the same year Hudson was incorporated as a city. The replica ship was built as a parade float in 1985 by DPW employees for the celebration of the city's bicentennial.

The Hudson carrying the Common Council in the 2009 Flag Day parade, the year of the Quadricentennial Celebration

The Hudson in the 2018 OutHudson Parade

Perry reported that the culprit(s) who smashed the window in the park restroom have been identified. but the perpetrator(s) of the damage to the replica ship/parade float have not.

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Another Round of Town Hall Meetings

The following announcement came this morning from City Hall: 

The Ferris Administration announced the next round of the City's community town halls. Starting later this month, City Hall will host these events in each of the city's five wards. Town Halls will start at 6:30 p.m. and are scheduled for an hour and a half.

• Monday, May 18, Ward Four--Hudson Area Library Community Room, 51 North Fifth Street
• Thursday, May 28, Ward One--Christ Church Episcopal, 431 Union Street
• Tuesday, June 2, Ward Three--Park Theater, 723 Warren Street
• Tuesday, June 9, Ward Five--Hudson Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street
• Wednesday, June 10, Ward Two--Bliss Towers, 41 North Second Street

"Following the success of this winter's meetings, I am excited to announce the next round of events," said Mayor Joseph Ferris. "More than 150 people across all five wards attended a town hall. These meetings represent what city government aspires to on a daily basis--transparent, engaged, and responsive. Listening to the questions, concerns, and ideas of my constituents and neighbors is a fundamental part of what it means to be mayor. I invite everyone to attend these meetings and not just be listened to, but heard."

The next "Meet the Mayor" open office hours will be held at City Hall on Thursday, May 21, from 3 to 5 p.m.

For more information about these community outreach efforts, please email Mayoral Aide Tiffany Martin at mayoralaide@cityofhudson.org.

About School Funding in New York

As the entire state approaches the day when taxpayers vote to approve or reject their school districts' proposed budgets, The Community Journalism Fund, created by the Gazette News Group, the current owners of the Register-Star, shares a report: "New York public schools lead nation in per-pupil spending--again." The article describes the the Hudson City School District as a "large urban district" and describes our per pupil spending as "more moderate":

Other large urban districts in the area, including Hudson in Columbia County and Schenectady in the immediate Capital Region, operate with more moderate averages of $34,000 and $31,000, respectively.

Given the current reported enrollment of 1,557 and the proposed budget of $59,171,704, the cost per pupil is $38,000.

New York State Report Card: HCSD

For those interested in the academic performance of the Hudson City School District, you can explore the data for the 2024-2025 school year here on the New York State Department of Education website.

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

As the month of May continues, and we wait for temperatures to rise out of the 60s, here is what's happening.

• On Monday, May 11, the Common Council Code and Infrastructure Committee 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.
• On Tuesday, May 12, the Planning Board meets at 6:00 p.m. The agenda for the meeting does not include, surprisingly, the Hudson Housing Authority redevelopment. It does include the adaptive reuse of the John L. Edwards school building and, new on the agenda, Phase 1 of "Waterfront Village," the development proposed for the area that was once the site of the Kaz warehouses. 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 13, it is "Meet the Board Candidates Night," hosted and moderated by the Hudson High School Student Council. The event takes place at 6:00 p.m. in the Hudson High School auditorium. It will also be livestreamed on YouTube. 

• On Thursday, May 14, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda for the meeting is yet available. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
• On Saturday, May 16, the African American Archive of Columbia County presents Pinkster Fest 2026, the original Kinderhook Black Family Reunion, a celebration unique to the Hudson Valley. In colonial times, when Dutch settlers visited relatives during the religious holiday of Pentecost, they would give their enslaved African American workers a few days off to reunite with their family and friends. This annual gathering of families became known as the Pinkster Festival. Pinkster Fest 2026 takes place from noon to 5:00 p.m. in Rothermel Park in Kinderhook. For more information and to register, click here.

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The Word on the Public Square

Not long ago, a reader sent me this picture of the Public Square, wanting to know why, given that a lot of money had been donated and earmarked for its renovation, the park looked so bad.

This post was inspired by that picture and the question. 

Indeed, a lot of money has been raised--so far, more than $1.3 million--but more is needed. The restoration will happen in three phases. Phase 1 addresses park infrastructure; Phase 2 is the restoration of the fountain; Phase 3 involves streetscape improvements. 

Re-bidding for Phase 1 is happening right now, and work on Phase 1 us expected to begin this year. The following improvements are included in Phase 1:

• New benches
• New lighting
• New pathways
• 11 new trees
• A temporary, flexible seating area at the center of the park (future site of the fountain, which is Phase 2)
• A repositioned and accessible Veterans Memorial

Friends of the Public Square (FOPS) has provided the following timeline for Phase 1--from May 2026 through March 2027. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

You can review the plans for the renovation and monitor the project here, at the FOPS website. 

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About the HCSD Budget

In ten days, voters in the Hudson City School District will have the chance to approve or reject the $59,171,704 budget proposed for 2026-2027. The presentation of the budget that was made at the Board of Education meeting on Tuesday can be found here. The video of the presentation can be found here. 

The proposed budget involves a 5.8 percent increase in the tax levy. Of interest to property owners is the impact of that increase on their tax bill. The chart below calculates that. 

For us in Hudson, the increase is $138.67 annually, or $11.56 a month, for every $200,000 of a property's assessed value. Most houses in Hudson are assessed at considerably more than $200,000, so the impact on the average Hudson homeowner will be considerably more than $138.67 a year. 

There is one thing that seems encouraging in the presentation. Readers may remember the organization chart below, which Gossips published in 2024. It shows an impressive tier of administrators reporting directly (and exclusively) to then superintendent Juliette Pennyman, who created a few executive level positions during her tenure as superintendent. 

According to the chart found in the presentation, starting in July 2026, there will only be two executive level positions reporting to the superintendent. 

The vote on the budget, and for members of the Board of Education, takes place on Tuesday, May 19. The polling place for Hudson is the Central Fire Station at 77 North Seventh Street. The polls are open from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

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Superintendent Search Update

At Tuesday's meeting of the HCDS Board of Education, Dr. Kaweeda Adams of HYA provided an update on the superintendent search. She presented the professional profile, created based on community engagement, and a summary of the community survey conducted earlier in the process. Those documents are reproduced below and can also be found here.

In the Leadership Profile report, "Academic Improvement and Instructional Focus" are identified as Highest Priorities, after "Communication & Transparency" and "Rebuilding Trust & Morale." In the Community Survey Summary, "Establish a culture of high expectations for all students and personnel" is ranked second under "top-rated leadership profile characteristics." 

It was reported, as it has been before, that the board received twenty-nine applications for the position of Superintendent of Schools, and nine applicants have been identified for further review. The board conducted the first round of interviews with the candidates this past Sunday. It is expected the semi-finalists will be interviewed in an executive session meeting on Tuesday, May 26.

One of the members of the BOE asked if the process being followed now was the same process that had been used in the past. BOE president Mark DePace replied, "Not last time but four years ago." In other words, it is not the process that resulted in hiring Juliette Pennyman in 2023, but it was the process followed to identify LisaMarie Spindler in 2022, who resigned after fourteen months in the position.

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ICE Among Us

Gossips received the following press release from the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement recounting an incident that took place yesterday morning in Greenport.

At 7:17 [Wednesday] morning, six ICE vehicles surrounded four community members in a vehicle outside Bob's Restaurant in Greenport. While on their way to work and stopping for some breakfast, ICE attempted to detain them. The people inside the car knew their constitutional rights. They kept the doors closed, called the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement (CCSM) emergency hotline, and waited. CCSM's rapid response team arrived within minutes, demanded a judicial warrant be presented, which ICE could not produce, and stayed on scene until the agents left. Nobody was detained. It is the latest entry in a documented pattern of ICE targeting vehicles associated with construction work in our region.

"They said to roll down the window, that they wanted to talk to us. Then we kept saying no, that they had no right. Then they told us, they said these exact words: 'You are immigrants, you have no right to be here and you have no right to an opinion.' That was their response. And we kept telling them that we do have rights, we told them we have the right to remain silent," said one of the people in the car.

Bryan MacCormack: "Our people were ready this morning because we have been building toward this for years. They knew it wasn't local police. They knew not to open the door. They knew who to call. That is not luck, that is community defense. ICE came with six vehicles for four people and left with nobody."

Federal enforcement is escalating. ICE is operating across New York with a budget and a mandate to abduct as many people as it can. The question for Albany is not whether to respond. The question is whether to respond seriously.

The serious response already exists--the New York For All Act (S2235-Gounardes / A3506-Reyes). New York For All would prohibit state and local resources from being used for federal immigration enforcement, end 287(g) agreements across the state, and bar ICE and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] from non-public areas of state and local property without a judicial warrant. CCSM is calling on the State Legislature to pass it and on Governor Hochul to sign it. . . .

A video of the incident can be viewed here.  

UPDATE: The press release from the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement makes reference to a program known as 287(g). If you are not familiar with it, listen to this report, which aired today on NPR's All Things Considered: "ICE is giving local police big money to help with immigration enforcement."