Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

In the week of the autumnal equinox, here is what's happening.

• On Monday, September 21, at 5:45 p.m., the Common Council holds a public hearing on the City's Community Development Block Grant application for $52,500 to undertake a comprehensive study of the City's water system to access capacities and potential future improvements. The hearing takes place in person only at City Hall.
• At 6:15 p.m. on Monday, September 21, the Common Council holds its informal meeting. 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 Tuesday, September 22, the autumnal equinox occurs at 8:04 p.m.

Henry Ary (1807-1859), Hudson River View

• On Thursday, September 24, Mayor Joseph Ferris holds his Open Office Hours from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at City Hall.
• Also on Thursday, September 24, the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 6:00 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.
• On Friday, September 25, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. The meeting is expected to include a public hearing on the new application responding to violations to the certificate of appropriateness found at 4o2-406 Warren Street. 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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News from HHA

At Wednesday's meeting of the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, several things of interest were revealed in John Mateo's report to the board. Mateo, of course, works for Mountco, HHA's development partner. 

In his report, Mateo revealed, as he has before, that the person who appears to be the project's principal contact at NYS Homes and Community Renewal is Eu Ting-Zambuto, who, until May 2025, worked for Mountco and in fact worked on this project. That seems like a conflict of interest, but who's to say?

Ting-Zambuto and Madeo at an HHA meeting in July 2024

After reporting that the Planning Board has closed the public hearing and scheduled a special meeting on September 30 dedicated solely to this project, Madeo expressed the hope that the Planning Board "will be in a position to vote" on the project at its October 13 meeting. He commented, "If they do, it will fit with our schedule moving forward." Regarding the site plan review process, Madeo said, "We have never had as many questions from the public and the Planning Board as we've had here."

Madeo also told the board that they still need to get an equity provider to buy the project's tax credits. He indicated the market for tax credits was not good at this time but said that in the past weeks they have gotten "strong interest" from two firms that Mountco has done tax credit deals with in the past. 

As Madeo indicated, there is currently a gap between the amount of money needed for the project and the amount they have. If they cannot fill the gap, the state must decide if it will provide the funding needed to close the gap. He cited three factors that make the HHA project problematic: low rents (82 percent of the units will be designated for households with incomes below 50 percent of the area median income); brownfield conditions that must be remediated; soil conditions that require extraordinary construction techniques.

A couple more things of interest emerged from Wednesday's meeting. It will be recalled that HHA is in the process of selecting a name for the proposed new development. The process began in January, when suggestions were solicited and received. It seems recently there was a vote among tenants to select the name, but the results had to be scrapped because it was discovered that someone had stuffed the ballot box, voting multiple times for their favorite name. As a consequence, there will be a do-over, with controls in place to prevent people from voting more than once.

The HHA Board of Commissioners has been short a member since Sara Black resigned in April after being appointed to the Planning Board. On Wednesday, Mayor Joseph Ferris appointed a new member of the HHA board: Ben Ezinga. Ezinga is a partner in Sustainable Community Associates (SCA) which in April 2016 proposed a plan for the redevelopment of the Kaz warehouses, the same area now proposed to become Waterfront Village. In March 2017, the SCA plan was essentially abandoned.

Ezinga was present at Wednesday's meeting. It was decided that he would take Claire Cousin's seat on the Redevelopment Committee. (Cousin resigned in January when she became a councilmember representing the Fifth Ward.) The Redevelopment Committee, which was created in August 2024, was originally composed of Cousin, Rebecca Wolff, and Nick Zachos, with Revonda Smith as an alternate.

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It Happened on Warren Street

On September 4, an incident took place in the 700 block of Warren Street that has gotten a lot of attention on social media. After being harassed by First Amendment auditors, who were reportedly shouting and videotaping through a shop window, one of the subjects snapped and came out of the shop to confront them. That reaction is what was shared on social media. According to reports, the woman who snapped was arrested. The people who provoked her, whose work can be found here, were not penalized in any way.

At the Common Council Safety Committee meeting on Monday, Gossips asked Chief Mishanda Franklin and Captain David Miller if they would comment on the incident. Calling it "an unfortunate circumstance," Franklin said:

It's good for the public to know that those were First Amendment auditors, and part of what they do is they around . . . and engage in their First Amendment rights, and that means videotaping in a public space, and that may include videotaping from the outside into a private space, however anything that is visible in a private space is legal for them to record. So unfortunately, the circumstances that they may have been there to agitate or "harass" folks inside to possibly get a reaction, they were well within their legal rights to record.

Franklin said the HPD has dealt with First Amendment auditors "a few times" in the past, citing incidents at Rolling Grocer, City Hall, the county clerk's office, and the police department. She advised "anyone [who] finds themselves in that situation to call us." She went on to say, "We can't prevent them from recording inside. We can ask them to move along, but they have a legal right to be there."

Commenting on the incident on Warren Street, Miller offered this advice, "She could have shut it down for an hour, take a breath, walk away. They will continue that kind of activity hoping to get that reaction." Franklin added, "They tend to go into spaces where they think they can get that kind of reaction from someone."

Targets of First Amendment auditors were originally government buildings, with the goal of testing if public officials and law enforcement respected their constitutional right to record. It seems now, however, that people just going about their business in a public space or in a space visible from a public street can also be targets, with the sole goal being an incendiary reel to share on Facebook and Instagram.

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Happening This Weekend

The Friends of the Hudson Area Library are having a Book & Bake Sale. Gently used books and homemade baked goods will be offered for sale this weekend--Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street, to benefit the library. 

The hours of the sale are:

• Friday, September 18--10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Saturday, September 19--10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Sunday, September 20--1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Promising Future for a Galvan Building

To Gossips' knowledge, no list of the Galvan properties that have been gifted to Bard College has ever been made public. Instead, we are learning little by little which properties are now owned by Bard and which properties continue to be owned by Galvan. We know that the ownership of the new apartment building at 76 North Seventh Street is transferring to Bard. An application that came before the Historic Preservation Commission last Friday suggests that Galvan is retaining ownership of a building across the street. 

That building is 61-63 North Seventh Street, the garage where, legend has it, many of the architectural details removed from Galvan-owned buildings over the years were stored--the porticos from the Brousseau Building, the original French doors from 260 Warren Street, a pair of black marble mantels from 300 Warren Street, to name a few.

This past Friday, architect Chip Bohl and Tony Calderone, co-owner of the Hudson Roastery, appeared before the HPC to present plans for the restoration and reuse of 61-63 North Seventh Street. The application lists Galvan Initiatives Foundation as the owner of the building. The plan is to use the building to house two new coffee roasters for the Hudson Roastery. 

The proposal involves restoring the two windows in the southeast corner of the building, now boarded up, with steel sash windows to match the windows that survive on the north facade of the building. The intention is to use salvaged windows from the same period.

The application also includes installing a sign with the Hudson Roastery logo over the center garage door and penetrating the roof in two places to vent the roasters.

HPC member John Schobel wanted to know what the plans were for the right side of the building, saying he was uncomfortable about approving what was proposed without knowing the full plan for the building. Phil Forman, who chairs the HPC, asked Bohl and Calderone, "Is it possible to show the commission the full concept?"

Calderone, who had earlier told the HPC that he was going to have a long-term relationship with the building, was agreeable to Forman's request.

It was decided that the HPC would authorize the roof penetration to vent the roasters but, for the rest, would "stand pat" until they get more information.

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Hotel News

At the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meeting yesterday, it was revealed that the St. Charles Hotel is being sold. The transaction is now in contract, and the buyer is Arena Capital Partners, the real estate private equity company that purchased a portfolio of twelve properties on Warren Street in March 2025.

Photo: Tripadvisor

The group is also buying the pair of firehouses on Park Place, which originally housed Edmonds Hose, Hudson's oldest fire company, and Phoenix Hose.

The Arena website states that "Arena buys well-located residential, mixed-use, and retail buildings in NY's Hudson Valley Region." Arena currently owns properties in Kingston, Saugerties, and Woodstock, as well as Hudson. Of the transactions featured on the website, the  "Warren Street Portfolio" is its most recent. 

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Autumn in Hudson and All That Jazz

The 2026 Hudson Jazz Festival is just a couple of weekends away--October 2 to 4. In addition to the nightly concerts on the Hudson Hall mainstage, there is music at venues--indoors and out--all around town. 

The 2026 Hudson Jazz Festival expands through the city this fall with the return of Sounds Around Town, a free live performance series at venues, restaurants, bars, retail stores, galleries, and public spaces across the city. Curated by Bard College Professor of Music and jazz pianist John Esposito, the series features nearly thirty Bard College jazz students and faculty and Hudson Valley musicians and local artists playing sixteen free shows. Performances begin September 26 and continue through through the Hudson Jazz Festival weekend, October 2 to 4.

Sounds Around Town begins with performances at the Hudson Farmers' Market on September 26 by the Sivaan Barak Saacks Quintet and Miles Taylour Sweeny: Bad Times Trio. The series resumes during Festival week with free performances at Hudson Hall, the Hudson Amtrak Station, the PARC Park outside Mel the Bakery, and retail stores, galleries, restaurants, bars, and breweries through the city. Sounds Around Town artists include John Esposito, Maia Jarrett Quartet, Nico Bald Trio, Sparrow Lore, Sam Bernhardt Quartet, Armen Donelian, and many more. . . .

Free and family-friendly programming is also woven throughout the Festival, including the October 1 free Community Kick-Off at Hudson Harmonic, featuring the Hudson Valley Maverick Jazz Camp Ensemble, Hudson High School Jazz Band, and Flying Elements from Bard College. Complimentary light snacks will be provided with a cash bar, along with information to help residents and visitors plan their Festival weekend. Then, on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., Lady Moon & Friends play a Family Concert at the Half Moon.

Other city-wide events include a free Lunch & Learn: A Conversation on Jazz, Collaboration with Vuyo Sotashe, Chris Pattishall and Festival host Keanna Faircloth at The Spark of Hudson; a Sunday jazz brunch with Brazilian guitarist Vinicius Gomes at Pocketbook Hudson; and the Late Set, the Festival's multi-level opening night afterparty at The Spark of Hudson on Friday, October 2, at 9:00 p.m., featuring live music by bassist Tristen Jarvis and a live DJ set to get the dance floor pumping.

An Update on the Hudson Public

In August, Code Enforcement Director Nick Fox issued a stop-work order for 402-404 Warren Street, which is being renovated to become the Hudson Public Hotel. The stop-work order was triggered by five violations of the terms of the project's certificate of appropriateness granted by the Historic Preservation Commission. 

On Friday, Walter Chatham. who defines his role as "advising architect" for the project, appeared before the HPC to explain why the project has departed from what had been approved by the HPC and to try to get the stop-work order lifted.

Regarding the disappearance of the remnants of the original marble in the building's colonnade, Chatham said the original pieces were removed because the sill was cracked and it was impractical to put it back. He maintained that the marble could not be reused "because it has holes" and "one piece broke when it was being moved." He explained that the solution they followed was proposed by structural engineers. The plan is to affix a veneer of Olympic white marble from Vermont over the cement board now on the columns.

 

There was concern about the thickness of the layering on the colonnade. The marble veneer is ¾ inch on top of cement board that is 1½ inches for a total thickness of 2¼ inches. Fox asked if specialists would install the marble, or if it would be installed by general contractors. Cara Cragan, the architect member of the HPC, questioned the plan to bevel the edges where the pieces of marble veneer meet, predicting that in five or ten years it will be obvious that the columns are not solid marble. 

Regarding the installation of unapproved lighting, Chatham said it had been approved by the Planning Board, a fact that does not obviate the need for HPC approval. Regarding the installation of ninety-five windows that were never approved and that Fox said did not replicate the original windows, which would have been six over six, Chatham maintained that the two over two windows were on every drawing they presented to the HPC, and hence he believed they had been approved. Regarding the black painted corrugated metal siding, the HPC seemed to agree it was fine.

When Chatham asked that the stop-work order be lifted, he was told the stop-work order would be in place until there was a new certificate of appropriateness.

It was decided that a new application, addressing the list of violations, would be submitted to the HPC by the end of this week, and a public hearing on the new application would take place on Friday, September 25. The new application will be posted on the HPC page of the city website. Gossips will notify readers when that has happened.  

Commenting on the current state of the building, Matt McGhee, whose observations and comments, suggesting that A. J. Davis may have had a hand in the original design of what he called a "noble ensemble" of buildings, were influential in the evolution of the design for hotel when the project was being reviewed by the HPC in 2023, lamented, "So much is messed up with this. It's turned upside down. It's no longer elegant."

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About That Clock

In July, Gossips reported about the plan to repair the clock in the pediment at Montgomery C. Smith Elementary School, the historic school building constructed in 1937 as a PWA (Public Works Administration) project during the Great Depression.

Ten days ago, Gossips reported that the clock was working again.

Today, the news of the clock's resumed functioning was reported on the Hudson City School District website: "MCSES Clock Tower Restored." According to HCSD's account, the clock started working again on August 12, twenty-three days before Gossips happened to notice it was telling the correct time and a month and two days before HCSD announced it to the community. The story on the HCSD website tells how the repair, which was a gift from longtime HCSD community member Michael K. Sullivan, came about.

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City vs. County: 11 Warren Street

Friday's Historic Preservation Commission meeting provided an update on the situation with Columbia County regarding 11 Warren Street and the county's refusal to submit plans for exterior alterations to the building to the HPC for a certificate of appropriateness. 

  

When last we reported on 11 Warren Street, both Phil Forman, chair of the HPC, and Nick Fox, code enforcement officer, had contacted the county requesting (Forman) and informing it was required (Fox) that the project apply for the certificate of appropriate from the HPC. Neither received a reply. The city attorney was then going to contact the county attorney. The outcome of that attorney-to-attorney communication was shared by Fox on Friday. What he reported was that the county attorney is claiming that the previous code enforcement officer, Craig Haigh, said it was OK, and the county has no intention of applying to the HPC for a certificate of appropriateness.

Fox also told the HPC that the county considers its buildings exempt from Hudson's preservation ordinance, citing this passage from the description of the Warren Street Historic District included in the recommendation presented by the HPC to the Common Council on March 30, 2006:

Why the words "with the exception of county owned buildings" appears in this document is not entirely understood. In 2006, the only building within the boundaries of the Warren Street Historic District was 560 Warren Street, the building designed by Warren & Wetmore and completed in 1910 as the new location of the Hudson City Savings Institution, founded in 1850 and for decades located at 23o Warren Street, now Le Perche. Gossips will not speculate about why this significant historic building would have been exempted from protections afforded by the city's preservation ordinance. Suffice it to say that in 2006 the preservation ordinance had only recently survived being suspended (the year after it was enacted) and significantly revised.   

Photo: Rowles Studio Collection, Historic Hudson

Commenting on the current state affairs, Fox said a "forever exemption" for county-owned buildings "makes no sense." Forman asserted that Chapter 169 of the code, the historic preservation ordinance, "makes it clear that everything be subject to the HPC" and that should not be negated by "a codicil in the actual designation." 

What will happen next is not clear, but it appears this face-off between the city and the county  is not over.

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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

We are midway through September, and this is the last full week of summer. As we move further toward autumn, here is what's happening.

• On Monday, September 14, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meets at 2:00 p.m. On the agenda for the meeting is a resolution terminating the financial agreement for the hotel project proposed for 620 Union Street. 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, September 14, the Common Council Safety Committee (Police and Fire) holds its monthly meeting. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
• On Wednesday, September 16, the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meets at 5:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person in the Community Room at Bliss Towers and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

• On Thursday, September 17, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda for the meeting has yet been published. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
• On Friday, September 18, the Columbia County Democratic Committee holds its annual picnic from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Federation of Polish Sportsmen's Pavilion, 400 Newman Road. The event is free but reservations are required. For more information and to make a reservation, click here.

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Save the Date

The Dr. Oliver Bronson House has something in common with Brigadoon, the mysterious Scottish village that appeared for just one day every one hundred years. The opportunity to experience the Bronson House is similarly rare. The last time the public had access to the historic house, Hudson's only National Historic Landmark, was in October 2020.

To mark its 30th anniversary, Historic Hudson, which has legal stewardship of the house, is inviting everyone to join them in celebrating thirty years of historic preservation in Hudson with a community event at the Bronson House. There will be refreshments and music but most important the chance to tour this hidden architectural treasure, which was originally constructed in 1812 and refitted and expanded by prominent American architect Alexander Jackson Davis in 1839 and 1849. 

The event takes place from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 10. To request more information about the event, contact information@historichudson.org.

Last Week with HHA and HCHC

Last week, Hudson's regulatory boards made two decisions relating to the Hudson Housing Authority's proposal for redevelopment. On Tuesday, the Planning Board agreed to close the public hearing on the project, which means that the board now has sixty-two days to decide whether to grant or deny site plan approval. On Wednesday, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved the area variances needed to build a block of four three-story townhouses on the site of what remains of the community garden.

On Facebook and Instagram, the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition celebrated both decisions as victories.

In their first post, HCHC misrepresented what the ZBA decision was about. After members of the ZBA complained, this post appeared.

All of HCHC's posts end with a call for supporters of the project to attend the special meeting of the Planning Board on Wednesday, September 30.  

The September 9 meeting of the Planning Board was dominated by residents expressing concerns about the proposed redevelopment, and only three people spoke in support of the variances at the Zoning Board of Appeals.

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