Thrice Blessed

October 4 is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. For this reason, October is the month when churches typically offer a blessing of the animals. This year, there are three opportunities for our furry (and feathery) friends to be blessed.

• On Saturday, October 5, there will be a blessing of the animals at noon in the plaza at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 429 East Allen Street.
• On Sunday, October 13, there will be a blessing of the animals at the First Presbyterian Church, 369 Warren Street, from noon to 2:00 p.m. Those who plan to attend are asked to register in advance, which can be done here.
• On Saturday, October 19, there will be a blessing of the animals at Christ Church Episcopal, 431 Union Street, at 10:00 a.m. Those who cannot bring their pets or who want to honor a pet who has passed are welcome to bring a picture or other memento of their pet to be blessed.

Animals attending any of the events should be leashed or crated.

Crafting the Budget for 2025 Redux

Since I published information about the BEA (Board of Estimate and Apportionment) meetings earlier today, two things have happened: the meetings are now hybrid; the departments presenting their budgets are now identified. So, here is a revised list. Unfortunately, the budget for the Department of Public Works was presented earlier today. (Click on the department name to find the link to join the meeting remotely.)

• Monday, September 30, at 2:30 p.m.--Public Works
• Wednesday, October 2, at 2:30 p.m.--Youth Department
• Friday, October 4
• 2:30 p.m.--Assessor's Office
• 3:00 p.m.--Conservation Advisory Council
• 3:30 p.m.--Attorneys

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

Today is the final day of September. October begins tomorrow, and autumn is definitely here. As we move closer to peak leaf-peeping season and savor the final month of daylight saving time, here is what is happening in Hudson.

• On Tuesday, October 1, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
• On Wednesday, October 2, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency meets at 10:30 a.m. The September meeting of the IDA was canceled because there were "no pressing issues needing a vote." An agenda for Wednesday's meeting has not yet been made public. 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 Wednesday, October 2, 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 Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely. 
• On Thursday, October 3, at 4:00 p.m., Mayor Kamal Johnson holds a public hearing on the proposed law regarding commercial filming and photography in the City of Hudson. The hearing takes place in person in the Council Chamber at City Hall.
• On Saturday, October 5, from noon to 6:00 p.m., Upper Depot Brewing Co. presents Hudson Oktoberfest. The event takes place on State Street between Seventh and Green streets and features eight craft breweries and three food vendors. Tickets are available at the Upper Depot taproom, 708 State Street. Click here for more information. 

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Crafting the Budget for 2025

The process of determining the city budget for 2025 begins today. Department heads present their proposed budgets to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment (BEA), made up of the mayor (Kamal Johnson), the Common Council president (Tom DePietro), and the city treasurer (Heather Campbell). This year, as in recent years past, the BEA meetings, which take place in the Council Chamber at City Hall, are open to the public. This year, unlike years past, the meeting times are noted on the city calendar but not which departments are presenting their budgets. So, if your interest in the budget is voracious and catholic, or you're seeking a distraction to fill your afternoons, here's the schedule of BEA meetings for this week.

• Monday, September 30
• 2:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, October 2
• 2:30 p.m.
• Friday, October 4
• 2:30 p.m.
• 3:00 p.m.
• 3:30 p.m.

Food, Glorious Food

It seems the partnership between the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store and Ben Fain's Nice and Weird LLC, which in August announced plans to "explore the potential of bringing a new retail grocery store to the South Bay of Hudson," is moving closer to making that happen. In Friday, Chronogram published this article: "Affordable, Organic Groceries Coming to Hudson Waterfront in 2026."

Photo: Hawthorne Valley | Chronogram

The following is quoted from the article:

"It's going to be a full-scape grocery shopping experience," says Hawthorne Valley's Director of Retail Jeremy Laurange, "with the center aisles, frozen foods, dairy--everything you'd expect, plus robust bulk foods and produce sections. The bulk foods section will be similar to what Honest Weight offers up in Albany, and the produce selection will be large and fresh, highlighting local farms. . . ."

The article also reports that "the goal is to being in fresh, affordable food at prices that rival those at the chain supermarkets on the outskirts of Hudson." It is anticipated this goal will be realized by the end of 2026.

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Coming to an Italian Villa Near You

On Friday morning, the Historic Preservation Commission unanimously voted to grant a certificate of appropriateness to the plans for converting the Terry-Gillette mansion at 601 Union Street, for many years the Hudson Elks Lodge, into a boutique hotel. The project received site plan approval from the Planning Board in June.

Gossips has shared the renderings for the restored and renovated building a few times in the past, as well as for the new building to be constructed behind the existing building, but here they are again.

Attendees at Friday's HPC meeting to see got to see a new rendering, which shows the interior of one part of the building: the porte-cochère. 

The porte-cochère is not original to the building. According to the preservation consulting firm working on the project, the mansion was built in about 1865. The porte-cochère was added sometime between 1903 and 1911, when the mansion was the home of John W. and Grace J. Gillette. Carriages and later automobiles would drive into the porte-cochère, where passengers could exit the vehicle and enter the house protected from the elements, and then continue on through.  

The plan is to enclose the porte-cochère by filling the arched openings with glass. This rendering shows what the space inside the porte-cochère will look like when finished.

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The State of the Stairs

At Thursday's meeting of the Public Works Board, mayoral aide Justin Weaver reported that pouring the cement for the Second Street stairs has begun. 

This morning, Freddy and I headed down to Cross Street to check out the progress and took this picture.

The Second Street stairs are part of "Hudson Streetscapes" (formerly known as "Hudson Connects"), the City's largest DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) project. Just as a reminder, this is how the rebuilt stairs were fantasized in early DRI documents.

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The Whirlwind Pivot of Winter Walk

It was only a week ago that Gossips reported there would be no Winter Walk this year. Much has happened since then, and today, Trixie's List has a Q&A with Timothy Banker and Daniel Osofsky of Foundry at Hudson, the new producers of Winter Walk: "Meet the New Winter Walk Team."  

Ear to the Ground

Last night, at the meeting of the Public Works Board, Jason Foster, who served on that board because he was the Commissioner of Public Works, was not present. Justin Weaver, mayoral aide and ADA coordinator, told the other members, "Jason Foster is no longer with us in the capacity of commissioner." Weaver indicated he didn't know the reason why Foster decided to leave his position as Public Works Commissioner.

Earlier yesterday, Gossips learned that Foster's wife, Susan Vernovage Foster, resigned from the Planning Board. It will be recalled that at the Planning Board meeting on September 10, when the board was considering the 70-unit apartment complex being proposed for Mill Street, Foster expressed her opinion that it seemed the project was being fast-tracked. Theresa Joyner, Planning Board chair, denied that was the case. Foster also wondered why the Planning Board wasn't concerned about density with the Mill Street project (it is estimated that the project will increase the population of the street by 600 percent) when concerns about density prompted the board to recommend that the number of units in the project proposed for Fairview Avenue be reduced by half, from 30 to 15. Foster was the only member of the Planning Board to vote against issuing a negative declaration in the SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) process--a negative declaration signifying that there is no substantial evidence that the project could result in significant adverse environmental impacts.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc, which is translated "after this, therefore because of this," is considered a logical fallacy, because it assumes a causal relationship based only on sequence of events. The two resignations, coming soon after the Planning Board's determination that constructing a 70-unit apartment complex on a narrow dead-end street, in a neighborhood of one- and two-story houses, in a flood plain, on land with deed restrictions intended to preserve it as parkland or recreational space would have no significant environmental impacts, do seem to suggest that, in this case at least, post hoc ergo propter hoc may not be a fallacy. 

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Of Interest

There is an article in Chronogram: The River about the efforts to save the historic Stuyvesant Falls bridge: "The Bridge at Stuyvesant Falls: A Preservation Battle." 

Photo: Barbara Reina

Of particular interest for preservationists is this paragraph from the article:

. . . in a letter from The National Trust for Historic Preservation to the county, Elizabeth Merritt, deputy general counsel, states that the county's proposal is not meeting mandatory federal requirements. "We urge the county to suspend its demolition plans, and work with the FHWA [Federal Highway Administration] to develop a revised proposal that would be consistent with the preservation requirements," including "all possible planning to minimize harm" to the historic property. "We see no evidence that any effort has been initiated to comply with this strict preservation mandate in the development of plans for the bridge replacement project."

The entire letter can be found here.

It's Official

The signs went up at the end of last week at all the gateways to Hudson. The city speed limit is now 25 miles per hour.

Discontent and Dissension at HCSD

At Tuesday's meeting of the Hudson City School District (HCSD) Board of Education, Wayne Kinney, the president of the Hudson Teachers Association, addressed the board. What he had to say was reported this morning in the Register-Star: "Teachers union president criticizes Hudson school district, administration."  You can hear his statements for yourself here, beginning at 2:01:46.

Gossips has since learned that a petition has been started demanding the resignation of HCSD superintendent, Dr. Juliette Pennyman, who was appointed to that position in August 2023. Among the complaints made about Pennyman in the petition are these:

Opening day of the 2024-25 school year consisted of teachers and staff members being told by Dr. Pennyman how terrible they are at their jobs for three hours straight. Board of Education meetings involved teachers getting interrogated and spoken to in disgusting manners, along with condescending facial expressions by Dr. Pennyman. 

One incident involved Dr. Pennyman accusing an employee of following her simply because they arrived at their home, a heavily-populated apartment complex, at the same time as her. This manufactured paranoia is not the behavior expected or required from a person of her position, and it fuels a hostile environment depriving the district employees of respectful and fair treatment.

Dr. Pennyman has also accused teachers of intentionally keeping minority students out of AP classes, while over 50% of AP classes are minority students. 

She also went ahead and terminated several long term caucasian employees simply for being caucasian, claiming she “needed a more diverse staff.” 

The entire petition statement can be found here.

Galvan to the Rescue!

The Register-Star just announced that Winter Walk, which Hudson Hall said last week would not happen in 2024, will happen anyway, thanks to a partnership between the City and "Galvan affiliate, Foundry at Hudson": "Winter Walk 2024 back on, Hudson mayor says."

Foundry at Hudson is a Galvan affiliate no one has heard of before, but it turns out it's the name of the theater and restaurant Galvan is planning for what remains of the Gifford-Wood Foundry building at 724-726 Columbia Street. 

Behold! A Bridge!

Mayor Kamal Johnson has predicted that the new Ferry Street Bridge will be completed and officially opened by Thanksgiving Day. It's starting to look as if that might actually happen.

This morning, a reader sent Gossips this picture.

Then, on our way to the dog park, Freddy and I went by the site, and I took this picture from a different vantage point.

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Happening in Hudson

Last week, Bill Huston took down his blog HUDseen, but that action hasn't stopped him from observing things that outrage him. Yesterday, he shared something he'd seen with Gossips. It appears that cement mixers making deliveries to the site of Galvan's hotel project at Fourth and Warren streets are emptying their excess cement in the vacant lot at the corner of Fourth and Columbia, a lot that Eric Galloway outbid the City to acquire in 2003. 

Huston provided these pictures.