New Landscaping for Hudson Terrace

Some people think the exterior renovations at Hudson Terrace are better than anything they could have imagined--principally, I suspect, because the colors of the new vinyl siding make the buildings blend better into the landscape. Others have expressed the opinion that the complex looks more like public housing now than it did before. But what's happening with the landscaping?

In the south half of the complex, all the grass between the buildings and the parking lot has disappeared, and this morning, some major trees were cut down. Eliminating mature trees is always ill-considered and wasteful, and the decision to do so doesn't bode well. Nor do the new streetlights. They've installed the big Acorn luminaires on lamp posts that are very short and skinny, resulting in a disproportion that is just the opposite of the new city street lamps, whose luminaires seem too small to sit atop those very tall poles. 

Still, we can all take solace in the fact that Hudson Terrace as we know it is better than what might have been. This early vision for the Hudson waterfront was discovered in the History Room at the library.

The caption reads: "The apartments overlooking the Hudson will mark the rebirth of the City's west end."