Friday Morning at the HPC
On Friday morning, the Historic Preservation Commission voted to grant a certificate of appropriateness to design for rebuilding 67-71 North Fifth Street, with the stipulation that the original clapboard be reused or, if that was not possible, that it be replaced in kind.
Former mayor Rick Scalera, now a special adviser to the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, was in the audience, as he is whenever a Galvan project comes before the HPC. After the meeting, Tom Casey, reporter for the Register-Star sought a comment from Scalera. In his article "Armory houses application approved," Casey reports that Scalera was "pleased that the way was paved for work on the houses that were a project of his during his tenure as Hudson mayor." Interestingly, only hours before, in the same chamber, during a discussion of ethics at the Common Council Legal Committee meeting, city attorney Cheryl Roberts stated "once you leave office, you cannot lobby on a specific project you worked on."
Also at Friday's meeting, David Voorhees resigned as chair of the HPC. Rick Rector, who had been vice chair, was unanimously elected chair, and Phil Forman was elected vice chair. Voorhees will continue as a member of the HPC until his term expires at the end of July 2014.
Mr. Voorhees, thank you for helping me when I needed help. Thanks for your service in the line of fire!
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Stature of Limitations for a Rick Scalera conflict of interest is 2 hours, which makes a nice symmetry with the attorney's warning time.
I wonder if the rented U-Haul in the photo is someone's idea of a joke?
I dunno. Maybe it is just me but if I had a paid consultant moving one of my projects forward I would not be happy if he or she took advantage of the opportunity to indicate it was an initiative they had originally championed (as in, its all about me!). In fact, I would want my paid consultant to STFU and stay in the background especially when there is a clear conflict of interest going on. Just saying ....
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for us that David Voorhees has resigned as chair.
ReplyDeleteI thank him for his time he gave freely to us,citizens.
It must have been terribly difficult,
as a purist ,with so much knowledge,
to be put in a position,where HPC
has no means of enforcement
,and someone like Scalera ,
breaks all the codes at will ,
as does building department.
This is truly Hudson's loss.
I am glad for Hudson, Mr.Voorhees will still serve on Commission
and hope that he is relieved of any anxiety
this position as Head Chair of HPC,
may have caused him.
I hope Rick Rector will be able to serve HPC
,without political encumbrance,
and be allowed to do his job for us,
and protect our Historic Bldgs.
and designated Historic Districts,
without being pressured by political interference.
What's up with the Victorian house to the left? No permits and no historic approval? What's this the wild west, do what ever you want????
ReplyDeleteThey seem to be gearing up to submit an application for a certificate of appropriateness for that house. Not long ago, Ward Hamilton asked me for historic photographs of the house, indicating that he was encouraging Galvan Partners to prepare their plans for the house and submit them to the Historic Preservation Commission.
DeleteIf they are ,it's after the fact.They have been working on that building for a while now.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify, neither I nor anyone in my employ has done any work whatsoever on that property, consulting, contracting or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteSo ,you are not Galloway's sole contractor.You have never worked on many of Galloway's properties.Manuel& Company may be over there,working
ReplyDeleteThey had been working with no permit on Galloway's 260 Warren that expired in March 16th ,2012,the permit they were forced to post after the fact on Sept 16 2011 ,that expired in 6mo.They had to put up that plastic that is now shreded over shards of broken glass on Street level,by the school bus stop ,where they were dumping toxic debris and glass on kids heads and into the neiborhood.The job was shut down,for a variety of reasons.That Sept 16th, 2011 permit is still the only one up. Cops made them stop this time.You haven't been on this scene that long.