What She Said

Mayor-elect Tiffany Martin Hamilton was on the radio this morning, on Something to Talk About with Holly Tanner and Justin Weaver, along with her campaign managers Kevin Hannan and Lisa Walsh, who is now the mayor-elect's aide. At the onset of the conversation, it was said that there were twenty-two projects that Hamilton and her team "have started to track," and during the course of the conversation, by Gossips' count, sixteen were mentioned specifically. They were as follows:

1. The Appointment of Commissioners  As we already know, Gary Graziano will be continuing as Police Commissioner. Hamilton said today that Tim Hutchings will continue as Fire Commissioner and that a Commissioner of Aging is "in place." Appointments to the positions of Commissioner of Youth and Commissioner of Public Works are still, according to Hamilton, "works in progress."
2. Broadband
3. Capital Projects
4. Police Review and Advisory Board
5. Diversity Initiative within the HPD
6. Sidewalks and Access for the Disabled
7. Ferry Street Bridge
8. More Grants for the City  Mentioned specifically were grants for senior programming and youth programming.
9. Housing Task Force  Encouraging the development of both affordable housing and more low-income housing were mentioned in particular.
10. HPD Quality of Life Initiatives  Hamilton spoke of "crosswalk safety" in particular--building awareness that motorists are required to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.
11. Parks Committee  The need for such a group, tasked with the preservation and beautification of Hudson's parks, has been expressed many times in the past.
12. Police and Court Facility  Hamilton indicated that the latest round of bids on the project will come in on January 5. "That's when we'll get a better idea of how much [the adaptive reuse of 701 Union Street] will cost."
13. Transportation  Hamilton spoke of bringing the city buses back to Hudson and also of transportation to the strip malls of Greenport and to Columbia-Greene Community College.
14. Truck Routes  Once again, it is promised that an effort will be made to free us from the scourge of trucks passing through our little city on the way to someplace else.
15. Expanded Waterfront Development
16. Website Development  Hamilton spoke specifically about introducing tools on the city website that will enable people to "interact with the various departments."

When asked if she had heard from the current mayor since the absentee ballots were counted, Hamilton responded, "I have not." The transition apparently is being carried out with the mayor's aide, Gene Shetsky.

When asked how she was going to deal with the nearly 50 percent of the voters who did not vote for her (the final margin was 27 votes), Hamilton said, "I ran on a platform of transparency, accountability, and giving people a voice," and expressed her hope that "everyone is more interested in the common good than personal agendas."  

When asked about a dog park, Hamilton said it was a Hudson FORWARD initiative, at which time Kevin Hannan explained the group had so far raised $6,500 to build a dog park and had proposed that the City choose the site. He also explained that the dog park has become part of a larger initiative to beautify all the city parks.

When asked when all the appointments will be announced, Hamilton said that she wanted to "make sure people are comfortable with their roles" before making announcements. She did say, however, that Tracy Delaney will be staying on as city clerk, which is no surprise since city clerks typically continue from one administration to another.

When asked when the senior center will be complete, Hamilton said that she had toured the armory building last night with people from the library and declared, "The space looks beautiful. Galvan has done an amazing job in redoing the armory."

To listen to the entire conversation, click here.

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