Back to the Alleys

Gossips has frequently posted about the alleys of Hudson and the loss of character being suffered by these back streets of Hudson as the old buildings that were constructed as stables or carriage houses are converted or "reproduced" to create living space.

Photo: William Hellermann

Yesterday, my attention was drawn to the loss of a different kind of character on an alley on the north side of town. What was lost were not buildings but mature trees and an entire ecosystem that was home to songbirds, eagles, and at least one gray fox--an ecosystem that enhanced the neighborhood and provided rare and precious proximity to the natural environment in an urban setting. 

These Google images show Rope Alley between Third and Fourth streets as it was in August 2016 and as it still was until very recently.

These pictures show the same stretch of Rope Alley as it appeared yesterday.

The following pictures, provided by a reader, show the devastation from the perspective of an adjacent backyard on North Third Street.

This diagram, drawn by a neighbor who has been witnessing the destruction, documents the major trees that were felled, including two pine trees estimated to have been between 60 and 85 years old.

One might assume that this is the work of Galvan, whose modus operandi is cutting down trees and which, as Hudson Collective Realty LLC, now owns two houses on State Street that back up on Rope Alley, but no. The property belongs to Fourth Ward supervisor Linda Mussmann, a principal in the limited liability company Paperplay. It is said that Mussmann plans to build three new houses on the site, but it doesn't seem reasonable that the construction of three houses necessitates clear-cutting the site and eliminating trees that would enhance not only the settings of the new houses but also the entire neighborhood.

This incident brings up again the need for a tree ordinance--something that has been discussed in Hudson for more than a decade. The benefits of trees in urban areas--reducing air pollution, conserving water and reducing soil erosion, saving energy, modifying the local climate, reducing noise pollution, creating wildlife and plant diversity, not to mention the beauty of trees and their contribution to personal health and well-being--are benefits that advantage entire neighborhoods, indeed entire communities, yet private property owners can fell trees at their own discretion, often with no good reason and without consideration for the impact the action will have on the community as a whole. 

In 2016, the Conservation Advisory Council decided to put off the ambitious goal of enacting a tree ordinance in favor of pursuing more immediately attainable goals. Three years and many lost trees later, maybe it's time for the CAC to take on that ambitious challenge.
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