Events and Meetings in the Week Ahead
There's not much happening in the days leading up to the Fourth of July, but there are a few things that merit mention.
- Tonight, Monday, July 1, the OutHudson Pride Parade Awards Gala takes place at Helsinki Hudson. The coveted Roy G. Biv Awards, created by local artists, will be bestowed upon the winning entries in this year's pride parade. The festivities begin at 7:00 p.m.
- Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 2, the Tourism Board meets at 5:00 p.m. at 1 North Front Street. Having heard presentations by all four respondents to its RFP, the board will probably continue to discuss the existential crisis caused by the Common Council's determination to defund the Tourism Board, which was created by the previous Council when it enacted the lodging tax, and control all the revenue derived from the lodging tax.
- The regular meeting of the Conservation Advisory Council, scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 2, has been canceled. This is the second meeting in a row that has been canceled since the CAC completed its Open Space and Natural Resources Inventory and Jonathan Lerner stepped down as chair.
- On Wednesday, July 3, the Common Council Youth, Education, Seniors, and Recreation Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. At 6:45 p.m. that same day, the Housing and Transportation Committee meets, also at City Hall. No agenda is available for either meeting.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK
When the Conservation Advisory Council substituted for its guiding principle monetary and policy advantages over science, it undermined its ostensible reason for being and thus destroyed its credibility.
ReplyDeleteFor example, earlier this year the CAC members agreed that in order to raise the City's profile for the purpose of grant-getting it was best to adopt the most extreme position on sea-level rise (read: river rise).
The group disregarded local residents who, in letters, appearances, and a signed petition, repeatedly cited the warnings of the majority of world climate scientists against the specious methodology of the extremists.
The public's reasonable suggestion was that ALL projection models should appear in the report, but when the CAC had completed its work there wasn't a single reference to the more moderate and widely accepted sea-level-rise projections. With the exception of a single CAC member (one who's actually had scientific training), this body of amateurs deliberately suppressed actual science in the service of a pet policy.
But now that the remaining members have made their beds, they don't know how to lie down in them. No one wants to step up and take the heat for something all but one chose to pursue.
Sadly, Jonathan Lerner's legacy as former Chairman is the irrelevance of the CAC and its potential dissolution.
Hudson's CAC has demonstrated that it has no business dabbling in science. Unless that changes, which looks doubtful for the moment, what purpose does it serve?