Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

After a slow week as July transitioned into August, the schedule of meetings and other things to do picks up this week.

• On Monday, August 5, Alderman Rich Volo (Fourth Ward) leads a discussion with East Light Partners about the possibility of the City of Hudson using power from the solar array being developed by ELP in the field just south of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House. 

Gossips has been following this project from the time it was first proposed, through intercession by Historic Hudson, Scenic Hudson, Olana, and the State Historic Preservation Office, to site plan review by the Greenport Planning Board. What will be discussed is the possibility of having this solar array provide the electricity for municipal buildings and streetlights in Hudson. Doing so has the potential to reduce the cost of electricity for the City by about 10 percent, which would be an annual saving of about $36,000. The power generated would also be available to individual property owners.

The event takes place in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street, from 6:30 to 8:30, and there will be cookies!

• On Tuesday, August 6, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall. No agenda is available for this meeting, but after the completion of the Natural Resources and Open Space Inventory, the official acceptance of the document by the Common Council, and a two-month hiatus from meeting, it will be interesting to learn how the CAC plans to move forward. 
• On Wednesday, August 7, the Common Council Youth, Education, Seniors and Recreation Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. No agenda is available for this meeting.
• On Thursday, August 8, the second annual Oakdale Lake Picnic, presented by Friends of Hudson Youth and the Hudson Youth Department, takes place from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Oakdale Lake. There will be swimming, boating, badminton, beach games, a DJ, and food--hot dogs and ice cream. More information about the event is available here.

• On Friday, August 9, the Historic Preservation Commission holds the first of its two monthly meetings at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall.
• Starting Friday, August 9, and continuing through Sunday, August 11, Operation Unite presents the Hudson Black Arts and Cultural Festival. Click here for more information and a schedule of events.

• On Saturday, August 10, the Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count happens at various sites along the river, from Manhattan to Peebles Island. Produced each summer by the Hudson River Estuary Program, the one-day fish count gives naturalists the chance to "explore the diverse, slippery, wriggly, and fascinating creatures usually hidden below the river's surface."  

Photo: G. Ballou

In Columbia County, the place to be part of the fish count is Lasher Memorial Park in Germantown, where, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, the Columbia Land Conservancy is organizing the exploration. For more information about the event, click here.

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