Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead
The weather this week is expected to be hot and humid, with occasional thunderstorms or showers predicted for three of the five weekdays. But on most days there are meetings to keep you indoors where it's dry.
- Tonight, Monday, August 19, Citizens' Climate Lobby meets here in Hudson at Christ Church Episcopal, 431 Union Street. The meeting is from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Those attending for the first time are encouraged to attend an orientation session at 5:30 p.m. If you are interested in being at the meeting, contact brucefrishkoff@gmail.com.
- On Tuesday, August 20, the Common Council Finance Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. No agenda for the meeting is available at this time for this meeting, but it is possible that the proposed contract with East Light Partners, to provide community solar to the City of Hudson to power municipal buildings and streetlights, will be discussed.
- At 7:00 on Tuesday, August 20, the full Council holds its regular monthly meeting. Resolutions of interest to be voted on at the meeting are the resolution authorizing the creation of a dog park and the resolution authorizing the Tourism Board to proceed with its strategic destination identity study. It is also expected that the Council will vote on entering into a contract with East Light Partners. Alderman Rich Volo (Fourth Ward), who chairs the Economic Development Committee and the Tourism Board, has published informational posts about the Tourism Board and its proposed study and the proposed contract with East Light Partners on his blog Fourth Ward Hudson. Gossips has also published posts on these two topics: the proposed Tourism Board study and the community solar proposal.
- On Wednesday, August 21, the Common Council Public Works and Parks Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Gossips has received word that DPW superintendent Rob Perry will not be present at the meeting to present his monthly report, and committee chair Eileen Halloran (Fifth Ward) has invited Sarah Sterling, who heads up the Hudson Parks Conservancy, to talk about the group and its goals.
Also on Wednesday, August 21, the Zoning Board of Appeals meets at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. Last Tuesday, the Planning Board referred the proposal to develop a self storage facility, described by one Planning Board member as "twenty shacks on a swath of land," at the corner of Fairview Avenue and Oakwood Boulevard, to the ZBA. It is not clear if that proposal will be taken up by the ZBA at this meeting or no
- On Thursday, August 22, the Hudson Parks Conservancy is hosting a bring-your-own-supper picnic on Promenade Hill. The event, which begins at 7:00 p.m. and ends when the sun sets, replicates a gathering of the Vision Plan Task Force that took place twenty-five years ago and is being described as an opportunity to gather with friends, neighbors, and fellow parks advocates "to talk about this historic public space and plans for its restoration and to enjoy the view and the sunset."
- On Friday, August 23, the Historic Preservation Commission holds its second meeting of the month at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK
same old crap from DPW. In the past 12 months (Sept. 2018 - August 2019) DPW has cancelled 5 PUBLIC meetings because Rob Perry was unable to attend (and there is never an explanation of why he was absent). That's nearly half of all the meetings and none of them were ever rescheduled. I asked committee chair Eilleen Halloran a few months ago why DPW meetings are never rescheduled and she said that it was "too complicated to do." Last month the Fire Dept. committee meeting was rescheduled at the last moment, to a week later. I attended the meeting and asked the chairperson, Dominic Merante, what the process of rescheduling the meeting was like. He said that all he had to do was make sure the other participants could agree on a time and post the new meeting's time on the board in City Hall to make it official. Sounds UNCOMPLICATED to me.
ReplyDeleteIf we want good, accessible, transparent, accountable government, shouldn't we require that all monthly meetings take place even if they have to be rescheduled? Would that be too much to ask? Because it is obvious that Rob Perry would rather not bother with PUBLIC meetings, or at the very least he doesn't care whether they take place or not. LAME! Holding just 7 out of 12 meetings in a year should be unacceptable.